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By Hiroki Shin The confusion and commotion over cryptocurrency often reminds me of the 19th-century German drama Faust. In Goethe’s masterpiece, the devil Mephistopheles offers an emperor the tantalising vision of limitless wealth through the printing of paper money. The emperor grasps the idea (unheard of at the time the play is set), and the magical wealth which paper creates brings brief prosperity to his troubled dominion. But what appeared to be an inexhaustible source of value soon proves illusory. A combination of misunderstanding and hype leads to economic and moral corruption, and the empire descends into chaos. It is a tale which could well have parallels for digital currencies now. People use them despite not fully understanding how they work, sometimes to their financial loss. And history shows us that we should be wary of the idea that currency systems always change for the better, following some sort of natural evolutionary path. In fact, new currency systems don’t always succeed, and even when they do, monetary regime change can be a long and arduous process. Coins and tokens were used more than 2,000 years ago, and continued through to the 19th century before paper finally dominated. Rather than a clean, irreversible shift from coins to notes, nations often alternated between the two systems. There were failed experiments with paper money in 14th-century China, 17th-century Sweden and 18th-century France, to mention just a few. Research on these problematic attempts suggests that social division also makes new currency shifts especially vulnerable. During the American war of independence for example, a currency (the “continental dollar”) was briefly introduced in 1775. It was later abandoned due to mismanagement and misunderstanding, but had also served to sharpen political tensions between the patriots who supported it, and the loyalists to Britain, who detested it. Similarly, in the 1750s and 1760s, the Swedish government issued non-redeemable paper money to pay its war debts. The consequent extreme inflation coincided with intense social division and led to a period of political chaos. In 1789, at the start of the French Revolution, a paper form of government bond was issued, which rapidly lost its value. Seven years later, the “assignat” had become virtually worthless. Britain fared slightly better, as I explore in my book The Age of Paper. Its departure from the metal standard in 1797, amid the financial pressures of the Anglo–French war, did not produce a collapse of the nation’s paper currency. But the paper-based regime came to a halt in 1819, a year of bitter class conflicts, which culminated in the Peterloo massacre, where at least 18 people were killed and hundreds wounded by the cavalry at a peaceful rally for democratic reform. The public had come to detest Bank of England notes, which became a symbol of economic depression and political oppression. Britain then followed the pattern of other nations, reverting to a traditional monetary system that rested on the solid value of precious metals. These cases of failed paper currencies – and there are many more – show that the general acceptance of currency ultimately requires shared values and social solidarity. Paper currency works when people trust it, knowing that it has been valued and accepted by others in the past, and will be valued and accepted in the future. It would otherwise be unlikely for a piece of paper to become a reliable means of payment and value. Once such shared values are lost, there is usually a downward cycle of currency depreciation. Cryptic currency In the 21st-century, cryptocurrencies challenge the conventional idea of money as something of value – or at least linked to something of value, like gold. And as something that is issued and managed by a trusted central authority. For cryptocurrencies exist only in the realm of blockchain technology. Their value is created and maintained not by central banks, but by complex computer algorithms. To many, all of these abstract computational processes make cryptocurrencies as mysterious as Mephistopheles’ dark magic in Faust. Even so, with Donald Trump’s strong support, cryptocurrencies are enjoying a surge in popularity. This trend will undoubtedly be reinforced by further deregulation which means requirements for transparency will be relaxed, and safeguards for consumer protection weakened. The rise in popularity has coincided with the US government’s apparent preference for weakening the dollar in the international currency markets as a way of boosting US exports by pushing down the prices of US goods abroad. These events may lead to a profound transformation in the monetary system on a global scale. As the US dollar loses value and crypto regulations are relaxed, countries and investors around the world may be enticed to diversify their assets and increase their holdings of cryptocurrency. But the combination of social division and rapid expansion may not be a positive sign for the future of cryptocurrency. Far from establishing it as a dominant medium of exchange in a new decentralised regime, history suggests that its rapid growth in a fractured society might instead accelerate its self-destruction. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com. — Republished with permission from Nevada Current Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo credit: unsplash The post History Is Full of Failed Attempts to Establish New Currencies. What Makes Crypto Different? appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

— You don’t have to live at the gym to feel the benefits of sport. A casual game with friends, a weekend run, or even tossing a football in the park all counts. And it’s not just about staying in shape. Sport has a way of sharpening your thinking, lifting your mood, and adding structure to your week. Good for the Body, Great for the Mind Telling you about the physical benefits of playing sport is preaching to the choir. But it’s always a good idea to be reminded of how sport changes your body in lasting ways. It strengthens your heart, builds muscle, improves balance, and keeps joints and bones healthy. Even light training, like swimming or cycling, can boost your energy fast. It also supports weight management by building lean muscle and raising your metabolism, helping you stay active day to day. But it’s not just physical. Sport is proven to ease anxiety, lift mood, and improve sleep. You don’t need to be running marathons, just moving in a way that feels good makes a difference. Team sports add something extra. You’re not just working out, you’re connecting. Whether it’s teammates, opponents, or just the sense of belonging, those moments matter. That’s why a growing sport like rugby stands out—it’s tough, but it builds respect, discipline, and trust. Resilience, Routine, and Real Benefits Sport builds mental grit. You learn to push through fatigue, stay focused when the pressure’s on, and bounce back quickly from setbacks. Over time, that resilience seeps into other parts of life, shaping how you handle stress at work, deal with challenges in relationships, or simply cope with the unexpected. It also adds a sense of structure. Just one or two weekly sessions can anchor your routine, giving your days rhythm and balance. When everything else feels chaotic or uncertain, that bit of consistency becomes a grounding force in your life. Variety Keeps It Interesting Different sports bring different benefits. Tennis sharpens coordination, basketball boosts cardio and quick thinking, while solo sports like swimming or hiking help clear your head. Being outdoors and pushing yourself even just a little can shift your mindset completely. And if you’re older, it’s not too late. Walking groups, cycling, even casual doubles all make a difference. A steady routine builds strength, keeps joints moving, and lifts your mood, no matter your age. It’s not about intensity—it’s about consistency. The Joy of Playing There’s also a simple joy in sport that we don’t talk about enough. The feeling of hitting a clean shot, scoring a goal, or just being outside and moving is a kind of freedom. When you’re fully in it, there’s no room for stress or overthinking. You’re just there, doing it. Final Thoughts And that’s the real power of sport. It gets you out of your head and back into your body. It pulls you away from screens, overthinking, and daily stress. Even just an hour of movement can reset your mood, shift your mindset, and remind you what you’re capable of. — This content is brought to you by Charlotte Ivins iStockPhoto The post How Sport Can Improve Your Life appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

PM Donald Tusk says he has informed NATO about the alleged airspace violations Polish officials have claimed that the country’s military intercepted several drones that crossed from Ukraine during overnight Russian strikes, describing the incident as an “unprecedented” violation of national airspace. Moscow has yet to comment on the allegation, and Warsaw has yet to show any evidence. Polish armed forces launched an operation in response to “multiple violations of Polish airspace” and defensive weapons were used against the objects, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X early Wednesday morning. “I informed the NATO Secretary-General about the current situation and the actions we have taken against objects that violated our airspace,” Tusk explained in a separate post. He added that he remained in “constant contact” with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and Defense Minister Władyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz. According to Warsaw, Polish and allied radar systems tracked “dozens of objects” during the incident. Those deemed a threat were “neutralized,” with several suspected drones shot down, Kosiniak-Kamysz said. The minister added that search operations were ongoing to locate the debris. The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces also appealed to residents in the eastern regions of Podlaskie, Mazowieckie, and Lubelskie to remain indoors while the military response continued. “This was an unprecedented violation of our airspace and represented a real threat,” the military said in a statement. The reported breach came amid reports of Russian drone and missile strikes against targets in western and central Ukraine overnight, with explosions reported in Kiev, Rovno, Vinnitsa and Lviv. Moscow has stepped up cross-border attacks against Ukrainian military facilities in response to Kiev’s strikes on Russian territory. The incident follows Poland’s announcement that it will close its border crossings with Belarus later this week, citing security concerns over upcoming joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises near its frontier. Warsaw has mobilized tens of thousands of troops for NATO exercises, while Minsk has pledged to monitor the drills closely and respond to any “sign of aggression.” View the full article

By Blogueurs invités, Trans By Jean-Christophe Brunet By Job Tiguem Poudiougo Mali, home to over 25 million people, sees the majority of young women, who account for 24 percent of the population, married before they turn 18, especially in rural areas. Confronted with this stark finding, local communities are mobilizing to safeguard girls and support their continued education. Child marriage is relatively common in Africa. Figures released in 2018 by the British NGO Girls Not Brides show that 16 percent of girls were married by the age of 15, rising to 54 percent by the age of 18, according to UNICEF. A research report from the Center for Human Rights on child marriage in Africa confirms the accuracy of these figures across ten countries on the continent, including Mali. The rate is even higher in rural areas, driven by many factors, such as family traditions, economic hardships, and limited access to education, pushing many girls out of education and into marriages with much older men. Furthermore, insecurity in Mali’s rural regions restricts girls’ access to schooling, with terrorist groups driving armed conflicts for the last ten years. According to additional figures from UNICEF, 73.8 percent of girls and 85.8 percent of boys attend primary school. However, attendance drops sharply at the secondary level, with only 15 percent of girls and 21 percent of boys enrolled. Behind these statistics are shattered futures, such as Aïda D’s, who was forced into marriage at 15. She told Global Voices: I was attending high school at Sévaré, a town in the center of the country in the Mopti region, some 621 kilometers (385 miles) from Bamako, Mali’s capital. I wanted to become a teacher. One day my uncle came to fetch me and took me to the village. There, my aunt told me I was going to be married to a 48-year-old man. I did not say anything; I was crying. Nobody would listen to me. One week later I was married, and I never went back to school. Aisha’s story, far from being an isolated case, shows how heavily traditions weigh on these communities and how young girls are forced to remain silent when confronted with decisions that derail their lives and hopes. A ray of hope In Mopti and elsewhere, community initiatives are beginning to address the challenge. A 2023 Facebook post by the NGO World Vision against child marriage attracted over 2,800 reactions, prompting village women and leaders to establish solidarity funds to keep girls at school. As a result of this mobilization in Diondori, a village in the rural commune of Socoura in the Mopti Region, the committee managed to prevent 38 child marriages in 2024. This community-led initiative is part of a growing movement among Malian villages leading the fight against child marriage. Mariam Camara, the president of Diondori’s community protection committee, explained: We are currently helping four girls from the village with educational supply kits. We act as mediators when we learn that a family wants to marry their daughter. Keeping girls at school can shield them from many problems ahead. Among the girls shielded by this mobilization is 14-year-old student Koumbel B, who had been promised in marriage. Her account illustrates the real difference such local initiatives can make. She said: Some months ago, I was to be forced into marriage. I was scared because it meant saying goodbye to school and my dreams. But the committee intervened. They spoke to my family and explained how important school was. They are still helping me with school supplies and today I’m still at school. My dream is to become a nurse. I want to say to all the girls in my situation: don’t give up hope. Schools can change our lives. For many other girls, the fight is still difficult, and its outcome may prove less favorable. Mariam Camara added: We want our girls to go to school, for them to become doctors, lawyers or teachers. The conversations began among women during tontines [the informal savings groups common across West Africa], then extended to their husbands. Today, even some religious leaders are lending their support. The committee is usually present on the ground at sociocultural ceremonies, raising awareness about the harms of child marriage. From legislation to application Beyond local initiatives, Mali has ratified several texts safeguarding children’s rights, but its Family Code, under Article 281, continues to permit marriages below the age of 18 with the consent of parents or a judge. Such exceptions, at odds with international norms, are frequently upheld by local traditions. Organizations such as Wildaf Mali, AJM, and UNICEF are calling for reform to abolish all exceptions to the legal age of marriage, setting it strictly at 18. Working with civil society, Malian authorities are restating their commitment to tackling the problem of child marriage. On taking office, Diarra Djeneba Sanogo, Minister for the Promotion of Women, Children, and Families, reaffirmed, on November 27, 2024, her commitment to defending children’s rights. The movement now extends beyond the villages, reaching towns such as Mopti, with more than 330,000 inhabitants (2024), Bandiagara, 679 kilometres (420 miles) east of Bamako, with over 26,000 residents, and Koro, with a population of 25,000. On Facebook, Wildaf Mali posted a message on December 4, 2024 denouncing child marriage (translation below): Child marriage is a form of gender-based violence and a violation of our girls’ human rights. If we truly love them, let’s say NO to marrying our children. #NoExcuse #StopChildMarriage #NoToForcedMarriage #EducationNotMarriage A user’s comment under the post shows just how sensitive the subject is. He posted: The time has come to call out this practice, though different sections of society need to be engaged in the process, such as religious and customary leaders. If I speak too openly, my account risks being restricted. Younoussa Dama, local head of the Koro office for the Promotion of Women, Children and Families, who has noted progress in community engagement, explained: It is the people themselves who must carry this fight. They are beginning to understand, and community discourse is often more influential than the law itself. The example of young Koumbel, supported by the Diondiori committee, and the voices of youth activists like Bambi Keita, show that change comes from those most directly concerned and is already under way, driven by those who refuse to remain silent. This article was written as part of the Impact West Africa Fellowship Programme of Aspen Global Innovators. — Previously Published on globalvoices.org with Creative Commons License *** Does dating ever feel challenging, awkward or frustrating? Turn Your Dating Life into a WOW! with our new classes and live coaching. Click here for more info or to buy with special launch pricing! *** On Substack? Follow us there for more great dating and relationships content. Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo Credit: iStock The post Mali’s Rural Communities Mobilize Against Child Marriage in Defense of Girls’ Futures appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

— The medical field has been the poster child for the evolution of technology and the onward march of progress, delivering new treatments and cures for various conditions with every passing year. Diagnoses that mere decades ago were considered terminal, or at least incurable and chronic, have been rendered weak and transient before the advance of human medicine, and with the rate of technological advance showing no signs of stopping, there’s no reason to believe that trend will stop. Whether it’s new vaccines, novel treatment vectors for chronic illnesses, or new insights into how the body functions, the future of healthcare seems full of possibilities. To Dr. Stephen Laga MD, that bright future includes potential developments in surgical medicine. As an experienced and distinguished cardiothoracic surgeon with expertise in both general and cardiovascular surgery, few medical practitioners have a better grasp of and idea of the future of the field. Dr. Laga is known for blending an individualized, patient-centered approach to medicine with evidence-based and data-driven care options, and new technologies and trends promise impactful new options for patients in need. “The life-changing impact of our work drives me,” Dr. Laga says. “The thrill of surgical innovation, and the responsibility to continue the legacy of excellence passed down from mentors like Dr. Michael DeBakey, are a privilege to experience.” The Chrome Future of Surgery Surgery of all kinds has become more precise and less invasive over the years as tools and procedures have evolved to be more efficient, targeted, and effective. Dr. Stephen Laga expects that trend to continue, and considering the tenor of new technological developments, he expects future innovations to come shiny and chrome. He feels that new developments in robotics and AI present unique opportunities for assistive technology in a surgical environment, which will both aid and modify his role in the hospital. “I see cardiothoracic surgery evolving toward more hybrid, minimally invasive, and robotic-assisted interventions,” Dr. Laga explains. “My role will be to lead by example—evaluating innovations rigorously while maintaining safety and patient-centered care, helping shape guidelines, and teaching the next generation of surgeons.” Of particular note in his own field of cardiothoracic surgery, Dr. Laga is excited about emerging trends like the growing prominence of transcatheter interventions and expanding robotic and transcatheter valve platforms. Enhanced imaging technology and data-driven decision-making paradigms continue to evolve at a rapid clip, contributing to the advent of robot-assisted surgeries, hybrid procedures, and precision medicine. Dr. Laga is contributing to the development of his field with his own research and development. “Exploring applications in complex valve pathology—such as hybrid coronary–atrial fibrillation surgery—and refining minimally invasive strategies are top of my agenda,” he says. “My current objectives focus on advancing minimally invasive and transcatheter procedures—especially TAVR and complex valve repairs—within Froedtert South Medical Group. I plan to accomplish this by integrating cutting-edge techniques, mentoring emerging surgeons, and fostering collaboration with multidisciplinary teams to continuously improve patient outcomes.” The future is sure to come with plenty of challenges, both institutional and technological. For each new exciting trend and technology, Dr. Laga anticipates challenges balancing their adoption with patient safety and ensuring equitable patient access. Institutional inertia is also a likely concern, as change invites risk even in the face of great potential gain. He plans to mitigate these concerns with rigorous evaluation, clear communication with stakeholders, and by seeking out grants and other institutional support. Dr. Laga says, “I treat every challenge like a case to be studied. Whether it’s surgical complications, administrative hurdles, or leadership conflicts, I analyze them to identify areas for improvement. Challenges are diagnostic—they reveal where systems, skills, or support need refinement.” Keeping Resilient and Adaptable In the wake of these trends and technologies, it’s important for professionals to keep up-to-date and adaptable if they’re going to remain successful. For a medical professional, continuous education and learning are mandatory if they’re to continue giving patients the best possible care. In a hospital environment, where conditions can change dramatically from minute to minute, such professionals need to also be able to push through hardship and put the patient first. Dr. Stephen Laga strives to keep his skills sharp, knowledge up-to-date, and maintain a resilient mindset. He continuously studies and integrates evidence-based innovations, stays connected with research, and consults colleagues across relevant fields to keep abreast of new developments. More interpersonally, he tutors and mentors young surgeons to pass on his patient-centered practices and advocacy to the next generation. As for keeping his cool in challenging situations and enduring transitional uncertainty, it’s all about keeping the right mindset. “Resilience comes from understanding that failure is not the end—it’s a necessary part of a demanding profession like cardiothoracic surgery,” Dr. Laga explains. “My training, both in the operating room and through military service, taught me to remain calm, assess the situation clearly, and act decisively even under immense pressure.” Career Impact And Legacy While his decades-long career as a surgeon and medical provider is far from over, Dr. Stephen Laga is keenly aware of the impact of his work and the legacy he hopes to leave behind, both with his patients and his peers. As technology continues to change the shape of medicine as a whole and surgery in specific, he thinks it’s important to ground his work in his responsibility toward his patients and the impact his work has on them. His work changes lives for the better, and that legacy is something he hopes will be an example to future surgeons in his field. “I aspire to be remembered as a surgeon who combined technical excellence with patient-centered compassion—someone who brought innovative practices into routine care and inspired future surgeons to uphold the highest standards,” Dr. Laga says. “I always return to the reason I pursued a career in medicine—to help others and solve complex problems. My focus is sharpened by knowing every action I take can profoundly impact someone’s life.” Dr. Stephen Laga’s vision for the future of his field is a hopeful and forward-thinking one, and he’s planning on bringing it into the present the best way he knows how: patient-centered care and data-driven decision-making that focuses on evidence-based treatments and patient safety. Dr. Laga sets clear procedural benchmarks for progress toward that vision—for example, successful hybrid surgeries—and ties them to outcomes, training milestones, and peer-reviewed data. Those benchmarks and data points are then regularly reviewed with his surgical team and institutional leaders to ensure that the hospital is on track for success, and his own vision for the future is in reach. — This content is brought to you by Andrea Mario Photo provided by the author. The post Dr. Stephen Laga, MD, Anticipates An Exciting Future For Surgical Medicine appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

By Liza Barros-Lane, University of Houston-Downtown The July 4 floods in Kerr County, Texas, sent shockwaves across the country. Now that most of the victims’ burials are over, the weight of grief is just beginning for loved ones left behind. It’s the daily devastation of an upended world where absence is glaringly present, nothing feels familiar, and life is paused in dizzying stillness. I know this pain intimately. I’m a grief researcher, social work professor and widow. I lost my husband, Brent, in a drowning accident when I was 36. He went missing two days before his body was found. Brent was a psychologist who specialized in grief, and we were trained to support others through suffering. Yet nothing could prepare me for my own loss. Research and personal experience have shown me that profound loss disrupts the nervous system, sparking intense emotional swings and unleashing a cascade of physical symptoms. This kind of pain can make ordinary moments feel unbearable, so learning how to manage it is essential to surviving early grief. Thankfully, there are evidence-based tools to help people get through the rawest phases of loss. Why early grief feels so disorienting Losing someone central to your daily life unravels the routines that once anchored you. Traumatic losses, the kind that arrive suddenly, violently or in ways that feel horrifying, carry a different kind of weight: the anguish of how the person died, the unanswered questions and the shock of having no time to prepare or say goodbye. Everyday acts, like eating or going to bed, can highlight the absence and trigger both grief and dread. These moments reveal that grief is a whole-being experience. It affects not just our emotions, but also our bodies, thoughts, routines and sense of safety in the world. Emotionally, grief can be chaotic. Emotions swing unpredictably, from sobs one moment to numbness the next. Mental health professionals call this emotional dysregulation, which includes feeling out of touch with emotions, reacting too little or too much, getting stuck in one emotional state or struggling to shift perspective. Cognitively, focus feels impossible and memory lapses increase. Even knowing the loved one is gone, the brain scans for the person, expecting their voice or text, a natural attachment response that fuels disbelief, yearning and panic. Physically, grief floods the body with stress hormones, leading to insomnia, fatigue, aches, heaviness and chest tightness. After losing someone close, studies suggest a brief increase in mortality risk, often from added strain on the heart, immune system and mental health. Spiritually and existentially, loss can shake your beliefs to the core and make the world feel confusing, hollow and stripped of meaning. Grief research confirms that these intense symptoms are typical for some time, exacerbated after traumatic loss. Finding a new baseline Eventually, most people begin to stabilize. But after traumatic loss, it’s not uncommon for that sense of chaos to linger for months or even years. In the beginning, treat yourself like someone recovering from major surgery: Rest often, move slowly and protect your energy. Initially, you may only be able to manage small, familiar acts, such as brushing your teeth or making your bed, that remind you: I’m still here. That’s OK. Right now, your only job is survival, one manageable step at a time. As you face everyday responsibilities again, allow space for rest. After Brent died, I brought a mat to work to lie down whenever fatigue or emotional weight became unbearable. I didn’t recognize this as pain management then, but that helped me survive the hardest days. According to grief theorists, one of the most important tasks in early grief is learning to manage and bear emotional pain. Mourners must allow themselves to feel the weight of the loss. But pain management isn’t just about sitting with the hurt. It also means knowing when to step away without slipping into avoidance, which can lead to panic, numbness and exhaustion. As Brent used to say, “The goal is to pick it up and put it down.” Taking intentional breaks through distraction or rest can make it possible to return to the grief without being consumed by it. It also involves soothing yourself when the grief waves hit. Five small but powerful ways to face painful moments Here are five simple evidence-based tools designed to make painful moments more bearable for you or a grieving loved one. They won’t erase the pain, but they can quickly offer relief for the raw, jagged edges of early grief. 1. Gentle touch to ease loneliness Place one hand on your chest, stomach or gently on your cheek – wherever you instinctively reach when you’re in pain. Inhale slowly. As you exhale, say softly aloud or in your mind: “This hurts.” Then, “I’m here” or “I’m not alone in this.” Stay for one to two minutes, or as long as feels comfortable. Why it helps: Grief often leaves you touch-starved, aching for physical connection. Soothing self-touch, a self-compassion practice, activates the vagus nerve, which helps regulate heart rate, breathing and the body’s calming response after stress. This gesture offers warmth and grounding, reducing the isolation of heartache. 2. Riding the wave When grief surges, set a timer for two to five minutes. Stay with the emotion. Breathe. Observe it without judgment. If it’s too much, distract yourself briefly, such as by counting backward, then return to the feeling and notice how it may have shifted. Why it helps: Emotions rise like waves. This skill helps you stay present during emotional surges without panicking, and it helps you learn that emotional surges peak and pass without destroying you. It draws from Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, an evidence-based treatment for people experiencing intense emotional dysregulation. 3. Soothing with soft textures Wrap yourself in a soft blanket. Hold a stuffed animal. Or stroke your pet’s fur. Focus on the texture for two to five minutes. Breathe slowly. Why it helps: Softness signals safety to your nervous system. It gives comfort when pain is too raw for words. 4. Cooling down overwhelm Therapists often teach a set of DBT skills called TIPP to help people manage emotional overwhelm during crises like grief. TIPP stands for: Temperature: Use cold, such as holding ice or applying cold water to the face, to trigger a calming response. Intense exercise: Engage in short bursts of movement to release tension. Paced breathing: Breathe in slow, controlled breaths to reduce arousal. Inhale slowly for two to four seconds, then exhale for four to six seconds. Progressive muscle relaxation: Tense and release individual muscle groups to ease stress. Why it helps: During grief, the nervous system can swing between high-arousal states, like panic and racing heart, to low-arousal states such as numbness and sadness. Individual responses vary, but cold exposure can help calm a racing heart in moments of overwhelm, while pacing breathing or muscle relaxation soothes numbness and sadness. 5. Rating your pain Rate your pain from 1 to 10. Then ask, “Why is it a 7, not a 10?” Or “When was it even slightly better?” Write down what helped. Why it helps: Spotting even slight relief builds hope. It reminds you that the pain isn’t constant, and that small moments of relief are real and meaningful. Even with these tools, there will still be moments that feel unbearable, when the future seems unreachable and dark. In those moments, remind yourself that you don’t have to move forward now. This simple reminder helped me in the moments I felt completely panicked; when I couldn’t see how I’d survive the next hour, much less the future. Tell yourself: Just survive this moment. Then the next. Lean on friends, counselors or hotlines like the Disaster Distress Hotline (1-800-985-5990) or the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (988). If deep emotional pain continues to overwhelm you, seek professional help. With support and care, you’ll begin to adapt to this changed world. Over time, the pain can soften, even if it never fully leaves, and you may find yourself slowly rebuilding a life shaped by grief, love and the courage to keep going. Liza Barros-Lane, Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of Houston-Downtown This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. — Previously Published on theconversation.com with Creative Commons License *** Does dating ever feel challenging, awkward or frustrating? Turn Your Dating Life into a WOW! with our new classes and live coaching. Click here for more info or to buy with special launch pricing! *** On Substack? Follow us there for more great dating and relationships content. Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo credit: iStock The post Grief Feels Unbearable, Disorienting and Chaotic – A Grief Researcher and Widow Shares Evidence-Based Ways To Face the Early Days of Loss appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

— Transformative generative AI enables businesses to generate new products, content, or ideas that were previously non-existent. Thanks to this technology, businesses can react faster to market changes by fostering innovation and reducing solution costs. This is transformation, rather than simple automation of processes-that opens up new business horizons! Generative AI consulting services assist with identifying the underlying application of this technology and adapting it to the specific needs of the client in order to create individual strategies. These are consultants who work together with teams to design innovative products and services that will help them keep their competitive edge. So, if you would like to have a glimpse into how generative AI consulting services can transform your business, keep reading! What is Generative AI, and how does it work? Generative AI is a branch of artificial intelligence that focuses on generating new data, new content, or new solutions on the basis of existing ones. What distinguishes this from other artificial intelligences is that it does not merely recognize or classify information, but actively generates something new-either new products or new ideas. Generative AI is founded upon the capability of learning from an enormous amount of data, whereby systems derive new solutions or products according to a given specification or idea. This feature, therefore, helps with automating some mundane tasks and, conversely, innovating across numerous sectors, from media to technology. Generative AI is based on complicated calculative procedures, including generative neural networks such as GANs and autoencoders. These systems are trained on huge data samples and learn to create new objects or content that resemble as closely as possible those on which they were trained. For example, these neural networks can create text, pictures, music, or new products that appear to have been developed by human hands when in fact they were designed and generated automatically. Generative AI expertise and consulting allow for the creation of new ideas and products to see the trend. AI learns from an enormous repository of data to discover patterns from which it can generate new content designs or solutions. For instance, in product design, generative AI will be able to generate new variants of logos or products adapted to certain market needs. In marketing, these technologies allow one to generate texts for advertising campaigns or to develop personalized marketing strategies concerning different consumer segments. Generative AI can be used in companies that create personalized recommendations. By considering the purchase data and browsing history of a user, AI will suggest new products and services that are best suited to the interests of a particular customer. Another example is using generative AI to create new media products: with the help of some historical data about popular movies and shows, the AI can generate the script or even the movie that will be aligned with popular trends and interests of the viewers. How Generative AI Consulting helps to create innovative products Generative AI Consulting services ensure the effective implementation of generative artificial intelligence technologies, which tremendously reduce the time to market, improve the quality, and reduce the cost of developing a product. Let’s see how generative AI consulting is helping companies to go ahead and make disruptive products. Rapid prototyping One primary advantage of generative AI is the ability to do rapid prototyping. This gives companies an edge in time and resources, which are paramount during the testing period and launching phase of a new product. Here’s how: Automatic generation of concepts: With generative AI, one can make new product variants without having to create each element manually. For instance, AI can generate product design variants that fulfill certain criteria, enabling a team to quickly select the best ones. Experimenting without paying anything: A generative AI system may be used to try out many designs or functionalities without the extra cost of creating physical prototypes or manual development. This works best for startups or for those who have fewer resources to save on time and money. Code generation for rapid prototyping in the IT industry: For IT companies, professional generative AI consulting can assist in the generation of code for test programs or models that speed up the creation of a minimum viable product (MVP) significantly, allowing them to focus more on innovation rather than routine activities like coding and testing. Product testing and development In conjunction with generative AI, the development and testing of products become more efficient and in a faster way. AI can: Generate test cases: AI algorithms are responsible for generating thousands of test cases for products in order to find the weaknesses and improve the functionality on the spot and without human interference. Optimization of results: Implementation of generative AI allows optimal solutions to be reached faster by testing various variants in real time. For example, in software development, one might automatically test code for errors or inefficient processes. Product personalization Generative AI provides companies adapt products to individual customer specifications: Analyzing customer data: AI processes mountains of data on user behavior and offers personalized product options in line with their preferences and needs. Customized recommendations: For instance, in e-commerce, generative AI enables creating a personalized store for every user, offering products best suited to them. Conclusion Generative AI Consulting Services already stand in the way of some business processes while the processes themselves build innovative products, cutting costs, and upscaling efficiencies. Very shortly, this technology, building on its rapid developments, would have a great impact in speeding up the development of products and at the highest levels of personal usage by tailoring/adjusting solutions to fit the exact needs of a particular customer. Each new year brings in improvements for generative AI, enabling a quicker generation-free-facing of new ideas in direct response to market requirements. For businesses, a lot of opportunities are thrown open, such as optimizing production costs, innovating in their products, and gaining increased market adaptability. Investing in Generative AI Consulting Services will be an important investment for companies that desire to remain competitive by working with the cutting-edge technologies and creating new solutions in the least time stroke. The N-iX team enables its clients to implement strategies that lead to enormous competitive advantages and results. — This content is brought to you by Maria Nells Pexels The post How Generative AI Consulting Services Help Companies Create Innovative Products appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

Isn’t this feeling familiar to you? You’re with someone, and you’re probably even living together, you’re talking every day, sharing meals, sharing a bed, but deep down, you feel alone. But, there’s a space between you that no romantic kiss or “I love you” can close. The connection looks fine from the outside, inside, it’s shallow and something’s off. Something’s missing. Wait… Also, have you ever sat next to someone and still, it feels like you’re sitting alone? Like…they’re there, but not really there. Their body shows up. Their heart seems far away. At first, you brush it off. You call it stress, or being tired. But slowly, it hits you. What you thought was love feels more like an exchange. You give some, they give some, as long as the scales are balanced. But the moment something tips? It all starts to crack. So many relationships today feel more like routines than romances. The good morning texts are automatic. The affection feels rehearsed. And the deep conversations that used to stretch into the night? Gone. Replaced by small talk, scrolling, or silence. People say love is supposed to fill you. To lift you. To feel like home. But for a lot of couples, it feels more like an exchange. A silent trade. An emotional contract where affection, attention, and even vulnerability come with unspoken terms and conditions. Love has started to feel…transactional. And it’s not always about money. Sometimes it’s validation. Sometimes it’s an image. Sometimes it’s safety, comfort, status, or healing. But whatever the currency, the emotional math behind the relationship starts to feel like this: “If I’m giving this much… what am I getting in return?” So why is this happening? Why have so many modern relationships become emotional marketplaces, where people trade care for comfort, affection for attention, love for leverage? Here are 7 Signs You’re in an Emotionally Transactional Relationship: 1. You Love for What You Get, Not What You Can Give Let’s be sincere, a lot of people don’t enter relationships out of genuine desire to love and build. They enter because they’re lonely, bored, broke, insecure, or tired of waiting. So they look for someone to fix that. They don’t want love. They want relief, they tell themselves… “I want someone who will spoil me.” “I need a man who can fund my lifestyle.” “I need someone that will make me happy” So, their motive is benefits-driven. They just want to be free. From loneliness. From pressure. From financial stress. So they get into a relationship hoping to feel better, not to be better. And that’s where the trouble starts. Because love isn’t rooted in you, it’s rooted in what you bring to the table and once it benefits dries off, the relationship starts to crack. Once the benefit fades, the attraction does too. 2. Validation Is the New Currency You don’t feel loved, you feel rated. One missed compliment and your mood tanks. They don’t post you for a week and you spiral. They seem distracted and suddenly you’re questioning your value. That’s not a connection. That’s a craving for validation dressed up as romance. And when love becomes a way to feel worthy, not a way to share joy, it starts to feel like a vending machine: Press the right button, get your praise. Miss a beat, get ignored. 3. Social Media Has Turned Love Into a Performance Have you ever noticed how couples will have full-blown arguments in private but still post “my person forever ” on Instagram the next day? We’re performing more than we’re connecting. These days, how relationships look should be more important than how it feels. So if your partner doesn’t help boost your image, or worse, threatens it, you start emotionally withdrawing. You begin to treat them like a failed investment instead of a human being. 4. Unhealed People Expect Their Partners to Save Them Here’s the harsh truth: many people enter relationships as emotional wreckage, expecting their partner to do the heavy lifting. Fix me. Heal me. Complete me. Unfortunately, no one can do that for you. Love isn’t a therapy, when your partner’s job is to constantly soothe your wounds or inner chaos, when this happens the relationship becomes one-sided. A trade-off. And the second they stop meeting that need? You feel abandoned, and they feel used. 5. People Keep Score (Even If They Pretend Not To) Modern love has become a mental spreadsheet. “I gave you an enjoyable sex, but you didn’t compliment me.” “I paid for your dinner, but you didn’t post me.” “I have always stayed loyal, but you weren’t emotionally available.” Every action is tallied. Every kindness expects a return. And when the math doesn’t add up? Resentment creeps in. Love stops flowing. People start withholding. Because in a transactional relationship, the goal isn’t connection, it’s balance. 6. Fear of Being Used Makes People Emotionally Stingy No one wants to be the “fool in love” anymore. So what happens? We enter relationships half-hearted, half-present, half-invested. We withhold vulnerability until we’re sure the other person is “safe.” We ration love like it’s a scarce resource. So we hold back. We wait for them to open up before you open your heart. We wait for them to say “I love you” before we show care. We wait for proof, for safety, for a sign. This makes it hard for real connection to take place. Whereas, someone has to take the lead. 7. You’ve Replaced Intimacy With Exchange Real love is messy and unpredictable. But transactional relationships are clean. Predictable. Measured. They sound like: “I’ll only open up if you open up first.” I’ll give you affection if I feel appreciated.” “I’ll support your dreams if you support mine.” It’s not bad, necessarily. But it’s not love either. It’s an agreement. A deal. A contract. And when love becomes a negotiation, it starts to lose its soul. Final Thought This article is not about pointing a finger at anyone, It’s about seeing the patterns, and being honest about the emotional contracts we’re making without even realizing it. So here’s the question: Are you really loving someone…or are you just trading feelings, hoping to not get shortchanged? Because love, the real kind, isn’t earned or bartered. It’s not a transaction. It’s a choice. A risk. A presence. Now that everyone is keeping score, choosing love freely is considered a radical thing. That’s a transactional relationship — This post was previously published on medium.com. Love relationships? We promise to have a good one with your inbox. Subcribe to get 3x weekly dating and relationship advice. Did you know? We have 8 publications on Medium. Join us there! Hello, Love (relationships) Change Becomes You (Advice) A Parent is Born (Parenting) Equality Includes You (Social Justice) Greener Together (Environment) Shelter Me (Wellness) Modern Identities (Gender, etc.) Co-Existence (World) *** – Photo credit: Strvnge Films On Unsplash The post 7 Signs You’re Not in a Relationship — You’re in a Transaction appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

By Juan Vassallo, Investigate Midwest, Investigate Midwest This story is supported by funding from the Chicago Region Food Systems Fund. Esta historia también está disponible en español aquí. In Beardstown, Illinois, the Cuban couple had spent the past year building a life they were proud of. Their arrival in the U.S. had followed a long and uncertain path: a northbound journey through Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala, followed by seven months in Monterrey, Mexico, as they waited for their appointment with Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Aware of the growing hostility toward immigrants in the U.S., they were determined to enter legally. In Cuba, they barely made ends meet — he worked in maintenance, she worked in a clothing store. But in the rural west central Illinois town, life started to feel promising. They found work last year as forklift operators at DOT Foods, the largest food redistributor in the country. The pay was decent and the benefits generous, and the couple had begun to set aside savings. Then, in June, they were abruptly let go. “We were on the right track,” the husband said in Spanish, seated in the living room of their one-bedroom rental. The couple asked Investigate Midwest not to use their names for fear of deportation. “We were comfortable in our jobs, earning a decent salary. And suddenly everything collapsed — the castle crumbled.” They are among hundreds of immigrants in Beardstown who arrived through humanitarian parole programs that have since been rescinded by the Trump administration, leaving them undocumented and out of work. Many of them were employed at DOT Foods and JBS, the world’s largest meat processor. These workers were part of a workforce that has long sustained both the town’s economy and its key role in the country’s food supply chain. For decades, Beardstown has been a case study in how immigrants have revitalized once-decaying rural towns, particularly in the Midwest. But the Trump administration’s crackdown on both documented and undocumented immigration threatens the stability of communities that have long relied on foreign-born workers. The previous administration’s humanitarian parole initiatives — which allowed individuals to enter the U.S. temporarily to seek safety or escape political persecution — significantly increased the pool of authorized workers. That influx helped major food companies fill staffing gaps and keep operations running during pandemic-era labor shortages. Roughly 2.1 million immigrants power the nation’s food supply chain — planting, harvesting, processing and selling the food that ends up on American tables. So far, there is no evidence that Trump’s immigration agenda has created an “America First” labor market with higher wages to attract U.S.-born workers to slaughterhouses or farm fields. Instead, labor experts say the more likely outcome is an expansion of guestworker programs like H-2A and H-2B — often criticized for enabling exploitation — or a shrinking workforce that leaves remaining workers stretched even thinner. “We’re not seeing any evidence yet of improved conditions for [domestic] workers,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute. “Some employers, especially in certain industries, have been ready to make a push for more H-2A and H-2B visas… They see that the only way they are going to replace that workforce is with these programs.” In Beardstown, it’s unclear how employers like JBS and DOT Foods will address the labor shortage. Neither company responded to requests for comment. Investigate Midwest spoke with dozens of workers, local residents, city officials and immigration advocates to examine how tougher immigration policies, including the rollback of parole programs, are impacting not just the local economy, but also the nation’s food system. Many Beardstown residents requested anonymity, fearing that speaking out could put them at risk of deportation. Just a few steps from the slow-moving waters of the Illinois River, the Western Illinois Dreamers Immigrant Welcome Center sits beside the weathered storefront of a local radio station in downtown Beardstown. Inside, “Know Your Rights” flyers in Spanish line the walls. A staff of three helps connect newly arrived migrants with legal services, food pantries, clothing banks and other local resources. Kate Cruz, who co-directs the center, said her office has heard from many of the recently terminated workers at DOT Foods and JBS. Most are scrambling to find legal pathways to stay in the country and return to work. Some are reaching out in fear. “We have more people coming in or calling who are fearful,” Cruz said. “Or they’re sending family members because they’re afraid that if they leave their homes, they’re going to be deported.” Many of these workers are from Haiti, another country that, like Cuba, was included in the Biden administration’s humanitarian parole program in response to ongoing political and humanitarian crises. Starting in 2021, the Biden administration expanded its use of parole authority, a long-standing legal tool that allows individuals to enter the U.S. temporarily for urgent humanitarian reasons or public benefit. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have used parole for decades. Under Biden, new programs were set up to grant parole to people fleeing crises in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The administration also extended parole to some migrants who scheduled appointments at the border using the CBP One app and met certain requirements after an interview, allowing them to enter legally through official ports — a strategy aimed at tracking arrivals and reducing illegal crossings. “Many people fled their home country because it just simply wasn’t safe for them to stay there anymore,” said Sara Dady, an immigration attorney based in Rockford, Illinois. Haiti, like parts of Central America and Mexico, has also been plagued by gang violence and instability in recent years. Cruz said that at the beginning of the year, JBS hired hundreds of Haitian immigrants, most of whom have now been terminated. They want to stay in Beardstown, Cruz says, because it still feels safer than home despite their fear of deportation. But for the terminated workers, finding a way to remain in the U.S. without risking deportation will look different for everyone — and it means navigating a constantly changing immigration system that can be complex, costly and slow. For example, the Cuban couple hopes to remain in the U.S. under the Cuban Adjustment Act, a 1960s law that allows Cuban nationals to apply for permanent residency after one year of physical presence in the country. They applied with the help of an immigration lawyer they found online. But with both of them out of work, their savings are quickly being depleted by the legal fees, on top of rent and daily expenses. For Elizabeth Amezcua, 39, an immigrant from Mexico, hiring a lawyer is not an option right now. Without the money for legal help, she is left to navigate the system on her own. Amezcua was recently let go from the JBS slaughterhouse, where she worked as a cook in the facility’s cafeteria. The income supported her in Beardstown and helped provide for her son back in Mexico. She entered the U.S. nearly 18 months ago through the CBP One process, like the Cuban couple. She says she was granted parole that allowed her to stay legally for at least one more year. But after the Trump administration began dismantling parole programs — including converting the CBP One app that had allowed Amezcua to enter the country into a “self-deportation app” — she lost her job in June. “I don’t have any family here. I don’t have anyone to help me,” Amezcua said in Spanish. “But God is almighty. And I know He’s going to help all of us who were left without jobs.” On August 1st, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from rapidly deporting immigrants who had been paroled into the country. For nearly two centuries, Beardstown’s economy has been rooted in agriculture, shaped from the start by immigration. In the early 19th century, Dutch immigrants drained the region’s marshlands, transforming it into farmland. By 1834, Beardstown had become a key river port shipping grain, hogs and provisions to downstate markets. With tens of thousands of hogs slaughtered each spring — more than in Chicago — it earned the nickname “Porkopolis,” home to the most extensive pork trade west of Cincinnati. Beardstown’s industrial rise continued into the mid-20th century. In 1967, Oscar Mayer opened a large meatpacking plant, employing over 800 workers, most of them white men from the area. Jobs at the plant were stable, unionized and paid well. The mayor of Beardstown, Tim Harris, remembers graduating from high school and dreaming of working at the Oscar Mayer plant. “It was fairly difficult to get a job there,” said Harris, sitting in his City Hall office across the street from the town square, where speakers play music and ads in Spanish for jobs at JBS. “Unless you really had an in with somebody, a reference, you usually didn’t get a job there.” But in the 1980s, industry consolidation, weakened labor unions and automation led to declining wages. By 1990, meatpacking jobs paid 24% less than the average manufacturing wage. When Oscar Mayer closed its plant in 1987, Beardstown had already lost hundreds of jobs from other factory shutdowns. As families moved away, the town’s future looked bleak. Cargill eventually bought the facility that same year and reopened it under a new model — cutting wages and benefits. But with the new jobs failing to attract the local population, which had dropped from 6,338 in 1980 to 5,270 in 1990, Cargill had to look elsewhere to build its workforce. The company turned to immigrant labor, first from Mexico and later from other countries. The shift transformed the plant’s workforce from nearly all-white to one with dozens of nationalities and languages; Beardstown went from a declining town, with shuttered storefronts and an aging population, into a multicultural hub. But this transformation was not without tension. In 1995, just 45 miles north of Beardstown, the Ku Klux Klan held a rally to protest the hiring of immigrants at the Cargill plant. Thirty years later, Beardstown’s nearly 6,000 residents make up a far more integrated community, and Mayor Harris welcomes newcomers. “We need workers. The whole country does,” Harris said. Beardstown’s story mirrors a broader transformation that has swept through the rural Midwest over the past four decades. Immigration, global corporate consolidation, and the relentless drive for efficiency have reshaped the meat industry and the communities built around it. The Beardstown slaughterhouse changed hands again in 2015, when it was purchased by JBS, a Brazilian conglomerate that is now the world’s largest meat company. The plant, which processed 7,000 hogs a day during the Oscar Mayer era, now slaughters over 20,000. According to USDA data, pork production in the U.S. increased by over 75% between 1980 and 2020, now topping 28 billion pounds annually. Over the same period, the number of plants fell and line speeds accelerated. Modern meat processing plants can slaughter over 1,100 hogs per hour. Industry profits have soared alongside this productivity boom, especially in recent years. The top meatpacking companies — including JBS and Tyson Foods — more than doubled their profit margins during the pandemic. However, the industry’s rapid growth and increasing profits have not always translated into improved working conditions for its frontline workers. Real wages have decreased since the 1980s and injuries remain common today. And now, under a Trump administration that benefited from industry donations, thousands of these workers are at risk of deportation. JBS subsidiary Pilgrim’s Pride, the second-largest poultry processor in the U.S, made a $5 million donation to Trump’s Inaugural Committee — the largest single contribution, far exceeding the $1 million given by corporations like Meta and Amazon. Some critics argue that JBS’s political donations and aggressive lobbying helped clear the way for its recent listing on the New York Stock Exchange, despite a controversial track record that includes corruption and bribery scandals in Brazil. In the U.S., the company’s record has also drawn scrutiny. During the early months of the pandemic, JBS kept its plants open without proper safety measures, and they quickly became COVID-19 hotspots. At its Greeley, Colorado, plant, nearly 300 workers were infected and six died. By July 2020, the plant accounted for 65% of all COVID-19 cases in Colorado. Most of the affected workers were older immigrants. JBS did not respond to requests for an interview or comments on its political contributions, COVID-19 safety protocols, and the recent termination of immigrant workers on humanitarian parole. Neither JBS nor other major meat companies and industry groups have publicly opposed Trump’s immigration policies. However, the North American Meat Institute, a powerful trade group, has formally urged the administration to expand the H-2A visa program — originally intended for seasonal farmworkers — to include meat and poultry processors. “You’ve seen some action in Congress and the Appropriations Committee,” said Costa, with the Economic Policy Institute. “There are amendments being considered that would change the rules in the work visa program so that they’d apply for additional industries. So I do think that is going to be the main strategy.” About 740,000 immigrants on humanitarian parole were part of the U.S workforce between 2021 and 2024, according to FWD.us, a bipartisan immigration advocacy group. Of those, 30,000 worked in agriculture and 90,000 in manufacturing, including meatpacking and food processing. The organization projects that eliminating their work authorization, alongside other immigration policy changes, could increase prices for food, beverages and tobacco by 14.5% between 2024 and 2028. But the economic impact is only part of the story. In places like Beardstown, the new immigration policies have stoked anxiety and discouraged civic life. The annual celebration for Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16, which draws hundreds to Beardstown’s town square with music, food and costume contests, has been cancelled. Even residents with visas or green cards say they’re hesitant to leave their homes. While fears of deportation have increased under the Trump administration, for many immigrants, that fear is nothing new. Many advocates argue the system has been broken for decades: the Obama administration deported more immigrants than any U.S. president, and the largest workplace immigration raid in the country’s history happened under President George W. Bush at a meatpacking plant in Iowa. Martin Pineda has lived through these shifting policies. A native of Mexico, Pineda spent years working in strawberry fields in California and later at a Missouri slaughterhouse. When that plant closed, he moved to Beardstown to work at the slaughterhouse there — then owned by Cargill — and stayed for more than a decade. He left in 2007, after an immigration raid during the Bush administration led to the arrest of 62 undocumented night-shift workers and the company began enforcing stricter documentation checks. Pineda, who has a wife and three children, is outspoken in support of immigrant rights. In 2023, he traveled to Washington, D.C. to advocate on behalf of undocumented workers. “We are contributing heavily to the economy and we don’t get any recognition,” Pineda said. “That’s what makes me sad about this country. In my case, I’ve worked more than 30 years, and I don’t have Social Security to retire.” In recent months, ICE agents have detained dozens of migrants in Chicago — at court appearances, during mandatory check-ins and in a high-profile South Loop operation that swept up at least 10 people. While there have been no confirmed reports of ICE activity in Beardstown or at the JBS plant, fear still lingers. Some residents are reluctant to go outside, scared by false rumors spreading quickly on Facebook and WhatsApp. But Pineda refuses to live in the shadows. Each summer, he organizes a youth soccer tournament that brings together over 280 children from different ethnic backgrounds. It’s become a much-anticipated event, held at the town’s soccer fields — owned by JBS — against a backdrop of cornfields. Pineda sees the tournament as more than just a game. It’s a show of resilience in a time of fear, and a reminder that immigrants contribute to a community in ways that go far beyond labor. “It’s a lot of work — but I enjoy it. I like doing something productive,” said Pineda about the tournament. “This is something I wish I could have done in my own country, but I couldn’t. So I’m doing it here, with the children in my community, in this town. Most of them are Latino, but we also have kids from other backgrounds — African, white. And like I said, I enjoy it. I’m a volunteer.” This article first appeared on Investigate Midwest and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. — Investigate Midwest is an independent, nonprofit newsroom. Our mission is to serve the public interest by exposing dangerous and costly practices of influential agricultural corporations and institutions through in-depth and data-driven investigative journalism.Visit us online at www.investigatemidwest.org *** Does dating ever feel challenging, awkward or frustrating? Turn Your Dating Life into a WOW! with our new classes and live coaching. Click here for more info or to buy with special launch pricing! *** On Substack? Follow us there for more great dating and relationships content. Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo credit: A family watches a youth soccer game in Beardstown, a rural meatpacking town in west central Illinois. photo by Ben Felder, Investigate Midwest The post Immigrants Helped Save This Illinois Meatpacking Town. Trump Cut Hundreds from Its Workforce. appeared first on The Good Men Project. 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By Jaden Edison, The Texas Tribune “Texas’ new parental consent law leaves school nurses confused about which services they can provide to students” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. A new state law requiring schools to obtain parental consent before administering health care services to students has triggered confusion among campus nurses who worry they could face punishment for routine acts like offering bandages or handing out ice packs. The confusion is in response to Senate Bill 12, a sweeping law banning diversity, equity and inclusion practices; instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity; and LGBTQ+ student clubs. SB 12 comes as part of a larger effort by Texas Republicans to shape how public schools engage with students and their families on topics like race, racism, gender and sex. Incorporated into the law are what Republican lawmakers call “parental rights” provisions, which include a requirement for Texas schools to get written approval from parents before offering routine health assistance and medication or conducting medical procedures. School districts are required to take disciplinary action against any employees who provide such services without consent. In response, enforcement of the legislation has varied widely across the state’s more than 1,200 school districts. Some have interpreted the law as still allowing for regular care, like first-aid treatment and injury evaluation. Others have indicated they will not assess or treat a student except in life-threatening emergencies. “When you write such a strict enforcement mechanism into a law, people are going to take notice,” said Becca Harkleroad, executive director of the Texas School Nurses Organization and certified school nurse. “Now you’ve got nurses who are questioning if they can put a basket of Band-Aids on their countertop.” Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Allen, and Sen. Brandon Creighton, the Conroe Republican chair of the Senate education committee, the authors of SB 12, sent a letter on Thursday to Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, calling on his agency to “provide clear and consistent guidance” to schools across the state. “While we expect our educators to comply with the clear provisions of the bill, we also expect them not to suspend common sense when it comes to providing basic care for the children at their schools,” Leach wrote in a social media post. Neither Leach nor Creighton responded to requests for comment from The Texas Tribune. The Texas Education Agency said in a statement that it is revising its guidance to ensure schools receive clear direction. Updated information will go out early next week, said Jake Kobersky, the agency’s spokesperson. As SB 12 made its way through the legislative process earlier this year, nurses warned lawmakers that without more specificity, the bill could have unintended consequences. Harkleroad, the school nurse organization’s executive director, said she recommended the law require consent for only the activities the Legislature found most “questionable or objectionable.” But lawmakers’ response over the course of this year’s regular legislative session was that parents have the right to know exactly what’s happening to their kids in school. After the law passed and as the 2025-26 school year got closer, some districts began preparing their consent policies. Others awaited guidance from the Texas Association of School Boards and state education officials, the latter of which did not arrive in their inboxes until four days before the law took effect on Sept. 1. The education agency’s guidance noted that parents retain the right to make medical decisions for their children and that consent was necessary prior to schools providing medical or health assistance, unless it is for life-saving care. Implementation has been inconsistent. Some district officials provided robust consent forms to families, detailing the various services school nurses may provide students and giving them the option to opt in or out of each one. Others, school nurses told the Tribune, took an all-or-nothing approach. “When you choose ‘no’ at that point, then we have to explain to the parent, ‘you now know that anytime I see your child, I will have to call you,’ then further making parents more upset, because they don’t understand why you can do this but you can’t do that,” said Diana Rios-Rodriguez, board president of the Texas School Nurses Organization and director of health and wellness for the Manor Independent School District, near Austin. Nurses told the Tribune the confusion can be attributed to state lawmakers not listening to the school professionals who know exactly how their campuses function. And the solution may not be as simple as people think. “They want us to use common sense. Of course, we’re happy to use common sense,” said Hollie Smith, president-elect of the nurses organization and director of health services at North Texas’ Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD. “But the question always is, is my license in jeopardy? And that’s where a lot of, I think, our nurses are trying to practice from right now and feeling really uneasy.” Disclosure: Texas Association of School Boards has been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin! We bring together Texas’ most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you. Get tickets now and join us this November. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase. This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/05/texas-school-nurses-students-parental-consent/. The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org. — The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. *** Does dating ever feel challenging, awkward or frustrating? Turn Your Dating Life into a WOW! with our new classes and live coaching. Click here for more info or to buy with special launch pricing! *** On Substack? Follow us there for more great dating and relationships content. Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo: A new parental consent law has created confusion over the health care services schools can provide to students. Credit: John Oliva/Corpus Christi Caller-Times/USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS The post Texas’ New Parental Consent Law Leaves School Nurses Confused About Which Services They Can Provide to Students appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

— In the digital age, staying connected with friends, family, or even strangers is easier than ever before. Thanks to free video chat services, you can instantly talk face-to-face, no matter where you are in the world. Whether you’re looking for a casual conversation with a loved one or an exciting stranger cam chat experience, free video chat is the go-to solution. But with so many platforms to choose from, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about free video chat – from the best platforms to how you can make the most out of your video calling experience. Why Free Video Chat is Changing the Way We Communicate The popularity of free video chat has skyrocketed in recent years, and for good reason. Video calls offer a much more personal experience than text or voice calls, allowing you to connect on a deeper level. It’s no wonder that so many people prefer using free video chat services for everything from casual conversations to virtual meetings. One of the biggest reasons video chat has become so popular is the ease of use. Most platforms are accessible via smartphone, tablet, or computer, meaning that you can stay in touch no matter what device you’re using. Additionally, many platforms have integrated fun features like virtual backgrounds, filters, and even games, making the experience more interactive and enjoyable. How to Make the Most of Free Video Chat Features Using a free video chat service is only the beginning; there are several ways to enhance your experience and make the most of the features these apps offer. For example, many platforms offer special filters and effects to make your calls more entertaining. You can also use virtual backgrounds to enhance your surroundings or set the tone of your conversation. For those who like to have a bit more privacy, many video chat apps allow you to blur your background or use a completely custom backdrop. This can be especially useful for professional meetings or when you’re in a less-than-ideal setting. Staying Safe While Using Free Video Chat Apps While free video chat apps provide a great way to stay connected, it’s important to remember that not everyone online has good intentions. If you’re using a stranger cam chat or meeting new people, it’s essential to stay safe and protect your privacy. Here are some tips to keep in mind while using free video chat apps: Limit the personal information you share: Avoid disclosing personal details such as your address, full name, or financial information. Use apps with good security features: Ensure the video chat platform you’re using offers end-to-end encryption to protect your conversations. Report inappropriate behavior: Most video chat platforms have tools for reporting users who engage in inappropriate or harmful behavior. Don’t hesitate to use these features if necessary. Set clear boundaries: If you’re chatting with strangers, be clear about what you’re comfortable with and stop the conversation if it makes you uncomfortable. Free Video Chat in Business and Remote Work In addition to socializing and connecting with friends, free video chat is also an essential tool for business professionals and remote workers. With the rise of remote work, free video chat platforms have become an integral part of daily communication for teams, clients, and collaborators. For example, Zoom and Google Meet are ideal for holding virtual meetings, brainstorming sessions, and even webinars. These platforms allow for real-time communication, which is essential for collaboration, decision-making, and ensuring projects move forward. If you’re curious about other trends, like how digital content affects the way we connect, you might find the topic of celebrity height an interesting one to explore in relation to virtual identity. The Future of Free Video Chat Looking ahead, free video chat will continue to evolve. With advancements in artificial intelligence and augmented reality, we may see even more interactive and immersive experiences in the future. Imagine being able to communicate with someone in real-time while interacting in a 3D environment or using gesture controls to navigate conversations. As internet speeds improve and mobile data becomes more accessible globally, free video chat will likely become more seamless and integrated into our daily lives. Whether for work, socializing, or entertainment, the possibilities for how we connect with others are endless. In the end, free video chat is more than just a way to talk to someone; it’s a gateway to stronger connections, better collaboration, and a more interactive world. Whether you’re chatting with friends, attending virtual meetings, or having a fun stranger cam chat, there’s a platform out there for everyone. — This content is brought to you by Alexis Joey iStockPhoto The post The Ultimate Guide to Free Video Chat: Connect with Anyone, Anytime appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

A recent conversation was part coaching, part advice. I asked, “Which part was most energizing?” He said, “When you were coaching.” It’s humbling to know people enjoy their own thoughts more than mine. How to help people think for themselves: Input is distracting when situations call for self-reflection. Guiding someone to discover their own thinking builds confidence and enthusiasm. Ask questions that begin with “what” or “how.” Resist the urge to explain. Connect to identity. “What do people like you do in this kind of situation?” Bring values to the conversation. “What decision will make you feel consistent with your values?” Or “What values are at play in this situation?” Make room for silence. Explain what you see and hear them saying, so they can hear their own ideas. Invite elaboration by saying, “Tell me more,” or “What else?” Encourage journaling. Focus on the process. Let go of perfect solutions. When to offer advice: Coaching builds ownership. Good advice still plays a role. The voice of experience matters most when: Time is short. Action is urgent. Inexperience increases the danger of failure. Be a sought-after adviser: Challenge or confirm direction. Inspire confidence. Expose blind spots. Calm strong emotion. Clarify issues. Protect from unnecessary calamity. Propel people forward. 4 Principles: Keep these principles in mind. #1. Don’t rescue. #2. Stay curious longer. #3. Relax your enthusiasm to share your wisdom. #4. Listen deeply. Illustration: Suppose you’re helping someone prep for their first presentation. Begin with coaching: “Think about the best presentations you’ve seen. What stood out about the presenter? The content? Why did it work?” Once they’ve explored their ideas, say: “I’ve given great and terrible presentations. Want a few tips that might help?” Power Tip: Your questions matter more than your answers. How do you decide when to coach and when to give advice? What advice-giving tip do you have? Exposing God-Like Advisers The Art of Giving and Receiving Advice HBR — Previously Published on leadershipfreak with Creative Commons License *** Does dating ever feel challenging, awkward or frustrating? Turn Your Dating Life into a WOW! with our new classes and live coaching. Click here for more info or to buy with special launch pricing! *** Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. On Substack? Connect with us there. — Photo credit: unsplash The post Why Your Advice Doesn’t Work appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

— This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal or business advice. As a director, keeping your company trading is usually one of your top priorities, and the thought of closing your company is likely the last thing on your mind. While it may seem counterintuitive, you should consider when closing your company would be in its best interest. This may be because it has a level of debt that it can’t realistically afford to repay, or if your company is solvent and you want to close it due to personal reasons. What are your company’s prospects? The economic landscape is constantly changing, sometimes affecting whether a company will be viable going forward. While you might want to endure and keep trading despite these odds, you may wish to consider closing the company in the following circumstances: Your industry has undergone a significant change, which means that your company is no longer viable. There’s no market for your company if you were to try to sell it. You would prefer to seek employment elsewhere or pivot to a new industry, you could dissolve your company and start afresh. The company has come to the end of its useful life. A change in your circumstances means you don’t want to run the company anymore. You wish to retire from being a director and have no line of succession, or don’t want to sell the company. The company is undergoing a merger with another company. The company is still active at Companies House but has stopped trading. If any of the above are true, you could dissolve the company, which is low-cost and suitable for companies with little in the way of assets. That said, before proceeding with a dissolution, you should ensure that: The company has no legal action filed against it. You haven’t traded through the company for at least three months. The company has enough to settle all employment liabilities: PAYE Holiday pay. National Insurance Contributions. Outstanding wages. Redundancy pay. The company has filed all statutory returns to the tax office and the register of companies. You have closed the company’s bank accounts. However, if the company has more than £25k in cash and assets, you may be eligible to close the company through a Members Voluntary Liquidation (MVL). This process is a solvent liquidation and can be more efficient than a dissolution while providing additional benefits. The process has other advantages, but also considerations you should factor in before deciding whether it is the best way forward. Can your company pay its debts? If your company is struggling to repay its liabilities as and when they fall due, you could consider closing it through an insolvent Creditors Voluntary Liquidation (CVL). Designed for companies that cannot repay their debts and are struggling with creditor pressure, a CVL will see the insolvent company closed through a formal insolvency procedure, allowing you to walk away from it and its debts, reducing the risk of wrongful trading accusations and further legal action. Previous rescue attempts have failed As a director, you should always be aware of your company’s solvent position. If you become aware that your company is insolvent, you should take immediate action to remedy the situation. Depending on the level of the company’s debts and the number of creditors, you could start with the intent of rescuing it, with the business continuing after you complete the process. Based on those previously mentioned factors, this isn’t always feasible. The level of debt may be too high, or the company could have deeper-rooted issues that repayment won’t resolve. If your attempts at rescuing the company have failed, closure may be the more suitable option. If you’re unsure about your options or whether your company is insolvent, you should speak to an insolvency practitioner. These licensed and regulated professionals will assess your company’s circumstances and provide impartial and confidential advice on the best way forward. Summary While closing your company can seem like shooting yourself in the foot, there are situations in which closing might be the best option. If the company has few prospects for the future, either due to a change in the market or in your personal circumstances, you may wish to close it. Depending on your company’s situation, this could be through dissolution or entering a solvent liquidation. If your company is insolvent, your creditors could pressure you to repay. Closing the company through a formal liquidation process will help draw a line under its debts and allow you to walk away. Speak to a licensed insolvency practitioner to further discuss your options and find the best way forward for your company. — This content is brought to you by Jonathan Simmons iStockPhoto The post Is It Ever a Good Idea to Close Your Company? appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

By Nicole Fawcett A study explains why smokers have a higher chance of developing pancreatic cancer and why they tend to have worse outcomes than nonsmokers. Researchers from the University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center found a specific cell that responds to environmental toxins such as those found in cigarettes. When the toxins bind to the cells, it leads to release of a protein, interleukin-22, causing tumors to grow aggressively in mice with pancreatic cancer. Digging deeper led the team to identify a super-suppressive type of immune cell that fuels this response while also stopping the immune system from fighting tumor growth. The study is published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Researchers started by giving a chemical found in cigarettes and other environmental toxins to mice that had pancreatic tumors. They were looking to see how that would impact Interleukin-22, or IL22. Previous work showed IL22 plays a role in the pancreatic tumor microenvironment. A specialized receptor found on IL22 producing cells binds to chemicals, not natural proteins in the body, so it was a logical first step to see how the chemical carcinogen would impact IL22. “It dramatically changed the way the tumors behave. They grew much bigger, they metastasized throughout the body. It was really quite dramatic,” said senior study author Timothy L. Frankel, M.D., co-director of the Rogel and Blondy Center for Pancreatic Cancer and Maud T. Lane Professor of Surgical Oncology at Michigan Medicine. Next, they started digging into what mechanism was leading to this enhanced tumor growth. They confirmed that in mice with no immune system, chemical toxins did not cause tumor growth, suggesting that the carcinogen was functioning within the immune system. From there, they uncovered a role for IL22 producing T-regulatory immune cells, a type of cell that’s been previously implicated in autoimmune disorders but not in pancreatic cancer. “These T-regulatory cells have the ability to both make IL22 but also massively suppress any anti-tumor immunity. It’s a two-pronged attack. When we eliminated all the Treg cells from these mice, we reversed the entire ability of the cigarette chemical to let the tumor grow,” Frankel said. They confirmed their results in human immune cells and also in cells from patients with pancreatic cancer. Sure enough, smokers with pancreatic cancer had more Treg cells than nonsmokers. Researchers were further able to show that an inhibitor that blocks the cigarette chemical was effective at shrinking tumors. “If we are able to inhibit the super suppressive cells, we might also unlock natural anti-tumor immunity. This could be even further activated by current immunotherapies, which do not work well in pancreatic cancer because of the immunosuppressive environment,” Frankel said. More research is needed to understand the potential to use a drug that inhibits this environmental toxin or that blocks this signaling pathway. In addition, the study results suggest the need for personalized treatment based on patients’ exposure to cigarette smoke. “There’s a potential that we need to treat smokers who develop pancreatic cancer differently,” Frankel said. “We may also need to screen smokers more closely for pancreatic cancer development. There is not a great screening mechanism, but people who smoke should be educated about symptoms to look out for and consider referrals to a high risk clinic.” Signs of pancreatic cancer include low back pain, yellowing of the skin and unexplained weight loss. Frankel adds that people with a family history of pancreatic cancer or with other pancreatic inflammatory diseases should avoid smoking. Additional authors: Brian D. Griffith, Padma Kadiyala, Jake McGue, Lei Sun, Aadith Kuman, Carlos E. Espinoza, Katelyn L. Donahue, Matthew K. Iyer, Cameron Speyer, Sarah Nelson, Andrew Spiteri, Ahmed M. Elhossiny, Kristee Brown, Holly Attebury, Filip Bednar, Eileen S. Carpenter, Ilona Kryczek, Yaqing Zhang, Weiping Zou, Marina Pasca di Magliano Funding: National Cancer Institute grants P30CA046592, R01CA268426, R01CA260752, R01CA271510, R01CA264843, U01CA 224145, U01CA274154, T32CA00967; National Institutes of Health grant 5R01DK128102; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs grant 5I01BX005777; Society of University Surgeons Resident Research Award; Fredrick A. Coller Surgical Society Research Award. Paper cited: “Aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligands drive pancreatic cancer initiation and progression through pro-tumorigenic T cell polarization,” Cancer Discovery. DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-25-0377 Sign up for Health Lab newsletters today. Get medical tips from top experts and learn about new scientific discoveries every week. Sign up for the Health Lab Podcast. Add us wherever you listen to your favorite shows. — Previously Published on michiganmedicine.org with Creative Commons License *** – The world is changing fast. We help you keep up. We’ll send you 1 post, 3x per week. Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo credit: unsplash The post Study Shows How Smoking Drives Pancreatic Cancer appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

By U. Michigan The analysis is the most comprehensive to date, the authors say, providing drivers with estimates of emissions per mile driven across 35 different combinations of vehicle class and powertrains. That included conventional gas pickups, hybrid SUVs, and fully electric sedans with dozens of other permutations. In fact, the team created a free online calculator that lets drivers estimate greenhouse gas emissions based on what they drive, how they drive, and where they live. The work appears in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. “Vehicle electrification is a key strategy for climate action. Transportation accounts for 28% of greenhouse gas emissions and we need to reduce those to limit future climate impacts such as flooding, wildfires, and drought events, which are increasing in intensity and frequency,” says Greg Keoleian, senior author of the new study and a professor at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, or SEAS. “Our purpose here was to evaluate the cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas reduction from the electrification of vehicles compared with a baseline of gasoline-powered vehicles.” In addition to helping drivers understand their emissions, Keoleian and colleagues say this information will be valuable to the automotive industry and policymakers. While EVs are driving into headwinds from a federal policy standpoint, the industry is committed to electrification, Keoleian says. As an example, Ford Motor Co. recently announced plans for a more affordable electric vehicle platform in what it called a “Model T moment” for the company. “The government is backing off incentives, like the electric vehicle tax credit, but the original equipment manufacturers are heavily invested and focused on the technology and affordability of EVs,” says Keoleian, who is also a co-director of the UM Center for Sustainable Systems, or CSS. “EVs are becoming the dominant powertrain in other parts of the world and manufacturers recognize that is the future for the US.” In their “cradle-to-grave” analysis, Keoleian and colleagues studied emissions numbers not just from driving vehicles, but also from making and disposing of them. In doing so, they considered an array of factors: powertrains, vehicle class, driving behavior, and location. The powertrains included conventional internal combustion engines, hybrid electric, plug-in hybrids, and fully electric, or battery electric. Vehicles with these powertrains are abbreviated ICEV, HEV, PHEV, and BEV, respectively. For vehicle class, they considered pickups, sedans, and sport utility vehicles (they considered “generic” versions of these vehicles produced in 2025, which are representative of new vehicles in the marketplace). Driving behavior included familiar factors such as highway vs. city driving, but also more modern considerations, like location of the vehicle and how often drivers of PHEVs were driving on battery power vs. gasoline. Location affects emissions in two ways, Keoleian says. First, all vehicles—especially BEVs and PHEVs—use more fuel at lower temperatures and have lower range in locations with lower temperatures. Second, power grid emissions vary by location, so charging EVs in a county with a cleaner grid would emit less greenhouse gas. In addressing all these variables in a single study, the researchers could make comparisons of emissions from different vehicles in an apples-to-apples way. This enables a detailed comparison of, say, a gasoline-powered pickup in Perry County, Pennsylvania, with a fully electric compact sedan in San Juan County, New Mexico. In addition to these detailed comparisons, the work also afforded important big-picture takeaways. The study showed for the first time that BEVs have lower emissions over their lifetime than any other vehicle type in every county in the contiguous US. On average, ICE pickup trucks were the highest emitters at 486 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent—a measure of greenhouse gas emissions—per mile. Switching to a hybrid pickup would reduce that by 23%, while a fully electric pickup represented a 75% drop. Another eye-catching stat came in the team’s analysis of how emissions changed while a pickup was hauling weight. A BEV pickup truck carrying 2,500 pounds still emitted less than 30% of an ICE pickup with no cargo. Overall, compact sedan EVs had the lowest emissions at just 81 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per mile—less than 20% of the per mile emissions of a gas-powered pickup. The lowest emission vehicle class was the compact sedan BEV with the lowest range, 200 miles. The emissions associated with producing batteries for vehicles with longer ranges bumped up their lifetime greenhouse gas contributions. That also highlights another big take-away from the study, Keoleian says. Besides electrifying your ride, picking the smallest vehicle that suits your purposes will also reduce emissions. “The thing is really matching your vehicle with your needs,” Keoleian says. “Obviously, if you’re in the trades, you may need a pickup truck. But you can get a battery electric pickup truck. If you’re just commuting to work by yourself, I’d recommend a sedan BEV instead.” With the team’s online calculator, people who are interested in vehicle emissions can get answers personalized for their situations. Support for the study came from the State of Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity and the UM Electric Vehicle Center. Additional researchers from the University of Michigan and Ford contributed to the work. Source: University of Michigan Original Study DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5c05406 — This post was previously publis hed on FUTURITY.ORG and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. — Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * Subscribe If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo credit: iStock.com The post How Much Do Electric Vehicles Actually Cut Climate Pollution? appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

— Contemporary life tends to ask more of us than we are aware and our minds can bear only so much before it breaks down. The stress of achieving results, relationships and balancing obligations can drive any person to burnout without noticing warning signs. Mental health break is not a luxury but a need which enables mind and body to rest. The first step that will help you avoid the stress, anxiety, or depression problems in the long run is the ability to realize when you need to take such a pause. Understanding Emotional Changes Among the first signs that you need to have a break in your mental health is your emotions. In case irritability, sadness, frustration or whatever you feel comes out more often, it might be an indication that your mind is overwhelmed. Even the small failures can start to seem much bigger, and the slight inconveniences can cause out of proportion responses. These emotional changes do not occur as mere mood swings; these are indications of your mind that it needs to relax. In the long run, emotional strain may not be recognized and it may be more difficult to deal with. The urge to rest increases when irritability results in a conflict; or when sadness causes continuous exhaustion. By being aware of these emotional shifts at a young age, you can do something about them before they can influence your relationships or general well-being. Observing Physical Signs Mental health issues are not in the mind alone; they tend to manifest in the body. Subtle ways that your system signals stress may be frequent headaches, muscle tension or stomach problems. Sleep problems or appetite variations also are good indicators that your brain is not coping effectively. These are physical symptoms that can be easily explained away as being accidental or temporary but can in most cases be related to emotional stress. Once the body repeats such signals it is a resounding message that something is happening beneath the surface. Mental health break allows the nervous system to restore and recover. In all of these signs, you are not only taking care of your physical health, but also your mental stability. Changes in Work and Daily Functioning The other indicator that you need to take a break is how effectively you perform at work or with your day to day duties. When you realize that some of the tasks that were so easy before are overwhelming, then it may be a sign of burnout. It becomes harder to stay focused, errors can be more frequent and motivation to even do some regular things depletes. Unaddressed, these changes may have a detrimental effect on productivity and confidence. The same applies to non-work related duties. You need to pay your bills, clean or even make meals, and you feel that this is too much work: this is an indication that your mental resources are depleted. An additional step to realizing that you need a mental health break is realizing that you are not operating on the level to which you are used to. Professional Guidance One might not be able to take a mental health break alone and sometimes professional guidance is necessary. Therapy provides the space to delve into the problems, acquire coping techniques, and reestablish resilience. To people in big cities, the services offered like Toronto therapy can be of great help that augments individual endeavors in order to stay sane. Talking to one of the professionals can clarify that you just need to relax or you should receive more systematic help. This is to make sure that you are not only treating superficial stress but are also developing long-term plans of better mental health. Loss of Interests in Social Life Another symptom that a break is needed is social withdrawal. When you no longer enjoy being with friends or family or when you start to avoid socializing altogether, then it may be possible that you are mentally drained. Although time to oneself is good in moderation, isolation is usually an indication of a bigger problem. In case reaching out to people does not seem to be a support but an obligation, one should wonder why. Spending time off daily stressors will help one regain the energy and emotional stability that will allow them to enjoy social life once more. Tackling this early will help you avoid isolation before it becomes too late and you can re-relate with others in healthier ways. To understand the importance of a mental health break, it is necessary to note such signs as emotional changes, physical symptoms, decreased performance, and antisocial behavior. These indications usually come in stages, and they must not be overlooked. A break, re-energizing and, in some cases, reaching out to someone who can professionally assist you can help one avoid getting further into trouble. Taking care of mental health is not a weakness but a vital aspect of a balanced life. — This content is brought to you by Jennifer Taylor iStockPhoto The post How to Recognize When You Need a Mental Health Break appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

Some mornings, I swear I’m over it. Then the afternoon hits, and I’m back in my head again. It’s like I keep walking forward, but I keep turning around too just to see if he is still behind me. There’s this version of me that’s moved on. who plays music, cleans the house, answers emails like nothing happened. Then there’s the version that still waits. Quietly. The one that still hopes, stupidly, that maybe he will just… come back. I catch myself staring at my phone sometimes, not even sure what I’m waiting for. A text? An apology? A sign? Who knows. I haven’t deleted our messages. I open them now and then. I don’t even read them I just… look. His name still makes something clench in my chest. It’s ridiculous, really. A random perfume on someone else, a song in a cafe, a line from a movie and suddenly I’m right back there. Us. Like nothing ever went wrong. But it did. It always did. … I try to let go. I do. Some days I even feel proud skipping the sad songs, not checking his page, pretending the memories don’t sting as much. I don’t believe in deleting everything. I’m not dramatic like that. Letting go isn’t one big action. It’s quiet. Boring, even. It’s making dinner and not thinking how they used to love the way I cooked. It’s going to bed and not hoping for a “goodnight” message. It’s hearing his name in a group chat and not flinching well, not as much. … For a while, I thought holding on made me pathetic. But maybe it just means I cared. Deeply. And letting go? It doesn’t mean I’ve stopped caring. It just means I’ve started turning that care toward myself. I’m not fully healed. I’m not over it. I’m not broken either. I’m just… in the middle. Still learning what to do with all the love I used to give away without thinking. Some days I still ache. Other days, I feel free. And in between all that, I’m learning. That’s enough, I think. … If you’re somewhere in the middle too not quite holding on, not fully letting go just know you’re not weird. You’re not weak. You’re just human. And that counts for something. — This post was previously published on medium.com. Love relationships? We promise to have a good one with your inbox. Subcribe to get 3x weekly dating and relationship advice. Did you know? We have 8 publications on Medium. Join us there! Hello, Love (relationships) Change Becomes You (Advice) A Parent is Born (Parenting) Equality Includes You (Social Justice) Greener Together (Environment) Shelter Me (Wellness) Modern Identities (Gender, etc.) Co-Existence (World) *** – Photo credit: Tiaan Human On Unsplash The post The Dance Between Holding On and Letting Go appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

Sweet or Subtle? How to Read the Shy Guy Vibe Let’s talk about one of the most misunderstood guys out there — the shy one. Maybe he smiles when you walk in, fumbles his words, or acts weirdly distant right after seeming totally into you. You’re left wondering: Is he just shy… or is he simply not that interested? The truth is, some of the most emotionally intelligent, kind, and relationship-ready men are also the ones who get a little tongue-tied around someone they really like. So how do you tell the difference between social anxiety and disinterest? Let’s break down the psychology of shyness, the signs that he’s genuinely into you (but nervous), and what to do next if you’re crushing back. 1. He Steals Glances But Looks Away Quickly He’s always catching your eye from across the room, but when you lock eyes, he immediately looks away. This is a telltale sign of a guy who’s shy but interested. He can’t help but look at you — but he’s not quite confident enough to hold that gaze. The Science: Eye contact creates feelings of closeness. Shy individuals often avoid it out of fear of vulnerability (APA, 2019). 2. He’s More Comfortable Over Text Than In Person In your DMs, he’s confident, funny, and even flirty. But in person? He seems awkward, reserved, or like he’s holding back. This contrast can be confusing — but for shy guys, digital communication feels safer. What to Watch For: He initiates conversations, replies quickly, and opens up more through messages. 3. His Body Language Is Tense or Fidgety He might play with his sleeves, rub the back of his neck, avoid standing too close, or shift his weight a lot. Nervous energy often shows up in the body when words can’t come out smoothly. Pro Tip: If he mirrors your body language later in the conversation, it’s a subconscious sign of connection. 4. He Remembers the Little Things Shy guys are often great listeners. If he remembers your favorite coffee order, your dog’s name, or that story you told once in passing — it’s likely because he’s paying close attention. Why It Matters: Thoughtfulness is often a deeper expression of affection than smooth flirting. 5. He Lights Up When You Talk to Him Even if he’s quiet, when you initiate conversation, he perks up — his eyes sparkle, he smiles more, and his posture shifts. It’s a sign he’s genuinely excited (and relieved!) you’re engaging him. Look for: Changes in energy when you enter the room or speak directly to him. 6. He Tries to Impress You Subtly He may not brag, but he’ll find casual ways to mention accomplishments, goals, or skills — usually dropped in naturally. This is a classic shy guy move: trying to impress without seeming like he’s trying too hard. Clue: If he opens up about his passions or work only around you, he’s trying to connect. 7. He Seems Nervous Around Other Guys You Talk To If he becomes quiet, withdrawn, or visibly uncomfortable when other men are around you, it may stem from insecurity or jealousy. He likely sees them as competition but doesn’t feel bold enough to express how he feels. Reminder: Jealousy isn’t always toxic — it can be a clue that he cares. 8. He Rarely Makes the First Move — But Reacts Quickly When You Do Shy guys don’t always initiate — but when you text, smile, or say hi, they’re quick to respond with warmth and effort. Watch for consistency in response over initiation. He might not: Ask for your number. But he will: Text you back within seconds once he has it. 9. His Friends Tease Him Around You If his friends start smirking when you walk by, nudge him to talk to you, or start acting silly, they probably know he’s crushing. Friends often pick up on feelings before we verbalize them. Bonus Clue: He gets embarrassed or shy when they bring you up. 10. He Finds Reasons to Be Near You, Even If He Doesn’t Say Much He sits at your table, joins the same group chat, or walks the long way just to pass you. Shy guys show interest through presence — not always words. Watch For: Coincidental run-ins that aren’t so coincidental. So…Does He Like You? Or Is He Just Polite? Here’s the difference: If he’s making an effort to be around you, gets visibly nervous, and reacts positively when you engage him — he likes you. Shyness is not disinterest — it’s just quieter. If he’s indifferent, distracted, and hard to engage? That’s not shyness. That’s apathy. What To Do If You Like Him Too Make the first move (gently). Say hi. Smile. Ask a small question. Shy guys often need a green light. Validate him. Compliment his shirt, ask about something he loves. It creates safety. Be consistent. Sudden hot-and-cold energy can make him retreat. Create low-pressure situations. Suggest a group hangout, or casually invite him to something laid-back. Be patient. Confidence can grow with time, trust, and gentle encouragement. Gentle Confidence Wins Some of the best love stories begin with subtle beginnings. Don’t write off a shy guy just because he isn’t loud about his feelings. Sometimes, the quietest hearts love the deepest. If you’re sensing the signs, be bold, be kind, and trust your intuition. He might just be the one worth waiting for. Leave a comment if you’ve dated (or crushed on) a shy guy before. Share this with someone who might need a little push to say hello. Remember — flirting doesn’t have to be loud to be real. — This post was previously published on medium.com. *** Does dating ever feel challenging, awkward or frustrating? Turn Your Dating Life into a WOW! with our new classes and live coaching. Click here for more info or to buy with special launch pricing! *** —– Photo credit: Austin Human on Unsplash The post Is He Shy or Just Not That Into You? 10 Signs He’s Nervous Around You (And What to Do About It) appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

Around the world nations have experienced significant growth in their immigrant populations, including an increase in immigrant students. The way schools respond to this has a significant impact on how well immigrant students adapt to and succeed in school. Although there are many success stories, there are also immigrant students who struggle at school. They are then at risk of missing out on vital educational and job opportunities after school. This impacts individual students as personal potential is unrealised. It also impacts at the national level because immigrants have and always will be a key part of nations’ social and economic development. We need to understand how to support immigrant students in overcoming academic challenges and supporting their educational wellbeing. Our study In a recent research study published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, we harnessed the Academic and Cultural Demands-Resources (ACD-R) framework to investigate the factors that are important for nurturing immigrant students’ academic motivation and achievement. We used the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data from Australia and New Zealand—two countries with a history of receiving migrants to live and raise their families. PISA is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) of 15-year-old school students’ learning and performance in mathematics, science, and reading. Two main parts of PISA are a student survey and a school leader survey. In a previous study, we focused on the student survey and how teachers can support individual immigrant students. This present study focused on the school leader survey and how whole-school action can support immigrant students. The ACD-R Framework Under the ACD-R framework, demands are features of the learning process or learning environment that can get in the way of students’ educational progress – while resources help and support students’ educational development. These demands and resources may be academic factors or ethno-cultural factors that impede or assist students’ educational pathways. Participants in Our Research The research involved 545 schools acrossAustralia and New Zealand) and nearly 5000 immigrant students. The school leaders were asked to report on key features of their school, including the various demands and resources present in the school. We then linked their responses to the motivation and achievement scores of the immigrant students in their school (summarized from the PISA student survey). This enabled us to examine the whole-school factors that are associated with the academic development of immigrant students in the school. The Measures in Our Study The main measures in our research were drawn from survey items administered to school leaders asking about the academic and cultural demands and resources in their school. Academic demands were assessed via two measures. The first tapped into the extent to which school instruction was hindered by staffing and resourcing issues, what we call a resource shortage. The second asked about the extent to which students’ learning was hindered by the nature of teaching (e.g., teachers not meeting individual students’ needs), referred to as hindered learning. Academic resources were assessed with a measure which asked about the extent to which students were provided with resources to support their learning, referred to as student assistance (e.g., rooms where students can do their homework). Cultural demands are represented by immigrant socio-economic disadvantage. This refers to the proportion of immigrant students in a school experiencing socio-economic disadvantage. Cultural resources comprised cultural learning, shared cultural values and immigrant student language support. Motivation was assessed through measures of self-efficacy (students’ belief in their capacity to attain desired academic outcomes) and valuing (their belief in the usefulness and importance of what they learn). Achievement was based on students’ achievement on the PISA mathematics, science, and reading tests. In all our analyses we accounted (controlled) for school location, school type (non-independent, independent), staff/student ratio, average class size, and percentage of immigrant students in the school—so we knew that any significant demand and resource findings were above and beyond any influence due to school location, etc. Our results The study identified four demands and resources that were significantly associated with immigrant students’ motivation and achievement: Student assistance and cultural learning (academic and cultural resources) that had positive effects. Resource shortage and immigrant student socio-economic disadvantage (academic and cultural demands) that had negative effects In addition to these significant demands and resources, we also found immigrant students’ motivation was significantly linked to their academic achievement. Immigrant students who believed in themselves (self-efficacy) and saw the relevance, importance, and usefulness of school (valuing) were likely to achieve highly. Strategies for Schools These findings point to six areas of whole-school action, each attending to a significant demand, resource, or motivation factor in the study. Resource shortage (academic demand). Our study signalled various aspects of school-level resource shortages that need attention when supporting immigrant students, including inadequate teaching- and learning-related infrastructure (e.g., teacher shortages) and a lack of educational materials, resources, and learning spaces. Student assistance (academic resource). At the same time, we found academic resources in the form of student assistance played a supportive role for immigrant students. Our study indicated such resources include provision of staff to help with homework and study, practical help and relational support from teachers that help immigrant students develop their academic skills and provide a sense of belonging at school. Immigrant socio-economic disadvantage (cultural demand). Schools may look to target the barriers that disadvantaged immigrant families can experience if they are socio-economically disadvantaged. In our research, we identified “agency” as one factor and suggested schools can work with immigrant parents and ethnic communities to design and implement linguistically and culturally responsive interventions (e.g., authentic school involvement of immigrant students’ cultural community) to empower families in the process of supporting immigrant students, especially those that have newly arrived to the country. Cultural learning (cultural resource). Promoting this involves schools fostering learning about diverse cultures and the histories of these cultures. This can be strengthened through curriculum that provides a nuanced and authentic representation of diverse ethnic and cultural groups both locally and globally. Self-efficacy (motivation). Boosting students’ self-efficacy can involve teachers breaking schoolwork down into manageable chunks for students to experience smaller successes as they learn (this builds confidence through tasks), encouraging students to recognize their academic strengths (that also builds academic confidence), and teach students how to challenge negative beliefs that may be undermining their self-confidence. Valuing (motivation). There are three types of valuing that can be nurtured. The first is attainment value, which involves explaining to students how what they learn at school is important. The second is intrinsic value, which involves setting schoolwork that arouses curiosity or is enjoyable. The third is utility value, which involves making it clear to students how what they learn is relevant to their lives or to the world more broadly. Our research shows how to implement whole-school action to support immigrant student cohorts. The findings demonstrate that attending to cultural demands and resources, alongside academic factors, has significant potential for optimising immigrant students’ educational development through school and beyond. Andrew Martin is Scientia Professor of Educational Psychology and chair of the Educational Psychology Research Group, School of Education at UNSW. He specialises in student motivation, engagement, learning, achievement, and quantitative research methods. Gregory Arief D. Liem is associate professor in the Psychology and Child & Human Development Academic Group at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research focuses on student motivation and engagement. Rebecca Collie is Scientia Associate Professor in Educational and Developmental Psychology at UNSW Her research interests focus on motivation and well-being among students and teachers, psychosocial experiences at school, and quantitative research methods. Lars Erik-Malmberg is professor in education at the University of Oxford. His research interests are in quantitative research methods and students’ academic development. Tim Mainhard is professor of educational sciences at the University of Leiden. His research interests are in teacher-student interactions, student motivation, learning, and wellbeing. This article was originally published on EduResearch Matters. Read the original article. — Previously Published on aare.edu.au with Creative Commons License *** Photo credit: unsplash The world is changing fast. We help you keep up. We’ll send you 1 post, 3x per week. The post Immigrant Students: How to Support Motivation and Achievement appeared first on The Good Men Project. 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The note was part of a book the sex offender’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, compiled for his 50th birthday British Ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson described Jeffrey Epstein as his “best pal” in a handwritten 10-page letter released by the US House Oversight Committee on Monday. The message, written for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, was included in a bound “birthday book” compiled by Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell. The letter, interspersed with photographs of Mandelson, Epstein, and various settings linked to the financier, portrays Epstein as an “intelligent, sharp-witted” and “mysterious” man who “once upon a time… parachuted” into Mandelson’s life. “You would spend many hours just waiting for him to turn up… And often, no sooner were you used to having him around, you would suddenly be alone again… Leaving you with some ‘interesting’ friends to entertain instead,” one section reads. “But wherever he is in the world, he remains my best pal! Happy Birthday, Jeffrey. We love you!!” the letter concludes. The entry featured images ranging from a yellow parachute gliding through the air to snapshots of Mandelson relaxing at some of Epstein’s properties. Asked about the disclosure, a Downing Street spokesperson said Prime Minister Keir Starmer continued to have confidence in Mandelson, who was appointed ambassador in February and has “played a key part” in strengthening trade and investment ties with Washington. Mandelson, a former Labour cabinet minister and one of the architects of the UK’s “New Labour” project, has faced questions over his association with Epstein for years. A spokesperson for Mandelson told the BBC the ambassador “has long been clear that he very much regrets ever having been introduced to Epstein.” He previously told the Financial Times that he “wished he had never met him,” describing Epstein as a “prolific networker.” Epstein, convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution, was awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges when he died in a Manhattan jail in 2019. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of conspiring with Epstein to traffic minors for sex and is serving a 20-year sentence. View the full article

Anime distributor AnimEigo and parent company MediaOCD have announced the debut of Episode 7 of The Anime Business, a documentary series featuring interviews with a variety of pioneers of the Western anime industry. The latest installment features a wide-ranging chat with Stu Levy, the founder of TOKYOPOP. Episode 7 is available now on the official AnimEigo YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@AnimEigo/videos TOKYOPOP was founded in 1997, and Levy published scores of hit titles that included Sailor Moon, Fruits Basket, Battle Royale, Chobits, Gakuen Alice, D.N.Angel, and Gravitation. He helped to bring manga into major retailers like Waldenbooks and Borders and pioneered many aspects that are now publishing standards such as the right-to-left format, a brand bar on the spine, and the use of original Japanese sound effects. Levy also pushed boundaries by bringing J-Pop music and anime soundtracks to U.S. fans and dove into anime with Initial D, G.T.O., Marmalade Boy and Rave Master. He also developed several manga-inspired projects with top U.S. entertainers such as Hanna Montana and Courtney Love and made early inroads into Korean comics, aka manhwa, with titles such as I.N.V.U, Priest and Ragnarok. Pressure for profitability from TOKYOPOP’s venture capital investors strained the company and a confluence of factors at the start of the 2008 global financial crisis, including many retailers going out of business, ultimately led to TOKYOPOP going dormant for a time. But Levy was resilient and TOKYOPOP reemerged and remains active in the North American manga market, as well as in Germany, where he now resides. The Anime Business is a first-of-its-kind series featuring a wide range of entrepreneurs and visionaries that helped to pioneer and shape the North American anime and manga industries. It is produced and hosted by industry veteran and MediaOCD founder and AnimEigo CEO Justin Sevakis. All episodes of The Anime Business will be available in English. Japanese subtitles will also be available via a special grant from the Kleckner Foundation. Additional episodes and interviews are in production now. AnimEigo and MediaOCD invite fans that would like to help support and crowdfund future episodes of The Anime Business to donate at: https://www.mediaocd.com/plans-pricing Episodes 1-6 of The Anime Business are also now available to stream on the AnimEigo YouTube channel. Justin Sevakis was the original founder of Anime News Network in 1998, and he contributed many of the site’s most popular columns for many years, in addition to co-hosting ANNCast, the #1 anime podcast worldwide, from 2009-2015. Sevakis was the first in-house video and subtitle editor at Central Park Media, a prominent 2000s era anime distributor, and worked on Grave of the Fireflies, Project A-ko and many other bestselling releases. With his current company, MediaOCD, he has produced more than 1,600 Blu-ray discs for North American market and pioneered restoration efforts for classic anime including Project A-ko, Digimon Adventure, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, and the forthcoming Macross II. He acquired anime distributor AnimEigo in 2024. all art – AnimEigo The post TOKYOPOP Founder Stu Levy Interviewed in Latest Episode of The Anime Business! appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

By Sumit Kumar Singh On July 28, 2025, the Times of India shared a disturbing headline: “City hounded by strays, kids pay price.” That single report highlighting stray dog attacks on children playing in the street triggered an extraordinary judicial intervention. Taking suo motu cognisance, the Supreme Court quickly elevated the news item into a matter of constitutional significance. Within weeks, two sharply contrasting orders emerged: the first, on August 11, which directed the permanent confinement of stray dogs in Delhi- National Capital Region (NCR); and the second, on August 22, which corrected course, reinstating the capture–neuter–vaccinate–release (CNVR) model, and broadening the issue to a pan-India scale. The 11 days separating these two orders revealed not only the tension between public safety and animal welfare but also the fragility of India’s statutory framework on stray dog management. The statutory framework: A balancing act India’s legal framework on animal rights is primarily encapsulated within the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 (PCA Act). It represents a radical departure from centuries-old colonial culling practices and, for the first time in Indian law, explicitly recognised animals as sentient beings capable of experiencing pain and suffering, and therefore entitled to protection. Public resistance to culling is not unprecedented. In 1832, the city of Bombay was rocked by strikes and protests against municipal dog culling laws, one of the first records of resistance to lethal controls. Despite such opposition, colonial authorities formalised the policy of culling: dogs were poisoned, shot in the streets by police, or clubbed to death. The cities of Madras and Bangalore even established “lethal chambers” throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Though controversial, these provisions became an integral aspect of colonial urban governance. By the 1920s, dogs continued to be framed as a public nuisance and reinforced perspectives that rationalised extermination. Municipalities throughout India mostly continued the colonial practice of poisoning and shooting dogs after gaining independence in 1947. This persisted for decades before animal rights campaigners started to promote the move towards more humane options. The decisive shift came in 2001, when Indian law outlawed killing as a means of dog control, replaced the term “stray dogs” with “street dogs”, and introduced the Animal Birth Control (ABC) program focused on sterilisation and vaccination. The PCA Act further strengthened protections: Section 3 of the Act establishes a general duty of care to prevent cruelty, while Section 11 makes certain forms of mistreatment criminal offences. At the same time, the Act recognises that the State may regulate stray populations in the interest of public health and safety, but not in a manner that constitutes cruelty. Further, within this ambit, the government framed the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001, which were subsequently modified to become the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023 (ABC Rules). These rules perfectly encapsulate the CNVR approach: stray dogs shall be captured, sterilised, vaccinated and released into the same locality. Importantly, the 2023 Rules reinforced judicial precedents such as Animal Welfare Board of India v. People for Elimination of Stray Troubles (2015), where the Supreme Court prohibited the arbitrary killing of stray dogs. Against this backdrop, when the two-judge bench on August 11 ordered permanent confinement of all dogs, it was not merely a policy shift but a direct assault on the statutory scheme itself. Stray dog management in India For decades, Indian municipalities relied on poisoning and shooting dogs to temporarily control numbers, while drawing international criticism for their cruelty and inefficacy. By the 1980s and 1990s, growing animal welfare activism and global shifts in veterinary science had made it clear that culling was neither sustainable nor humane. The decisive policy shift came with the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001 which made the the capture–neuter–vaccinate–release (CNVR) model the only lawful approach. In theory, CNVR operates on a self-limiting ecological principle: sterilised and vaccinated dogs, once returned to their territories, stabilise population growth and deter the entry of unsterilised newcomers. In practice, however, implementation has faltered. Sterilisation coverage rarely exceeds 30–40 percent in most cities, far below the 70 percent coverage needed to effectively control populations. Municipal capacity in Delhi and Gurgaon has been weak, hampered by too few veterinarians, inadequate shelters, and erratic vaccination drives. Despite these shortcomings, the judiciary has consistently upheld the CNVR framework, striking down attempts at mass culling by municipalities in response to public pressure. The updated ABC Rules 2023 attempted to correct some of these deficiencies by strengthening municipal accountability, permitting confinement only in narrowly defined cases, and linking sterilisation programmes to public health obligations. The 11-day fiasco Against this legal and historical backdrop, the August 11 order struck like a thunderclap. By mandating the permanent warehousing of all stray dogs, the Court bypassed the statutory framework and resurrected a long-discredited model of containment. The two-judge bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan framed the issue as a stark constitutional conflict: Does the right to life under Article 21 override the State’s duty of animal welfare? In their anxiety to protect citizens, particularly children, they answered decisively: yes. The Court directed that all stray dogs in Delhi-NCR be permanently confined to shelters, prohibited their release even after sterilisation, and threatened contempt proceedings against anyone who obstructed dog-catching operations. Municipal authorities scrambled to construct shelters for 5,000 dogs within weeks, while NGOs who resisted risked contempt charges. The order not only contradicted Rule 11 of the ABC Rules but also ignored the ecological rationale of CNVR: under which sterilised dogs in familiar territories deter the entry of new, unsterilised packs. During those eleven days, Delhi’s animal management regime descended into uncertainty, a humanitarian, administrative, and legal muddle authored by the Court itself. The August 22 course correction The three-judge bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and N.V. Anjaria stepped in to quell a crisis of the Court’s own making. In its August 22 order, the bench stayed the August 11 directions and reinstated the CNVR model, while carving out humane exceptions: rabid, aggressive, or dangerously ill dogs could be confined, but the rest must be sterilised, vaccinated, and released. At the same time, the Court introduced three innovations. First, it regulated public feeding by restricting it to designated zones, seeking to balance compassion with hygiene. Second, it created an adoption pathway, allowing individuals and NGOs to remove dogs from the streets responsibly. Third, it shifted some financial responsibility onto petitioners and NGOs, requiring deposits to support infrastructure. By expanding the case to all States and Union Territories, the Court signalled its intent to craft a national policy on stray dog management — something India has long lacked. Moving towards a humane national policy The contrasting orders of August 11 and 22 illustrate the perils of quick-fix populism and the importance of judicial restraint. Stray dog management cannot be solved by diktat; it requires statutory fidelity, scientific grounding, and sustained municipal investment. The Supreme Court’s final word in this matter will likely shape the trajectory of India’s animal welfare law for decades. If implemented faithfully, CNVR can work, but only if sterilisation coverage is scaled up, shelters are made functional rather than punitive, and feeding practices are regulated with compassion. The August 11 order will be remembered as a judicial misstep born of urgency; the August 22 order, as a corrective moment that pulled India back onto the path of humane, science-based governance. The challenge now is to ensure that the Court’s ambition to craft a national framework does not remain trapped in paper orders but translates into real-world reform, one that safeguards children in playgrounds, while also honouring the lives of the dogs who share our streets. — Previously Published on globalvoices.org with Creative Commons License *** Does dating ever feel challenging, awkward or frustrating? Turn Your Dating Life into a WOW! with our new classes and live coaching. Click here for more info or to buy with special launch pricing! *** On Substack? Follow us there for more great dating and relationships content. Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo Credit: unsplash The post Caught Between Fear and Compassion: The Indian Supreme Court’s Stray Dog Dilemma appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

The strike on a close US ally was Israel’s “unilateral” decision, the president has insisted President Donald Trump has criticized Israel’s airstrike on a Hamas compound in Doha, stressing that the decision to carry out the operation inside Qatar was made unilaterally by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and not by Washington. Around 15 Israeli warplanes fired at least ten munitions during the operation on Tuesday, reportedly killing several Hamas members, including the son of senior official Khalil al-Hayya. Hamas said its top leadership survived the attack, which it described as an attempt to assassinate negotiators working on a potential settlement. In a statement posted Tuesday on Truth Social, Trump said the Israeli bombing inside “a Sovereign Nation and close Ally of the United States” did not “advance Israel or America’s goals.” “I view Qatar as a strong Ally and friend of the U.S., and feel very badly about the location of the attack,” he wrote, emphasizing that the strike was “a decision made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me.” Trump said that as soon as he was informed about the operation, he directed US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to warn Qatari officials, but noted the alert came “too late to stop the attack.” The president claimed that eliminating Hamas was a “worthy goal,” but expressed hope that “this unfortunate incident could serve as an opportunity for PEACE.” Trump has since spoken with Netanyahu, who told him he wanted to make peace, and with Qatari leaders, whom he thanked for their support and assured that “such a thing will not happen again on their soil.” Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, denounced the strike as an act of “state terrorism” and warned that the emirate “reserves the right to respond.” He accused Netanyahu of undermining regional stability for personal gain and said the incident had derailed ongoing US-brokered mediation efforts aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages. The White House called the strike an “unfortunate” incident. Trump said he has directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to finalize a Defense Cooperation Agreement with Qatar, which is designated a “major non-NATO ally.” View the full article

By Grey Moran, Sentient For years, veterinary researcher Maurice Pitesky has run up against a roadblock while tracking the rapid spread of avian flu: a lack of public data. He has attempted to obtain — but has repeatedly been denied — state and federal data revealing the location of avian flu outbreaks on U.S. farms. It’s data he says could help inform predictive modeling to warn farmers about a higher risk of avian flu transmission near their property, giving them enough time to tighten biosecurity measures and potentially ward off an outbreak. A national predictive surveillance system doesn’t exist yet, but Pitesky thinks it could be very feasible — if only he had access to more precise government data. Data revealing the location and other information about the farms with animals that have contracted avian flu has generally been deemed confidential by state and federal government officials. The officials collecting this data do not make it publicly available under most circumstances, citing legal exemptions and agreements with agricultural businesses. The aim is often to protect farmers from economic losses, but in effect, Pitesky says, these decisions are a barrier for scientists scrambling to monitor the evolving, adaptable virus as it circulates in the U.S. “The state and the feds have all that data about which farms are positive and which farms are negative,” Pitesky, an associate professor at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine-Cooperative Extension, tells Sentient. “They’ve taken a good idea protecting farmer information to an illogical conclusion — in the sense that you basically have all that data siloed by just a few people who, at this stage, aren’t really doing very much research.” Some of this data even originates at Pitesky’s own university. The California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory at UC Davis is the only lab in California equipped for high-risk avian flu testing in poultry and cattle — data that is reported to the public by the state and federal government, while stripped of data about the farms. The ongoing H5N1 outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was first identified in U.S. commercial poultry in February of 2022. Since then, the novel virus has become the longest, most deadliest animal disease outbreak in U.S. history, and while recorded cases of the virus have lulled, there is no sign of the virus disappearing. As wild birds, the primary reservoir of the virus, migrate again in the fall, some scientists anticipate another surge in the United States. Pitesky and other scientists say one key roadblock to slowing the spread of H5N1 is the lack of public disclosure of more granular data, making it more challenging for research scientists to monitor the virus. “One of the real failures is this inability to collaborate, inability to share information and the siloing of data where it should be, ultimately a collaborative process where we’re really identifying risk factors,” says Pitesky. “But we’re just not there yet for some reason.” It’s a barrier that Andrew Pekosz, a virologist and the co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance, has also faced in his research monitoring how H5N1 spreads and mutates. “It’s very challenging to get a complete data set that includes, for instance, right numbers of animals dead, the sequence of the virus that was present in there, the date and the precise location of the farm — all those things that you would need to do an epidemiological study to see how things are moving,” says Pekosz. Without these variables, he says it “becomes harder to connect and be specific about where the viruses are moving and whether outbreaks are connected to each other.” The Importance of Avian Flu Metadata Even though H5N1 has circulated in the U.S. since 2022, scientists are still largely following its trail. There is not a national surveillance system that predicts where avian flu will emerge next. Instead, the tracking of the virus is largely performed retroactively: the public only knows about confirmed cases. This differs from the predictive surveillance system that has developed for Covid-19; the Center for Disease Control provides a weekly forecast of the number of Covid-19 hospital admissions, on a state and national level. The public data that exists on avian flu testing in animals is available on the websites of state agricultural departments and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which maintains a public dashboard of H5N1 cases reported in the last 30 days. This includes the confirmed date of a positive test, the country and state of the outbreak and the type of farm business (such as live bird market, commercial turkey farm, etc.). But this testing data exists in a vacuum of other critical data points — it lacks contextual data, known as metadata, associated with each recorded avian flu outbreak. “The metadata generally that’s been associated with either reports of positives — or even worse when you have sequence data on the virus — has just been abysmal across the board,” Meghan Davis, an epidemiologist and microbiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, tells Sentient. One kind of metadata that would be helpful to have, Davis says, is more precise geographic tags for each H5N1 detection. She also would like information on the date of the outbreak (which may differ from the date of the confirmed positive test) and more detailed demographic data on the animals, known as signalment data, such as their breed, sex and age — information that could surface risk patterns. Like Pitesky, she envisions some of this metadata could feed into more predictive tracking surveillance models. “If you can actually tag these down a little bit better and then start to look at the potential for clustering in time and space, you might get a better sense of movement, and movement can then feed into more predictive models forecasting,” says Davis. “It would be lovely if you could in real time, or as near to real time as you could, actually send alerts out into areas where you predict it’s going to be next.” There is also a lack of comprehensive genetic sequencing data, which is submitted by scientists to repositories such as the National Institutes of Health’s GenBank U.S. This data is crucial for tracking how the virus is evolving and identifying new clusters, but the sequences tend to include very little metadata — to a point where “it may not be even detailed enough for you to really be able to study how the viruses are spreading,” says Pekosz. In particular, he’d like metadata on the “precise areas, precise dates of collection, the animals that they were collected from, the nature of the samples. Did you swab an animal? Did you harvest something from the animal? What’s the tissue that was the source?” — data that can help shed light on the genetic linkages between outbreaks. The federal data on testing for cattle is especially limited. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, “The USDA website reports new (first time detections) in dairies; it does not capture when a herd is cleared, ongoing cases, or reinfections on premises that had previous detections.” As a result, there can be significant discrepancies between California’s more detailed data and federal data on dairy outbreaks. For instance, on August 1st, California reported that 43 farms that had been previously infected reported new infections and were placed back under quarantine. But the federal data reflected a different story, revealing just one case reported on that day of avian flu in dairy herds in California. Depending on which dataset you’re looking at, you could have a very different understanding of avian flu infection levels. There is also a lack of public information around how live cattle are transported around the country, which drives infection risk. At a 2024 workshop, hosted by the National Academies, Martha Nelson, a staff scientist at the National Institute of Health, discussed the need for a “national database for dairy cattle movement.” Nelson, who discovered the zoonotic origins of the virus that caused H1N1 in 2009, said that this data could help scientists forecast H5N1’s movements across the U.S. Drawbacks & Challenges of Obtaining Avian Flu Data Scientists seeking to request more data face a web of legal exemptions. Information that is collected through the state or federal government can potentially become a public record, but over the years, agricultural data has become increasingly exempt. “It is incredibly difficult to get any kind of specific information about industrial farm operations, especially geospatial data because of an overlapping system of exemptions from the public records laws,” says Kelsey Eberly, an attorney at the legal nonprofit FarmSTAND. One of the main legal barriers is a sweeping 2008 exemption to the Freedom of Information Act, which prevents the release of nearly all data that farmers provide to the federal government, including geospatial data and information “concerning the agricultural operation, farming or conservation practices, or the land itself.” Then there are also state-level exemptions to records laws, which often cite the need to protect business privacy and sensitive commercial information. Yet some researchers agree that the exemption of some farm data is necessary, even from a public health standpoint. The sweeping public disclosure of farm data could potentially disincentivize producers from complying with reporting requirements, fearing that this could trigger economic loss, for instance — an argument raised in the workshop hosted by the National Academies. Davis suggests that there might be a compromise: more aggregated metadata while still preserving some degree of anonymity for the farms. This would enable researchers to analyze more detailed genomic and epidemiological patterns, but satisfy concerns over privacy. She points to how the location data could be limited to a specific radius to protect farm privacy, so “you don’t lose the importance of the regionality, but you no longer have it tied to a specific address.” Scott Wells, a veterinary epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, has found a way to work with farmers to obtain more specific data on avian flu. It’s a strategy he says has enabled him to get around some of the data privacy issues that inevitably arise when tracking zoonotic disease outbreaks. “A lot of my career then has been ‘Okay, how can I help answer important research questions in which I do need access to data, but do it in a way that is acceptable to producers?’ Wells tells Sentient. “Sometimes the government doesn’t have the data, and so then it’s a matter of trying to work with producers and producer organizations.” With the support of an USDA grant, he currently leads a cross-disciplinary research team tracking the spread of H5N1 between cattle herds — a project that has prompted questions about how to best obtain access to the farms. “We have to always think about incentives. So why would a producer want to participate? What’s the value of participating? What’s the potential? What are potential disincentives?” says Wells. “Obviously, one important disincentive is if they’re going to agree to participate in the study with us, they don’t want that to lead to regulatory action.” To that end, his research team has decided to test milk for antibodies, which could be indicative of a previous avian flu infection rather than a current infection. “So there’s no regulatory action for a positive sample,” says Wells. It’s an approach that he says has led a couple producers to cooperate with his team in the process, allowing the researchers direct access to farms without fear that this could prompt regulatory action. There are limitations to this approach too, Wells acknowledged. “I mean, they’re going to do what’s best for their industry, right? And we have to recognize that. So there, I guess, could be some questions that don’t get addressed through a collaborative process.” A Barrier to Journalists and Public Health Advocates The lack of publicly available data on avian flu is not just a barrier to scientists. Sentient attempted to obtain testing data to confirm a potential avian flu outbreak at a Foster Farms facility in Turlock, California. In July, we filed a public records request for “the results of any PCR or serological testing performed by the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory at UC Davis, between January 1st, 2024 and January 31st, 2024.” But we were similarly denied this request by UC Davis’s records officer, who deemed it “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” and therefore exempt from disclosure. This data would have helped clarify records that appeared to show Foster Farms refusing avian flu testing in early 2024. “Foster Farms upper management indicated that they do not want to allow APHIS to take a sample. Can they refuse APHIS to do that to send someone there?,” wrote Virginia Felix, a deputy district manager at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, on January 24th of 2024. The records describe 20 percent of three trucks of heavy hens showing “gross legions: swollen heads, especially around the beak; clear to mucoid ocular and nasal damage, higher mortality than usual” — symptoms that may indicate avian flu or, potentially, another common poultry illness such as avian metapneumovirus or coryza. Without more transparency around avian flu testing, it’s not possible to determine why these birds were sick. Foster Farms has denied resisting avian flu testing. “With the knowledge of USDA FSIS onsite personnel, bird samples were collected and sent to the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory at UC Davis for analysis. Thus, tests were conducted, and the PCR results showed no evidence of Avian Influenza,” a representative of the farm wrote in an e-mail to Sentient. “These findings were officially documented, reported to USDA APHIS and the California Department of Food & Agriculture, and provided to onsite USDA FSIS inspectors.” When asked if Foster Farms could help us verify their claim by providing the testing results, a representative for the farm responded, “For reasons of protocol and confidentiality, we are unable to provide the specific laboratory report.” The USDA and Virginia Felix didn’t respond to requests for comment to clarify what happened on January 24th. Farmworker advocates faced similar challenges to obtaining data on farm locations, especially early in the avian flu outbreak. “It’s always been hard to get farm location data in any kind of state or national scale. It’s pretty private,” says Bethany Alcauter, an occupational epidemiologist with the National Center for Farmworker Health, which supports a national network of migrant health centers and farmworker advocacy groups. To get around this, they developed a map with dairy farm locations based on inspection reports and other public data. “It would have been nice if every state, the Department of Ag and the Department of Health, collaborated on it and kept those data private,” added Alcauter. “But just to make sure that at least public health folks could collaborate.” This article originally appeared in Sentient at https://sentientmedia.org/data-from-farms-could-help-scientists-track-avian-flu/. — This story was originally published by Sentient. *** Subscribe to The Good Men Project Newsletter Email Address * Subscribe If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member today. All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here. — Photo credit: unsplash The post More Data From Farms Could Help Scientists Better Track Avian Flu, but Privacy Concerns Stand in the Way appeared first on The Good Men Project. View the full article

The emirate reserves its right to respond to the “blatant attack” on a Hamas compound in Doha The Israeli attack on Doha has become a “pivotal moment” for the whole region, Qatari PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani has said, condemning the strike as an act of “state terrorism.” Earlier on Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in coordination with security service Shin Bet (ISA), attacked a compound in the Qatari capital used by Hamas. The Palestinian militant group claimed its leadership managed to survive the attack. The surprise strike will not be “overlooked,” and Qatar “reserves the right to respond to this blatant attack,” the PM told a press conference, describing the Israeli action as an act of “state terrorism.” “Today, we have reached a turning point for there to be a response from the entire region against such barbaric conduct,” he stressed. The PM took personal jabs at his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of disrupting regional stability for the sake of “narcissistic delusions” and personal gains. Qatar will continue its mediation effort to settle the enduring hostilities between Hamas, al-Thani said. The PM admitted that the room for diplomacy has now become very narrow and the attack likely derailed the round of negotiations dedicated to the latest proposal floated by US President Donald Trump. “When it comes to the current talks, I don’t think there is anything valid right now after we’ve seen such an attack,” he said. The Israeli attack came two days after the US president issued another “last warning” to Hamas, claiming that Israel had already accepted unspecified terms of a deal he had proposed and demanding the group release Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. Shortly after, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also gave the group a “final warning,” threatening Hamas with annihilation and demanding the militants lay down their arms. Following the threats, Hamas said it was ready to “immediately sit at the negotiating table” after hearing what it described as “some ideas from the American side aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement.” View the full article