text:
U18s host Bury in FA Youth Cup Third Round
The journey continues...
Following impressive wins over Colchester United (3-2) and Exeter City (4-0), Stevenage's youngsters next face a home tie at the Lamex Stadium against Bury in the Third Round of the FA Youth Cup.
Taking place at 7pm on Wednesday 12th December 2018, tickets cost just £5 for Adults and £2 for Concessions.
A victory would see Stevenage reach the Fourth Round of the competition for only the third time ever - PLUS for the second successive season - so come down and support the next generation of talent at the club as the Academy continues to go from strength-to-strength.
Tickets will be available from borotickets.co.uk/the club shop from Thursday 15th November at 10am or from the ticket office/turnstiles on the day of the game.
Bury FC

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This week's podcast is about the rising movement for quantifying our lives beyond just health and body. The Quantified Self is about self-knowledge through self-tracking and extends our awareness about what's happening in our lives, how we're spending our time, and pretty much anything related to our daily living.
In 2007 Ernesto Ramirez joined with Wired Magazine's Kevin Kelly and Gary Wolf to create this organization, made up predominantly of individuals with a passion for managing their lives. The society has grown from its San Francisco roots to about 90 groups meeting regularly worldwide. Many of the devices we talk about on this show have been supported by this movement, and some of the trendsetters in our community are themselves "Quantified Selfers".
Ernesto is the program director for The Quantified Self, as well as a research associate at the Center for Wireless and Population Health Systems at the University of California, San Diego where he's done his PhD work. Today we speak with Ernesto in his role as program director and talk about The Quantified Self, where it's going, and about the best practices for quantifying aspects of our biology and daily lives.
Thank Ernesto Ramirez on Twitter for this interview.
The Quantified Self : The Quantified Self is an international collaboration of users and makers of self-tracking tools. Dedicated to self improvement by tracking their daily lives with the end-goal of maximizing performance, they enjoy regular meetups to share ideas, data and tactics.
Forums at The Quantified Self : The forums page is a great place to connect with other QS users for conversations and the sharing of ideas between meetups.
The QS15 conference in San Francisco (June 18-20, 2015) QS15 is a two-day event for self-trackers, toolmakers, artists, designers and engineers followed by a day of public exposition. The Quantified Self invites self-trackers to share projects, try out new tools, and shape the future of QS. Their European division based out of Amsterdam will be hosting their own QS15 as well. Information can be found at their Meetup site.
"Show and Tell" QS Presentations: The Quantified Self site maintains a video database of presentations made by members, which they lovingly call "Show and Tell". The participants talk about their life-tracking and how it has impacted them.
QS Meetups: QS-ers meet regularly to discuss their life-tracking experiences, and share suggestions for the betterment of themselves and QS as a whole. Meetings can be found at Meetup.Com.
QS on Twitter: Subscribe to The Quantified Self's twitter feed.
Ernesto has created a number of slide presentations which can be found at Slideshare and Speakerdeck. He presents a variety of discussions on The Quantified Self as well as other topics about self improvement.
Ernesto did his graduate work at the University of California at San Diego and continues as a research associate with the Center for Wireless and Population Health Systems.
A Meta-analytic Examination of Exercise & Stress Reactivity in Animals and Humans. Arizona State University. Jan 1, 2008. (Link not available): A secondary examination of current research.
Running schedule and physical activity: Ernesto finds the most important aspect to his daily life quality is how much he moves. He uses a number of tools such as a FitBit and his phone to monitor his running schedule and other activity. His phone keeps track of his heart rate and Geolocation, to give him a better idea of the effectiveness of his workouts and how they affect his life.
Weight: Monitoring his weight allows Ernesto to keep an eye on his health and determine when he's not getting enough time on his feet. He doesn't check it daily, but keeps a running idea of its fluctuations.
FitBit: Ernesto uses his FitBit to track his running schedule and activity. FitBit have a range of activity tracking devices, and are one of the larger and more popular manufacturers of activity tracking devices in 2015.
SuperMemo: A website and software devoted to improving memory, self-growth, creativity, time-management, and speed-learning. It's based on the concept of spaced repetition – which improves retention by repeating new ideas at an ever-increasing interval based on the average time to forget learned material.
Kevin Kelly: Wired magazine's founding editor and The Quantified Self co-founder. His official web page can be found here.
Gary Wolf is a contributing editor at Wired and co-founder of The Quantified Self. He's the author of "The Curse of Xanadu" about Ted Nelson and Project Xanadu, and "The World According to Woz" about Steve Wozniak. His TED talk about The Quantified Self can be found here.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States.
Databetes was founded by Doug Kanter, a patient with type-1 diabetes. Doug is a graduate of NYU's ITP where he studied data visualization and interaction design. Previously Doug worked as a photographer in New York City and Beijing, China. He's run a few marathons and is pretty intrigued by Quantified Self.
Asian Efficiency: Damien mentioned that a friend Aaron who runs this site, tracked every minute of his day for a year to optimize his schedule and how much time he put into each activity from work to social to sleep and everything else.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Ernesto, thank you so much for joining us today.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: No problem, glad to be here.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Great. Well, I wanted to jump straight into it. You're from the Quantified Self. Welcome Quantified Self to the Quantified Body. You guys have pretty much started this. When did you start the Quantified Movement? When did QS come about?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Sure. So Quantified Self came about out of a collaboration between Gary Wolf and Kevin Kelly. Both had been working at Wired magazine for quite a long time, and late 2007, early 2008, they were looking at what was – what were kind of the new things.
Obviously, personal computing had come about. Like the reason Wired was started was – had been here. Now, at that point, people are walking around with iPhones, and they realized that computing was getting a lot closer to individuals' bodies. People were able to now use computing in ways to ask very personal questions about themselves. So they started to meet up, and people came in and started talking about how they were tracking different things about their lives, and we've kind of just been rolling ever since.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: That's great, right. I think a lot of people have heard of Gary and Kevin, but could you give a quick background on why these two people came together at that time? What were their backgrounds to kind of start all of this?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah, so Kevin Kelly was one of the founding editors of Wired magazine, but he's been involved in lots of different projects around how people use different tools, objects and technologies. I mean, he's been a thinker on technology for quite a long time. You know, he was around Stewart Brand and the whole Earth Catalogue, and then transitioned into Wired magazine.
Gary is a journalist focusing primarily on technology, and so they were – they both kind of just used their mutual interests to brainstorm on what was next, you know, and that's what they came up with was Quantified Self, QS.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yeah, that's great. And, of course, QS is pretty much all over the world now, and we can talk a little bit about that as we go on and how people can participate. But back there in the first meeting, I think you had, like, eight people. It was a very small meeting. I think Tim Ferriss was one of the guys who turned up to the first meetings. Do you know how many people turned up to that first meeting?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: I think they said somewhere around 25 or 30. That was before my time.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: I only got involved in about 2010, but it was a really interesting meeting because they didn't really have an agenda. It didn't look at all like what it looks like now, and then they really didn't know what was going to happen. They thought, okay, people that are interested in this stuff will kind of just come and talk to us, and we'll just have like a chat.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: And that just, like, blew everyone away. And from there, we've kind of built on top of that mentality where people come and actually show the things that they're doing in their own lives. You know, the tools they're using, what they're learning from self-tracking, and how they're experiencing this new idea of Quantified Self.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yeah, yeah. Well, let's get people an idea of what's going on at the moment. So basically there are groups all around the world meeting in different cities all around the world. How is a meeting structured? What goes on in a meeting?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah, so right now we have about 110 groups in a little over 30 countries around the world, and all of them have a little bit different structure. We don't kind of force anything on them. They're all volunteer groups that are meeting.
That spans, like, all different types of self-tracking technologies and experimentations and projects, all the way from – we've had a lot of individuals with chronic diseases, people with type 1 diabetes saying, 'This is what I'm learning from tracking my blood glucose and my diet in this really interesting way,' or, 'This is what I'm learning from tracking the dates I go on,' to my pets, to all sorts of different stuff.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: I think that's one of the things that strikes you when you go to a Quantified meeting. Here at the Quantified Body, we tend to focus on health, longevity, things about the body, which can be related a bit to medical or performance or longevity, these kind of things. But Quantified Self is a lot broader. You can go to a meeting and you can hear, like you said, about someone's dating life and how they've managed to track that over time and quantify it in whatever way.
So, I think the big difference people should get the idea of here is that it's absolutely quantifying any aspect of your life that is interesting to you. And for that reason, when you go to a meeting, you really don't know what is going to come up. I think the conference really displays that quite well, because you have many, many what we call show-and-tells. So if you could explain to people a little bit about what a show-and-tell is?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: And we ask presenters to really answer three simple questions, which is: What did you do? How did you do it? What did you learn? And all the time, keeping that kind of first-person narrative perspective, where it's really about their experiences, the visualizations they made, the data analysis they've done, the process they've done to gather data, and what conclusions they've come up with through that entire data gathering experience.
And if you think about it, one of the fun things is that those three questions – 'What did you do?', 'How did you do it?', and 'What did you learn?' are really a simple, simple way to think about the scientific method. The scientific method is a little bit broader, but if you bring it really – if you kind of just simplify that and bring it down to the individual level, that's what we're trying to do.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yeah. Another term we often come across today is 'N=1 experiments.' Would you say there are a lot of people also doing kind of N=1 experiments? Because it's basically – there's tracking, just recording – and then there's, like, I'm going to change something and see what happens. So are both of those things covered in QS naturally, or how does that work?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Oh, totally. So you have a lot of people engaging with self-tracking. You know, the broad spectrum of things that could be called self-tracking for a variety of different reasons. One you mentioned – a few of them you did mention.
One is just kind of data gathering, just for the purpose of data gathering. You know, a lot of people wear smart pedometers, like a Fitbit or Jawbone Up or a Nike FuelBand, without any real purpose other than they want to just understand and keep track of this data. And then there's the individual, like you're saying, that do these kind of N=1 experiments. And even within those experiments, there's a huge range of kind of how meticulous and detailed people get.
Some people just say, 'You know what? I want to see if going on a more plant-based diet is going to reduce my weight and improve my blood cholesterol levels.' And they'll just kind of track the things they're eating. They'll track their weight. They might do a blood test or something, and then there's other people that are just super-meticulous about setting up a very programmed experimentation or experimental protocol. Those are always a lot of fun to watch, to see people get very scientific about the things that they care about.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Right. I've seen many of these things where it's actually made a huge impact on people's lives. Right? That's some of the astounding things. I remember the first one I went to in London, and there was a presentation from a guy who had suffered from depression for most of his life, and he simply set up a way of quantifying and communicating that to all of his friends.
So I think there's sometimes a social aspect – you can potentially speak a lot more about this than me – and simply by doing that, he found that his rate of depression dropped, and he was basically happier every day just through this exercise of tracking and letting all of his friends see how depressed or how not depressed he was. Obviously, that completely revolutionized his life, because he didn't feel depressed most of the time anymore. So I've seen some, you know, huge changes, and weight loss is very obvious. What are some of the most exciting changes you've seen people get out from the Quantified Self?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah, so there's a bunch. One of my favorites – there's a gentleman in New York. He's given a talk a few times, actually, in New York at their MeetUp, and I think he also gave a talk at our last conference in 2013 – our last U.S.-based conference.
His name is Doug Kantor. He's a type 1 diabetic. He's been on an insulin pump for quite a long time, and now is on a continuous glucose measurement system, so rather than doing, like, the finger prick, he has an implanted device that can continually measure his blood glucose.
As part of one of his graduate design projects in New York, he developed a system to gather all of that data, so he was gathering his insulin, his blood glucose, and then also his meals and his physical activity. He was primarily a runner. And he tells this really interesting story about bringing all of that data in and being able to see all this information and kind of how it all connects. Led to the healthiest year of his life when you look at it from a diabetic perspective.
So, you know, that's A1c, which is their primary measure, so which is how well they can metabolize blood glucose. And it really tells this, like, interesting thing. Plus, his visualizations, that's primarily what he was doing in graduate school was working on design, are just astounding. You can definitely see what happens to him over the course of a year through his wonderful visualizations, which – if your listeners want to look online – I believe his website is called Databetes.
I mean, that's a really interesting one. And we've seen a bunch, like you were saying, the gentleman that was tracking his mood, that seems to be a really, really interesting one as well. One of the most interesting and fun ones that you wouldn't think would be in Quantified Self, but is, is there's an individual who actually does some work with us, but lives in Portland named Steven Jonas, and he's really interested in memory and being able to remember things, and he uses a system called Space Repetition and a program called Super Memo. He's given two talks recently about how he's using Space Repetition to try and remember every day of his life.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: So every day he creates a card, basically these are like intelligent flash cards that say these are the important things that happened today, and quizzes himself to see if he can remember what days those were.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: That's really interesting. I mean, that's something very unique, as well. I think that's the amazing thing about QS. No matter what you're interested in, you can go there and you can get feedback from other people to potentially improve what you're doing. Like with these show-and-tells, there's a lot of questions, of course, that come from the audience once you've finished your show-and-tell.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, and that's one of the interesting things. Like, a lot of people would say – you would think that we would focus just on health, or just on weight loss and physical activity, since those are like the primary things that people do when they engage with these self-tracking tools and applications and devices.
But what we've found is that when people go up and talk about their super personal experiences, whether it's individual tracking his – we had one in San Francisco tracking his blood coagulation levels, because he is on blood thinners. Or it's someone talking about how they track their heart rate variability, because they want to understand their stress. Even though you may not be interested in that particular topic, the process that they go through and the things that they do might inspire you to try something in your own life around the ideas that you're interested in, like, who knows, tracking how much you drive your car.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yeah, because I think there's this whole – I mean, there's scientific relevance in terms of how you're tracking, is it controlled and things. And I found, because I led the Bangkok QS session, most – like the questions that come out, it's about the quality of the data, if we can trust it. You know, these kinds of things come up. And if you're doing an experiment, is it well controlled? Can we believe in the results? These kinds of questions often come up, and it helps us to – and, of course, this could apply to anything that you're tracking. It's obviously a lot of the time it's the same kinds of questions. Okay, how useful is this data?
And also, I found that people often share their own experiences from that kind of aspect of their life, and they get new ideas. So one time we had one of my friends, he has a website called asianefficiency.com, and he tracks all of his time, all of his time he puts into categories, no matter what he's doing. When he's sleeping, it's categorized as sleeping. And he's done this experiment for, I think it was about a year.
So he brought all his data, which basically showed what he'd been doing with his life for about a year, and it was really interesting for a lot of people, because, like, oh, that's interesting. How much time you spend preparing meals, or how much time you spend walking or commuting, and it can be quite shocking to some people when they start to think about, well, maybe I'm spending too much time commuting in my life and stuff.
So I found that a really interesting one, and obviously everyone had something to say about that. And for most of the show-and-tells, I would say, it is things that relate to anyone, and you'll go and you'll – and these are aspects of your life maybe you don't look so closely at, but most of the time it's something you can relate to and learn from yourself, also.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah, and, I mean, a lot of times, like what you're describing here with this individual that tracks time, which is also a super, very, very popular topic. It's really interesting to kind of see how people actually engage with their time tracking in different ways. Whether they just let their machines track their time for them, or they do it all themselves and set up really fancy Excel spreadsheets to do it.
What is interesting is that a lot of times when someone gets up and says, 'I'm doing this thing,' There are a lot of times that people will say, 'You know what? I was interested in that, too,' or, 'I've always been thinking about it.' Like you were saying, I was wondering how much time I spend commuting. This is someone who has actually done something, and now I can take this lesson. If I want to apply it to my own life, I can take their lessons that they are learning and try to do that in my own life, or reformat it into a different way that might work for me.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Right, right. Well, I can tell you, once I had seen my friend's data, I was inspired to track my life for a few moments every hour, and I got a lot out of it as a consequence. So I think what we're touching on here is QS helps motivate, inspire people. The fact that people can get together and talk about quantification.
So, for someone who perhaps – they'd like to do experiments on their life, they'd like to potentially improve upon their life which they have been having trouble with before, or maybe they are just interested in understanding something better, I think QS is a great place to go to, because they'll be other people, and it kind of provides you this motivation, this support network following through, is that – whereas most people maybe find it harder to get started. And there's a lot of people who know a lot about the devices, and there's a lot of people generally in those groups who know a lot about the kinds of devices that are out there. And so it's a great group, also, to swap ideas on things.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Oh, yeah. I mean, the number of individuals around the world that engage with their own Quantified Self MeetUps, they organize them, or they come to our conferences, or they just engage with us on our forum on our website is astounding. And the amount of help that people get, people are asking questions all the time. 'What device can I use to track this thing?' Or 'I've been thinking about doing this.' 'My physician said I should try tracking this to help me with this condition or that condition.' It's amazing. It's always great to see. It's one of the reasons we love doing this.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yeah, absolutely. Another thing I wanted to really touch on is where have you seen the movement come from, and where is it today in terms of making progress? What have we learned so far about tracking data on ourselves from QS? What are the kinds of biggest achievements to date? Is there anything that you've changed about the way you're going QS to help people get more out of it, get more out of tracking in general?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Well, I think one of the things that we're learning is that people definitely want to engage with their data, and that's not always easy. And so one of the things that we've been doing and one of our core pieces of our current work and future work over the next few years is going to be really tackling this issue of data access. So if you use a device or an application that you're contributing data to, so it's tracking your physical activity or your location or doing something where you're contributing pieces of information that are about you, and this happens a lot in the medical setting. You know, like that individual that has to wear a glucose meter. They are contributing their own personal data.
In many cases, getting that data out, controlling it, being able to access it – even in some cases having ownership of it is tricky, and it's not a very clear, like, consensus across the board whether or not people should have ownership, whether they should have control, whether they should have access. All of these are like three different concepts that kind of always get talked about in each other or around each other.
And that's one of things that we're really focused on is improving the amount of access that people have from their data. Right now, we're really early on, but it's something that we're really, really passionate about. Because one of the things that we've seen through a lot of these show-and-tells and through our conferences is that when people actually get access to their data, they can export their data, put it into a CSV spreadsheet, you know, use an API connection to plug it into a different tool, they can do astounding things with it. They can learn really, really important stuff, whether it's just through a visualization or some kind of analytics tool. So that's one of the things that we're definitely seeing.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: That's interesting, because I think the first one you talked about, – access – it's kind of like knocking its head with privacy. If we look at the world to date, information has been pretty private. If we look at medical information, for instance, it's tucked in some doctor's drawer, and even the patient doesn't realize he can have access to that information a lot and even take it home.
So there's kind of the health area, and I think also, like, financials and all of these different aspects of our lives. And it is an interesting topic, how much do we want other people to have access to it, how easy is it to get access to our own information. I think, obviously, the first one is it would be nice if everyone had ownership of their own information, to start with, and be able to decide what privacy limitations are on that, in an ideal future world. Are these some of the topics you're struggling with and looking at?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Definitely. So, across the board, we're really interested. I mean, privacy, data access and data ownership, they're all kind of like prongs in this really big conversation, which is what is the role of personal data in our lives? What should we be able to do with it? So all the way from – you see there's a lot of work now in, like you were saying, the health records space. Like should you have access to the health records?
Like if you get a lab test at your physician's office, should you have immediate access to that information? What does that mean? Actually, there's some really interesting programs going on in the United States where if you go to see a physician, when you're talking to them, you're having a conversation, they're writing on their laptop or their desktop computer, they're writing notes in your file. Should you be able to read those notes? For a long time, those were just kind of in your medical record and you never got to see them unless you specifically asked for them, and then in some cases you have to pay for that access and lots of weird stuff. Now there's projects opening those up, so people could have conversations about those notes, which are pieces of data about that interaction.
And then there's a lot of information around data privacy, as well, so should a company – like say you are wearing a Fitbit. Should Fitbit be able to make aggregated charts and graphs about your physical activity to share with, kind of like, readers of their Fitbit blog? You know, maybe not your specific, but a group of people, and what does that mean? Is that going against data privacy or not? There's a lot of unanswered questions.
And I don't think there's a lot of – there's not going to be any definitive answer. I don't think anyone's going to just say, okay, we're going to turn the key now and now everyone has complete ownership over their own data, and they have to authorize every single person in the room, whoever wants to look at something. Nothing so far has really shown that that's going to occur, because data has some inherent value for a lot of these companies that you're engaging with. But there are really interesting conversations around, like, what does mean and who actually should be able to work with this data, and how easy should it be for the individuals that create it to use it and have access to it so they can do whatever they'd like.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yeah. These questions definitely need to be tackled. Like you said, it's kind of up in the air. There's a lot more self-testing in the health area being made available to us now. Increasingly over time, but of course, that's kind of knocking heads with regulation, and physicians, how comfortable they feel with that based on the complexity of tests, if people can understand them and interpret them properly. There's lots and lots of questions in the health area about that. I don't think it's going to get resolved any time soon.
But in the meantime, it seems like access to testing is steadily coming on line anyway, whether we're ready for it or not from that perspective. So it will be interesting – I guess, like, QS is going to be tackling those issues. Because, I mean, what happens in QS is like whatever is going on tends to come up and be talked about in QS, since it's basically the home of everything that's being discussed in quantification in the moment, right?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah. You know, this is something interesting. Someone – we're hosting another – what we call our global conference, the large conference in the United States, in June of next year.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Which city is that in?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: So, yeah, in 2015, we're hosting the Quantified Self Global Conference, which we call QS15. It's actually going to be a three-day conference. It's a conference and expo. I can talk about it a little bit, if you want. We can talk about our overall program.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: It's in San Francisco, right?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: In San Francisco, correct.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: So someone was talking about this idea of privacy and ownership, specifically around home testing. So, you know, in the United States we have the FDA, which has to approve medical tests. And there's a big push from a lot of companies in the startup space saying, like, we can have people do medical testing at home. All the way from testing your blood for vitamin D levels to testing urinary fluid to see about – to track blood glucose and other different things.
And this big push, because people want to be able to do this stuff on their own, just in the same way that people wanted to measure their blood pressure at home a long time ago. They realized that just getting your blood pressure measured, you know, twice a year in the doctor's office doesn't really give you a good look at what blood pressure is for you. The same way, you know, that getting your blood tested once a year or once every few years if there's only an issue, doesn't really tell you the whole story.
And so there's like a big push right now, and we're closely following it, because, obviously, that's a whole new area, a way for people to learn about their lives, being able to actually gather data that heretofore has been just kind of siloed in the medical establishment, and bringing that to the individuals.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: But if we open that – I mean, there's a huge potential in terms of – a big problem doctors have today is compliance with whatever protocol or treatment they've applied to people. But, you know, a feedback system. Feedback is incredibly valuable. If you tell someone that – well, look at glucose management, right?
So if you tell them that currently their fasting glucose in the morning is 100, and it really needs to be down in the low 90s, and they have some convenient way of doing that at home, say it's uploaded to a system that's shared with the doctor, if they are given that reading in their face every morning, they're like, uh-oh, I'm not making progress here, and I've got my doctor's appointment coming up next month. I think there's incredible accountability and motivation aspect from that perspective to be, like, okay, I've got to get back on this treatment protocol that my doctor gave me last visit.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Exactly. You know, there is that – there is the motivational aspect. There's – I mean, the individual's ability to learn about themselves, but there's also the ability to understand – you know, if you really take the medical example as the leading example here – understanding treatment and outcomes at a very personal level.
So rather than a doctor saying, hey, go use this thing – use this blood pressure medication for 6 weeks, and then come back to me, and then we'll measure your blood pressure again and we'll see how it's working. Rather than waiting that entire time, you can maybe get a faster feedback system so you can say, 'This one is really working for me. I've already seen my blood pressure go down. I've been taking it once in the morning, once in the evening, by myself, in my home, using the protocol that you set up.' Or, 'This one is definitely not working. We need to use a different kind of medication.' So rather than just saying, here's what works, now we can start to ask what actually works for me as an individual.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yeah, absolutely. There's many, many devices, as you've eluded to. There are startups – there's a lot of investment in this area right now in terms of startups, where it comes to health testing, fitness tracking, all sorts of aspects of this. And social media kind of like sharing of data and these kinds of things, and aggregating data. So in terms of the state of devices available today, are there any challenges faced with people using these and getting a value from these? Because I've bought many tracking devices, and I have to say, so far, I think the main complaint is people don't find that a lot of data is very actionable when it comes down to it.
And I think sometimes it comes down to – there's the other concern of accuracy. Many of the devices, it's kind of nascent. If you look at, for instance, a lot of the watches, the fitness trackers and all of these kinds of things which are tracking, in a very convenient way, because you're just wearing this piece of technology which is going to quantify different aspects of your movement and things going on each day. But when – like some of the studies I've seen where people have compared these devices with each other, well, they don't really measure up to each other, right? They got different results. So there's a concern of accuracy there which has come up.
So I think that leads into the actionability, also, of what we are doing. And also like the selection of measures and what the device companies are doing. So I'm just interested in your perspective on what's going on out there, and what the biggest challenges are to reinforce that movement. If we are going to see an explosion of devices over the next years because they did become so valuable to our lives, what would need to change?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah. I think regardless of whether we want it or not, we are going to see an explosion of devices.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: The investment's there.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah. There's a lot of – yeah, there's a lot of money there that people are kind of pouring into the system. Sensors are becoming cheaper. Battery life is improving. The technical capacity of computing to track things and make sense of objects and behaviors and information is improving. I mean, that's just kind of the state of technology as a whole. It's just kind of on this upwards trend, and it's always improving. Data science is getting better. Algorithms are getting better.
I think one of the issues around this kind of accuracy idea is in some cases the over-promising of what a device can do and what it can understand, and individuals – what they really, actually need. So I always like to have the more philosophical conversation around, like, accuracy versus truth and that that actually means for an individual. Does your Fitbit or Jawbone UP need to know down to the exact number of steps? Like, does it matter if it says 10,412 versus 10,512?
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: And also this is a relative thing. If it's wrong the same amount every day, well, you can still use it for motivation, like a lot of things.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah. I mean, if you have systematic error, random error, it really matters. But in most cases, a lot of this stuff is just kind of systematic bias. It's always going to be wrong at this certain level. But if your scale is always wrong 5 pounds heavy in the morning, it doesn't really matter, as long as you use the same scale.
But in some cases – a lot of the issue, though, around this accuracy is tied to the medical system. Because a lot of people want to push the data that they're collecting into some sort of health record, or have it coordinated with their care so that people can understand this data in relation to their health outcomes.
And so now there's a bigger push to take the data from these devices, figure out if they are accurate, and then put them in kind of a clinical model so they can be looked at in the health records. And I think that's something that is coming quickly. We are already seeing that happen with – Apple made a big push for this with Health Kit. So they took devices, and they took data formats, and they said, okay, these are the exact formats that we can use, and now they're being pushed into electronic medical records, I think at, like, Duke Hospital and a few other different hospital systems.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah. Rather than saying, like, we trust you as a device maker. So let's say there's like seven different digital scales that are out there. Rather than saying, 'These are the four that we think are accurate,' they are saying, 'If you want to integrate with our Health Kit system, you have to report this data format, this data feature.' Which is weight in a specific way that we know is clinically understandable.
Say a doctor says they want to look at my Health Kit data, and they want to look at the amount of miles I run each week, and if I connect, like, three different running apps, they can say, well, I trust RunKeeper, but not Strava. So I only will take runs that are reported with RunKeeper, for whatever reason. That's a completely arbitrary example. Both I think are fine apps.
So that is something that is definitely coming on board, which is – it kind of relates to our conversation earlier, which is this kind of personalized medical testing, is that there's a lot of push to get the entire breadth of someone's life, their behaviors that they do outside of a clinical or medical setting, and bring that understanding into the medical field, so that people can create better care plans. They can understand cause and effect at a better level.
And it's still very nascent. You know, this is still very early on. But there's entire work on this which is people who are wanting to say let's track from your genome to your weight to your diet to your physical activity. If we could bring all of that in, what is it that we can actually learn about humanity and how life actually works out there in reality.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yeah. It sounds like the device manufacturers, the technology companies like Apple and – like Intel has been making acquisitions in this area. They've acquired Basis. So, you know, a lot of these companies are now looking at this area. It sounds like they're going to be a tremendous force in where this goes, and even when it comes to the governmental typically regulated parts, like health and so on. They're going to be a tremendous force in where this eventually goes in influence. Is that what you're seeing at the moment? There seems to be more and more influences that are trying to push the realm out, basically.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: I think so. I think there's a lot – it's still a little early on to say, like, these are going – they are going to start maybe lobbying the government to do different things. But what we are seeing is that there is actually a lot of pressure within governmental organizations and governmental bodies to understand – everyone calls this stuff different things. We have mHealth, we have ConnectedHealth, and we have Quantified Self. All of them kind of relate to each other. And there's a lot of push right now to say, like, this is happening.
We can't just say, like, that this stuff isn't around. What can we actually do to make sense of this? So one of the things that we actually did as an organization, in collaboration with a large funder – health research funder here in the United States, called the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we hosted a meeting last year – I'm sorry, earlier this year, actually, early 2014, where we brought together people in the Quantified Self that are what we call toolmakers, you know, the people that make devices and applications and systems, along with researchers in public health and computer science, to say – to understand what is the role of this personal data in research?
Because now, rather than a researcher saying, 'I have to develop an entirely new strategy, and I have to buy a bunch of sensors to give to people so I can understand how much activity they get during the week versus the weekend,' now those people, they're just collecting that data on their own. What is the role of that information in the research realm? And what can we learn from that? And that's still very, very, very early, but there's a big push, I think, to say why should we pay a $1 million grant for you to develop new sensors or new tools or buy different things, when there are all these people actually out there doing it on their own? What can we learn from them?
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Right. So previously, on episode 9 of the Quantified body, we spoke to Jessica Richman of uBiome, which you should know well. And she's approaching this whole thing, calling it crowd science.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Which is basically turning science upside down and using technology and putting the right standards in place and so on. We could completely revolutionize the approach through quantification, like, of the masses. Basically Quantified Self everywhere could start feeding science, the new ideas and so on, and completely revolutionize the way we approach all of that.
So in the United States, I think in 2008, they published kind of what they called a physical activity guideline, which says adults have to get 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a week. But she was talking about when they look at their data, that's just not true. People just don't do that. They're not robots. They don't, like, every week get exactly this amount. It kind of goes in waves. People come and go. And she was talking – is there something we could do as an organization? Like, we are a large data collector – we have millions and millions of users that are tracking activity – to better understand what guidelines should actually be?
Or if you look at – say, for instance, in part of my world, I did physical activity research, so that's where all my examples come from, I apologize. But in the United States we have what's called the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. So every few years, they go out and try to measure the health of America. And they do it through clinical work, through surveys, and they also – to measure physical activity, they give a few thousand people accelerometers. That's how we say, okay, people aren't or are getting enough physical activity.
And that – if you were to say that's how we measure physical activity in the United States, that data set is just completely dwarfed by the amount of data that companies like Garmin and Nike and Fitbit and Jawbone have. If – just in the United States. But then if you think about the worldwide scale, we're now – they're able to track millions of people. And if we could use that to understand interesting things about human behavior, it really opens up a whole new world of possibilities in the research realm.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yeah. It would change completely our approach, I know, from a business decision making prospect of Internet marketing, for instance. With previous partners, I always used to have discussions, and it was opinion based. And even when I was working in consulting, we'd have opinion based discussions, and whoever argue the best would win. In this new world, the idea is that we're actually able and go test, and that's what's nice about the Internet today.
People in business, instead of arguing backwards and forwards and the person who argues the most in business, now they're saying, well, 'let's test that idea and see what happens'. Right? I think that's what's really exciting, especially with people who follow kind of the health realm, there's been many assumptions made and killed over time. And there's still a ton of conflict in the world of medicine and health, for sure, if not more and more so as things – as different people discover new things and so on.
I don't think that's going to disappear any time soon, because it's kind of like cutting-edge, leading-edge science. But if we had this kind of feedback mechanism where we could actually do tests and see – let's just put it to a test. Let's see what the population tells us about that hypothesis. It would revolutionize the speed of development of things.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Or imagine, like one of the things that we're doing. Like what if you put the question asking in the hands of the actual individuals? So in Jessica's case, she's looking at microbiome data. So rather than saying, okay, what are the research questions that are in the field, that's in the literature, what if individuals came up with those questions? What if they – what if someone said, 'You know what, I really like my pets. I wonder if being around my dog changes my microbiome, my amount of bacteria that I'm in contact with?' That's probably a really interesting question. Has it been asked in the literature? Who knows? I mean, someone probably knows; not me.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Exactly. So it brings to surface things people actually care about instead of us assuming this is what matters to humans. What matters to everyone that we kind of resolve and put science towards. So in terms of Quantified Self, coming back to more practical, what would you say are the best tips if someone wants to quantify something about themselves? What would you say are best practice kinds of tips that you think it's good to follow in terms of gathering or using the data or whatever you've seen over time?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: I think simplicity is always best. So one of the things that people – like they always – okay, well 'I want to know about X, Y and Z about my life'. And then you start building the mechanism, how can I keep track of this data that I care about? And that can get really unwieldy really quickly. Because there's so many different ways to do it, and we may want to get very, very super specific.
I think the easiest thing to do is whenever you find the question that you're interested in, in other orders, 'I'm curious about,' or 'I wonder if this is related to that,' try to develop the easiest way that you can collect that information and engage with it, and then build a system around that. Whether that's going and buying a fitness tracker or an Internet-connected weight scale, or setting up, you know, Google spreadsheets. I think one of the most underrated quantified self-tracking systems is Google Forms. It's super easy to do. You can put it on your phone, and you can just have yourself answer surveys whenever you want.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Right, right. Just answer those two questions every morning. You can have an alert on your IPhone as well that says answer your form.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Exactly, exactly. Say you wanted to know about your sleep. You could just say, every morning, just click open that little Google Form that says, how did you sleep; how long did you sleep; what did you do the night before? Simple things like that. But the other thing is, you know, it does seem a little self-promotional, but on the Quantified Self website, we have a link to the show-and-tell videos, and there are hundreds of them.
We have over 700 videos in our video archive on Vimeo. But you can search the website, and probably find something that's related to what you're interested in. So if you're interested in blood glucose, you can type that in, and you're going to get returned a bunch of different posts and videos and real people talking about their real experiences tracking that thing.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Exactly, and what obstacles they came across and resolved, or so on, so you can get a head start, rather than starting from zero and maybe falling into the same traps. Yep, excellent point. So, Ernesto, what do you see – what's the future of QS? You spoke a little bit about what you guys are focusing on right now, but are the specific things you're looking at the moment, and any kind of challenges you've kind of got your eye on as well of the movement?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: One of the things that we're doing is we're trying to open up and really bring this idea of Quantified Self to the public and really showcase that these tools and technologies are going to start coming hard and fast, and whatever kind of questions you have, you're going to be able to engage with those questions.
And so one of the things that we're doing alongside of our global conference is having this public expo. So we have this really amazing venue in San Francisco, right on the water at Fort Mason, where we're inviting people just to come and experience all of the different kinds of tools and tracking systems, to understand what's actually available out there. What are the cool things that you can do? What are the questions that you can ask? How can you engage with your own personal data through a way of engaging with your own life?
So that's one of our – I think one of the things we're really interested in, and one of our fun challenges for next year. Part of it is also that data access piece, something we're very interested in. Trying to engage the research community with the quantified self-community as a whole.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Great, great. Thank you very much for that. Who besides QS or perhaps specific resources, what would you recommend people look at in order to learn more about quantifying themselves? Like are there any specific resources, people, or things that people could look at to learn how to do this better and so on?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Obviously, again, self-promotional here, I'll start with the Quantified Self website, which is just QuantifiedSelf.com.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Right. And to join – I mean, what's the best approach to get involved? Let's talk straight about it. To get involved in QS, what's the best – I know how I do it. But let's hear how you would go and get – how would you – what's your first step to get involved in QS?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: So on the website, we have – there's a sidebar. There's a list of all of the different MeetUps that are Quantified Self MeetUps around the world. So one of the first things you can do is -I mean, obviously in person is going to be a lot more fun than just watching videos at home on your computer. So trying to find a MeetUp that's close to you is step number one. So whether you're in Los Angeles or New York or Boston or St. Louis or – like yourself, or in Australia, gosh, I'm trying to name all of them, now. London.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: They're all over the world.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: They're all over. Singapore. You can find a MeetUp close to you. If, though, however, you can't find a MeetUp, we invite you to just start your own and then publicize it within your own local community to meet other people like you. That's one of – I think the most interesting and fun parts of this, is it is a community. It's a social aspect. We hear all the time when people come to the conferences or come to the meet ups, like, I didn't realize there were other people that are interested in the same things I was interested in. I didn't realize there were other dorks or geeks that were tracking their lives in Excel.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Or using wireless scales and really trying to understand themselves through the lens of personal data.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: We have a how to start your own MeetUp blog post or page on the website where it details everything, but also you can get a hold of me. My contact information is up on the website as well.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: That's great. And just for people – I was living in Bangkok at the time where they didn't have a QS, but I did travel a bit. I go to London, come to the U.S. sometimes, and I would just drop in. Like, whenever I'm in a city, I'll see if there's a QS there. So if you travel a bit, you know, you can always check out, oh, do they have any local QS's? And you can either do that on meetup.com, or you can go straight to the Quantified Self and, as you said, you have everything listed there. I think the thing we didn't say is all of the meets for Quantified Self are managed through meetup.com, so they're all listed in there. Is that correct?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: That's correct. So all of them are on meetup.com. So you can always search Quantified Self on MeetUp to find something near you.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yeah, and you can just RSVP, I'm going to go and join. So, I found that helpful, personally, to see what it was like. I was in some of the early meetings for London and stuff, and then because there was nothing in Bangkok, like you said, I was just, like, okay, I'll just create my own one. And it was surprising to see that even in Bangkok, Thailand, where you don't exactly think there's going to be a lot of people interested in kind of something that's a bit more cutting edge from Silicon Valley, yeah, there's was a whole bunch of people who joined just naturally for the meet. It's very easy to get started, even if there isn't one in your own town.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Exactly. And, you know, one of the other things, obviously, you can come to one of our two conferences. We put on two a year. I was mentioning our global conference, we call it QS15. It will be in June in San Francisco. And we're currently planning our fourth European Conference in Amsterdam in September of 2015.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yeah, and that's a great intro, because there's such a variety of different people and things going on there. A great place to network and meet people that might be interested in similar things to you. I'm sure there are many businesses being grown out of QS, in fact, just for that kind of networking aspect.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Too many to even name. I mean, it seems like there's one a day. And that's great, because the more ways people can engage with their own personal data – like we were saying, answer the questions that they find interesting and important, the better for them.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yep. Are there any other resources you've found useful in terms of whatever, like, learning how to gather data better, or, you know, track it better, or make better decisions from it, or whatever?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: So one of the things that – I, because it's part of my job as program director for Quantified Self, is just kind of staying abreast of different news and information. So if you're on Twitter, the Quantified Self hashtag, which is just all one word, QuantifiedSelf, is pretty great. You know, there's a mix of people, like news articles, people doing interesting things, but also people talking about their own data and different visualizations or projects or experiments they've done.
Our QS forum is great. People are always posting stuff on there, which is just forum.quantifiedself.com.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: You can't think of anything besides QS? Well, I guess you guys are trying to pull in anything that's good, right?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah. So every Saturday I post on our website, and it also goes out as a newsletter called 'What We're Reading,' and it's just links to both self-tracking projects, interesting data visualizations, but also just kind of like articles around the culture of data and quantified self and what that means, people who are doing interesting stuff. But it's also just some tech news in general.
I think the last time – this last week, I posted a random article about researchers who were able to trick computers into thinking – different images were not what they seemed. It was really interesting, about algorithms and robotics.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: We'll put links to all that stuff in the show notes.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: So, Ernesto, what would be your number one recommendation to someone trying to use some form of data to make better decisions about their body's health…performance?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Oh, my number one recommendation. That is – I said it earlier, which is, you know, start small and kind of look at the easiest possible way to do it. So try not to overload yourself with devices or systems or tools or applications.
And the second part is, I think, talk to someone else about your data. Whether that's someone online that you know or don't know, you know, sharing your data visualization, having a conversation. Because what happens, I think, a lot of times is when individuals sit with their own question and they engage with their own data, you already have some sort of bias. Like, you're already looking for some kind of interesting pattern in a specific way.
And someone else who doesn't have your own personal experience, I mean, they're obviously not you, is going to bring a new set of eyes and a new set of experiences, and having those conversations with people, I think, can be really, really interesting. A lot of those show-and-tells that happen in person, a question will be, have you ever thought about looking at your data in this other way? And a speaker or presenter will say, 'Oh, I really haven't. That's an interesting thing to do. I've never thought about that.' So I think talking to someone about it, about what you've learned or what you're doing, is always a great way to actually learn more.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Great, great. And to your first point, you were saying keep it simple, because – because basically, I know some people take on these projects, they're too complex, and they get tired of them, because it takes too much effort every day, so convenience – how conveniently can you track this, how little effort does it take, are important considerations when you're saying, 'Oh, I've got to track this data for a month or two to get what I want out of it.' So not trying to go overboard, I think, some projects could be dropped.
Have you seen that kind of thing? Like where people start out a bit over ambitious in terms of how much they want to collect and how much time they're spending on it, and kind of drop the project halfway through and don't get the value or whatever they wanted out of it.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Of course, yeah, it happens all the time.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Yep, yeah. In all aspects of life. Final question. A bit more about you. What data metrics do you track for your own body on a routine basis?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah, so I've been tracking with a Fitbit since 2011. I had – you know, I had a space in there where I lost it, so I had – I used data from my phone to kind of back up. I used – I'm a fan of redundant systems.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: So I have – my phone is tracking my physical activity, and so is my Fitbit. I track my running both with a GPS watch and a heart rate monitor and my phone as well. I also – I'm a really big fan of geolocation, because I think it tells a really interesting story about how you move around the world. So I track my geolocation. I've been doing my weight – not every morning, but I try and be pretty consistent, as well with that. And then my overall productivity and computer use. I use some time tracking software to do that, as well.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Great. And what has been the biggest insight from all of this kind of stuff that you've drawn to date, that you've found personally most useful? It could be anything. Just that you found it personally useful for your life?
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Oh, so, even, like, as a physical activity researcher, I found it really useful to have something that tracks my physical activity, because it really kind of hit home for me that you really have to make it a priority. At least for my own. I really had to make it a priority to move. Whether that's making sure that I go on walks, I get up from my desk, that I go on a run every so often. If I don't – because a lot of times I'm working either from home or from another small office – that I'll just kind of get in the zone and zone out, and it will be a few hours later, and I haven't done anything. So really, for me, it's really about how much of the things you kind of take for granted. Just, like, normal everyday activity, you really have to be thoughtful of.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: Yeah, enormously. I mean, just looking at it on a day-to-day basis. But every now and then, I go back and look at aggregate information. I've played around with making calendar heatmaps to look at kind of my years versus each other. And it's pretty striking to see, like, how life changes, like walking to an office versus working from home really affects overall activity.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Right, yeah, that's interesting. So it's the things we don't really think about which could influence physical activity, for example, and it's just some kind of life change. That's very interesting.
[Damien Blenkinsopp]: Ernesto, thank you so much for joining us today, and to introduce us to the Quantified Self. It's been great. Like I said, we'll put all the links to you guys and everything in the show notes, so people can find you easily and get started, hopefully, in their local towns and so on.
[Ernesto Ramirez]: This has been fun. I really appreciate it.


Description: Ladies, meet cute Alicia, who is a very famous actress. She had a very successful role in one of the most amazing movies of the year and she will be nominated as Best Actress at a very prestigious award show. That's the reason she has selected to wear a custom made dress tailored by a seamstress. Help her with the dress design in the Design Disaster game!


This report outlines action that local government can take to prepare for and address the challenges that peak oil and climate change will bring to local communities.
Every year, EPA ranks metro areas according to which had the most ENERGY STAR certified buildings in the past year. This year, Washington, D.C., debuts in the top spot with 480 buildings. EPA's Energy Star Top Cities list shows how cities across America, with help from Energy Star, are embracing energy efficiency as an effective way to save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change.
Local governments play an important role in reducing indoor and outdoor air pollution and the impacts of climate change by educating communities about air quality issues and participating in air quality improvement policies, programs or initiatives in buildings they own and/or manage, transportation and energy programs, and land use decisions.


Categories: Quotes | Tags: body, chakra, consciousness, energy, heal, healing, meditation, Metaphysics, mind, namaste, new age, power, psychic, quote, reiki, spirit, spiritual, spirituality, tarot, wisdom | Permalink.
Categories: All | Tags: awakening, body, chakra, chakras, consciousness, esoteric, healing, heart, horoscope, intuition, London, meditation, meditation music, Metaphysics, metapsychic, mind, new age, psychology, spirit, spiritual, spirituality | Permalink.
Why you should hug your inner demon.
Categories: All, Life Troubleshooting | Tags: astral, astro, astrology, body, chakra, consciousness, demon, development, divination, healing, horoscope, intuition, meditation, Metaphysics, metapsychic, mind, new age, philosophy, psychic, psychology, psychotherapy, runes, shadow, soul, spiritual, spirituality, tarot, tarot divination, universal | Permalink.
How to deal with break up…?
This is going to be a post on one of the oldest and the most popular topics of all times. I am quite sure that if you would dig deep enough in some Egyptian scrolls or Aztec stones you will find it somehow, somewhere. Love is with us from the dawn of humanity and it will be the last thing to go when the divine spirit will decide to burn as back to ashes for good.
Categories: All, Life Troubleshooting | Tags: break up, consciousness, divine, healing, heart, heartbreake, intuition, London, love, love troubles, meditation, meditation music, Metaphysics, metapsychic, mind, new age, pain, philosophy, psychic, psychology, self, spiritual, spirituality, tarot, tarot reading, universal | Permalink.
Categories: All, Manuscription | Tags: demon, demons, fantasy, literature, London, meditation, Metaphysics, metapsychic, new age, Purple Woods, short story, spiritual, spirituality, story, wicca, witch, witchcraft, writing | Permalink.
But… how to actually recognize those fears that are interfering with your life journey? It might be something rooted in your childhood or just a bad experience you once had and didn't got the chance to cope with it properly. Most "popular" fears are Fear of loosing control, vulnerability, rejection of others, loneliness, emptiness..or just simple fear of getting hurt.
In this case our intellect is not always playing in our favor. It can easily rationalize our fear and create a behavior pattern. This pattern can become part of our self definition and once it gets there it will be very hard to get rid of it. Our mind got a lot of defense mechanisms to protect our self image.
This can go on for years and years. Fear can immobilize both physically and mentally. We keep living in our fear-shell where we are seemingly comfortable. But this sword cuts both ways. Maybe not immediately but sooner of later it will.
Categories: All, Life Troubleshooting | Tags: consciousness, fear, healing, intuition, meditation, meditation music, Metaphysics, metapsychic, mind, new age, philosophy, psychic, psychology, spiritual, spirituality, tarot, tarot reading | Permalink.
..the last thing I can remember is sharp pain and my left arm blazing with purple fire. It occurred to me if it is not because it's always been my favorite color….
The tavern stench like dog piss. I was waiting for 3 hours already and Merchant was not even close by. Maybe I should have go on my own or maybe I shouldn't go at all. But what difference does it make.. When I was about to leave, leaving a gold coin on the table. I felt Merchant is close. Good news, then..over all. I went outside to meet him half-way. He was all wrapped up in expensive brocade so heavy and thick he could barely walk and was sweating like a pig.
"Oh..there you are.. I thought you would leave.." Merchant's triple chin was shaking like pork jelly while he was talking.
"Of course, I do. Here you go, he should be somewhere around Purple Woods." Merchant gave me a piece of paper, a map covered with fragments of notes and marks. It was hardly holding in one piece.
"Fine. See you in one week." I turned the other way and was heading to stables to pick up my horse.
That might be tough. It is fairly easy to find if you know who to ask and are ready to pay the price. My sister always got some with her, she would keep it in her pocket all the time wrapped in a piece of cloth that smells of lavender.. Burning feeling suddenly run through my chest. I was looking at the clouds for a moment and then pull my focus back to the map. None of the other notes seemed to have bigger importance and one on the side "Behold Violet Flame of Purification" just didn't make any sense… at that time.
Categories: Manuscription | Tags: adventure, consciousness, drama, fable, fantasy, fiction, metapsychic, new age, novel, psychic, saga, spiritual, spirituality, story, tale, universal, writing | Permalink.
Interview with Phil Hine about Chaos Magic.
This interview got 7 parts, you can all find them on Youtube and all of them are equally interesting.
It will possible resonate more with all the Aleister Crowley juniors out there so I believe that's the reason why this video even more important for people who is either not directly familiar with his work or just rather disagree with it.
One of my friends recently got a great point, its great to meet people with same interest as you but this can lead to the situation when you are just confirming each other point of view instead of challenging it.
For the very same reason I would recommend for all the Thelemaphills to go and try to find an actual catholic priest.
If you would be scared to face opposite opinions you might miss very important experience that may lead to great move forward on your spiritual path.
Categories: All, Life Troubleshooting, YouTube | Tags: Aleister Crowley, bible, chakra, chakras, chaos magic, christ, consciousness, cristianity, healing, intuition, jesus, London, magic, meditation, Metaphysics, metapsychic, mind, new age, philosophy, psychic, religion, spiritual, spirituality, study, tarot, universal | Permalink.


text:
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Starting at $3,379 $3,329
2020 Tour Details
Discover the many treasures along the Eastern Seaboard of America—from New York City to Miami Beach. Your budget-minded vacation leaves nothing out in this adventure from the Northeastern U.S. to South Florida. Begin in the "Big Apple"—New York City! Tour the city's iconic sites: Broadway, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Chinatown, Wall Street, and more. Take in a Broadway show or dine out in the city that never sleeps. In Philadelphia, take a guided tour of the "City of Brotherly Love" with free time to visit the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Arrive in Washington, DC for a guided tour of legendary landmarks: The graves of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy near the eternal flame at Arlington National Cemetery; Capitol Hill, the White House; and the Lincoln and Vietnam Memorials.
Travel to Virginia to visit Colonial Williamsburg, then to Wilmington, NC, to explore the Riverwalk along Cape Fear River. Overnight in Myrtle Beach, SC, and stop in Georgetown—settled in the early 1700s and today a thriving port with shrimp trawlers and fishing boats, historic homes, and churches pre-dating the Revolutionary War. You'll also tour the city of Charleston—with its pastel row houses and horse-drawn carriages. Drive through the Gullah country on your way to Beaufort on Port Royal Island in South Carolina's low country. Then, cross into Georgia for a trolley ride tour of Savannah. Shop on River Street among the moss-covered live oaks and historic homes and see Forrest Gump's bench in the Savannah History Museum, then visit historic St. Augustine. Take a guided open-air tram tour of Daytona International Speedway and the Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Arrive in Miami Beach, and take a tour of the South Beach Art Deco District. Relax on Miami's beautiful beaches to conclude your affordable vacation on the Eastern Seaboard.
Sightseeing with Local Guide
Orientation tour
Sightseeing with Local Guide; visit Arlington National Cemetery
Visit Colonial Williamsburg
Guided walking tour
Guided trolley tour
Speedway tour with guide
Private, deluxe, air-conditioned motorcoach while touring with free Wi-Fi.
3 breakfasts, 5 continental breakfasts
Day 1 NEW YORK CITY
Welcome to the "Big Apple!" Your Tour Director is on hand late this afternoon to answer any questions.
New York City is one of the world's most exciting cities, buzzing with atmosphere and packed with fascinating sights. On today's guided sightseeing tour, see the major attractions—Broadway, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, bustling Chinatown, City Hall, Wall Street, and Trinity Church. This evening, choose from the city's many fine restaurants or maybe take in a Broadway show.
Day 3 NEW YORK CITY–PHILADELPHIA–WASHINGTON DC AREA
Depart for the "City of Brotherly Love." The birthplace of American independence, is steeped in history. An orientation tour upon arrival shows you America's 5th-largest city. During your free time visit the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall before making your way to Washington D.C.
Day 4 WASHINGTON DC AREA
On a guided sightseeing tour of the capital city see the graves of American heroes, including those of John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, in beautiful ARLINGTON CEMETERY. Enjoy photo stops at Capitol Hill and the White House, and visits to the Lincoln and Vietnam Memorials. Tonight join the optional dinner and illumination tour of the city.
Day 5 WASHINGTON DC AREA–WILLIAMSBURG
Today journey south and step back in time to early America at COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG. See how America's heritage is proudly preserved in reconstructed buildings and informative displays. Take a stroll down quaint streets and browse through the homes, taverns, shops, gardens, and exhibits.
Day 6 WILLIAMSBURG–WILMINGTON–MYRTLE BEACH
This morning travel to the coastal city of Wilmington, NC famous for the film "Safe Haven" (based on the book by Nicholas Sparks), and the TV series "One Tree Hill." Free time to explore Wilmington's Riverwalk, which stretches for nearly two miles along the legendary Cape Fear River. Shop the many fabulous boutiques, enjoy Southern coastal cuisine and water views. You may wish to visit the Historic District with its brick-lined streets, moss-draped live oaks and Victorian and Antebellum architecture. End the day in Myrtle Beach.
Day 7 MYRTLE BEACH–GEORGETOWN–CHARLESTON AREA
Your first stop today is historic Georgetown, the 3rd oldest city in the state, where the first permanent settlers arrived in the early 1700s. Peer into the past on a guided walking tour of this port town on the Sampit River—lined with shrimp trawlers, fishing boats, historic homes, and churches pre-dating the Revolutionary War. A mid-afternoon guided city tour of Charleston shows its cobblestone streets, horse-drawn carriages, and pastel antebellum houses.
Day 8 CHARLESTON AREA
This morning, join the optional excursion to Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens, and discover the history of the plantation and its evolution since 1681. The afternoon is free to savor gracious and genteel Charleston, known as "the Most Polite City in America." Stroll past wrought-iron gates and colorful window boxes, duck into an old churchyard, sample some local she-crab soup, or breathe in the aroma of sweet grass baskets while shopping at the 1790-era City Market.
Day 9 CHARLESTON AREA–BEAUFORT–SAVANNAH
This morning we will drive through Gullah Country, where African slaves were brought to work on rice and indigo plantations, on our way to Beaufort, located on Port Royal Island, a jewel of South Carolina's Low Country. Explore the Historic District with your free time. Cross the state line and enter Georgia, the "Peachtree State," and arrive in the sultry city of Savannah by midafternoon. Upon arrival, an included TROLLEY TOUR highlights attractions such as the City Market, Forsyth Park, and Madison Square (where General Sherman concluded his "March to the Sea").
Day 10 SAVANNAH
A day at leisure. Watch ships go by while shopping on cobblestoned River Street, explore picturesque squares and stroll amongst moss-covered live oaks and wisteria, while surrounded by elegant homes and gardens. Experience Savannah's cocktails and cuisine, featuring everything from soul food to chef-owned contemporary eateries in retro to rooftop settings. Don't miss seeing the "Forrest Gump Bench" at the Savannah History Museum.
Day 11 SAVANNAH–ST AUGUSTINE–DAYTONA SPEEDWAY–DAYTONA BEACH
St. Augustine, the nation's oldest European city, also holds the distinction of being one of the nation's most charming. Free time to explore the historic district, with its cobblestone streets, quaint cafes, and unique shops. Afterward, continue down the coast to Daytona Beach, on Florida's Atlantic coast. A guided open-air tram tour of DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY transports you into the "World of Racing." Experience the 31-degree banks for yourself as the tram coasts along the speedway's turns 3 and 4. Walk in the footsteps of legends past and present as you climb atop the podium in Gatorade Victory Lane for a photo. End the tour with a visit to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, a spectacular showcase honoring all forms of motorsports.
The start/finish line and pit road experiences are dependent on track activity and will not occur if there are events scheduled. This tour is conducted on an open-air tram and will operate in the rain.
Day 12 DAYTONA BEACH–MIAMI BEACH
Journey to the coastal resort town of Miami Beach. Upon arrival enjoy an orientation tour that takes in the area's signature architecture. The South Beach Art Deco District is a whimsical collection of more than 800 architecturally protected buildings in Miami Beach from the 1930s and 1940s – a definite must-see. Time on your own lets you experience some of Miami Beach's finest dining and beachside strolls.
Day 13 MIAMI BEACH–MIAMI
Your holiday ends this morning. You can also extend your vacation with extra nights and explore Miami Beach further.
No Excursions are available at this time.
EASTERN UNITED STATES TRAVEL INFO


The League of Women Voters (LWVUS) celebrates its 85th birthday on February 14, 2005. Founded by Carrie Chapman Catt in 1920, generations of engaged League members have dedicated their lives to making democracy work. Over the past 85 years, the League has achieved an impressive list of accomplishments in the fields of citizen engagement and political reform, and will continue to build on those successes in the future.
"The League strives to make democracy work for all citizens. We have spent 85 years � a lifetime � encouraging citizens to take part in their government and their communities," said Kay J. Maxwell, LWVUS President. "We will continue to help Americans understand the fundamental importance of citizen involvement in our democracy," Maxwell declared.
There are three local Leagues in Hawaii and a Member-at-Large unit on Maui. The League of Women Voters of Honolulu, founded in 1948, and the Kauai and Hawaii County Leagues, work on issues addressed by their county councils, mayors and county departments and agencies.
The League of Women Voters of Hawaii is a council of the local Leagues. Its programs cover those issues which are addressed by the state legislature and administered by the governor and appropriate departments and agencies. The current President of the League of Women Voters of Hawaii (the State league) is Sue Irvine, who resides in Hilo. The Hawaii Island League of Women Voters has been active on the Big Island since the 1960�s. The Hawaii Island League is under the leadership of Lois Cecil on the Hilo side of the island and David Holzman on the Kona side.
"As we enter our 85th year, we celebrate our history, but remain focused in the present as we encourage other citizens to join us in participating in the democratic process." said Sue Irvine, President of the League of Women Voters of Hawaii. "We continue to work toward making our democracy one that benefits and protects the rights of all citizens. This year, two of the topics we will be focusing on are citizen�s rights and campaign finance reform."
"Every day our members are making democracy work on the Big Island� educating voters about their democratic rights and responsibilities, helping protect our islands natural resources, improving our election systems, working on comprehensive public funding of campaigns and creating a public dialogue about other issues important to our communities." said Lois Cecil, President of the Hawaii Island League of Women Voters for the Hilo area.
Women and men are encouraged to join the League of Women Voters of Hawaii. League members are encouraged to research and advocate on issues that are important to them.


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Niueanska (egen namn ko e vagahau Niuē) är ett malajo-polynesiskt språk som talas i Niue. Dess närmaste släktspråk är tonganska.. Det talas av 7990 personer i Niue och det anses vara hotat..

Språket skrivs med latinska alfabetet.

Niueanska är ett officiellt språk vid sidan av engelska på Niue.

Fonologi

Konsonanter

Källa:

Vokaler

Källa:

Lexikon
Några fraser:

Källor

Språk i Nya Zeeland
Niue

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


....HOW ADVERTISING SPOILED ME....: I simply loved it!
Its one of the brilliant piece of art direction, I have seen in recent times for "New History of the World." I love the way they've mixed two different historic events happened on the same time at diffent parts of the world. History Channel's campaign was somewhat on the same lines of using two different events in one ad, but this one is definitely different.
1789: Luis XIV Dies in the guillotine and Washington is chosen President. They shared the moment now They share the same page.
1502: The Spanish Inquisition begins and Leonardo Da Vinci studies the anatomy.
apart from the mistake pointed out brilliant ad. art direction takes the cake. an idea done often but art director makes the difference here.


This basic 1-star hotel in Paris is conveniently situated in the 11th arrondissement, just a short walk away from the Canal Saint-Martin and the rue Oberkampf, famous for its nightlife.
The Luna Park Hotel offers 36 simple rooms, with a private or shared bathroom, all with a TV, telephone and Wi-Fi. The hotel also has a 24-hour reception service, a TV lounge, a left-luggage office, and a safe.
The hotel is located near the Place de la Bastille in a vibrant area of Paris, full of bars and cafés. The famous Père Lachaise cemetery, where Jim Morrison is buried, is just a 20-minute walk away. You can pick up metro services at the Place de la République, 10 minutes away on foot, to top sights across the city: get to the Louvre in 10 minutes, Invalides and the Eiffel Tower in 15 minutes, and the Gare du Nord in just 5 minutes.
Metro: Parmentier (Line 3), 200 metres - Oberkampf (Lines 5 and 9), 400 metres.


Location Located south of Limoux, near the foothills of the Pyrenees (France).
Climate Altitude: 300 m. a.s.l. Precipitation: around 750 mm per year.
Composition of the land Clay-limestone.
Vinification Time of ageing on yeast lees: 18 months minimum.


John Yi is the Executive Director of Los Angeles Walks. Prior to joining LA Walks in 2019, John was the Advocacy Director for the American Lung Association in California, where he worked on strong tobacco control and air quality policies. At the Lung Association, John also served as a lead organizer by training tobacco control coalitions throughout the state. He helped bring smoke-free ordinances to over a dozen different cities, fighting back against secondhand smoke and Big Tobacco's efforts to target low-income and communities of color. John also served as the interim National Director for Parent Revolution, an education and social justice non-profit. In this role he led parent organizing campaigns in Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, and Ohio. He received his master's degree at Georgetown University and his bachelor's degree at the University of Michigan. He is a brother of Pi Alpha Phi, speaks Korean and Russian, and loves to cook.
Daisy Villafuerte, MPL, joined Los Angeles Walks as the Advocacy and Engagement Manager in January 2018. Daisy grew up in Pico Rivera, a Latino suburb in Southeast Los Angeles County. Her previous work experiences in a clinical setting and in active transportation planning reinforced her belief in the importance of a connected, sustainable and accessible transportation system for all. Her interests include intersections of urban planning and public health (particularly mental health) and equitable community engagement in the planning process. She graduated from USC Sol Price School of Public Policy with a Masters in Planning with a concentration in Sustainable Land Use in May 2017.
Carmina R. Gomez joined Los Angeles Walks as the Programs Manager in December 2018. Carmina will develop programming that entices and mobilizes the public around safer streets initiatives and a healthier quality of life for Angelenos. In her professional and leadership experience, Carmina engaged communities to evaluate and address issues such as educational equity, health access, and sustainability. She served in the classroom as a High School Math Teacher for four years in New Mexico through Teach For America. Most recently, she implemented a cancer prevention program using a Promotora Model through USC's Civic Engagement Office at the Health Science Campus. As a native of El Sereno, she continues to give back to her beloved community as a Board Member of the Wilson Mules Alumni Association and an Academic Coach for the USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative at the Health Science Campus. Carmina earned a B.S. in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention from the University of Southern California and a Teacher Certification from the New Mexico Public Education Department.
Samuel Chu is a strategic advisor and organizing consultant who works to support the growth and development of SoCal Families for Safe Streets, a project of Los Angeles Walks. In 2017, Samuel led the charge for Assembly Bill 390, which made it legal to cross the street in California during the countdown phase of the pedestrian signal. Previous to Samuel's efforts, LAPD cited more than 17,000 individuals for "illegally" crossing the street in Downtown Los Angeles over a four-year period alone.
Mehmet Berker is a cartographer, GIS analyst, and graphic designer who uses traditional GIS software as well as graphic design software to create maps which seek to be informative as well as beautiful. He currently works freelance. Prior to this, he worked for Emerging Markets, Inc., and Emerging Markets Development Corporation, where he handled graphic design and GIS, assisted in research, and served as a project manager. Before moving to LA in 2012, Mehmet lived in Minneapolis, where he worked for the Ramsey County (MN) Parks and Rec Department, helping build a parks-finder webmap, Go Ramsey Communities. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Mehmet has also worked for Growth & Justice, a social and economic justice research and advocacy nonprofit in Minnesota, and for U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar. While his passion for pedestrian advocacy has grown immensely while living in LA without a car, he has always believed that a society is only as good as its most vulnerable members, and that everyone deserves happiness, safety, and respect.
Felicia Garcia is the Librarian at a middle school in the San Gabriel Valley. She received her BA in English Literature and Language from Cal State LA, and her Master's in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University. Felicia's interest in both urban planning and libraries comes from her desire to promote more equitable, livable communities. A native Angeleno, she has always lived car-free, choosing to bike, walk, run, and use public transportation to get around. Felicia's interest in safe streets advocacy began when she was training for the Los Angeles Marathon in high school and realized firsthand the inequity people on foot face while she was out on long runs. In her community of Northeast LA, Felicia has been involved with grassroots coalitions such as Figueroa for All, where she organized demonstrations, sent out press releases, and generated media coverage to shed light on the injustices people face getting around when walking and biking, and to advocate for a safer street design for North Figueroa in Highland Park.
Azusena Favela is the Director of Programs & Operations at LURN. In this capacity, she oversees LURN's initiatives, especially its community engagement efforts and micro-finance programs. Raised in South Central LA, her career has been dedicated to serving her community in the nonprofit, private, and philanthropic sectors. She specializes in development, community outreach initiatives, training residents on civic engagement, and forging public/private partnerships. She has degrees in Chicana/o Studies, History, and Community Economic Development. She currently serves as the President of the South Central Neighborhood Council. Azusena believes our sidewalks are the last truly democratic spaces in the city, as such all Angelenos deserve to occupy or navigate the streets free of harassment and safely without fear of injury.
Artineh Havan is a Project Control Manager at Metro and is currently assigned to the Westside Purple Line Extension Section 3 subway expansion project. While she completed high school and college in Los Angeles, she recently returned from a 16-year hiatus in New York City and is proud to say that she has largely continued her car-free lifestyle. Artineh is excited to be an advocate for pedestrians through L.A. Walks. She holds graduate degrees in public administration from USC and urban planning from NYU.
Charu Kukreja is an urban planner, writer, and designer with broad experience on projects on the east coast and Southern California. Her work supports her vision to enhance transportation access and equity, and promote the development of vibrant, safe and walkable communities. Prior to moving to Los Angeles, Charu was a core member of the New York City Department of Transportation's WalkNYC project team to develop a citywide pedestrian wayfinding system. A variety of print, digital and environmental applications of this world-class map and signage system now serve pedestrians, bike share cyclists, tourists, and transit riders across New York City.
Charu's love of walking was inspired at an early age by her grandfather, who showed her how a daily stroll allows us to connect with our surroundings and with each other. Now 98 years old - and still walking every day - his life is a testament to the positive impacts of walking on long-term physical and mental health. With this inspiration, Charu is driven forward on her mission to improve walkability in urban communities.
John Mimms is Project Manager with Community Corporation of Santa Monica, a non-profit affordable housing developer. At Community Corp., John has focused on sustainability initiatives and how the organization can reduce its use of electricity, water, and gas. His background is in City Planning and Architecture and he is interested in incorporating quality design and sustainable principles into real estate and infrastructure development. John is a native Angeleno, but got his BA in Urban Studies at Columbia University in New York where he learned that cities are not inherently for cars and urban walking is possible. He graduated from USC with a Master's degree in Planning, and lives in South LA, within walking distance to the Expo Line.
Kaitlin Scott is a planner in Los Angeles. She currently works with Alta Planning + Design, where she focuses on pedestrian planning, programming, and inclusive outreach tactics in communities across southern California. Through her work, Kaitlin has addressed issues of safety, accessibility, and equity surrounding streets and public space. She recently received her a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA. Despite the uncomfortable and unsafe walking conditions of her southern California hometown's auto-centric streets, she grew up preferring biking or walking. This preference eventually led her to her career as an active transportation planner and her life as a pedestrian advocate. Kaitlin believes streets as our largest public space, so they should be safe, accessible, equitable, and engaging for users of all ages and abilities.


RALPH began the prestigious 6-year BA/MD program at UMKC at the age of 18 in 2014. (Honors High School Student with a normal childhood medical history: sore throat, colds, etc…) 125 high school graduates are admitted each year.
I tried to sue TEVA in St. Louis federal court. Follow the legal "back and forth." The complete legal narrative for my case is the story of any American citizen injured by a generic drug in my opinion. My attorney and the "group" of TEVA attorneys presented their sides. The link below was just the beginning of many months.
https://stlrecord.com/stories/511145565-st-louis-father-claims-pharmaceutical-companies-product-caused-injuries-to-sonThe case was blocked by a United States Supreme Court ruling affectively limiting and insulating generic drug manufacturers from liability.
I brought Ralph back to Saint Louis in 2015 to be treated at the prestigious Washington University/Barnes Hospital Medical Center. He was treated in the following departments: Internal Medicine, Neurology Movement Disorder, Pain Management Clinic, Psychiatry, Pain Psychology, Neuro-Psychiatry, Neurology with no clear answers. Dozens of drugs, including high doses of pain medication, would not relieve his pain and suffering. He had intense leg pain, burning skin sensations, and Akathisia (internal restlessness torture), to mention a few of his horrific symptoms. His feet curled permanently in the pain. The side effects of this drug distilled the soul out of his body with physical torture.
I should be with my son Ralph on every Father's Day.