Start Mining Free Pi Cryptocurrency Today & Possibly Become Rich in the Future

How about making money in the near future from what could become one of the most valuable and widely used cryptocurrencies–the pi coin or cryptocurrency? This article introduces the digital currency called “Pi coin” or “Pi cryptocurrency” or “Pi crypto” which was launched on March 14, 2019; since after launch, it has been and is still being easily mined for free on the Pi Network App which is a 100% free opportunity that can make you become a millionaire or even multimillionaire in the future. We discuss the following topics in this article:

• Pi network: Pi coin or digital currency (a.k.a. Pi cryptocurrency or crypto)
• Pi mining: How you can mine Pi coins or cryptocurrency
• Pi wallet app
• What is the monetary value of Pi cryptocurrency?

Pi network: Pi coin or digital currency (a.k.a. Pi cryptocurrency or crypto)

Pi Network is a relatively new cryptocurrency network that enables Pi Network users or registered members to mine Pi coins or cryptos on phones. Pi coin is the first cryptocurrency to be mined directly from mobile phones, instead of from computers and supercomputers.

The Pi Network has surprisingly grabbed the attention of many people in the cryptocurrency or crypto community who regard it as another way to get involved in a new cryptocurrency from scratch and earn substantial profit in the future, in the same vein that the early Bitcoin adopters made and have still been making massive gains from mining and saving Bitcoins for many years.

10 Reasons Why You Should Invest in Cryptocurrencies Especially on a Long-term Basis

The Pi Network runs on the Pi Network App which is a mobile mining technology that allows registered Pi Network users to mine Pi coins without draining their data and phone batteries. Even when the Pi Network App is closed, or users’ phones are off, they are still able to mine Pi coins.

However, in order to continuously mine Pi coins on a daily basis—or specifically, after every 24 hours—users have to open their Pi Network apps and tap the lightning or “Tap to earn” button once every day.

Although it is generally difficult for most cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) to be accessed, mined, and used by everyday people, the Pi Network makes it easy for users to access and mine new Pi coins or cryptocurrency and puts the power of cryptocurrency directly into the palms of people’s hands. The Pi Network and its Pi coin are a 100% free opportunity that can actually make you a millionaire in the future!

The Pi coin was developed by a team of Stanford University graduates that consisted of only 3 members: Dr. Nicolas Kokkalis (Pi Network’s Head of Technologies), Dr. Chengdiao Fan (Pi Network’s Head of Product), and Vincent McPhillip (Pi Network’s Head of Community).

When Pi Network’s live net (mainnet) is launched, as has been scheduled to occur this year (2021), all the coins mined by each Pi Network user will be migrated to Pi live net, Pi coins will have a value in the market, and will thus become officially marketable. At the time of writing, the Pi Network community had amassed over 18+ million users/miners in less than 2¼ years—i.e., since March 14, 2019. Four years later, on March 14, 2023, the Pi Network community amassed over 45 million users.

For quite some time, probably over several months or up to a year, “Pi Economy” members within the “Pi Lifestyle App”—which can be downloaded from Google Play Store—have been trading goods and services at an exchange rate of 1 Pi coin = $100 on the Pi Lifestyle App platform. And though members are waiting for the Pi coin to be officially launched on exchanges, the coin has been sold for a little less than a dollar in Nigeria (read here), and it is being used to trade many goods and services in Asia.

Based on plans being laid down on the Pi network, some users believe that when the Pi mainnet (Pi Blockchain) is launched, as expected later this year, 1 Pi coin may have a value equivalent to or more than $100. If this happens, then a user who had mined 10,000 Pi coins in the Pi Network App, will have a balance of $1 million in their Pi wallet on the mainnet.

Pi mining: How you can mine Pi coins or cryptocurrency

The technology behind Pi coin mining is based on a new algorithm that doesn’t harm the environment; whereas, mining Bitcoin and a number of other cryptocurrencies do substantial harm to the environment.

Make a wise decision today and start mining Pi coin which is still 100% free to mine and would cost you absolutely nothing to acquire in increasing numbers until mining stops when Pi mainnet (Pi Blockchain) is launched. Many people who paid attention to Bitcoin during its early days or years, mined it and have become millionaires and billionaires today.

Pi Network presents an unbelievable opportunity for everyone who is alive. Pi Network makes it easy to mine free Pi coins, instead of buying them—but this opportunity won’t last forever! If you don’t start mining Pi coins today, you could be missing out on a big opportunity that may never come back after the Pi mainnet is launched.

The Pi coin and its network are actually a 100% free opportunity that can make you a millionaire in the future.

Nowadays, it’s more difficult and almost too late to become an instant millionaire with Bitcoin. Why? Because it’s more difficult to mine Bitcoin and more expensive to buy and invest in it—but today you have a new opportunity in another cryptocurrency which is Pi coin.

Download the Pi App here, register on the Pi Network by using your Facebook account or phone number, and enter/use “Terihagh1” as your invitation or referral code; alternatively, you can take the following steps:

1. Click here and click “Download”; after registering with your Facebook account or phone number, use “Terihagh1” as your invitation code. Alternatively, you can download the Pi Network app from Play Store or App Store, and use “Terihagh1” as your invitation code.

2. When asked to verify your identity, use either your Facebook account or mobile number; choose one of the two options.

3. Set up your password. I recommend that you use a long password which will be easier for you to remember and difficult for others to guess. Note that, to be able to claim your Pi coins in the future, you must verify your phone number.

4. Choose your username which you will use as your referral code whenever you are inviting others to join the Pi network and mine Pi coins.

5. When asked for your invitation code, use/enter “Terihagh1”.

6. Start your KYC now to verify your identity and migrate to Pi Mainnet. It’s easy and simple. This can enable you to receive the Pi cryptocurrency, start exploring the Pi ecosystem and help the network get closer to its Open Network period! Click here to get started, or: https://minepi.com/pi-browser/kyc

7. After your KYC is successful, go to “MAINNET INFO” at the bottom right of the home page of your Pi Network App and tap “Mainet checklist”; then scroll down to step 7 and tap “sign Acknowledgement to Receive Tokens”. Thereafter, follow the instructions and complete the signing which should appear as “completed” in green color just like steps 1 to 6 (Wait for KYC Results), as shown in the screenshot below. (Note: Only step 8 would appear in purple after you complete steps 1 to 7 which should all appear in green.)

8. Still, go to “MAINNET INFO” at the bottom right of the home page of your Pi Network App, but this time scroll down to “configure lockup rate” and select the percentage and duration of the number of pi coins you would like to lock up and the number of years you’d like to keep them locked up. Ensure that you check the box beside these words (as shown in the screenshot a bit further below): “Automatically lock up a portion of my Transferable Balance to Mainnet upon commitment. My π will continue to be locked up at this rate for future Mainnet transfers unless adjusted later.”

Note: In order to continue mining Pi on a daily basis, after every 24 hours, you must open your Pi Network app and tap the lightning or “Tap to earn” button. The Pi Network app is set up this way to ensure that members are active and contributing to the Pi Network. Don’t forget to verify your phone number by following the available instructions on the Pi app.

Pi wallet app

Currently, each registered Pi user has a Pi wallet in the Pi Network App, but after Phase 3 (the Pi live net or mainnet which has commenced) is officially launched on exchanges and Pi coin becomes official and has a value, Pi coin miners who have mined Pi crypto and saved them in their installed Pi Network Apps, will have their coins transferred to their Pi wallets which will be on Pi Network blockchain.

After Phase 3 is launched, registered users of Pi Network will have full control of their private and public Pi wallet keys and be able to use their Pi coins to buy and sell products and services on Pi Network’s peer-to-peer online marketplaces on the Pi Lifestyle App platform; in addition, they will be able to exchange their Pi coins for strong fiat currencies like the dollar, euro, and pound. Without private and public keys, registered users won’t be able to transfer or spend the Pi cryptocurrency in their Pi wallets.

Each Pi wallet will be somewhat like a bank account, or virtual/electronic account where owners of Pi coins will store their Pi and be able to transfer, buy, and sell the Pi coins they have mined and saved during the pre-release or testing phase mode which Pi Network was in, at the time of writing.

At the time of writing, the Pi Network app was serving as a cryptocurrency wallet and was linked to each registered user’s phone number or Facebook account. Like it happens on other public cryptocurrency blockchains, after Pi blockchain is created and its developers release its source code, it will allow Pi wallets on the mainnet to store Pi coins and make transactions.

What is the monetary value of Pi cryptocurrency?

Does Pi coin have any value? Is Pi digital currency worth anything? As it has been with other digital coins, and any new digital coin that is yet to be launched, Pi coin or cryptocurrency doesn’t have any official value and isn’t tradeable on any exchange in the financial and cryptocurrency markets. However, it has been reported that some Pi network members who passed KYC and had their coins transferred to mainnet in 2022, started sending, receiving, and selling their coins at different prices. 

Even after Pi coin is officially launched, hopefully this year (2023) or next, its value will likely start at a relatively low level against the US dollar, but could gradually rise and increase in value if it is widely accepted and used. It is often difficult to predict what the actual value of any coin will be before it is officially launched; the same applies to Pi digital currency or coin which would soon become a completely decentralized blockchain network like many other cryptocurrencies.

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Although it is expected that Pi coin will be officially launched on exchanges this year, the network’s members have already started increasing the awareness and value of Pi cryptocurrency by using Pi coins to purchase goods and services online (websites) and on platforms in the Pi Lifestyle App which can be downloaded from Google Play Store.

Members of the Pi network community are committed to using Pi in such a way that after the Pi digital currency is officially launched, 1 Pi would have a value that could be worth several tens, hundreds, or even thousands of dollars.

At the time of writing, Pi cryptocurrency value was equivalent to zero dollars—similar to when Bitcoin (created by Satoshi Nakamoto) was $0.00 in 2008; around that time, a high percentage of the world’s population—probably up to 99%—didn’t give a damn about Bitcoin, even though it was more accessible around and shortly after that time, and was much easier to mine then when its value was zero dollars.

Satoshi Nakamoto introduced Bitcoin as “A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” and implemented the bitcoin software as open-source code which enabled Bitcoins to be released in January 2009.

After inventing Bitcoin, and watching it rise in value over 11 years, in January 2021 when the value of 1 Bitcoin rose to $39,000, it was believed that Nakamoto—who had personally mined over 1 million Bitcoins several years earlier—possessed Bitcoins that were worth over $39 billion, making him possibly the 17th richest individual in the world at the time.

The first time Bitcoin was used in a commercial transaction was in 2010. Around that time when 1 Bitcoin was equal to $0.0041, Laszlo Hanyecz bought 2 pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins; implying that 10,000 Bitcoins was equal to $41. Today, 10,000 Bitcoins is well over $370 million.

In 2009, a Norwegian man who bought 5,000 Bitcoins, forgot about them. (At the time, the 5,000 Bitcoins he bought were worth only $27 in his Bitcoin wallet). He discovered four years later—in October 2013—that the value of the Bitcoins he had forgotten about, shot up from $27 to $980,000.

After hearing about the rise in the value of Bitcoins, the Norwegian logged into his Bitcoin wallet and was surprised at the amount of money he saw: $980,000—instead of $27. He sold a portion of his Bitcoins and, with the money, he bought an apartment in an expensive part of Oslo, Norway. All thanks to the surging rise in the value of Bitcoin which has often been overlooked by many people.

The real-life story of Erik Finman is a truly inspiring one: In 2011, at the age of 12, when 1 Bitcoin was around $10, he bought 100 Bitcoins for $1,000. Between 2011 and 2019, Erik Finman grew the Bitcoins in his electronic wallet, from 100 Bitcoins (worth $1,000 in 2011) to 446 Bitcoins. As a result of the rise in Bitcoins from $10 per Bitcoin in 2011, to around $10,000 per Bitcoin, Erik Finman’s 446 Bitcoins were worth approximately $4.5 million in August 2019.

It is on record that Nakamoto had mined over 1 million Bitcoins before handing over the network key and control to Gavin Andresen. Although the value of Bitcoin has been rising and falling over the years, its value has been generally rising. At Bitcoin’s inception in 2009 when it had no value, nobody thought its value would reach $20,000 in 2017 and $40,000 on a particular day in January 2021. Generally speaking, within about 11 years, Bitcoin’s value has risen from zero dollars to almost $60,000 per Bitcoin before dropping to approximately $37,000 per Bitcoin.

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Biomimicry: Definitions

Definitions of Biomimicry or Biomimetics

(1) Biomimicry is an emerging fi­eld that studies nature and living things in order to gain insight from their wide range of natural processes and strategies and create innovative solutions to enhance life on earth.

(2) Biomimicry is the science and art of analyzing, experimenting on, and observing, examining, or studying nature’s activities to discover biological or natural principles and ideas, and use them to solve human and environmental problems.

(3) Biomimicry is the study of nature’s variety of structures, mechanics or constructions, and designs in order to create new products or materials in line with nature’s continuous strive for maximum achievement with minimum effort.

Biomimicry: Examples & Benefits of Copying Nature

(4) Biomimicry is an enabling discipline that analyses how living systems actually work, in order to discover nature’s tricks and ideas, and adapt and adopt them to solve particular problems.

(5) Biomimicry is a new subject area or discipline that studies nature’s time-tested models, processes, elements, and designs in order to gain inspiration from nature and solve problems sustainably.

(6) Biomimicry is the study and application of the basic principles and processes of nature in order to find solutions or ideas that can solve specific problems encountered by humanity.

(7) Biomimicry is an interdisciplinary field (in technology and biology) that studies the functions, processes, structures, and relationships in biological systems to discover solutions for major mechanical or technological problems.

FREE Isn’t Always the Best Place to Start: FREE Things May Have a Downside

It’s true that some of the free things of life—including the gift of life itself—only have an upside. But many of the free things of life definitely have both an upside and a downside—an obvious or potential downside that we don’t usually consider, maybe because we think free things are completely FREE!

The truth is that FREE is not always the best place to start! FREE is sometimes deceptive because it drives our emotions to such a point that we become instantly convinced—even without clear or complete reason(s)—that the thing that is being offered for free is highly or more valuable than it really is.

Many people don’t usually weigh what FREE is made of (i.e., the quality of the content that is in FREE) because FREE makes them forget about any fear of losing. What do you stand to lose from accepting or taking something that’s free? Even if it appears you won’t lose anything at the moment, it’d be wise to reconsider and look deeper or further where you may find that the free item or freebie has a downside that can impede your progress or destroy you.

Therefore, as attractive or powerful as FREE is, it is important to note that FREE is not always the best place to start because “FREE” and “quality” likely go hand in hand; even items that are not FREE may have higher quality and much more to offer.

Different price tags are signals of different types of qualities, and FREE (which has no price tag) cannot always guarantee the best or high quality. Which car do you think would likely be better? The one with the highest price tag, or the one with the cheaper (or a much cheaper) price tag? The likely correct answer is the car that has the highest price tag.

When something is free, we may not see the importance of making any correlation between its price (FREE) and its quality. It may be important to get accustomed to making a correlation between price and quality because, generally, it is rare to find something that is free and—at the same time—high quality.

Therefore, if something is free, don’t always expect the quality to be as high as your emotions could wrongly assume; in fact, expect the quality to be lower, so that even if you find out eventually that it is lower, you’d be able to handle any disappointment, if any!

Even free things that have high quality can deter one’s progress: imagine the temptation that may overpower people who are on a diet, but still decide to overeat whenever they find themselves at a party with free snacks or surrounded by plenty of free food. What do they stand to gain by eating all types of high-quality free food, especially when they are on a necessary and important diet? On the other hand, what would they stand to lose if they don’t eat all types of high-quality free food when they are on a necessary and important diet? They stand to lose NOTHING. Yes, absolutely NOTHING!

Unless food is scarce in your part of the world—but it likely won’t if you’re on a diet—the only thing you’d gain by unnecessarily eating free things is just the unnecessary and thus empty free things themselves.

What to do when FREE comes calling—whenever you stand a chance to get something for free

Some free things can actually make you lose your dream, all your years of hard work, and possibly your future. For, in certain circumstances, what you think is free may actually end up stripping you of real freedom and growth. Some free things may actually drop you from a higher position to a lower or terrible position. In fact, some free things or freebies may even destroy you.

Therefore, any time you have a chance to get something for free, ask yourself whether you’d pay for the free item, even if it is being offered for free: would you pay for a free item if you’re going to use it to achieve something beneficial? I guess you would! But, if you won’t be using it to achieve something beneficial, then why accept or take it?

Although a free thing or freebie might help someone else, it might not help you. This calls for us to beware of the free things of life—either from Mother Nature or from our fellow human beings.

You won’t be missing out on anything if you don’t accept a freebie or purchase something that won’t add any value to your life. If you accept or purchase something that won’t add value to your life, then you may end up losing valuable things such as your focus, time, effort, etc. Therefore, from now on, whenever you see that something is free and you want to take or accept it, ask yourself whether you really need it. If you have to pay for it, would you still want it, or would you want it just because you don’t want to miss out on a freebie? The choice is yours!

Crypto Market vs Forex Market: Similarities & Differences

Fiat currencies and the forex market have been around much longer than cryptocurrencies and the cryptocurrency market; but over the past few years or decade, cryptocurrencies have been making an imprint on society and become mainstream.

Sometimes, traders get into a fix: they wonder whether to focus on the crypto market instead of the forex market, or vice versa. They even wonder whether to diversify more by focusing on both worlds—crypto and forex markets! As a result, many forex brokers offer cryptocurrency services to their forex customers.

Regardless of whether you eventually decide to focus only on the crypto market, or only on the forex market, or on both worlds at the same time, it’s essential to take note of the similarities and differences between the two respective markets which are actually two different financial instruments that require different approaches during investment.

Similarities between the crypto market and the forex market

The main similarities between the crypto and forex markets include, but may not be limited to:

1. You can trade online on the crypto market and forex market, respectively.

2. To start trading, you need a modern electronic device and stable internet connection to open a trading account.

3. Both the crypto and forex markets are influenced or driven by the market force known as “supply and demand”—i.e., the supply-demand balance. This implies that there are usually price fluctuations: the prices of cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies rise when there are more buyers than sellers; on the other hand, their prices drop when sellers are more than buyers.

4. Both crypto trading and forex trading (on their respective markets) carry a certain amount of risk.

Differences between the crypto market and the forex market

The main differences between the crypto and forex markets include, but may not be limited to:

1. In terms of size, the forex market is far larger than the crypto market. In fact, the forex market is by far the largest market in the world, and no cryptocurrency comes even close to it. However, this doesn’t imply that one can make more profit from the forex market just because it’s much larger than the crypto market. Daily fluctuations in the respective markets make them riskier and harder to predict.

2. The forex market is an extremely liquid market, far much more than the crypto market. This implies that you’d easily be able to buy or sell the forex asset (fiat currency) of your choice, and trade at a price equal to or approximately equal to the price you see on the platform. The same can’t be said for most cryptocurrencies that don’t trade as much as Bitcoin and can hardly be traded at a desired price.

3. In regard to the active “market hours”, the crypto market and its various platforms are usually open 24 hours on each of the 7 days of a week (i.e., 24/7); on the other hand, the forex market operates for 24 hours on only 5 days of a week. This difference can affect the processing time for payments and withdrawals, and influence daily and weekly trends.

4. The crypto market and cryptocurrencies are very volatile; on the other hand, the forex market is more stable. Cryptocurrencies can drastically rise in price within short time frames, but drastic rises in prices are rare in the forex market. It is easier to control risk on forex because it has less volatility or more stability; however, the profit potential is bigger in crypto markets because its volatility can cause a surge in prices and attract huge profits.

5. The crypto market (Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies) is an offspring of blockchain technology which is not regulated by any central bank or government. On the other hand, the forex market is an offspring of different countries’ central banks whose governments play a massive role in determining the value and future of each fiat currency.

6. The crypto market has a ton (thousands) of cryptocurrencies that can be traded or considered for selection—the crypto market is widely varied! On the other hand, the forex market has only the seven most popular fiat currencies (the euro and other major currencies) which are being actively traded.

7. The forex market is highly regulated; on the other hand, the crypto market is not as regulated as the forex market because the former is mainly decentralized.

8. The crypto market and its platforms are much more prone to security issues, risks, scams, and hacking than the forex market which is regulated and highly supervised to conform to strict rules.

New Year Resolutions Cannot Be Successfully Implemented Overnight

Usually, multitudes of people from every nation thinkable start off each Year with their “New Year resolutions”; however, fast-forward into the year and what eventually happens is that most or almost all of the same people lose courage and fail at implementing their New Year resolutions.

Truth is that New Year resolutions—as well as the important things of life—don’t come into being overnight. Everything on Earth needs time to ripen. More importantly, everything involving and revolving around the mind needs some appreciable amount of time to ripen! To successfully implement a New Year resolution today, your mind must work on it, and this requires at least some ample patience.

If you want a ripe fruit now-now-now, you need to be patient! First, you must allow the tree to flower, and start to produce fruit; next, you have to wait for the fruit to ripen.

Therefore, if a fruit is not brought to maturity in an instant or within a second or an hour, how do you expect the human mind to implement a New Year resolution so quickly and easily?

Even in situations where New Year resolutions are successfully implemented, the mind must have been doing some underground work prior to the successful implementation of such New Year resolutions.

One major rule everybody that would be wise to remember when it comes to successfully implementing New Year resolutions—especially when it comes to changing habits—is this: don’t expect that over the course of a few days or even a few weeks, you’d instantly change the negative or damaging habits you’ve been engaging in for a long time—especially months or years.

Long story short: it takes time to make wholesale mindset changes in both positive and negative directions! At the very least, it could/would take you weeks, months, or even years to eradicate negative habits and traits from your life and successfully implement your New Year resolutions.

It would be meaningless to be unsatisfied with or get angry at the amount of time you’d need to successfully implement your New Year resolution. Why? Because you can’t suddenly instill new habits or erase the effects or impacts of the negative past.

All you can do is work on your New Year resolutions and be patient, especially if you’re starting from ground zero; however, if you don’t need to get rid of a bad habit, it will evidently take you a shorter time period to acquire the virtue you desire because you wouldn’t have to waste any effort or time in reversing or erasing the adverse effects or impacts of the bad habit.

Even so, it doesn’t mean you’d be able to instantly implement your New Year resolution overnight. It takes time for a New Year resolution mindset to mature and straighten things out: a new or desirable trait or habit only becomes firmly and successfully ingrained in your personality with the passage of time and a series of supportive experiences to reinforce its presence.

Think of successfully implementing a New Year resolution as regularly practicing any sport to become better and better at it: regardless of how much talent you have, you still need to practice hundreds upon hundreds or thousands upon thousands of times to build muscle memory and develop a sixth sense for playing the sport.

Since you can’t play a sport for 24 hours and 7 days a week, usually, it would take you years to become great at the sport in order to become a great player—and there’s no way to shortcut the process! Instilling a New Year resolution mindset is the same.

One decision and successful shot don’t make you a great basketball player. One decision and successful shot don’t make you a great football player. But regular or consistent series of successful shots do. Consistency requires repetition over an appreciable or long period of time.

Is Mother Nature Eventually Turning Against Mankind’s Technology?

In the face of alarming environmental concerns, the question still has to be asked why mankind still uses certain kinds of environmentally-degrading activities, especially technologies that burn fossil fuel and coal and produce methane, other greenhouse gases, and carbon cycles with enormous quantities of carbon dioxide that are destroying our helpless atmosphere, oceans, seas, plants, and lands all year round.

Our insistence on using certain kinds of technology has unfortunately brought us face-to-face with threats that are largely self-inflicted—threats that have grown out of our own short-sightedness about how Nature responds to activities that may be against its very nature or ethics.

Because of the desires, inventions, and activities of some individuals and countries, the greater mankind now faces the danger of global warming—a situation that clearly appears as if Mother Nature is turning the Earth’s atmosphere against certain kinds of mankind’s technology or activities.

Global warming is just one self-inflicted problem out of others: we face the danger of nuclear weapons proliferation, especially in modern-day warfare; we face the danger of weaponized disease-causing bacterium, such as COVID-19 and Ebola which are transmitted during coughing or sneezing and could wipe out much of the human race; in addition, we face an ever-increasing population that consumes inadequate resources at an alarming rate which may exceed the Earth’s capacity to replenish.

The following conclusions were drawn by the scientific community in the past; they further highlight a bit of the issues surrounding our planet—issues that our activities may still aggravate in the future:

• Greenhouse gases have been causing the “greenhouse effect” and negatively impacting global climate by warming.
• Carbon dioxide emissions have been at the highest levels in the past thousands of years—specifically, 100,000 years- as reported by some outlets.
• “Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide that are unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years”—according to a past Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
• Large chunks of ice at the South Pole around the Antarctic Circle gradually breaking off, even though they have surprisingly been stable for tens of thousands of years. In fact, during the year 2000, a piece of ice with an area of 4,200 square miles, broke off. Also, in 2002, a large piece of ice broke off the Thwaites Glacier. In 2007, Greenland’s ice shelves decreased in size by 24 square miles. In 2008, it decreased further to 21 square miles.
• Rising ocean and sea levels allegedly due to global warming and glacier/ice melting. Each time the ocean rises vertically by one foot, it spreads horizontally by about 100 feet and covers more land. Researchers observed that sea levels rose by 8 inches in the past century; this was due to the expansion of seawater as a result of absorbing more heat.
• Fear that water levels may continue to rise if man-made heating activities are not curbed or put to appreciable or permanent rest. According to the United Nations, sea levels could rise by 7 to 23 inches by the year 2100. The weight of our technologies is seemingly causing an imbalance in the Earth.

So maybe, Mother Nature has reached Her limits. The obvious reactions from the atmosphere, bodies of water (oceans, seas, rivers, etc.), and lands reflect one thing: Nature had been coping but seems fed up with some man-made technologies: she has drawn the line with mankind and stopped fooling around with us.

Unfortunately for us, the more our technology and activities continue to disrupt the Earth’s natural balance, the more likely Mother Nature will overturn any imbalance by turning against mankind in order to bring back balance. She may do it, even if life becomes inhospitable for us.

If we are not careful enough to heed the advice of researchers and scientists, our planet may well become inhospitable to human life, and all life—as we have known it—may, unfortunately, come to an end.

Currently, we can still make some unselfish efforts to stop increasing emissions, even though we’re adapting to the harsh climate that the emissions have eventually created. But how much longer will the world continue to be a bit hospitable or comfortable if we don’t change our ways?

Do we have to keep going like this until we experience a disaster so great that it would be virtually impossible to adapt to any level of hospitality? No, we don’t. It’s not essential and also not necessary!

If we don’t change now when the environment is still degrading, environmental conditions could become so tough that we—mankind—would either have to struggle to adapt, leave the Earth, or perish in any self-inflicted conditions that arise as a result of using our technology without caring about the quality of our world.

Notwithstanding, there is hope because of our rich history. If there is only one lesson we can learn from our history, it’s the undisputable truth that when mankind is faced with life-threatening or global crises, somewhere, somehow, they always rise to the challenge and achieve even far greater goals.

The GOD-given spirit of soul-searching and exploration is in our genes; it is hardwired deep into our souls and will once again find its way out. We have to give up or adequately modify our technologies in order to brace up for the great challenge of saving the planet.

If we don’t give up or adequately modify our technologies, then sooner or later we will face an even greater global crisis that can threaten our very existence. Our life is too precious to be left at the mercy and in the shaky hands of man-made inventions which are usually guided by selfishness and personal gain.

The Less Attached We are to Outcomes, the Better We’d Feel If the Unwanted Happens

Ever had an experience that was an awful mess just because you had somewhat “put all your eggs in one basket”—you had too much expectation, right? We’ve all been there at some point in time.

But when you remove too much expectation, you’d be left with a situation that’s easy or even way too easy to handle, especially if the unwanted or unexpected happens.

On the one hand, it’s important, appropriate, and even just to focus all your attention on doing important things; however, on the other hand, experience could leave you with a much bitter pill to swallow if you fail to achieve your goals after focussing your attention as if the essence of living depends on them.

If you are used to “putting all your eggs in one basket” when it comes to having an expectation, then you need a healthier approach to the things of life, especially as the things of life do not always go to plan or the way we desire or anticipate, even when we are fully in control.

Regardless of our strength or power as humans, we will always have one kind of limitation or another! This is a part of life whose lessons are always there to remind us about the importance of being less attached to the outcomes of our dream-driven actions: it’s a part of life whose lessons make us understand that our lives do not depend on our limitations or the negative outcomes they create.

Therefore, we’d be better off attaching less focus or importance to outcomes or expectations. The less we attach ourselves to outcomes or expectations, the better we’d feel when they don’t materialize. In other words, the better we’ll feel when things don’t go our way.

Putting full confidence in anything, especially material things, poses a big challenge and can be disastrous if one has too much confidence and expectation, and takes everything completely to heart without ever considering their limitation as a human.

If your motivation for doing anything depends on the result or outcome of your labor, then you’ll likely find it difficult to handle any outcome that doesn’t go your way. In certain instances, you may likely give up long before you even start seeing your efforts bear any tangible fruit, especially when results are coming slower than you expect or anticipate.

Be more attached to putting in your best effort(s), and less attached to outcomes

When setting new goals and taking actions to ensure that they yield desired or expected results, it’s healthier to be more attached to your own best efforts and the standards you want to fulfill—not only the outcomes or results you want to achieve!

When awaiting outcomes, especially after setting new goals or taking actions to achieve them, it’s healthier—mentally, emotionally, and otherwise—to be contented with the best efforts you’ve made. That’s right: be contented with drawing inspiration from the best efforts you’ve been able to make.

Even if results don’t materialize for a particular goal, the appreciation you show for your own efforts will inspire you to build or maintain a disciplined work ethic that could benefit your entire life in many ways.

Many people are fond of erroneously believing that every new thing or venture they indulge in will end up being better than the previous ones; however, the reality of life soon dawns on them that not all new ventures always turn out to be as successful or widely popular as the older ones—this has happened on many occasions to many people.

However, we don’t need to allow the uncertainties of life to discourage us from indulging in new ventures or activities that we want to partake in, in order to achieve success.

Even if a new venture that you regard as your best work turns out to be an epic failure, you shouldn’t in any way allow your emotions and life to depend on it. Don’t allow unwanted outcomes to get to your head and eventually discourage you from venturing into new things.

Pending when the results of your efforts show up, be contented with having fulfilled your own standards and done your best. If you are more attached to (or more motivated by) only the nature of outcomes, you’ll always likely be in for a shocker every now and then.

It’s very important to know exactly what your standards are and always do everything within your power to fulfill them, even when there is no hope for gratification in the near and foreseeable future.

Concluding remarks

It’s better to be contented doing what you love doing, and doing it to standard, than completely expecting the fruit of your actions—desires or expectations—to come to pass!

In other words, you’d feel better being content with doing good work and basing much more of your sense of fulfillment on it, and basing much less on your outcomes.

Fulfilling your own standards is what should fulfill you so that if the unwanted happens—good, bad, or anything in between—nothing can take you by surprise and gradually suck the life out of you.

Constraint-based Modeling: Advantages, and Types of Constraints

The objects, results, or end products generated from constraint-based modeling software are derived from the dimensions and constraints that define the geometry of their features.

Whenever a modification or change has to be made, the modified or new part is re-created from the original part which is based on the original definitions.

Constraint-based modeling is also called feature-based modeling because its individual models consist of combinations of features.

The constraint model is made up of individual features and their relationships with other features, defined by dimensions and constraints.

Each feature (which is defined by specific properties) is a basic piece of a constraint-based solid model. To create a feature, you have to specify the geometric constraints that apply to it; then specify the size parameters and use them to generate the feature.

If a component, part, or element of the feature is modified or changed, the modeling software can be used to regenerate the modified feature in accordance with the constraints that define or are assigned to it.

Apart from defining relationships between features, constraint-based modeling software can be used to apply constraints and parameters across parts in an assembly or assembled structure (such as a group of machine parts that fit together to form a self-contained unit). As a result, when a part is changed, any related parts in the assembly can also be updated.

Because constraint-based modeling software can regenerate features and parts from the relationships stored in its database, the planning aspect of constraint-based relationships is crucial to generating useful and efficient constraint-based models that clearly reflect the design intent of products, parts, or objects.

Advantages of constraint-based model/modeling

• During the evolution of designs, constraint-based models can be easily updated by altering the relationships and sizes that define them, respectively.
• Categories of designs can be created because of the ease with which constraint-based models can be updated; also, it is possible to analyze, make changes, reanalyze, and make changes to the model again and again.
• Constraint-based model makes it easy to update related parts to a new size after dimensions are changed.
• Constraint-based model analyzes mass properties such as the weight and volume data during design so that the resulting structure behaves in the desired way.
• Constraint-based model enhances the amount of time that can be used to optimize a design; this is possible because the model makes it possible for analysis to be incorporated earlier in the design process.
• By focusing on the design intent for any product, constraint-based modeling helps modelers to be more imaginative, carefully consider or reconsider the function and purpose of the item being designed, and improve designs—thereby even resulting in better designs.

Types of constraints used to define and drive the constraint-based model geometry

Each object or product in a constraint-based model is defined by the constraints or dimensions/sizes and geometric relationships stored in the model and used to produce the object or product. Two basic types of constraints are used to define and drive the constraint-based model geometry:

• Size constraints are the dimensions that define the model or its geometry. The type of dimensions chosen and how they are placed, respectively, are important aspects of capturing the design intent behind a model.
• Geometric constraints determine the limits and maintain the geometric properties of a product or object, such as circularity, tangency, horizontality, verticality, etc. These geometric constraints are equally important in capturing design intent.

In constraint-based modeling, the term parameter refers to a named quantity that has a value that can be changed; just like a variable, it can be used to define other parameters.

However, unlike a variable, a parameter is not abstract—implying that it will always have or be assigned a value to represent a model.

For instance, the parameter called length can be assigned and defined by a value, such as 20. (Width is also a dimension but a different type of parameter.) On the other hand, the same length can be defined as having a value that is two times the width of the same object: the size or dimension of the length can be defined as: “2 × width”—meaning that, instead of assigned, the length parameter can be calculated using the width. In that case, if the value of the width is changed, the length would be automatically updated to the new value of “2 × width”.

The parameters that define and drive the object or model geometry are indicated on reproduced drawings. If the parameter value for the breadth, width, or length of a part of an object is changed, the whole object would be updated automatically.

It is important to note that the dimensions (used to define individual features) in a constraint-based model can behave in different ways. A dimension can be:

• A parameter: this aspect is used in equations that “drive” the size of a model feature.
• A reference dimension (often called driven dimension): this aspect derives its value from the model geometry; however, it is not a size constraint for the model.
• A size constraint (often called driving dimension): this aspect of the model feature can be updated when the dimension is altered or modified.
• A dimension: generally, this aspect is just any text whose value either has or does not have a relationship with the model geometry, regardless of whether or not it is included on a drawing or model view.
• A combination of all the above.

Driving dimensions help to moderate the size of a feature element in the constraint-based model for an object or idea. Each driving dimension has two parts: a numerical value and a name. Each name makes it possible for the dimension it represents to be used in equations or relationships that define different parts of the model geometry. The numerical value, on the other hand, can be derived from an equation or represented by a number that defines the dimension.

Constraint-based modeling software lets users switch their display between the named and numeric dimensions in their respective models.

Like the geometric constraints used in constraint-based modeling, the size parameters can also establish relationships between features of the model component in formulas.

The operators used in the equations that express constraint-based dimensions are similar to those used in a spreadsheet or other types of programming notation.

In fact, many modelers have made it easy for users to import and export dimensions or numeric values from a completely different application; for instance, a spreadsheet.

When handling information from other applications, it is possible to use complex formulas to calculate the sizes in the other program; thereafter, the obtained results or values can then be imported back into the modeling package which, like others, has its own syntax and notation.

To Succeed at Controlling Others, You Must First Control Yourself

How many people would be wholeheartedly loyal to someone who obviously has no self-control? Not many, I guess; even if there are, they’d likely be loyal for reasons that are far from genuine—money, favors, etc. Genuine, however, is an altogether different ballgame—it requires much more!

If you demand true loyalty, respect, service, and self-discipline from others, you must first prove that you have enough of it to control yourself. Otherwise, you’ll lack the necessary credibility that can make other people genuinely listen, take orders from, or truly follow you.

Lacking sufficient self-control makes it difficult to exhibit true leadership which is usually impossible without self-control. For people to willingly allow you to have control over them, they have to see and sense that you can actually control your own self.

The ability to control one’s self is not only expected from people who are in “leadership positions”—i.e., national or world leaders, etc.: it’s also expected from anybody who occupies a role that makes them responsible for the well-being of another person or a group of people.

Self-control is to be expected from parents; self-control is to be expected from any or all the parties in a relationship; self-control is to be expected from anybody who is part of a local community or society; etc.

Love your neighbor as yourself—this is a great pillar for strong self-control! Learn to be attentive to the feelings or needs of other people. Whenever you’re struggling to stay disciplined or exert self-control during a situation, pause for a bit and think particularly about all the people whom you regard as your “followers” or “loyal followers”, whether they are your brothers, sisters, colleagues, children, your friends, or neighbors—anybody!

When the time arrives for you to exert self-control but you don’t do it, even though all of heaven and earth—and even you yourself—knows that you should, then what would your followers think of you?

Would your followers still be willing to continue following you if they find out that you had failed to exhibit the degree of self-control they’ve been admiring in you to such an extent that you are regarded as a very important person in their lives?

Do you really wish to succeed at not falling off the cliff during any struggle with self-control? Then you have to give yourself a convincing reason or more than a reason (many reasons make conviction easier) why you have to exert self-control, be self-disciplined, or resist yet another temptation to fail at controlling yourself.

Learn to direct your thoughts to other people. If you fail to put yourself in other people’s shoes and give yourself good answers for the reasons behind your intended actions, then you’ll find it easier to succumb to those temptations or urges that can make you lose much or everything.

Types of Inspection You Should Conduct Before Purchasing a Property

The condition of a property directly affects its value. Unless you have at least some considerable experience, you may likely not fully understand what you are venturing into when it comes to evaluating the condition of the property you are interested in buying or renting.

You could get into muddy waters if you don’t conduct thorough property inspection before purchasing a property. It’s always important to conduct property inspection, even if the property is a brand new one.

Major Sources of Real Estate Property Valuation Information

Each property is only as good as its weakest link—if present, and a physically unsound property or its degrading/degraded environment is not always a good investment, unless you’re planning to make it good. This can require more resources, money, or effort than ever imagined.

An old or new property may look good from the outside and also on paper, but if you don’t conduct property inspection to confirm the actual status or condition of the property, you’d hardly be able to determine whether there are any potential legal or financial issues or concerns.

Before you eventually cash in on that property that you’re so hooked into, ask for permission to conduct a brief interior, exterior, and environmental inspection before deciding whether to make your offer.

A proper property inspection can reveal items in or aspects of a property that the seller of might not have noted or repaired/fixed, and items or aspects could have a greater or lesser value, depending on how much they cost or is required to repair them.

Regardless of how you feel about a property, it is not advisable to forego property inspection just to save money, time, or effort; neither is it advisable to cut corners nor allow your judgement to become tainted—just because you have some emotional attachment to a property.

There are generally three types of inspections you should be aware of, along with some major aspects of properties that require some level of inspection: (Alternatively, you can seek the services of an experienced real estate practitioner—but still focus on the following types of property inspection):

1. Physical or structural inspection

As a buyer or renter, it’s important to inspect all the physical features or aspects of the property you are interested in. You can request for the services of an architect or real estate practitioner who would not only conduct inspection to look for flaws or problems but also help to determine any changes or improvements that can enhance the outlook and value of the property. Learn to move on to another potential property or investment if you’re not convinced that your plans for a particular property aren’t fiscally or structurally feasible at the moment.

It is important to inspect the following physical/structural aspects of any property:

• the overall physical condition or features.
• the strength or structural integrity.
• the floor, subflooring, foundation/slab, crawl space, basements, and decks.
• the doorways, walls, and windows.
• the roof and attic.
• the plumbing systems, including the supply lines, fixtures, and drains.
• the water-heating devices and electrical systems, including ground­fault circuit-interrupters (GFCI) and all service panels and generators.
• the life safety systems, including intrusion alarms, smoke detectors, fire alarms or fire panels, carbon monoxide detectors, and radon detectors.
• the air conditioning and heating systems.
• the degree of moisture intrusion and insulation.
• the landscaping, drainage, and irrigation of the environment.
• the level of soil subsidence (sinking), land movement, flood risk, or degree of seismic activities—if present.
• the extent of illegal additions or construction and zoning violations—if present.

The following signs indicate the likely presence of physical or structural issues which may require further investigation:

• Imperfectly or badly aligned structure: You can use a handy laser level or any appropriate tool to assess whether any walls, floors, and ceilings are out of plumb or unevenly/improperly aligned. Doors and windows should be checked to ensure that they are not misaligned.
• Cracks: Check the entire property for cracks—including the walls, ceilings, floor coverings, window and door frames, foundation, chimney, retaining walls, etc. Some cracks may indicate a more serious underlying issue that needs to be assessed by a qualified property inspector or other qualified professional.
• Unlevelled or squishy floors: Check whether there is any unlevelled part of the floor or any slant or sloping of the floor which can be easily detected by using a level. Also, be on the lookout for any spongelike or soft spots in the flooring on all levels—ground or upper—if the property has a raised foundation with a basement or crawl space.
• Moisture intrusion and plumbing leaks: Carefully look for any signs of water encroachment or intrusion which, if present, can cause serious health issues—the types that are linked to environmental toxins and mold. Search for indications of leaks such as stains and discoloration on walls, ceilings, and especially around door and window frames. Check for all possible sources of moisture or leaks: under sinks, toilets, supply lines for faucets, dishwashers, roofs, windows, sprinklers, and water supply lines and drainage that is away from the property or building. Ensure that the overflow drain in each sink and bathtub is neither clogged nor leaking, and all overflow drains are properly connected to the property’s general or overall sewer and drainage systems; furthermore, ensure that all drains are properly installed and maintained, and the property as a whole drains properly.
• Soil issues: Any notable presence of excess groundwater, cracked/bulging retaining walls, or poor drainage can be a sign of soil issues such as ground subsidence or slope failure which may require further inspection by a soil, environmental, or civil engineer.

 2. Inspection to determine the extent of general property damage and required pest control

A thorough property damage inspection is needed to determine the damage caused by organisms that incessantly break down, infect, and destroy wood and other kinds of building materials. After determining any damage, effective pest control needs to be administered to eliminate pests and the damage they have caused.

Pest control firms may be most appropriate for this type of inspection, especially as they are capable of determining more than only the damage and presence of infestations by bedbugs, powder post beetles, termites, carpenter ants, and other kinds of wood-destroying insects that produce infestations or infections which have to be eradicated at once to protect the property from serious damage and structural deficiency that could endanger the property or occupants, if not corrected. Infestations and infections can cause problems that may even cost substantially more to repair in the future if they are not resolved at the moment—now!

3. Inspection to detect the presence or extent of environmental issues

The uncertainty around and potential problems that stem from properties located in environmentally challenged locations/areas is so significant that inspection of the environment should be conducted and considered before paying cash for a property.

Therefore, regardless of how cheap a property is, only purchase it if there is a clear environmental report that gives it a pass, especially from radioactivity, flooding, ground subsidence, and anything that degrades the environment, humans, and animals.

Conquering Fear by Staying Outside Your Comfort Zone

Fear sometimes or oftentimes compels us to stay in our comfort zone. If each person is allowed to have their way, they would likely choose to stay right in their comfort zone, and never venture outside it.

One of the main reasons why many people fail to utilize great opportunities that can shoot them to stardom is due to their decision to remain right inside their comfort zone. They don’t want to have anything to do with the potential or obvious qualms that lie in wait outside.

Fortunately or unfortunately, no matter how hard we try to stay in our respective comfort zones, there comes a time when we have no other option than to get up, leave, and stay outside our comfort zones so that we can stand a good chance of achieving success.

Although it sounds odd, the truth is that our very discomfort zones are effective or sure-fire ways we can use to tackle and conquer very the fears that impede our progress.

If you need to move up the ladder to the next level in your life, regardless of the endeavor, then you must learn to draw closer to, get increasingly familiar with, and stay outside your comfort zone which, at the same time, happens to be the domain of your discomfort zone.

But how or where do you start tackling or conquering the fears that have gripped us and seemingly have the upper hand at the moment? You start by bracing yourself and getting outside your comfort zone.

Regardless of the situation at hand, take baby steps and start associating with the very things that you are afraid of—the very things you dislike, the very things you’d prefer to stay away from—whether it is reading, writing, going to the gym, or just anything at all.

Baby steps are like the little drops of water that are bound together but still make up the mighty ocean: baby steps are like the little grains of sand that make up each part of the Earth’s land.

Each baby step—which is actually action on/interaction with your discomfort zone—leads to increasing degrees of familiarity and positivity that would subconsciously and eventually “draw you in” to do and become what you’ve always desired. Being consistent with the baby steps leads to the goal—your dream!

Tackling or conquering fears by taking repetitive actions that are seemingly uncomfortable or outside your comfort zone

As odd, uncomfortable, or difficult as it might seem to go over or step outside your comfort zone, it can—and in many cases will—pay you rich dividends if you do it, especially in the long run and in important areas of your life.

Since some fears are somewhat aligned or intertwined with our dreams, we usually have no other healthier option than to stretch beyond our comfort zone by gradually exposing ourselves to the discomforts or fears which are, fortunately, also opportunities for personal growth.

Exposing one’s self to fears or discomforts is actually the same thing as exposing one’s self to the opposite of what they actually like doing, which, in most cases, is staying or living permanently in a comfort zone, without ever having a care in the world!

However, it is important to note that staying in your comfort zone, instead of staying out, can keep you far away from your own promised land—the eventual realization of your dreams.

Are you afraid of heights? If yes, then start navigating towards those heights instead of running away from them. If you need to conquer the fear of heights to achieve your dreams, then the earlier you start going towards those discomforting heights—instead of shying or running away from them—the faster and better things could move for you! Some of the greatest mountain and cliff climbers were once afraid of heights in the past—they had some fear and discomfort. However, they made consistent attempts to associate with and face their fear of heights; eventually, they ended up hiking on the highest mountains and climbing cliffs which are usually higher than the tallest buildings in the world. Many of the best wouldn’t have been able to achieve the astounding feats they achieved, if not for the fact that they made consistent efforts to face their fear of heights. If not for their continuous exposure to heights and consistent approach, they wouldn’t have been able to develop the power that enabled them to get rid of the fear of heights.

Maybe you’re not afraid of heights. Maybe you’re afraid of reading! Are you one of many people who hate opening and reading books? If your answer is “yes”, then it’s important to note that if you don’t love and become familiar with opening and reading your books, it’s going to be very difficult or impossible to achieve your dreams. If you need to conquer the fear of reading to achieve your dreams, then it’s best to start opening and reading your books instead of running away from them—make it a habit! Reading books is actually the opposite of what many people feel like doing; however, reading is necessary and the most important thing that should be done in order to achieve certain goals—especially, many big ones! If people can get rid of their fear of reading, they would be able to open and read books without struggling to do it. And this could lead to a whole new world: a full-blown personal transformation!

If you’re afraid of writing, then writing is what you need to get familiar with or make a habit of doing, without having to struggle so much: writing is what you need to gravitate to, love, and make your pal in order to conquer the fear you have for it. You need to start picking up your pen and make a consistent effort to write and write and write, instead of running away from it. Exposing yourself to more and more writing would help you to grow and eventually get rid of the fear of writing.

If you need to conquer the fear of public speaking to achieve your dreams, then it’s best to start navigating towards any opportunity that can allow you to speak in public. Stop the habit of running away when opportunities arise. Even if you don’t think that you’re ready at the moment, you can and must start preparing your mindset as best as you possibly can for any opportunity (opportunities are always hanging around, waiting for people to pounce on them). This will put you in the best shape to embrace any opportunity that comes around. Although exposing yourself to public speaking—or making public speeches—could be scary and are the opposite of what you normally feel like doing, deep down you know how important it is to you; therefore, use it to your advantage and rid yourself of the fear of public speaking.

If you’re afraid of exploring new ventures (instead of embracing them like some of the world’s people who have thrived on adventures and explored new worlds), then you need to conquer the fear of exploring new ventures! If you don’t start becoming familiar with and loving new ventures, you’d find it difficult or impossible to achieve your dreams that are tied to new ventures. Exposing yourself to new ventures might be the opposite of what you actually like doing; however, it’s necessary for you to gravitate towards new ventures, start associating with them, and take baby steps to grow until you get rid of your fear of new ventures.

Concluding words: advice

One of the most important lessons we can learn from the experiences of people who have lived outside their comfort zone—or embraced discomfort, but nevertheless achieved success—is that everyone has the ability to start tackling and conquering their fear until they start seeing light at the end of the tunnel, and eventually conquer their fear.

Don’t get me wrong: regardless of our individual levels of success, each one of us still has some level of fear or reservation towards certain activities or ventures. However, we—you, me, or anyone else—can greatly diminish or even completely eradicate such levels of fear or reservation if we take those available baby steps, move, and stay outside our comfort zone.

We hope that this post will encourage you step regularly outside your comfort zone in any way that you possibly can, whether it is little or big, or even both! A little way can include something as simple as doing push-ups a little bit harder during a workout, reading or writing a bit more every day, or working for a little longer when you actually feel like sleeping or don’t feel like doing anything—even when it can help you achieve your dreams. A big way can include something as terrifying or scary as climbing higher mountains or cliffs; or it can include something as challenging as reading a 500-page book or writing 20,000 words every week; on the other hand, it can also include something as stultifying as speaking in front of more than two or more people.

Proper Keyword Phrases: The Main Reason You Should be Implementing Them on Your Site

Haven’t started using “proper keyword phrases”—or even general or single keywords? What have you been waiting for? If you’d like to stand a great chance of getting your site included on search engine results, you have to start conducting internet searches, selecting the best or most proper keywords, and implementing them directly in your posts.

Doing this continuously would tremendously help your site compete with and perform better in search queries than many other sites. Search queries are the words that search engine users type and search for on the search boxes of search engines.

Search engine boxes usually receive a ton of queries on a daily basis from users. Not all site owners are aware of this or the fact that search engines exist and can be used to drive traffic to their sites, thereby tremendously boosting sign-ups, business, and sales.

How to Choose Relevant Keywords for SEO or Your Website

The Feeling of Blogging to 1st Position on Google in 28 Countries

How Keyword Optimization Made My Article Attract the Highest Number of Views & Rank Almost 1.0 on Google—6 Screenshots & a Practical Example

How Keyword Optimization Continues to Make My Articles Attract Increasing Numbers of Views from Google—with Screenshots

It’s one thing for search engines to provide search results for what everyone might regard as “keywords”; it’s quite or completely a different thing for search engine engines to provide search results for what everyone might regard as “proper keyword phrases”. There is a significant difference; it’s important to state this to drive home a relevant point.

Definition & benefit(s) of proper keyword phrases

The use of a keyword is a definite must if one wants to conduct a search query on search engines.

The search results for general or single keywords usually link to information that may be too broad or a bit or completely off point.

Therefore, using a proper keyword phrase is a definite must if one wants to get search results that link to information that is spot-on or specific.

In some cases, a single keyword is used in a search query; however, the majority of search queries have three or more words.

Each query that has two or more words is a “proper keyword phrase”. This implies that a proper keyword or keyword phrase consists of two or more words that are typed during a search query.

“Best cryptocurrencies to invest in 2021” is a good example of a proper keyword or keyword phrase. Now, can you spot the difference between “Best cryptocurrencies to invest in March 2021” and “Best cryptocurrencies to invest in 2021”?

The search results for “Best cryptocurrencies to invest in 2021” would certainly reveal more information (which would span over many months) than the search results for “Best cryptocurrencies to invest in March 2021”.

The difference between the two proper keywords provides some understanding of the extent to which proper keyword phrases can go in order to get the best search results which are usually spot-on, detailed, or specific.

Using more proper keywords increases your site’s chances of matching and being included in search query results: implementing an increasing number of proper keywords on your site can raise its chances of ranking higher on search engine page results.

Thus, proper keywords are the best types of keywords to use in your posts during keyword implementation or SEO.

Definition, Importance & Advantages of Using Keyword Search Optimization

How to Make SEO-friendly URLs that can Improve Your Search Engine Ranking & Attract Traffic

The SEO Code of Ethics’ Important Principles You Should Practice

Importance of Seasonal Keywords & Tools for Conducting Research on Seasonal Keyword Trends

It’s important to ensure that the proper keywords you’re implementing during keyword implementation—during writing or prior to publishing—are the same or align with the most popularly searched keywords that users are typing on search engines to get the most relevant search results, and eventually find what they’re looking for.

In this modern internet age, site owners would be doing themselves a great disservice if they fail to utilize the great opportunities that proper keyword phrase implementation can bring right to their site—directly from the search results of the greatest search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.).

Deep down, many people desire to implement keywords, and more importantly, proper keyword phrases; however, they never create time to do their homework: they fail to conduct necessary research to find and implement the proper keyword phrases that search engine users may search for in order to find specific information.

Another important point to note is that the “click‐through rate” (which indicates the number of users who click a search result and actually end up going to your site) also increases when more proper keyword phrases (implemented by a writer or publisher) match the search query.

Furthermore, it may be even more important to point out that when proper keyword phrases are properly implemented by a writer or publisher, the “conversion rate” (which is the number of users or visitors who actually purchase something, sign up, or take appropriate on your site) also increases because you have what most users are looking for.

Search engine users are becoming wiser, even the new ones: they know that a single keyword is likely going to attract search results that are linked to information that is too broad, less specific, or doesn’t have what they’re specifically looking for.

For example, let’s consider what the search results for a keyword like “security” would yield. The search engine user who types “security” might not be interested in knowing what the definition of the word (security) is; he or she might just be searching for a security guard, or even a security guard service!

If you do a quick single keyword search (for example, “security”) instead of a proper keyword phrase search (for example, “security guard” or “security guard service”) on search engines, your search results would be less-specific and widely varied, instead of specific or spot-on.

This is the main reason why you have to implement proper keyword phrases—not just single keywords—if you’d like your site to stand a chance of being well-positioned on search engines.

Insights on implementing proper keyword phrases in your posts

You can even use proper keyword phrases in your sub-headings or the headings for your paragraphs; include them in your Heading tags (HTML tags for paragraph headings), or use them as the individual titles of your web pages (titles tag in respective HTML codes).

It is generally recommended that authors use proper keyword phrases and, maybe, some related variations (of proper keyword phrases) multiple times, but not too much. It should be just enough to leave an impression on the web page without unnecessarily forcing the proper keyword phrases into your content.

Mention each proper keyword phrase a couple of times in your posts during implementation, and ensure that they sound natural—not unnatural, odd, or forced. Furthermore, include detailed descriptive words, and avoid using only general or single keywords.

The disadvantage of using only general or single keywords is that they can increase the competition between your site and too many other sites that target the same keywords.

However, if you use proper keyword phrases—which, naturally are very specific—you stand higher chances of targeting the best traffic because few or fewer search engine users search for proper keyword phrases.

Finding and using proper keyword phrases would ensure that your site attracts mainly or only traffic that has the potential to be converted into sign-ups, customers, and cash, and even reap more benefits.

Note that search engines also look for keywords and proper keyword phrases in the hypertext links (which take users to other web pages when they are clicked) that are used on web pages; therefore, using a proper keyword phrase within a hyperlink can help to rank your site higher for the proper keyword phrase.

We would conclude this post by advising that you shouldn’t stuff your posts with keywords and proper keyword phrases because doing so could hurt your site’s brand, especially when search engines would get the impression that you’re stuffing or over‐using proper keyword phrases—all in the name of “ranking high” on search engines.

There’s No Value in the Criticism that Comes from Haters

Many people have once received unfair or hateful criticism (mistaken for so-called “advice” or “constructive criticism”) in the past and ran away with it, only to find out later that what they had bought into and ran away with was the worst piece of junk they could ever have as advice! If you’re not careful, the criticism from “haters” will take you backward.

But who can we blame if we mistakenly run away with hateful criticism? While growing up or continuously developing in life, many people aren’t just able to recognize certain types of criticisms for what they really are—completely meaningless, valueless, time- and attention-wasting, destructive, and above all—hateful!

Haters don’t always seem to have good reasons for the hateful criticisms they direct at people. The destructive effects of their criticisms only become obvious after their criticisms start taking a toll on people and starving them of progress—even drawing them back into low or lower levels of life.

Examples of hateful—therefore, senseless and valueless—criticism

While some people are following their dreams by studying in the university or school, or focussing on an endeavor or their career, some haters outrightly distract them by accusing them of:

• reading too much
• working too hard
• dressing decently
• not partying at all
• not partying enough
• not dressing flashy enough
• not showing sufficient interest in the opposite sex
• putting too much effort into losing weight
• using too much time to build a healthier or fitter physique
• lacking enough talent to become successful
• doing one thing or another which is none of the hater’s business
• generally, not fitting in
• etc.

Haters unfairly or hatefully criticize and criticize and criticize until, if the person whom their criticism is directed at is not careful, they may begin to think that it’s wrong to follow or pursue their life goals.

Don’t give up your goals or dreams because of hateful criticisms. Continue working on your goals and dreams, and be patient; let time pass as you witness the growing number of goals you achieve; then, you’d come to eventually realize that there was and is no value in the criticism that comes from haters.

You’d come to realize that buying or giving in to hateful or unfair criticism would only lead to a downside or dark side that can jeopardize your long-term or life goals.

Don’t give in to hateful criticism; not now, not ever! Hateful criticism can only lead to a downside/dark side

What’s the best way to react to hateful or unfair criticism? You simply have to get used to discarding, rejecting, or not giving in to hateful criticism which is usually directed from haters. The best foolproof way to deal with haters is to ignore whatever hateful criticism they throw at or direct to you.

Focus on yourself instead, and shield yourself from negativity. But why should you? You should because hateful criticism is just not constructive or meaningful; it adds no value to further progress or development, and the intent behind it is only meant to decimate or devalue the progress of the person to whom it is directed.

It’s a sad and unfortunate fact of life on Earth that whenever you do something worthwhile, you will likely have or attract haters for one reason or another—or even for no reason at all! And haters voice out their hateful opinions or criticism; they criticize anything and everything for different reasons.

But it’d be difficult for you to buy into or bother about any hateful criticism if you understand and are convinced that there’s just no value in the criticism that comes from haters. There is zero value in their criticism. The men and women who focus on their dreams know this truth deep down in their hearts.

8 Potential Sources of Indoor Air Pollution/Pollutants in Homes

People’s exposure to indoor air pollutants is believed to be substantial because they spend about 90% of their time indoors. Studies have proven that the indoor air in houses is frequently more contaminated than the ambient air that originally gets into houses from outside. The same might apply to your house.

Indoor air contamination has existed for as long as people have lived in enclosed areas: in caves, when cave dwellers breathed smoke from heating and cooking and heating fires; in buildings, structures, and enclosed environments of the Industrial Revolution when products of combustion and a variety of chemicals were being used; and during modern times when the most complex environmental and indoor air pollution problems are having a field day as a result of human activities.

The quantity of air going in and out of a home, building, or structure can contribute to the concentration and degree of pollution in it. The indoor air quality in your home, office, or property is affected by the cumulative effects of air pollutants in the surrounding ambient air plus the pollutants generated inside your home, office, or property due to moisture, dampness, flooding, rodents, insects, air fresheners, chemicals used for cleaning, waste materials, cigarette smoke, and other types of pollutants from furnaces, space heaters, fireplaces, stoves, space heaters, dehumidification systems, etc., and the cumulative impact of poor housekeeping, amongst other sources.

In the short- and long-run, indoor air pollutants could affect the nose, eye, and irritate the throat, and cause fatigue, headaches, nausea, dizziness, asthma, cancer, lung inflammation or pneumonitis, damage to various organs, and various types of sensitivities to chemical and biological substances.

Ambient air may consist of pollutants from outside the house; regardless, additional pollutants are generated within houses through the following most prominent sources of indoor air pollution or pollutants:

1. Asbestos materials

Asbestos may be found in homes: ceiling boards, roofing, siding shingles, and insulation. During removal, cutting, and sanding of asbestos products, its fibers and particles have the potential to become airborne and a health hazard; deterioration of asbestos products could also contribute to more health issues. If inhaled, asbestos can increase the risk of disease. The little asbestos fibers that are inhaled most frequently can accumulate in the lungs and cause abdominal cancers, chest cancers, and lung diseases.

2. Biological contaminants

Biological contaminants can be present in the home; they include: mildew, mold, bacteria, viruses, pollen, cat saliva, house dust mites, animal dander, cockroach droppings, rats, mice urine and droppings, and droppings of domestic animals.

Viruses and bacteria can cause disease(s) after they are unintentionally inhaled, ingested, or get in contact with the skin: biological contaminants can have a profound effect on asthma and cause allergic reactions such as hypersensitivity pneumonitis and allergic rhinitis.

A high rate of asthma can be associated with allergens that affect humans, including pet dander, dust mites, insect, dust, and rodent contaminant proteins which can be found in saliva, urine, dander, roach body parts, roach faeces, and mildew and mold which may release disease-causing toxins.

3. Combustion

The working heaters, wood and gas stoves, furnaces, unvented kerosene and gas space heaters, chimneys, fireplaces, and environmental tobacco smoke present in houses discharge respirable particles and gases such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and formaldehyde; these gases may cause nose, eye, and throat irritation, and dizziness, fatigue, headaches, bronchitis, respiratory infections, confusion, persistent coughs, irregular heartbeats, and lung cancer.

4. New Carpets

When a new carpet is installed in a home, it may discharge chemicals into indoor air and pollute it. Even the cleaning of old or older carpets can also discharge chemicals into indoor air. Discharge of chemicals can aggravate any existing disease symptoms or cause new symptoms to arise, especially in people who have existing lung diseases, asthma, and allergic reactions.

5. Environmental tobacco smoke

Environmental tobacco smoke, also known as secondhand smoke, is a combination of the smoke released from cigarette pipe, burning cigarette or cigar, and the smoke that is exhaled by smokers. Environmental tobacco smoke comprises of not less than 4,000 different substances, including not less than 50 that can cause cancer.

When secondhand smoke is inhaled in large quantities, it can increase the risk of nose, eye, and throat irritation; lower respiratory tract infections, sudden infant death syndrome, asthma, middle ear infections, and increase in cardiovascular system diseases, respiratory diseases, cancer, and even death.

6. New houses

Whenever houses and the products within them are new, especially if there is high indoor temperature or humidity in the houses, a higher discharge of formaldehyde occurs much more than when the products get older. Exposure to formaldehyde can cause nausea, burning eyes and throat, watery eyes, and difficulty in breathing.

New items that contribute mostly to indoor air pollution in new homes include the pressed wood products used to create furniture, particle board and fibreboard, cabinets, panelling, subflooring, shelving, plywood, and any other substances that consist of resins with urea formaldehyde.

7. Household products

Various types of household products usually consist of some quantity of chemicals that are discharged into indoor air when used, stored, or disposed of. The products might include solvents, paints, stored fuels, candles, cleaning materials, varnishes, aerosol sprays, disinfectants, air fresheners, hobby materials, dry-cleaned clothing, etc.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released from many substances that are used indoors: cleaning supplies, pesticides, disinfectant residues, glues and adhesives, paints, waxes, cosmetics, air fresheners, printers, new furniture, new carpets, new walls, new shelving, new floors, etc. VOCs can enter into homes from outside, the ground, and water from any contamination around homes.

It has been reported that approximately 80% of human exposure to disinfectant residues and pesticides occurs indoors due to chemicals discharged to eliminate and control insects, fungi, rodents, viruses, and bacteria. In addition to indoor pollution is the entry of outside soil or dust that is contaminated by agricultural chemicals and pesticides applied in the field.

Depending on the chemical released by a household product, there may be no effect, or there may be a dangerous effect. Typical symptoms of health problems due to chemicals include visual problems, respiratory irritation, coma, loss of coordination, nausea, headaches, eye irritation, dizziness, unconsciousness/coma, light-headedness, and damage to the liver, kidney, and central nervous system, and even death. Long-term problems may include cancer and genetic effects.

8. Uranium in the ground

The natural decay of uranium in the ground, soil, and rocks can cause the emission of radon (an odorless, colorless, tasteless, and invisible radioactive gas) which can enter the home through crevices and cracks in the foundations, floors, walls, and construction joints. Depending on the degree of uranium decay, concentrations of radon can build up and even find their way into the water supply of the home. When ingested, radon can cause lung cancer. Cigarette smoking can even aggravate the effects of radon gas which is believed to cause thousands of deaths yearly due to lung cancer.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 25 Interesting Facts

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are gases that warm the Earth’s surface, and they withhold heat in the atmosphere; as a result, they don’t allow heat to flow back into space.

Globally, the major GHGs emitted by human activities include carbon dioxide which is 76% of the total global emissions; methane which is 16% of the total global emissions; nitrous oxide which is 6% of the total global emissions; and fluorinated gases which are 2% of the total global emissions.

Carbon dioxide is produced during the combustion of solid waste, oil, coal, natural gas, wood products, and trees, and through certain types of chemical reactions; for example, during cement production.

Methane is emitted during the decomposition of cattle and organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills, and during the processing, mining, and transportation of oil, coal, and natural gas.

Nitrous oxide is produced when industrial and agricultural activities are taking place, and when fossil fuels and solid waste are being burned.

Fluorinated gases originate from industrial processes, either as a by-product or concluding or final product.

The following are 25 interesting facts on greenhouse gases that are intriguing and could definitely add to your knowledge base:

1. The greenhouse effect is brought about or intensified by surface pollution gases that rise into the troposphere (which is the lowest atmospheric layer: from 4 to 11 miles high) and can heat the Earth’s surface.

2. Each greenhouse gas affects climate change; however, this depends on their concentration and how long they stay in the atmosphere, and the level of their effectiveness in producing global warming.

3. Some GHGs can persist in the air or atmosphere for many years.

4. The countries that emit the largest quantities of methane are Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Russia, Ukraine, USA, and Australia, which all account for about 50% of the total anthropogenic methane emissions worldwide.

5. Landfills are the largest source of methane emissions in the USA.

6. Electricity production, distribution, and transmission account for around 84% of the GHG emissions in the USA; most of the GHGs are carbon dioxide, while less than 1% of the emissions are sulfur hexafluoride which is used in distribution equipment and electricity transmission.

7. The storage of manure produces nitrous oxide and methane and accounts for around 15% of the entire GHG emissions from agriculture in the USA.

8. The burning of fossil fuels in motor vehicles for transportation accounts for about 28% of all GHG emissions.

9. Industries generate about 14% of GHG emissions, mainly through the combustion of fossil fuels.

10. Different agricultural producers account for around 8% of the GHGs that are generated mainly from agricultural soils, livestock, and rice production.

11. Soil management accounts for around 50% of nitrous oxide emissions.

12. About 33% of the methane produced by agriculture is from the digestive processes of livestock.

13. Commercial and residential sources account for around 11% of GHG emissions.

14. Commercial and residential building endeavors account for around 39% of the carbon dioxide generated from fuel sources.

15. All the fluorinated gases that originate from refrigeration and air conditioning systems, and household products escape into the air.

16. The global warming potential of methane is 25 times more than that of carbon dioxide.

17. Approximately 70% of electricity is generated from the combustion of natural gas and coal; both produce carbon dioxide in significant quantities.

18. Presently, methane contributes not less than one-third of the global warming caused by humans.

19. Compared to other GHGs, fluorinated gases are released in small quantities; but they have a very powerful effect on global warming.

20. Chlorofluorocarbons (which are potent GHGs and deplete the atmosphere’s ozone layer) had been replaced with hydrofluorocarbons (which are equally strong GHGs) to correct an environmental problem; unfortunately, although this replacement corrects one environmental problem, it still causes another.

21. Sulfur hexafluoride is another potent GHG mainly used to insulate electrical equipment; leakage of the gas and emissions during equipment maintenance aggravate global warming trends where insulating electrical equipment are being used.

22. The GHGs trapped in the ocean are discharged slowly into the atmosphere over time when water heats more slowly than the atmosphere.

23. Ozone depletion still has a considerable effect on the temperature balance of the earth, even though ozone depletion is not a major cause of climate change.

24. Atmospheric ozone heats the stratosphere by absorbing solar ultraviolet radiation; in addition, it absorbs infrared radiation from the earth’s surface and traps heat in the troposphere.

25. Even after a substantial reduction in GHGs, the full effect of emissions will still be sensed for many years into the future, due to lag time.

Reference

Best Practices for Environmental Health: Environmental Pollution, Protection, Quality and Sustainability by Herman Koren

“Pressing on” is What Separates Winners from Losers; It Takes People to Their Destination

The motto or catchword “press on” has solved and will always continue to solve mankind’s problems and even those of other living things. Pressing on or being persistent—and also determined—is very important.

In many cases, if not all or almost all, it will be difficult if not impossible for anything to truly take the place of “pressing on” or persistence. Talent won’t; genius won’t; even education won’t!

The world has many educated derelicts, unrewarded geniuses, and unsuccessful men who have great talent; the absence of pressing on distinguishes such people from rewarded geniuses and successful talents.

Pressing on is extremely important and often a game changer when obstacles are seemingly getting in the way between our efforts and our final goal—the ultimate prize!

Whenever you’re in doubt, just continue to press on instead of giving up or caving in

It sounds unjust, yet one simple and undisputable fact about life is that people who persist are usually more successful than geniuses, educated, and talented people who don’t. Persistence that is exercised over a considerable or long period of time eventually leads to success.

Many people are extremely talented, but they fail to achieve success when doubt comes in: they give up after flopping one or more times; meanwhile, those who are much less talented (or lack talent, skills, or formal education) but continue to persist are the ones who eventually occupy the bestseller lists because of continuously engaging in one activity after another until success arrives.

Many successful people aren’t smarter than you or me; yet they manage to persist, master several things, and build themselves—even with tools that people think are almost difficult or impossible to utilize. Their secret lies in persistence.

Within a period of time (days, months, or years), they acquire an extensive body of work—all thanks to small amounts of daily time investment that don’t require any special talents or being a genius.

If you have stopped pressing on and are currently struggling to reach your goal, remind yourself that even though you feel lost in a maze, pressing on will eventually help you reach your destination in many cases. Pressing on or persisting is the only thing that separates eventual winners from the losers.

Sentimental Analysis for Selecting Cryptos: 8 Essential Factors to Consider

The crypto market sentiment expresses the crowd psychology of everybody who is participating in the development and trading of a cryptocurrency, as reflected by social and trading metrics.

Sentimental analysis is a valuation or appraisal of the collective emotion and attitude of investors, traders, and fans in regard to a particular crypto asset or investment.

The aim of conducting sentimental analysis is to understand how the respective and collective perspectives of individuals impact the market value and price of individual cryptocurrencies; such perspectives don’t always reflect measurable patterns or metrics; instead, they convey the common feeling of a group or groups of individuals.

Conducting sentimental analysis in the cryptocurrency market can give interested individuals deep insight due to the social nature of the crypto industry.

Performing market sentiment analysis requires researching social channels, industry news, transaction alerts, and reading sentiment indicators to gauge current or forthcoming market movements.

It may likely be important to conduct a sentimental analysis after making an essential background check on the prospective cryptocurrency or cryptocurrencies of your choice. The following are some essential factors to consider, check, or assess before selecting your favorite crypto or cryptos:

1. Recent reportage or coverage

The news presented by reporters for newspapers, radio, or television outlets can make someone or something become incredibly popular. The same thing happens to cryptocurrencies.

The same way you may like to conduct a quick online check for something you are potentially interested in purchasing before agreeing to go ahead and purchase it is the same way you may like to consider analyzing what the media says before making a final selection of the crypto you’d eventually invest in.

Crypto companies know how much influence the media has on their cryptos and they pay a ton of money to popular search engines to place them right at the top of search results ranking systems.

To find out what media outlets are saying, you can simply click on the “News” tab of your search engine, and you’d be automatically directed to the “All” tab which includes relevant news, adverts, and general information that are potentially genuine because they aren’t paid ads.

2. Upcoming events

You can search for upcoming crypto events during the early—or even around the later—stages of finding the crypto of your interest: check websites such as www.newsbtc.com/crypto-calendar/ and https://coinmarketcal.com/  to discover cryptos that have announcements and events line up and may likely impact the cryptos in a positive way. It’s up to you to decide whether any crypto is right for your portfolio.

If you’re interested in investing in more than one crypto, then compile your final list of cryptos and check their respective websites to see whether they have blogs that share their upcoming events. Alternatively, you can check out third-party crypto calendars for additional information.

3. Negative press releases

People tend to be attracted to and enjoy reading negative stuff, and they become passionate about it. On the other hand, negative press releases or statements can serve as warning signs for you and all crypto enthusiasts as well. In the financial and crypto worlds, most negative press releases are hot topics and usually make the prices of their interest or assets to plummet.

Contrary to what people think, the exact period when the prices of assets plummet may be the best time to purchase them. Why? Because everyone would likely be dumping the assets at that time. So you can make an inquiry about and invest in such assets when they are down, and rise to the top with them during favorable times in the future.

Advice: if negative press releases are bad and highlight that a crypto is unlikely to recover from a drop-down, then it’s advisable to pass and forget about the crypto.

4. Crypto communities

Many cryptocurrencies depend on the participation or activities of their communities, and most crypto communities have their forums. Their shared or respective voices are worth giving your ears to.

A lot of cryptocurrencies use different websites as channels to communicate with their fans, users, investors, and traders. Examples of sites that have cryptos communities include:

• Bitcointalk (https://bitcointalk.org/)
• Reddit (reddit.com/)
• Telegram (https://telegram.org/)
• Steemit (https://steemit.com/)

The forums are important to assess because they give an idea about the type of people involved in the cryptocurrency and provide added or needed information about the cryptocurrency itself.

5. Exchanges that carry cryptos

Cryptocurrency exchanges constitute a large part of the whole crypto ecosystem, and good exchanges are often careful when selecting cryptocurrencies for their respective platforms.

You’d want to ensure that a cryptocurrency exchange has a crypto(s) of your choice. One good sign that the crypto you’re interested in is valuable, is when you notice that it’s available on many different exchanges; this implies that the demand for it is high and it could help your investment greatly.

6. Volume traded in a specified time period

Knowing the volume of crypto traded within a specified time period is important because it indicates how easy it would be to buy or sell the cryptocurrency. Higher volumes indicate that it would be easier to trade it off. Websites like www.cryptocompare.com and www.coinmarketcap.com show the number of crypto coins traded in the last 24 hours prior.

You can also find out the exchanges that trades were made on and their respective volumes of trades. Generally speaking, the biggest and most popular crypto coins are often traded the most. So when making a decision to choose a crypto, note that trading volume is an important factor you have to consider.

7. Coin market cap

One of the fastest ways to move ahead during your analysis of cryptocurrencies is to check their position or ranking based on their “market cap” or market capitalization.

A bigger market cap indicates a higher value of the units of a specific cryptocurrency that are up for sale at the moment. Knowledge of the market cap comes in handy when you’d like to choose only one crypto within a particular category of cryptos.

8. Circulating supply

The circulating supply is the number of crypto tokens or coins mined by people or companies; it indicates the number of coins currently available in the market and readily available to the general public.

The circulating supply is important because markets are generally influenced by the principle of “demand and supply”: when assets are in great supply and there aren’t enough people to purchase them, their prices are reduced so they can be sold quickly. The same applies to cryptocurrencies.

Usually, a smaller circulating supply may be more attractive to people who are interested in investing either in the short- or medium-term. Prices of a crypto may rise higher in the future when fewer of its coins are available and there is a higher demand.

On the other hand, a lower circulating supply may indicate something else which could be worrying to investors: lack of popularity! It’s also important to note that in some cases, the circulating supply may not even matter.

For example, in 2017 when the Ripple XRP crypto had a circulation supply of around 40 billion, and Dash had a circulating supply of only 8 million, the price of both (Ripple XRP and Dash cryptos) increased by about 3,900% and 8000%, respectively.

Self-discipline is Best Tested During Struggles—Not When Everything is Going Well

We are usually very confident in our level of self-discipline when we’re in our comfort zone where everything is going well and running smoothly; however, many come to realize that their self-discipline—if available at all—vanishes when they get into certain situations, especially those that are engulfed by struggles.

Struggles and hardships are a part of life, but they aren’t often fun to deal with. And while it is not necessary for us to run or get into situations that test our self-discipline or resolve to the limits, struggles and hardships can be valuable because they present an opportunity for personal growth, especially in areas of life where we really need to grow up, become successful, or stand out.

Most of us are not aware that we can strengthen our ability to handle even harder challenges or worse circumstances in the future if we man up and demonstrate courage or toughness when faced with difficult or challenging situations in the present, instead of backing down.

Struggles, hardships, trials and tribulations, and challenges of all sorts are like training. You may not enjoy them, but keep this thought in mind: every struggle that tests your self-discipline will eventually pay off and more than compensate for any stress or suffering you’re going through at the moment.

We discover how strong our self-discipline is when we struggle, and not when everything is going well

Our self-discipline shows what manner of man it is when we come up against situations we need to overcome in order to move up higher on the ladder of life; it shows us the stuff it is made of when we need to deny tempting treats that freely or easily come to us or cross our path.

For sure, your self-discipline is really firm and strong when:

• you continue to work hard, even when the last thing you’d like to do is work
• you keep on writing heavily, even when the last thing you’d like to do is writing
• you are persistent in keeping away from candy or high-calorie snacks, even when the last thing you’d like to do is avoid them
• you still wake up early in the morning to run your dream business, even when it is obvious that your business is going nowhere
• you keep away from your neighbor’s beautiful wife, even when she’s enticing you and you’d like to have her right away
• you continue going to the gym and working out, even when  that’s the last thing you’d like to do
• you remain faithful to your dream job and stay in it, even  when you have lost all motivation to continue
• etc. 

As you can see, your self-discipline is best tested in a myriad of ways during struggles, challenges, and whatnot. But one thing will always remain certain: your self-discipline is actually self-discipline, not when things are going so well, but when you are up against situations that can drop you down to Earth if you don’t impose your self-discipline to elevate yourself to higher levels of life.

Sky is the Limit—Only if You Stick to Your Dreams Long Enough

The saying that “the sky is the limit” is only for those who are into their dreams or aspirations for the long haul—in the long run. Sky is the limit is not applicable to every circumstance or dream, especially if it’s surrounded by impatience and “short-termness”, instead of patience and “long-termness”.

As we aim for the stars in a world where impatience dominates patience—as is this case here on our old planet Earth—we often fail to consider or estimate long-term approaches which work well with “sky is the limit”.

Even when we consider “long-term approaches”, we usually focus on “short or shorter long-term approaches” and end up overestimating the desired changes that would/could occur in the next one, two, or few years. Don’t fall into the trap of wrongly overestimating what you think can be achieved in a short period of time, even when it isn’t feasible.

Most of us are often impatient or short-sighted to such an extent that we underestimate the change that would or could occur in the long run—say in the next three, five, seven, ten, or more years’ time. Long story short: most of us don’t give enough time, and we don’t look far enough, as the real world expects us to.

An astonishing number of people give up on their dreams, goals, or ambitions in just a few weeks, months, or years after starting off. We become easily discouraged when our results are lackluster or we haven’t yet achieved our set goals.

It’s wrong to allow yourself to become discouraged in the short run because the things of the world don’t usually work well in the short run. Except if GOD Himself comes down to help:

• nobody can build a successful business in a few hours or days
• nobody can achieve a perfect physique in a few hours or days
• nobody can learn a new language in a few hours, days, weeks, or even months
• nobody can become a medical doctor within a few days or months
• nobody can become a self-disciplined person overnight
• nobody can make a tree become fully grown in a few days or even months
• nobody can conceive and give birth after a few days or a few months

However—and good enough—sticking to your dreams for many (or a considerable number of) months or years can turn you into a world-class expert, not only in one field or endeavor, but in more or many fields of endeavor.

Long story short: when you stick to your dreams and maintain your momentum, regardless of whatever happens around, you’ll end up getting exponential results. And the sky can actually become your limit if you don’t end up surpassing it.

The trick is to stick to your dreams or goals long enough for your momentum to accrue and make “sky is the limit” attainable

If you stick to your dreams long enough, your business which has lasted only one year and been lackluster can explode virtually overnight in its second, third, or even fourth year.

“Overnight success” doesn’t actually happen in the real world; overnight success is a process that takes place over considerable or long enough time—say, several hours, days, months, or even years. Regardless of how long it takes, you must stick to the process long enough for it to build upon itself until it hits your target.

When you look at successful people’s catalog of works (published research, written books, treated patients, games played, trophies won, etc.), you might be tempted to think that they succeeded overnight or almost immediately after getting started: “Steven King first book became a bestseller, so it’s possible for me too to become a bestselling author in a few days or months.” No, the real world does not usually work that way.

Some successful authors’ first successful or popular book wasn’t actually their first book. Maybe they had been writing (articles, blog posts, books, etc.) for a long time before they eventually wrote and published a successful book. In fact, what made some authors’ books become bestsellers is a process of writing that lasted maybe for over five, ten, or many more years.

“Sky is the limit” only works for people who stick to their dreams for the long haul—people who stick to their dreams long enough—not in the short term or on impatience. That’s how the world actually works!

Therefore, whenever setting a new goal, take the long-term or “longest-term” approach. Don’t have the mindset or mentality of people who assume that their world can change overnight. Stick to your dreams or ambitions for the long haul, and don’t allow short-term waverings make you to give up.

10 Great Ideas for Generating Useful Blockchain Projects

The field of blockchain development has been evolving at a sky-rocketing speed that has been drastically increasing the demand for blockchain developers and software engineers, and the need for diverse kinds of blockchain development projects. Projects stem from ideas.

Great ideas have been at the foundation of blockchain’s success in revolutionizing the way people interact with data, track data, and store data in the form of blocks under a decentralized and distributed system that is highly reliable and enables people to interact directly with data in real-time, without the need for mediators or middlemen.

An idea can serve as a template that can be tailored in one or more ways to create what is most suitable, depending on the need of the hour. If you arrived at this post looking for ideas that can inspire you to generate beneficial blockchain projects, then look no further because you’ve come to the right place that would shed enough light on a wide range of ideas that can inspire you to generate beneficial blockchain projects for the real world. Here is a list of interesting ideas that can be implemented as blockchain projects:

1. Decentralized web hosting systems

The present-day web hosting system hosts all types of web code, content (including textual), and media content mainly on a centralized location that can be accessed on the Internet from anywhere in the world.

But imagine the handicap a user would fall into if the centralized location decides to take down the server because of planned server maintenance, or when the server is overloaded. With the decentralization that blockchain brings, a decentralized web hosting system can be created to address this problem.

With blockchain, websites won’t necessarily require central servers, as the blockchain can help divide website content into granules, circulate the content around the internet, and also use a blockchain registry to link them together.

2. Blockchain-based document storage systems and exact shipment location data

First, blockchain can help build secure and easy-to-access document storage systems where people can store documents and licenses that are very important and may be required at any point in time.

Implementing such a system would ensure fast, convenient, paperless, and secure transactions, accessible to users and corporations, governments, or any system. The idea behind this system works accordingly: a user uploads their documents to the blockchain system and corporations, governments, or any system, and gains permission from users before accessing users’ documents on the blockchain and using them.

Second, blockchain can help solve problems due to inadequate or inaccurate exact shipment location data. Presently, most logistics companies offer only main location details such as names of city hubs, collection centers, and sporting facilities.

In most cases, the exact shipment or live location details are unknown and remain unknown. Everything becomes worse when a system failure occurs or a lot of data gets missing.

Good ideas backed by a formidable blockchain can implement a system that solves this problem by gathering more precise/exact location data from various interconnected systems and providing precise/exact location details to customers.

Projects that are founded on this idea can be applied to the airline industry to find lost baggage, and the car rental industry to track rented cars.

3. Peer-to-peer cab and ridesharing facilities

Many radio cab facilities and carpooling systems are associated with middlemen who represent agencies. With blockchain in the equation, middlemen are removed; in cases where major agencies (like Uber) shut down, businesses can still go on without any intermediary. An idea built on a strong blockchain project would make it possible for drivers and riders to link, do business, and build and engage in reliable transportation services.

4. Renting unused disk space 

The idea of renting unused disk space in a blockchain and peer-to-peer network is attractive because it would be completely decentralized and allow anybody from any part of the world on the network to rent out their unused disk space which can be linked with others to form a massive worldwide cloud, globally, and still inspire further evolution of today’s cloud storage.

5. KYC (know your customer/client) verification

KYC verification is important for updating data, people’s information, and verifying their identity. It is increasingly being used by new start-ups and, if implemented with blockchain, would enable the easy and secure transfer of KYC verification stamp/data from one place, person, or entity, to another.

One instance of how this idea can be implemented: a user or customer uploads their KYC data to a blockchain; a bank or institution can access KYC data from the blockchain without using any intermediaries; then other entities or organizations can verify the KYC performed by the bank or institutions.

6. Identify fake products by using the barcode scanning system

In today’s world where fake manufacturers abound and popular brands sell counterfeit items at cheaper rates, not everyone and every company expert is still capable of distinguishing between real items and fake ones.

But with 2D barcodes embedded on products made by the original manufacturer and linked with a blockchain system, the picture would look completely different: with a smartphone, anybody can scan a 2D barcode and their smartphone will instantly inform them about whether a product is fake or not.

7. Widen/diversify the use of loyalty points

The drawback of most brands and companies is that they reward customers with only their own loyalty points. This makes it impossible for some deserving customers to use their loyalty points on other platforms, with other brands or companies, or exchange them with family or friends.

However, with blockchain, it’s possible to create a decentralized network involving different platforms and permitting the use and exchange of loyalty rewards outside of their current individual domains.

8. Detect transparency and genuine charities

Although some people have always been interested in giving help back to the community via charities, others are discouraged because of fear that their donations could get diverted or may not be used for the intended purpose.

Some people are interested in helping the poor and defenseless in society, but are not sure whether their donations will reach the right people. Many fake organizations pose as real ones and deceive people in the name of charity. 

All things being equal, blockchain can end this problem with a system that permits poor/needy people to upload a dashboard or portal connected to a blockchain system and allow each individual (needy person) in the community to access their respective data from the blockchain in a direct, easy, safe, and secure manner, thus ensuring transparency and genuineness in transactions.

9. Smart contracts for implementing trustworthy crowdfunding platforms

Presently, many crowdfunding platforms have trust and accountability issues; in fact, reliable sources state that 85% of start-ups experience delays over deliveries and 14% don’t even deliver anything promised to angel investors. In many other cases, investors either misuse their money or invest it in the wrong campaigns.

By bringing blockchain into the equation and a smart contract to help manage and block funds until a desired time, crowdfunding platforms can become more accountable, less wasteful, and precisely show investors where their money is going, what they are spending it on, and how they are spending it.

10. Blockchain-based systems

• Blockchain-based voting system: Even after replacing paper-based voting systems with electronic voting systems, people still have doubt about the present-day’s voting system and its ability to protect data and prevent it from being altered. Blockchain can make a difference by allowing voting through mobile apps linked to a blockchain system, public verification of election results in each country, and ensuring transparency, preventing manipulation of results by agencies, entities, or even governments.
• Blockchain-based land/property registering system: On a consistent basis, many documents on property or land are being falsely claimed by people, fraudulently acquired, and lost. Blockchain’s underlying technology could help solve these and related issues, maintain records of transactions, and subsequently store processed data in a system that prevents data manipulation and guarantees enhanced immutability.
• Blockchain-based trackback food system: Nowadays, how many people are actually sure that they are purchasing organic food?  How many are aware when a bird-flu outbreak occurs in poultry farms? With blockchain technology, a system can be implemented to help consumers to trackback or trace the origin of food or meat products, thereby raising the trust level of consumers.
• Blockchain-based patient data management system: Much of the stored data in centralized healthcare systems needs more privacy and safety, and the trust of patients whose information is stored on them. A stronger system implemented built on the blockchain would ensure that when a user’s health information is stored as a smart contract on the blockchain, only that user would be able to give permission for their information to become accessible under certain permissions that ensure and maintain the security of their data. Anybody would need to get permission to access data. This would help preserve the privacy of patients’ data.

Tips on Whether to Implement Blockchain Development

There seems to be no end in sight for blockchain development which has been continuously on the rise. The technology that drives blockchain has succeeded in disrupting the traditional financial sector, with countless banks and financial institutions leveraging it to eliminate middlemen, improve visibility, provide strong security for transactions, and help developers and businesses to streamline their operations.

But blockchain development is not only restricted to the confines of the financial sector: it also holds sway in the retail, tourism, manufacturing, automobile, pharmaceutical, and healthcare sectors, and many other sectors or industries that employ the talents of blockchain developers and invest in blockchain to reap great benefits.

Who is a blockchain developer?

Simply put, a blockchain developer is any person, entity, or organization that has the knowledge or skill, and license to develop blockchains. There are mainly two types of blockchain developers: blockchain software developers and core blockchain developers.

The responsibility of core blockchain developers is to construct the architecture of a proposed blockchain system, including high-level finalities like the design of the consensus protocol and blockchain, and handling security conventions. 

On the other hand, the responsibility of blockchain software developers (also known as “decentralized application developers”) is mainly to develop or create blockchain applications and build decentralized apps (dApps).

For developers to succeed in blockchain development, they need to understand the basics and essentials of writing software applications, and how different blockchain consensuses, secured computing networks, smart contracts, and data storage systems interact with each other on a decentralized platform.

Meaning of “blockchain development”

Blockchain development is a set of procedures or operations used to create unalterable or immutable and shared distributed ledger technology (DLT) that can track data and assets (physical, nonphysical, etc.) and ensure adequate security for transactions and records in a network.

The accelerating pace of blockchain development is crucial to the success of various industries because of how securely, faster, and accurately it consistently facilitates and enables the exchange of information between individuals or entities.

More inventions in blockchain development still have the potential to elevate today’s level of production, state of tracking orders, and types of accounts, payments, and data within a blockchain network for registered members.

Tips on Whether to Implement Blockchain Development

Although blockchain development has many benefits, it is important to understand the right time to invest in and implement it for any platform or in any business or organization.

One would have to only ask themself a few critical questions before arriving at a good decision. The following questions are worthy of consideration when deciding whether to implement blockchain development or develop blockchain applications for one or more platforms or businesses:

1. Do you need to frequently share and update increasing amounts of data?

Sharing and updating data can become a problem, especially when traditional/paper-based and time-consuming methods are being used. Blockchain development can reduce time wasted by the time-consuming processes which are mostly associated with manual, traditional, or paper-based data maintenance.

People whose business or organization depends a lot on ever-changing and historical-based types of data may need a blockchain solution that prevents data modification, allows permitted members to make multiple data entries, and automates the whole process without a care in the world.

2. Do you need a secure location to store data?

If you need a location for information/data which you think is too much, specific, or sensitive, then it may be high time for you to join the blockchain development bandwagon—implement blockchain! But before that, you have to evaluate the amount of data that needs to be stored in any potential location.

For instance, if you are running a small business that doesn’t have or generate too much data beyond a certain amount, it may be wasteful to implement blockchain development because you can actually manage such quantity of data by just storing it locally. On the other hand, large-scale enterprise operations would definitely have to implement blockchain development to cater for access to registered users, mass data storage, maintenance of different databases, and updating of the distributed ledger, amongst other things.

3. Do you need authorization from an intermediary or third party?

Implementing blockchain development won’t be particularly useful to any person, business, or organization that needs a third party for data control, validation, or authentication. On the other hand, people, businesses, or organizations have much to derive from blockchain development if they wish to operate without a third party or middleman, which increases costs and delays transactions.

4. Does your business or system suffer from fatigue due to slow transactional speeds?

If slow transactions of any kind are impairing your business, then it’s high time to implement blockchain development and eliminate the barriers that are hampering or slowing down some of your workflows. But, it’s important to note that while implementing blockchain development can eliminate sluggishness, it isn’t usually capable of adequately doing so without an accelerator.

11 Major Types of Blockchain Development Services

The importance of blockchain development services has been grabbing the attention of different organizations, sectors, governments, and people who envision more potential applications of the technology in many areas in the future.

Over the past decade and presently, blockchain development services have been making a great impact on job creation, creating countless new job positions and start-ups. Depending on what needs to be achieved, there are a variety of blockchain development services that can be used to produce and run a production-ready or prototype platform that can help anyone reap immense benefits from blockchain.

Meaning of “blockchain development services”

Blockchain development services are services, mainly technologies, used to create decentralized blockchain networks that are capable of securing countless data and transactions, and providing enhanced traceability.

Many reliable blockchain development companies offer a wide range of blockchain development services for cryptocurrency development and creation of trading apps, crypto exchanges, crypto wallets, trading apps, etc.

11 Types of Blockchain Development Services

Generally, the major blockchain development services include but may not be limited to the following:

1. Creation of newly developed blockchain solutions and revamping or customization of existing blockchain solutions by employing different system implementations, integrations, and modifications. Services are used to create blockchain security softwares, public & private blockchains, and decentralized applications (dApps) that make it possible for businesses to derive the best from blockchain technology.

Blockchain technology platforms and integrations help businesses by leveraging third-party blockchain platform APIs to invent more customized approaches that can offer enhanced flexibility, scalability, and security.

2. Development of custom applications (a.k.a. “blockchain application development services”) and integration of custom blockchain applications into systems to help scale businesses under a safe and highly secure technological environment designed to strengthen security, reduce and eliminate expensive fees, avoid fraud, reduce loses, and support different types of plug-ins.

3. Design and creation of Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) solutions that can be used in place of time-consuming and error-prone processes and integration of ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) chips within cryptocurrency mining softwares to increase transactions/transaction verifications. ASIC chips can be used to create miner performance dashboards and provide architecture solutions for certain issues that are facing mining farms.

4. Development of blockchain wallet and exchange software (for token issuers, brokers, dealers, asset holders/managers, exchange operators, etc.) and integration of features for trading multiple cryptocurrencies and blockchain tokens, auto-generating public and private keys, and taking part in digital security offerings (DSO), security token offerings (STO), and initial coin offerings (ICO).

5. Design and development of blockchain smart contracts and custom blockchain solutions: development of blockchain smart contracts provide decentralized web solutions for activities in e-commerce, real estate, finance, and gaming markets for creating letters of credit, validating insurance eligibility, and registering intellectual properties and loan requests:

• Development of custom blockchain supply chain solutions to help control expenses, enhance security, and warn of any flaws or inefficiencies by employing counterfeit detection softwares, logistics tracking and digital certification, and document automation and digitization.
• Development of custom blockchain retail and e-commerce solutions to help secure payments, execute transactions, provide a means for retailers to authenticate their products, and enhance the capabilities of their data.
• Development of custom blockchain healthcare solutions to help systems be HIPAA compliant and protect sensitive information on patients which is used for patient health data exchange and clinical trial management, thereby enhancing or maintaining the quality of healthcare.
• Development of custom blockchain real estate solutions for individuals (buyers, sellers, contractors, clients, etc.) who are in the real estate industry: solutions offer enhanced market data encryption, liquid asset implementation schemes, and automation processes for ownership verification to accelerate and track property sales.
• Development of custom blockchain gaming solutions that are cryptographically programmed to heighten the level of security and protect systems from failure, cheating, and attack, and help to verify tokens, tokenized assets, secure digital items, and in-game history, thereby making it possible for players to freely trade, buy, or sell assets.

6. Creation of custom NFT marketplaces by designing and developing services that enable digital assets to be minted to NFTs and auctioned or sold to other people in NFT marketplaces which can also be created or developed by using OpenSea SDK. It’s unnecessary to use a smart contract if OpenSea SDK is available.

7. Development of cryptocurrency applications tailored to specific needs, including cryptocurrency coin development, crypto wallet development, Bitcoin software development, ERC20 token development, trading apps and cryptocurrency exchange development, and integrations that enable exchanges between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.

8. Development of DeFis (decentralized finances) and DEXs (decentralized exchanges) helps to create peer-to-peer platforms where cryptocurrency traders can control their funds and make transactions without using a custodian or intermediary. The transactions are executed with the aid of smart contracts which are coded self-executing agreements. Today’s decentralized finance (DeFi) space is very attractive because of the innovations that have solved liquidity-related problems and greatly contributed to its growth.

9. Development of crypto contracts for game assets, collections assets, tokenizing of arts, including formulation of token contracts and integration with very feasible platforms like OpenSea.

10. Creation of banking, bank-related, and FinTech software and decentralized FinTech applications that allow uninterrupted cross-border payments, make faster payment, enable proper data management, and cut down transaction costs in ways that attract and improve user adoption.

11. Improvement of digital identity and for KYC (know-your-customer) purposes: services help in the field of identity management and enable users to register on a network, choose how to identify themselves, and choose whom they wish to share their identity with; in addition, it enables organizations and individuals to fulfil KYC (know-your-customer) requirements to achieve great goals, while maintaining customer privacy.

Solid Models & Modeling: Definition & Applications

The exponential growth of the number of research works and publications has quickly developed solid modeling into a large body of knowledge, and the technology that backs it is applied in lots of commercial solid modeling software systems which have greatly cut down maintenance and manufacturing costs, improved product quality, and enhanced design productivity.

Solid models and modeling play a significant role in the manufacturing and assembling of parts and are used in many industries, ranging from health care to engineering to entertainment.

What is a solid model & solid modeling?

A solid model can be defined as a digital demonstration or presentation of the physical geometry of an existing or conceived concept, image, idea, or object. Solid models are easy to evaluate and comprehend, and can replace physical models; plus, they are highly visual and accurate if modelled accurately.

Solid modeling can be defined as the process of demonstrating or representing the physical geometry of an existing or conceived concept, image, idea, or object—usually on a smaller scale. It can also be defined as the process of using a serialized set of additive and subtractive programs to construct a 3D model. Generally, the geometry is completely depicted in 3D space—hence the term “3D solid modeling”.

Solid models consist of common shapes such as cylinders, cubes, triangles, squares, or spheres that are made of 2D sketches; for instance, the solid model—or specifically, the “3D solid model”—of a cube consists of six flat square surfaces that are coupled or joined together.

However complex it may be, any 3D solid modelling can be disassembled into sub-shapes that comprise of/are formed with one or more 2D sketches.

Solid modelers usually specify points, lines, curves, dimensions, positions, and surfaces and assemble them together by using intersections, unions, or difference operators to define representations of the boundaries of objects.

Many solid modelers also store the mathematical processes or operations used to produce various features of a solid model or during solid modeling. This makes it possible to easily and quickly make edits.

Solid models store the edge and vertex information of a 3D wireframe modeler, information regarding the volume to be incorporated or contained inside an object, and the surface definitions of a surface modeler.

Solid models contain information about the volumes (of objects) which are very important in many engineering calculations. It’s possible to calculate moments of inertia, weights, mass properties, and centroid from a solid model, even during the refinement process.

The end product of any solid modeling process is a representation is a complete, detailed, and clearly defined or unambiguous digital estimation of an object’s geometry or assembly of objects such as a car, a vehicle’s engine, a propeller, or an entire aircraft.

Applications of 3D solid models/modeling

Generally, the applications of solid model/modeling include:

• to interpret how designed products will actually look like, and acquire an in-depth understanding of design images
• to visualize specific body tissues like blood tumors and vessels
• to employ efficient facilities for graphically selecting or editing features of parts that are being designed
• to obtain immediate feedback that can help perform and check each design step
• to acquire information needed for other analyses such as Finite element analysis (FEA) method
• to disassemble complex objects into smaller shapes that can enable easier calculation of stress, strain, heat transfer, etc.
• to help incorporate changes and test new models with FEA analysis again
• to design orthotics, prosthetics, orthotics, and other dental and medical and dental devices—this process is sometimes called “mass customization”
• to produce polygon mesh models for rapid prototyping which can help surgeons prepare for difficult surgeries
• to combine polygon mesh models with CAD solid modeling and design hip replacement parts
• to carry out computational analysis of complex biological processes like blood flow and airflow
• to conduct computational simulation of implants (in living organisms) and new medical devices
• to create various characters and make movies in the entertainment industry

20 Ways a Manager can Motivate Their Employees

Nothing is as powerful as a team of motivated employees that is led by a visionary manager. According to Jon Gordon, the author of “Soup: A Recipe to Nourish Your Team and Culture”, motivation is the most significant emotion employees could bring to work. Nothing else matters that much.

One of the main responsibilities of any manager is to figure out how to motivate the employees, team, or teams they are supervising, and accomplish their organization’s or company’s goals. Fortunately, there are ways that managers can control factors that are essential to achieving this.

The main factor under any manager’s control is the relationship they have with each employee or team. Another important factor—may be the second important one—is the organizational culture or work environment that a manager nurtures under their watch.

So how can a manager motivate their employees and get them to follow their lead? What can a manager do to energize their staff and get them devoted in a way that can achieve desired results?

Manager can motivate their employees by:

1. Leading with imaginativeness or vision

Employees are motivated by managers who are visionary leaders and actually know what they are up to. Good employees need to be convinced that their efforts at work are heading towards something worthwhile. That’s where a manager’s vision plays an important role in motivating their employees.

Without a compelling vision from the manager, employees may likely work on low morale and end up having only little boosts in morale. However, with a compelling vision, employees will have more desire to achieve both corporate and individual goals.

2. Nurturing open communication and becoming more familiar with employees

When employees have a personal connection with a manager, it makes them more motivated not to disappoint the manager or let them down.

Having and nurturing open communication with employees or staff is essential in sustaining employee motivation. People hardly feel comfortable working under a manager or boss who is seemingly unapproachable or reserved.

A manager can make themself more personable to their employees when they encourage familiarity and sociability in the workplace and strengthen one-on-one relationships with employees.

Familiarity can help a manager to better understand their employees or team, discover what motivates each team member individually, and easily remove any mental barriers that could come between manager and employee.

Positive relationships can be fostered by holding regular staff meetings, team bonding exercises, and ensuring that there is effective communication between manager and staff.

3. Creating a friendly work environment and encouraging teamwork

Employees spend a large chunk of time in their workplace. Therefore, any manager should do all they can to ensure that their workplace is as appealing and friendly as possible, and team members are communicating with each other as clearly and effectively as possible.

When a manager creates a welcoming, friendly, comfortable, and pleasant work environment, employees will be more interested in going to work every day and working with their whole hearts, instead of part of them.

Reducing or removing the impact of hierarchy and bureaucracy in the work environment can go a long way in encouraging teamwork under a manager or boss, and keeping employees motivated.

4. Monitoring and following up with employees: showing them care and understanding

Employees will naturally have concerns, queries, or questions concerning their work or work environment. Following up on employees’ concerns, work, and work ethic is as equally important as monitoring them or making inquiries about them.

Although a manager might not be able to answer every query or resolve every issue, at least following up with their employees in any way possible would prove to employees that their concerns are being considered, rather than ignored, or referred to someone else.

Even if a manager doesn’t have enough time for staff, it would be impactful if they dedicate some time during team or staff meetings for employees to voice or write down their concerns.

Like everyone else, employees are also human beings—not emotionless robots—who need motivation and support to execute their jobs.

5. Appreciating or acknowledging employees’ work

It can be easy for managers to overlook the day-to-day tasks of employees who work tirelessly to complete their tasks. It may even seem absurd, unreasonable, or unnecessary for managers to appreciate their employees each time they do their work correctly.

However, if a manager finds time to acknowledge or recognize even minor achievements by employees, it can go a long way in keeping the employees motivated.

People love to feel acknowledged or appreciated. A manager who takes time to thank their staff can keep them motivated, and attract increased productivity and more success.

In a study on employee motivation over 40 years, it was observed that appreciation was the second most important driver of motivation, behind desirable wage or remuneration.

6. Providing well-defined goals and career paths for advancement

Many times, managers don’t emphasize organizational goals enough, or they don’t inform employees about their respective responsibilities in a comprehensive manner.

Some managers mistakenly assume that their employees have clearly figured out or understood the goals of their organization, even when they obviously haven’t!

Employees should be clearly informed about what they are expected to do so that, in addition to being motivated, they can continue to advance, career-wise, and have a smooth ride on achieving their set goals.

7. Convincing employees that their boss—the manager—is worth working for

Employees usually look up to their manager as a leader if the manager is considerate and sets an example for the rest to follow. Considerate managers easily motivate their employees and carry them along.

Remember the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you? Most bosses and managers would do well to remember that they were once employees too, and they should avoid doing all the negative things their bosses once did. They should avoid doing things that could drive employees crazy and make them quit work.

By having unrealistic expectations and being crabby and unapproachable, some managers unfortunately make work a living nightmare for their employees. Each manager should put themselves in their employees’ shoes and ensure that they’re the same person they would like to work for.

A miserable manager can unintentionally succeed in ruining an employee’s job or work ethic, even if the employee loves their job. An employee’s motivation can be sustained when they have a manager or someone they’d really like to work for.

8. Practicing transparency

A manager who lacks transparency, trust, or credibility, leaves their employees in the dark and gives their organization a bad image, not only in the eyes of their employees, but also in the eyes of the public. On the other hand, a transparent manager motivates and gains the trust of their employees, and the public as well.

9. Remaining upbeat and staying positive

It’s popularly believed and has been proven time and time again that being upbeat or pleasantly optimistic is contagious.

It’s easier for employees to be motivated if their manager is someone who maintains positivity and is enthused to be at work each day: employees are inclined to be happy to work for a manager who has good vibes and is naturally delighted and happy about their work and organization.

On the other hand, people find it hard to please and work for someone who is apparently difficult to please.

10. Creating and maintaining an agile work environment

An “agile work environment” refers to a “fast-paced work environment” or an environment where communication proceeds rapidly and value is placed on constant adjustments and changes that deliver results as efficiently and quickly as possible.

Fast-paced environments are engaging, inspiring, and exciting, and employees are more involved in projects that can fulfil their psychological desire for instant gratification, instead of delayed gratification. Managers can exploit this aspect of human desire by involving employees in projects to deliver fast, diverse, and effective results.

11. Encouraging innovation, creativity, and welcoming new ideas

Each employee is unique and should be encouraged by their manager to be creative and voice out any suggestions or ideas, regardless of how meaningless or ridiculous they may sound.

Small or silly ideas from employees could be brainstormed sooner or later into something brilliant or exceptional. So, it’s important for managers to motivate their staff to take risks, venture into new stuff, and be innovative, even if mistakes may occur.

Employees become more and more daring and competitive—but in a good way—if they are motivated to be more creative in the face of uncertainty or fear.

12. Incentivizing the workplace: reward deserving employees

One major way to motivate employees is by providing rewards or incentives for successfully accomplished goals. Incentives and rewards can be motivating and make jobs to be fun and gratifying; in addition, it boosts employee morale and enthusiasm and can create friendly competition in workplaces.

Imagine how competitive each employee could become if their manager puts up a reward of $10, $100, or $1,000, or offers to give employees an afternoon off if they hit a particular target.

Providing employees with incentives or ongoing opportunities in recognition of their efforts will help to keep them motivated for prolonged periods of time.

13. Encouraging employee flexibility and autonomy

One survey determined that 59% of respondents preferred “flexibility” to salary or other benefits, while 77% preferred to work for a company that offers them the flexibility to work autonomously—from anywhere.

Managers who value autonomy motivate their employees by trusting them and giving them encouragement and space to discharge their duties at the workplace and outside the workplace which could also be at home.

Flexibility in a work environment can be interpreted and applied in various ways. It’s important to note that what is flexible for one employee may not be flexible for another.

14. Enhancing relationships by supporting bonding outside of the workplace 

Giving employees a chance or platform to bond outside of the work environment makes it easier for them to associate much more with each other and build more trust among them.

There can be more personal, stronger, and meaningful connections between employees of the same team if they are also allowed to associate in informal and non-work-related settings. In fact, associating together outdoors or away from a work environment can also serve as a motivational boost.

Trust has a positive impact on the workplace and creates a stronger culture of transparency and teamwork from which team members can better motivate each another.

15. Keeping employees consistently fuelled regardless of their location

There is a reason why the following popular slogan seemingly resonates with everyone: “You’re not you when you’re hungry”.

Almost everybody has been there one or more times in their life: a situation whereby we can’t tell whether we’re hungry, tired, or both, but we know full well that we’ve reached a tipping point where we’re hardly able to continue working because of hunger—not sufficient fuelled up!

Whether work is being done in the office or remotely—from home—it’s essential for a manager to ensure that their employees have the fuel they need to get work done and succeed. Good food, healthy snacks, or beverages should be provided periodically to give employees some extra motivation boost.

16. Acknowledging and respecting employees’ work-life balance

It’s important to have some level of balance between work activities and personal life activities which are both necessary. Employees will hardly be able to get the needed motivation to work and produce quality results if they are overworked and don’t have time for their personal life.

Employees would feel much more contented, happier, and comfortable if their respective jobs would allow them to take the time or a day off to focus on self-care or tackle family or emergent issues.

17. Taking workplace culture to the virtual world

In the present-day or contemporary times, regardless of where employees are working—in the office or remotely—it’s likely that a significant amount of contact or work occurs virtually.

Therefore, it makes so much sense to extend some of the company’s or organization’s culture to the virtual realm too: chat groups, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

18. Encouraging friendly competition

A competitive work environment is a fruitful or productive environment. Setting up some level of friendly competition among employees could go a long way in helping them and the organization to grow to greater heights. Managers can motivate employees by ensuring they participate in engaging, healthy, and uplifting challenges or competitions.

19. Avoid pitting employees against each another

As previously noted, friendly competition can be a good motivator for employees. However, things could become wayward or awry when friendly completion deforms into a cutthroat or ruthless competition or a culture of selfishness that seeks to ruin the happiness and stability of each employee in an organization.

Any manager who consistently pits the performance of individual employees against each other in a destructive manner is bound to attract failure at some point in time.

20. Managing employee conflicts appropriately

It’s not always possible to prevent conflict in a work environment. Managers would do well to ensure that any issues among staff are brought to their attention and resolved amicably and promptly.

A manager who is fair and unbiased when dealing with conflict between two or more employees will be able to resolve issues quickly and help their employees focus on their jobs instead of unnecessary drama which can be destructive in every regard.

Conclusion

As a manager, you may like to motivate your employees by applying the ideas listed in this article to motivate your employees. However, when trying the ideas, you may need to make modifications or adjustments to discover the ones that are more or less effective or don’t work at all.

Every work environment is different, and some of the ideas listed in this article may work well for your company, while other ones may not be suitable enough.

However, you can perfect your motivation strategy as you become more familiar with individual employees in your organization and get to understand their behaviors and what they are good or not good at.

Regardless, never forget that any employee who is interested in your organization and enjoys coming to work is a worthy investment.

15 Essential Duties of a Real Estate Lawyer

Generally speaking, it’s not advisable for people who wish to engage in real estate transactions to do it alone, especially as individual real estate transactions differ greatly from each other, depending on the country, state, or city where each transaction takes place.

The value of non-legal service providers can hardly ever be compared with that of good real estate lawyers. In fact, no other legal professional offers the kinds of specialized skills that real estate lawyers offer.

Although some non-legal service providers claim to offer the same quality of legal services for lesser money than that requested by real estate lawyers or attorneys, it may be far better off to pay extra money to employ the services of a real estate lawyer.

Whether or not your country, state, or city legally demands that its citizens employ the services of a real estate lawyer in closing real estate or property deals, real estate lawyers can be invaluable during real estate buying and selling transactions.

Property transactions conducted through non-legal service providers or advisors may not be as secure as those conducted through real estate lawyers or attorneys who have stronger protections and more government or legal backing in place.

Because they have certain educational and licensing criteria that must be met, lawyers are held in higher regard and to higher standards and can provide insurance or security for any damages in the event of mistakes, accidents, or errors.

Who is a real estate lawyer?

A real estate lawyer (or real estate attorney) is anyone who is licensed to practice real estate law and qualified to legally handle or engage in real estate or property proceedings, cases, or transactions; they negotiate conditions and terms of real estate transactions, offer advice to entities or people involved in real estate deals, and can file a lawsuit against certain aspects of a real estate transaction.

Duties, responsibilities, or obligations of a real estate lawyer

Real estate lawyers are generally hired to address certain aspects of a real estate transaction or litigate real estate- or property-related lawsuits.

A real estate lawyer’s specific duties, responsibilities, or obligations would depend on what a client (seller or lender) hires them for, and what their country, state, or city laws permit or require to be done in order to get a real estate or property deal sealed.

Many countries, states, or cities require a real estate lawyer or attorney to be present when a real estate or property transaction is being closed or sealed. Specifically, these are 15 of the most essential duties, responsibilities, or obligations of a real estate lawyer or attorney:

1. Explain or interpret the meaning of regulations, laws, or rulings that concern real estate transactions.

2. Manage and resolve real estate disputes, define clear boundaries, and defend the rights of landlords or property owners and renters or tenants.

3. Evaluate the offer made by a buyer, and re-examine all legal paperwork regarding buying or exchanging of property. This is done to ensure that details are exact and the buyer’s or client’s utmost interest is defended.

Paperwork could include documents on titles, property transfers, home purchase agreements, title insurance policies, mortgages, and property taxes. When a client is buying a property or home, the real estate lawyer can:

• Accurately interpret the purchase contract and ensure that documentation abides by the most current property regulations and laws.
• Prepare or draft and file all essential legal documents, agreements, and leases, and review all paperwork that a buyer may be required to sign before collecting official identification.
• Prepare title insurance after conducting a title search to protect a buyer from potential problems by ensuring that there are no existing claims to real property.
• Transfer funds from buyer’s account to an escrow account, and handle mortgage loan and borrowing agreement paperwork whenever a mortgage lender is financing the purchase of a home.
• Ensure that buyer obtains a valid title that is only subject to financial obligations or liabilities that the buyer themself accepts.
• Identify any unpaid loans and ensure that no concordats, covenants, or claims are filed against properties that buyers are interested in.
• Evaluate any modifications, including the cost of utilities and owed taxes—if any—before closing a real property deal.
• Attend and represent buyers during closing.

4. Re-examine legal paperwork for selling of property, or evaluate any offers received by seller, in order to ensure that details are precise and seller’s or client’s best interest is guarded. When a client is selling a home or property, the real estate lawyer can:

• Affirm that ownership is suitably vested in the seller of a home.
• Prepare or review the sale and the negotiating terms and purchase agreements or documents that need to be signed by the parties involved, prior to receipt of official identification.
• Ensure that documents are in line with the most current property laws and regulations.
• Arrange security deposit transfer.
• Arrange provision of insurance certificates, if required.
• Redress any potential issues regarding the title.
• Attend and represent sellers during closing.

5. Confirm that parties involved in a real estate deal fulfil their obligations under a contract agreement.

6. Manage foreclosure proceedings in certain circumstances in order to repossess collateral for defaulted loans, and protect assets.

7. Monitor transfer of documents and titles, access whether there is legal risk in real estate or property documentation, and advise clients when or where necessary.

8. Ensure that necessary approvals are established before real estate transactions are executed.

9. Supervise compliance-related and regulative services.

10. Represent real estate companies during purchases and sales of properties.

11. Provide general advice and support for legal needs that are linked with any large-scale real estate listing or portfolio.

12. Explore obligations like utility charges, taxes, and homeowners association fees and compute them on the basis of their allocation in a contract.

13. Prepare deeds, disclosures, and notes or mortgages to secure debt in compliance with a mortgage lender’s instructions.

14. Negotiate and review real estate contracts to ascertain how money can be properly allocated.

15. Prepare settlement statements that indicate funds from the buyer and charges to items such as title search fee, lawyer’s or attorney’s fee, loan discount points, agent commission, underwriting fee, etc.

Amidst Criticism, Millions Continue to Dream but Only Few Take Action

Criticism. Criticism. Criticism. What a waste of time and focus on criticism when it comes to turning your dreams into reality by taking action. Various kinds of criticisms prevent most people from taking action and progressing. But action must be taken to get the job done and achieve the ultimate goal—the dream.

Millions of people across the world dream of entrepreneurship and all kinds of wonderful ideas/concepts, but are afraid of taking the first and next steps because of criticism from themselves or other people: they are hampered by criticism or disbelief in themselves or crushed by criticism from other people.

Although we are presently living in 2022, it’s highly probable we would have been living in the past—say the 1500s, 1600s, 1800s, etc.—if the Thomas Edisons, the Leonardo da Vincis, the Bill Gates, the Nikola Teslas, and Robert Fultons of this world allowed criticism get into their heads and stop them from achieving their dreams which have put the world on a much higher level than it was in yesteryears.

Amidst uncertainty and potential criticism, the giants of the past and present times took relentless action and never seemed to care about the criticisms that would come their way if they had failed to achieve what they’ve become renowned for—GREAT INVENTIONS AND IDEAS THAT HAVE OBVIOUSLY LIFTED MANKIND TO TREMENDOUS HEIGHTS.  

People who think it can’t be done should not criticize those who are taking action to achieve uplifting results

In the long run, will it really matter if some unintelligent or inactive meathead criticizes or laughs at the actions you’ve been taking to realize your dreams? No, it won’t. What matters most is sticking in and sticking through.

Is the momentary pain of criticism or scorn really greater than the pain of regret you would experience in the future after realizing that another year has passed but you haven’t acted on your goals and realized or gotten closer to realizing your dreams?

Taking persistent action doesn’t only imply forcing yourself to do things that are uncomfortable or unpleasant—just for the sake of achieving long-term goals or dreams; it’s also about resisting the temptation to give in to criticism or remain mediocre in order to avoid criticism.

Staying in your comfort zone may seem like the safest thing to do to avoid or receive little criticism; however, it is too high a price to pay in order to remain average and never change your current situation or possibly that of humanity—our world—for the better!

10 Tips for Investing in B2B Marketing During an Economic Recession

You’ve seen the news headlines: job losses, employee lay-off, benefit reduction, decline in consumer spending, reduced consumer access, reduced marketing budgets, reduction in manufacturing activities, and forecasts of more bad economic news to come.

Each headline reflects the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic: devastated businesses, closed borders, and crippled economic growth of some countries that have been affected, not by only the coronavirus pandemic, but also by the current war in Ukraine.

Is investing in B2B still important for the growth of your business during an economic recession that is clothed by such apparent issues? Yes, it is important! But first and foremost, are we in a recession?

What is an economic recession?

Popular definition states that a recession refers to a period of economic recession, usually defined by two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth when adjusted for a country’s real GDP. The NBER committee states that: “A recession is a significant decline in activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, visible in industrial production, employment, real income, and wholesale-retail trade”.

It won’t be completely wrong to say that the second definition reflects the current state of many economies around the world. So, even if we all don’t agree that we’re in a recession, the signs that it is either here or lurking around are evident and too hard to ignore. These are the most common challenges that have made respondents of companies nervous during a recession:

• drop in demand for products
• increase in pressure on prices
• likelihood of budgets getting slashed or canceled
• uncertainty and volatility in the marketplace
• difficulty in forecasting constantly changing customer needs
• fear of investing resources in acquiring new customers
• difficulty in determining appropriate B2B marketing strategies to employ

Despite the challenges you may face during a recession, it’s important to continue investing in B2B marketing because there are still benefits in recessions which can be exploited to attract more profits, increase market shares, and grow businesses.

10 Tips for investing in B2B marketing without incurring too much risk during an economic recession

Although recessions can adversely affect the potential profits of B2B companies and their long-term survival, it doesn’t mean you have to quit. Not everybody or all companies are evenly affected by recessions.

Some companies use recessions as stepping stones to higher and greater heights: they invest aggressively, expand much more, and gain advantage over their subpar competitors, while many others withdraw and wait for recessions to end.

During economic recessions, consumers still spend their money, although maybe not as intensively as before. A recession is perfect for investing in B2B marketing to bring more attention to your products or services.

Use the following ten tips to invest in B2B marketing strategies wisely without taking too much risk during a recession:

1. Focus first and foremost on retaining and keeping your existing/current customer base (customers and partners) satisfied before worrying about attracting and winning over new ones. Ensure that your marketing strategies target your most valuable and happiest customers.

2. Invest more in B2B lead generation to help potential or new customers find you online: strengthen your email, direct mail, digital marketing, telemarketing, social media advertising, and SEO campaigns to increase your visibility; without them, you’re business would hardly grow and attract new customers.

Eighty percent of marketers claim that email is the best way to access and attract new customers. According to recent McKinsey research on decision makers’ behavior globally across industries since the economic recession began, more than three-quarters of buyers and sellers now prefer remote or digital self-serve and human engagement over face-to-face interactions. This thought steadily intensified even after the COVOD-19 lockdowns ended in some parts of the world.

3. Don’t trim or cancel your marketing budget. While many markets and companies are slowing down operations and cutting costs, think of it as reducing the competition and making it more likely for leads to focus on companies that are ever-present.

4. Offer customer loyalty programs to increase brand awareness and make your customers more loyal, even after an economic recession.

5. Make frequent assessments of customer satisfaction levels and request testimonials from customers to help validate your business by differentiating your brand from others. Research has found that 30% of potential consumers trust online reviews and purchase products based on reviews.

6. Seek for validation from third–party experts to enhance your new product/service’s reputation and credibility. According to Dr. Eric George, Forbes Council Member and Founder and CEO of ERG Enterprises, B2B companies can thrive during a recession by gaining approval from companies or independent third parties that are trusted in the industry.

7. Reduce your prices to stimulate sales, but reduce them with minimal effect on margins because it’s impossible to be profitable in the medium to long term if prices are slashed without considering profit margins.

8. Your marketing campaigns should emphasize products or services for houses because we tend to stay more at home and surround ourselves with products that can give us reassurance and security at home.

9. Expand into new markets that have at least some potential, then find your customers. Every economic recession presents the opportunity to expand into new markets where your products/services are either unknown or needed.

10. Use data gathering and tracking programs (such as Google Analytics) to help identify the needs of your target market, evaluate consumer trends and the pattern of your sales reports, and employ the best marketing strategies to enhance your brand and sales.

Celebrate Your Achievements but Don’t Dwell On Them for Too Long

Many people may likely not be able to put it better than Steve Jobs did: “I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next”—what a great piece of advice to consider whenever we make the next big hit.

Nobody has to be on a “Steve Jobs-level” before realizing that celebrations or triumphs are okay; however, dwelling on them for too long can end up distracting and impeding further success and future growth in our areas of interest.

Have you achieved something great?  You’ve won a trophy? You’ve graduated from high school with the best grades? You’ve retired after 50+ years of achievement after achievement? No matter what you’ve accomplished, there will always be something greater to accomplish.

Despite that ordinary or extraordinary accomplishment you’ve put in the bag, don’t dwell on it for too long and allow it to become a fertile ground for the growth or possible outgrowth of laziness, excuses, inactiveness, negligence, and all types of dream killers.

To be human means to constantly challenge yourself, grow, and excel or strive to become better

Human beings are never finished products—never. Humans are meant to grow, improve, and strive for something higher, regardless of their respective ages.

It’s important at each point or stage in life to motivate yourself by celebrating your triumphs, no matter how little or big they are; however, resting on your laurels for too long can have a devastating effect if you don’t figure out the next challenge and face it squarely.

Instead of resting too long or forever on your accomplishments, ask yourself what you need to do to take your life to a higher level. Higher levels are always there for the taking, no matter what we’ve achieved in the past.

Many people are supposed to be on a much higher level than where they are at the moment

Inactivity and lack of proper work ethic are two reasons for the great divide between “continuous success” and “discontinuous or no success”. Every opportunity or time wasted on prolonged and unnecessary celebrations may kill our first love for continuous success and growth.

Many scholars, athletes, writers, bloggers, doctors, basketballers, etc., actually achieved some level of success but will continue to remain on an average or sub-par level if they dwell too much on one or few successful moments, instead of putting in more work.

Treat your wonderful accomplishments as opportunities to accomplish even more wonderful things; don’t use them as landing spots for anything that has the potential to draw you backwards into the nether regions of mediocrity.

15 Main Sources of Toxic Air Pollutants Around the World

Toxic air pollutants are the type of pollutants that are surmised of causing cardiovascular diseases, asthma, respiratory diseases, cancer, reproductive effects, irritation in vital parts of the body, birth defects, damage to the health and immune system, and other dangerous health and environmental effects all around the world. (Click here to get information on ten major types of toxic or hazardous air pollutants.)

The main sources of toxic air pollutants around the world include, but may not be limited to:

1. Small chemical plants

Each small chemical plant around the world produces a variety of airborne solid, and liquid waste, along with toxic chemicals and pollutants that escape into the air in one way or another, increase the eventual cost of products (from the plants), and threaten human health and the environment.

2. Substantial accidental and intentional chemical discharges

This includes both accidental/unintentional and intentional leaks and spills which are sources of toxic air pollutants in various facilities around the world.

The EPA has drafted and established regulations under the Clean Air Act to employ risk management programs in preventing accidental chemical discharges; if they occur, then special techniques can be used to clean up the chemicals.

3. Aerospace manufacturing and repair/rework industries

This source of toxic air pollutants/pollution exists around the world in the form of industries that produce and/or repair aerospace vehicles and vehicle parts from space vehicles, helicopters, airplanes, and missiles.

Aerospace manufacturing industries produce toxic air pollutants such as chromium and methylene chloride which are discharged during paint stripping, priming, grinding, cleaning, and application.

4. Leaking of VOCs in small quantities from different areas

One of the greatest sources of toxic air pollutant emissions around the world is the leaking of VOCs from tanks, equipment, tanks, and their parts which may include pumps, compressors, valves, connectors, open-ended lines, sampling connections, and pressure-relief devices.

Leaking of VOCs, itself, in small quantities would not pose a significant problem; however, when small quantities from different areas around the world are added together, the result becomes a major problem.

It is believed that between 90% and 95% of VOC leakage around the world is due to gasket or seal failure as a result of wear and improper maintenance of connectors and valves.

5. Major point sources

These are special processes or stationary facilities or special processes that yield either at least 10 tons (per year) of a single contaminant or at least 25 tons (per year) of a mixture of toxic or hazardous air pollutants.

Major point sources of toxic air pollutants/pollution around the world include the fertilizer industry, the chemical industry, petroleum refineries, cement kilns, commercial, institutional, and industrial boilers, power plants, iron and steel manufacturing plants, solid waste incinerators, pulp and paper mills, and toxic waste storage, transfer, treatment, and disposal facilities.

6. Drycleaners

Drycleaners are used in many places around the world, and they are the largest sources of perchloroethylene emissions in the USA. They constitute a potential health hazard because their locations are usually close to large numbers of people and may cause nausea, headaches, dizziness, and cancer in some people.

7. Medical and infectious waste incinerators

These incinerators constitute the main source of toxic air pollutants around the world. The toxic air pollutants generated after incineration of solid waste (from veterinary clinics, nursing homes, hospitals, pharmaceutical research laboratories, and other surgical and medical facilities) include lead, mercury, dioxins, cadmium, etc.

8. Auto body and repair shops

Auto body shops and garages around the world engage in activities such as painting, welding, and paint stripping, and also replace and/or repair different components of vehicles.

Degreasers are commonly used in auto body and repair shops and other small and large industrial processes. Operations can generate a lot of dust, a variety of particulates, and also be the source of toxic or hazardous air pollutants such as chromium, lead, cadmium, VOCs, etc.

Auto body and repair shops also produce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide which can increase the concentration of ground-level ozone.

9. Lawnmowers and garden tools/equipment

Lawnmowers and gardeners spill a considerable amount of fuel when filling their tools, equipment, or machines. Spilling becomes a pollutant hazard in air, water, and on land.

In the United States alone, lawnmowers and garden tools/equipment contribute about 5% of air pollutants. This amount increases in urban and suburban areas. One may consider how much it could be around the world.

Lawnmowers and garden tools/equipment may emit VOCs, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides.

10. Printing & publishing activities

Printing and publishing activities around the world include printers and facilities that produce packaging materials and paper products. VOCs are discharged from the cleaning of inks, wetting agents, and solvents, and larger printing & publishing plants can be a source of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The toxic air pollutants discharged during printing & publishing activities include hexane, xylene, toluene, and methanol.

11. Gasoline distribution facilities and gas stations

This source of toxic air pollutants comprises of leakages from bulk terminals, rail cars, equipment, tank trucks, pipelines, storage areas, transferring areas, etc.

All over the world, there are countless underground gasoline storage tanks beneath the surface of gas stations. A considerable number of them are rusty, old, poorly maintained, or damaged, and most of them potentially contaminate land and surface water sources, and also cause air and land pollution.

Toluene, benzene, and eight other toxic air pollutants are usually present in the gasoline vapor that is emitted from gas distribution facilities and gas stations.

12. Off-site waste operations

In many parts of the world, off-site waste facilities are used to treat, store, and dispose of hazardous wastes which come from various industries and facilities, including solvent recycling facilities, industrial wastewater treatment facilities, used oil recovery facilities, etc. A legion of air toxics can be discharged from containers, tanks, process vents, equipment, and surface impoundments.

13. Shipyards

Ship manufacturing, maintenance, and repair is a major industry and source of toxic air pollutants around the world. Activities such as painting, stripping of old paint, and cleaning generate pollutants which contaminate air, water, and land.

Painting increases the quantity of particulate matter in the air and discharges a variety of VOCs. The toxic air pollutants released at shipyards from cleaning and painting operations include xylene, chlorinated compounds, toluene, solvents, etc. 

14. Surface coating & painting of materials

Surface coating and painting both protect and preserve the surfaces of wood, metals, plastics, and products for decoration. Glue and adhesives are typically used in many surface coating and painting operations, and solvents are used to clean surfaces and prepare them by removing unwanted material. The processes of cleaning, coating, and painting can produce toxic air pollutants and VOCs.

15. Wood furniture manufacturing

This source of toxic air pollutants includes all types of plants and cabinet shops that produce various kinds of residential and industrial furniture. The toxic air pollutants discharged during wood furniture manufacturing operations or processes (cleaning, gluing, and finishing) include xylene, formaldehyde, toluene, and methanol. These pollutants can cause irritation in the eye, nose, throat, and skin, and damage the kidneys, liver, and heart.

7 Common Air Pollutants that Affect Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)

Human health can be influenced or affected by the quality of indoor air pollutants that may be present in a building or home. Various international agencies continue to update or refine and strictly regulate quantitative air quality standards and guidelines to ensure proper indoor air quality management.

The existence of common indoor air pollutants—such as CO (carbon monoxide), CO₂ (carbon dioxide), NO₂ (nitrogen dioxide), O₃ (ozone), PM (particulate matter), SO₂ (sulfur dioxide), and VOCs (volatile organic compounds)—poses a serious threat to human health, especially over the past two to three decades.

Many studies prove that indoor air pollutants are two to four times more concentrated than outdoor air pollutants: the WHO specifically reported that 4.2 million people died in 2016 because of poor air quality.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is one of the world’s most precious items, even if it appears neglected. Because of the possibility of having higher concentrations of pollutants inside buildings, IAQ just can’t be ignored.

Apart from causing symptoms, the various kinds of building-associated illnesses that are tied to poor indoor air quality can also lead to tremendous and substantial economic loss. The USA’s EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) once linked $140 billion annual direct medical expenditure to problems resulting from IAQ.

The most common air pollutants that affect indoor air quality (IAQ)

The most common air pollutants that affect IAQ include:

• Ozone (O₃)
• Carbon monoxide (CO)
• Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
• Sulfur dioxide (SO₂)
• Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂)
• Particulate matter (PM)
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

Ozone (O₃ or ground-level ozone), as an air pollutant, originates from chemical reactions between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) in the presence or midst of sunlight.

Ozone pollution can be worse in both cold and hot environments. Sources of ozone pollution are emissions of gasoline vapors, electric utilities, chemical solvents, etc., and can cause airway narrowing and lung inflammation in people exposed to ozone pollutants.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, tasteless, and odorless toxic gas that is released from sources like gas-type water heaters, leaky furnaces and chimneys, furnace backdraft, unvented fuel and gas-type space heaters, tobacco smoke, fireplaces, wood stoves, gas-powered equipment, etc.

Carbon monoxide can cause chest pain, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, reduced brain function, impaired coordination and vision, and flu-like symptoms.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a colorless and odorless anthropogenic air pollutant whose major source in buildings or indoors is the occupant’s or occupants’ individual respiration or respiratory system.

Sulfur dioxide (SO₂) is a colorless gas that has a pungent smell and originates from the combustion of oil, coal, and gas that contains sulfur. Combustion is the leading source of indoor sulfur dioxide concentration. Short-term exposure to sulfur dioxide can cause varying degrees of toxic symptoms, airway inflammation, and respiratory illnesses.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is a highly reactive gas which is associated with development of ozone and PM2.5 (particulate matter, including microscopic matter that is suspended in water or air and is less than or equal to 2.5 microns [symbol = µm] in diameter).

Nitrogen dioxide mainly gets into the atmosphere from the combustion or burning of fuel and, like sulfur dioxide, can also cause airway inflammation and respiratory symptoms.

Particulate matter (PM) consists of both solid and liquid particles in dust, soil, soot, and air, including organic chemicals, acids, and metals. Particle pollution is categorized based n the following sizes (diameters in micron [symbol = µm]):

• PM10 (2.5 µm to 10 µm)
• PM2.5 (less than 2.5 µm)
• PM1.0 (less than 1.0 µm).

PM10 is any particulate matter, including any microscopic matter that is suspended in water or air and has a diameter between 2.5 µm and 10 µm. PM2.5 has a diameter that is less than 2.5 µm, and PM1.0 has a diameter that is less than 1.0 µm.

PM10 affects the oral and nasal cavities, the upper trachea, the larynx, and the pharynx. PM2.5 and PM1.0 can cause pulmonary infection, alterations in heart rate variability, coagulation, cardiac autonomic function, and generate endothelial and vascular dysfunction.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) constitute various types of hazardous organic chemicals that are involved in atmospheric photochemical reactions which are regarded as one of the major contributors to symptoms of sick building syndrome (SBS).

The major sources of indoor VOC include pesticides, aerosol sprays, furnishings, high-emission building materials, dry knitted products, laser printers, and office equipment like copiers.

The USA Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a list of hazardous air pollutants and included a total of 187 VOCs. Ethylene, methylene chloride, toluene, benzene, tetrachloroethylene, xylene, formaldehyde, and 1,3-butadiene are the most common indoor VOCs that are major contributors to irritants, human carcinogens, and toxicants.

The total volume of indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) concentrations is expressed as “TVOCs” which, in other words, represents the total volume of available/present indoor VOC concentrations.

Acute exposure to indoor TVOCs can cause headaches, nausea, cancer, damage to the liver, central system and kidney, irritation to the throat, eye, and nose, loss of coordination, and respiratory diseases.

Note

It’s important to note that, in addition to the common air pollutants mentioned above, indoor temperature and relative humidity also affect indoor air quality (IAQ).

Fang et al. (1998) noted that when pollution levels are constant, IAQ would drop with any increase in temperature and relative humidity. Berglund and Cain (1989) concluded that the effect of temperature on IAQ was stronger than humidity.

Your Forbidden Fruit is Sweet, But it’s Also Your Worst Enemy!

It’s easy for people to yield to their lusts like how good servants obey their masters. But it is important to note that obeying certain lusts can enslave you; on the other hand, rejecting them can certify your chances of gaining more freedom, power, and success.

The reward you get for not succumbing to your forbidden fruit of temptations and lusts would always outweigh and make up for the comparably little price you have to pay for missing out on them or other kinds of instant gratification.

What many people fail to see is that, if they completely reject their forbidden fruits, temptations, and lusts, their self-discipline will become strong enough and elevate them to become masters of their individual lives.

At the level of a master, they can successfully choose and achieve their own goals, instead of following the whirlwind of spontaneous temptations that originate from questionable activities, and are highly influenced by them.

Yes, your forbidden fruit is the sweetest. But it is also your enemy

We all know the popular story about the fall of Adam and Eve and how the world might have been completely different if the story were actually true—and they had decided to neglect their sweet forbidden fruit, instead of eating it.

Some people think they are being enslaved by others, even when they enslave themselves by eating junk food, not adhering to strict or professional routines, carelessly exposing themselves to discomfort, and accepting everything that the majority of other people regard as “spicy”, such as fraud, laziness, gluttony, and different kinds of vices.

No matter how much pleasure your forbidden fruit, laziness, or temptation can bring at the moment, it’s important to see them for what they really are—the great enemies standing against you on your path to freedom, power, and success.

Thus, the wake-up call would be: beware of our individual forbidden fruits, temptations, and lusts which are usually the sweetest out there in the universe. Understand what I mean?

If it’s not so pleasant to submit to our lusts and temptations and eat the forbidden fruit, then people would hardly struggle with self-discipline. But because it’s always pleasant to eat the forbidden fruit and yield to the hidden power of our lusts, we often fail to control their urges.

In fact, many people aren’t able to exert even a little influence in the right direction. As a result, they fail to control their lives, while they are helplessly and consistently being manipulated by temptations and passing or temporary satisfactions.

Features of Litecoin

Litecoin originated from the Bitcoin hard fork that occurred in 2011, with the intent to become a lighter and faster version of Bitcoin. Founded by Charlie Lee, an MIT graduate and Google employee, it hit $1 billion market cap by November 2013.

Since coming on board the crypto world in 2011, Litecoin has consistently been among the top ten largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. Specifically, it has ranked as high as the second position and fallen to as low as the seventh position which is still a high position.

As of June 2022, its market cap was around $3.5 billion, qualifying it as one of the largest cryptocurrencies in existence, even though it still sat some distance away from the greatness of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Ripple, and Stellar.

Litecoin versus Bitcoin

Litecoin was founded with an intention to complement Bitcoin—not compete with it in the manner that cryptos do, presently. The technology behind Litecoin is not too different from that of Bitcoin. The following are some of the few differences between Litecoin and Bitcoin:

• Limitation on the number of coins: Bitcoin’s supply is finite and fixed at 21 million coins; on the other hand, Litecoin has 84 million coins, which is four times Bitcoin’s total coins.
• Degree of mining difficulty: One major difference between Litecoin and Bitcoin is the degree of mining difficulty. Mining Bitcoin requires super or very powerful computers and is expensive and difficult. Litecoin, on the other hand, can be mined using average or normal computers. The SHA-256 algorithm is used to mine Bitcoin, while the Scrypt algorithm is used to mine Litecoin.
• Transaction speed and fees: Transaction confirmation on Bitcoin network takes about 10 minutes, and may sometimes take up to an hour; on the other hand, transaction confirmation on Litecoin is faster, as the speed is about 2½ minutes—this is according to information from BitInfoCharts.com. In addition, Litecoin’s transaction fee is substantially lower than Bitcoin’s.

Litecoin features or characteristics

Litecoin’s main features or characteristics include, but may not be limited to:

• Litecoin is decentralized
• Litecoin’s token symbol is LTC
• Litecoin is a minable
• Transaction time is about 2½ minutes
• Creation of Litecoin and algorithm (Scrypt) processing occurs through the PoW (proof-of-work) process
• Transactions can be done anonymously
• The energy cost per transaction for Litecoin is lesser than Bitcoin’s.

How Much do You Spend: “Developing Your Inner World” vs “Enhancing Your External Appearance”?

Most of us fear the declination or deterioration of our physical appearance (our body) and will do anything to prevent it from happening, even if it means sacrificing our inner world which is a major pillar in our life.

How pathetic: we care much more about the state and level of perfection of our physical bodies but don’t care a bit or as much for our inner world, a great gift that can guide our soul, our eternal spirit.

Although both reality and experience prove that, without the spirit, the body would be dead and remain dead, a good number of us behave as if the spirit would be dead without the body. In fact, we treat the body as if it is the beginning and end of life. Well, reality proves the direct opposite.

Our spending habits—which include the energy, time, and money we invest in certain activities—reveal our true priorities and show where the bulk of our allegiance clearly lies.

Make a quick comparison between how much (time, money, and concentration) you spend on your external appearance, and how much you also expend on developing your inner world. Is the ratio or proportion between them healthy?

Or, is the ratio between the two so unhealthy that you find it difficult to justify spending on personal growth (developing your inner world) but find it easy to invest everything in your superficial external appearance?

How would it help in the long run if you successfully work on your external appearance, perfect it and become full of it, but you—on the other hand—remain shallow or empty on the inside (the inner world) because you were complacent or didn’t work on it a bit or nearly as much?

Considering how much weight our inner world actually holds in the scheme of life, it sounds odd, but not surprising, that many people around the world spend countless amounts of time, money, and concentration on improving their external appearance through the use of cosmetics, supplements, expensive clothes, plastic surgery, and other procedures.

On the other hand, the same people spend little to nothing of their time, money, and concentration on improving their inner world, talents, and abilities which can greatly direct and define their destinies.

To avoid blips in destiny, it’s important to spend your time, money, and concentration on developing your inner world as much as or more than you would on your external appearance or physical body.

Isn’t it wiser to spend time more developing self-restraint against unnecessary spending, than to spend it on feeding or excesses without restraint, only to later end up struggling to fix all issues that are products of unnecessary spending?

In many instances, instead of buying another expensive pair of jeans, is it not more intelligent and more profitable to spend time and money on an inexpensive book that can lighten up your path and drastically change your inner world and life.

Nobody may even notice how well you are developing internally, but it doesn’t matter because, in the long run, everyone who really takes notice will eventually realize that you’re more valuable than someone who is always noticed and praised for buying new clothes, even though they are deteriorating on the inside as they continue on the path of inner complacency, instead of following the path of self-growth.

Potential Challenges Faced by Self-driving or Driverless Cars

As it is with most man-made products, so also it is with self-driving cars: they have benefits or advantages and also have disadvantages or challenges as well. Traditionally, cars have influenced the design of major cities, construction of roads, and design and sizes of parking lots.

But, these may likely change as self-driving cars continue to become increasingly popular and available. Self-driving, driverless, or autonomous cars have many benefits, including the potential to reduce health costs and make roads easier and safer to use.

However, as we continue to move forward into a dim or unknown future that hardly speaks in the present, it is important for us to bear in mind some potentially daunting challenges that would require the attention of scientists and governments. They include the following:

1. Ethical issues & information/data security breach

Because self-driving cars rely a lot on collected data that can be used to optimize their performance, concerns regarding the privacy and security of collected data will continue to arise or exist and need to be addressed.

Imagine scenarios where the “who, what, where, and when” of our activities and lives are captured and saved. What if such important information falls into the hands of immoral or mischievous people? Imagine situations whereby the sensory inputs that need to be created, have to be tied or linked to our smartphones, our credit cards, and personal security and biometrics.

Companies that produce self-driving cars may face possible backlash if they cannot set up effective rigorous data security measures and vigilance systems or networks. While driverless car technologies are still relatively new, it is crucial for national and regional governments to start considering guidelines that can ensure self-driving cars are utilized in ways that protect consumer privacy.

2. Unforeseen circumstances

Life is as unpredictable as the variety and possible circumstances a self-driving car could get into. It may be a challenging or even daunting task to program self-driving cars to accurately know or anticipate and respond effectively to every potential situation, such as: detecting unknown or unfamiliar objects are blocking the roadway; detecting when or whether a pedestrian is suddenly coming into the roadway; detecting when or whether an unidentified object or plane is falling on the roadway from the sky; etc.

3. Adjusting to weather conditions and climate change

In the midst of the unpredictable and deteriorating weather patterns of the present-day and likely future, self-driving cars may face an uphill task of changing from the way they operate, and adapting how they operate in response to changing weather patterns (heavy rain, falling hailstones, slippery roads, etc.). Self-driving car sensors may find it difficult to recognize some difficult weather conditions, such as the conditions that involve snow.

Concluding remarks

The challenges discussed in the preceding paragraphs may just be a few that people, companies, and governments would have to address as self-driving cars are becoming increasingly popular and widely available. A potentially tougher challenge may be: proving to the public that self-driving cars are and will continue to be safer than traditional cars.

It will be the duty of national leaders to cooperate with self-driving car industries and educate the masses on the benefits and challenges of self-driving cars and begin to think constructively in order to be better prepared to lead legislatively and find solutions for potential problems before self-driving cars enter the market on large scale.

Honesty is the Best Policy Over the Long term Where Truth Always Emerges and Stands Tall

Imagine what a world of honesty would mean for everyone, including the world itself. Unfortunately, one of the greatest challenges for the self-discipline of many people is to stop lying—it is difficult to abide by the resolution to be honest and stop lying.

Many of us lie whenever we encounter opportunities to do so, wherever we go, and in whatever we do. Lying is so common that it seems it’s socially allowable to lie a little (telling a white lie) in order to make one’s self, resume, finances, height, or shape look different—or even better—than it really is, especially on the internet (personal blogs, dating sites, job sites, etc.), and even offline—in person.

Truth hardly shows up over the short term. Even when it has not yet shown up, of what benefit is it gain the whole world by being dishonest in the short term, but eventually lose everything valuable over the long term where the truth always emerges and finds out dishonesty?

History has lots of tales about it: the trails of dishonesty that have been causing so many problems and ills in the beautiful garden called society. Honesty and truth—strong ingredients of integrity—have always resided predominantly in virtuous people; on the other hand, both have been seriously lacking in people who are the opposite—immoral, mischievous, etc.

If you’re under the temptation to sacrifice honesty on the plate of short-term gains, recall and activate and radiate the old saying: “honesty is the best policy” over the long-term, the permanent, and eternal.

Honesty is one of the best pillars that can strengthen or establish your integrity, especially over the long term where the truth always emerges and stands tall in a manner that might not always be possible over the short term.

It is one thing to be honest and deny yourself of something valuable; it is a completely different thing to be dishonest when you think that dishonesty would make you look better, only to eventually find out over the long term that it has destroyed you or your relationship with someone whom you cherish deeply.

So, when the truth emerges and stands tall at the end of the day—over the long term—will you have any sense of honesty left in you? If you won’t, then unfortunately, whatever you have left will likely eat away at your conscience.

Advice

Not only should honesty be exhibited because it is the right thing to do; but it should also be exhibited because the truth will eventually find a way out. Where will you stand when the truth shows up and beams for the whole world to see?

Lastly: being honest doesn’t mean you should turn your life into an open book and allow everyone to know everything about you. As honest as any society would like and expect us to be, we have the right to keep some things to ourselves in a wise manner.

The Merits of Using Surface Models

One outstanding quality of surface models is the improved appearance of their surfaces and the ability to use its [appearance] complicated definitions for computer-aided manufacturing (CAM).

Evidence proves that customers purchase products, not only based on how they function, but also on their styling or how aesthetically pleasing they are, with or without visually expressing how their back edges actually appear.

By using lighting and different materials in most surface modeling softwares to create and present a realistically shaded model of a product to potential customers, you can actually evaluate their [customers’] reaction—pleasure, displeasure, or otherwise—to seeing it.

Many real-life consumer products often start out as a surface model and their interior parts are engineered to accommodate or somewhat conform to the shape of the exterior part(s).

Using surface models is cost-effective and could increase savings when used in place of physical prototypes or in place of actual products for promotional purposes. The cost-effectiveness of surface modeling depends on the complexity or difficulty of the surface, the level of accuracy it requires, and the potential purpose of the modeling.

The surface definitions of surface models eliminate the ambiguity that is inherent in some wireframe models: they make it possible for you to view the front edges or surfaces and holes by hiding the “invisible” parts of the model.

It is true that complex surfaces can be difficult to model, but it is possible to manufacture irregular shapes that are difficult to document systematically in 2D views if their complex surfaces, which are defined by a surface model, can be exported to numerically controlled machines.

Surface models (and solid models too) can be used to assess interference and fitness before a product is eventually manufactured. Oftentimes, solid models can be changed into surface models and vice versa.

Although surface models define surfaces and often provide information about the surface area of a part of a product, such information can save time, especially when a complex surface is involved. However, the accuracy of calculations in surface models may depend on the method employed by the software to store product surface data.

Optimism can Improve Your Ability to See the World in Brighter Colors

Oftentimes, life is very difficult, with no roller coaster and no fun. I mean it! The adversities of life sap lots of energy out of people, steal their destinies, and leave them in hopeless situations that can’t support optimism, no matter how much it (optimism) may be.

In the midst of it all, where does your allegiance lie? Where do you focus when the chips are down, when you hit low? Does your allegiance lie on positives or negatives—in optimism or pessimism? It might not be wrong to assume that you’re quite unfortunate if your allegiance lies in pessimism, in negativity.

But it might also not be wrong to assume that you have the right to place your allegiance on negatives. Why? Because optimism is not for everybody. Again, why? Because it doesn’t work for everybody.

But, despite the fact that it doesn’t work for everybody, it is equally true that a healthy dose or practice of optimism can make can you see the world in brighter colors, very brilliant colors, even when the going gets tough and the world turns upside down.

The Bible and history have proven again and again that, “as a man thinks in his heart, so he is”. The same is applicable to optimism: as a man thinks about optimism, he actually tends to become optimistic, until he actually lives optimistically and in surprising abundance.

It’s our duty to keep our hearts optimistic and guard them against all forms of pessimism

Proverbs 4: 23 says, “keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it [are] the issues of life. I now say something similar to you: keep your heart optimistic, for out of it comes abundance and scarcity which are two of the many pair of opposites of life.

It’s our duty to feed our minds with positive or optimistic information and experiences and build a mentality that expects the best from life, regardless of how and where the tide is turning for good or bad, better or worse. It’s our duty to focus on the invincibility of GOD our Creator and the great powers He has placed in His universe, in life.

It is true that being optimistic or practicing optimism won’t necessarily make you become completely invulnerable to negative feelings or pessimism—far from it. For, as long as we remain alive, we will likely continue to be at war with negative dark forces which easily influence most people’s minds, tricking and training them to always think negatively.

The good news is that we are at liberty to stop or protect ourselves from this trend by meditating on or practicing optimism and always opening up or surrounding ourselves with positive input by reading inspirational, motivational, or positive books, watching positive visuals, listening to positive audios, etc. Feed your mind every day, and a sip of optimism a day will slowly drive away bits and bits of pessimism every day.

No matter how bad your situation is, you can start from somewhere, and if you are self-disciplined enough to guard or keep your heart diligently, after some time period you will come to realize that you have been gradually and increasingly igniting optimism and the strong positive feeling that, regardless of what is happening around you, things will eventually turn out well and the best will come your way.

By gradually strengthening this feeling, you can actually draw in a larger-than-life reality of it. Even before becoming an expert at honing and radiating optimism, sipping optimism each day can greatly improve the way you see the world and eventually make you see it in much brighter colors than you ever expected.

Optimism can have a long-term positive impact on your emotions, mentality, faith, and destiny. An optimistic or positive attitude is essential for people who want to build self-discipline and establish a culture or brand that stands out. What’s the point of being self-disciplined enough to deny yourself instant gratification if you are not optimistic that you’ll achieve your goals in the future?

Whenever the tide is rough and everywhere looks gloomy and negative and all hope seems to be lost, that’s the time we—especially those who suffer from pessimism—really need inspiration or positive input to see the world in the brighter colors of our inner vision.

The brighter colors may be hidden, but they are there, waiting to be turned on. That’s what they were made for: to be turned on at will. Unfortunately, many of us are not aware of, haven’t discovered, or have lost our ability to be optimistic enough to save our emotions, nerves, faith, future, and destiny.

Easy steps to become optimistic—and even more optimistic

1. Thank GOD or Life for all the things you have received since the day you were born empty-handed. Be content with what you have and aspire higher, but learn to express gratitude for what you already have.

If you are not content or happy with what you have at the moment, it will be difficult or impossible for you to be satisfied with what you will receive tomorrow.

2. Practice and make it a habit not to entertain negative experiences and thoughts. Only entertain them if you are looking for opportunities and lessons. It’s actually possible to turn some negative experiences around and achieve greatness from them.

An experience may be bad for you only if view it as such. As we tend to look more at negatives for problems, we should learn to also look at negatives for lessons or opportunities to become better, change our lives, and give them positive meanings.

3. Open up or surround yourself with positive input. We cannot over-stress this point enough. The truth is that if you only entertain negative thoughts, read fear-mongering news, and hang out with pessimistic people from any background, you’ll likely have a hard time practicing or exhibiting optimism.

I encourage you to read inspirational, motivational, or positive books, watch positive visuals, listen to positive audios, etc. And always remember that a sip of optimism a day will slowly continue to drive away bits and bits of pessimism every day.

Characteristics of a Valid Real Estate Contract

Usually, transactions that involve buying and selling real estate properties are always expressed in writing. The most vital document in/part of any transaction is the sales contract which, in the real estate field, is also known as the purchase agreement. Although contracts can be oral instead of written, it is advisable to avoid going into oral contracts.

After investing time and finding a property that is in line with your investment dreams, you need to prepare a real estate contract that should have at least a minimum number of characteristics, features, or elements to make it valid enough for presentation to the seller (of the property).

A valid real estate contract is a written agreement between two or more individuals, entities, or corporations; it is legally binding between them in regard to an exchange of property and money or services of any kind.

Any valid real estate contract is no joke: it contains a legally enforceable set of assurances that must be executed because it (the contract) is anchored on the basics of contract law.

We’ve now known what a valid real estate contract is, but what makes a real estate contract valid? A legally binding real estate contract on any activity is valid because it has all the most important and necessary characteristics, features, or elements that empower it and make it legally enforceable on a certain activity (or activities).

The following are nine main characteristics you have to be familiar with and ensure that your valid, enforceable, or legally binding real estate contract possesses them:

1. It (valid real estate contract) consists of individuals or entities that are legally competent

Each individual who is involved in a real estate transaction must be legally competent or have some legal capacity: in most countries and states, the legal capacity is defined as being at least the legal age (usually, 18 years) and mentally matured enough to understand the consequences of taking actions.

Some of the people who are mentally ill and criminals may not be legally competent or have the required legal capacity to engage in a contract. It may even be wise to avoid dealing with people, especially older persons if they appear to have difficulty in communicating or understanding terms or things that a contract has to be founded on.

In some cases, it is important to inquire (from the person you are dealing with) whether they have a representative or someone who can act legally on their behalf.

2. It consists of an offer

The individual or entity who is interested in a property has to make an offer in writing or through written communication to the current owner or seller of the property. The offer has to clearly express the buyer’s interest and willingness to purchase the property according to specific terms.

Nearly all offers have an expiry date or time. Except an expiry date or time is included, the seller may accept an offer at any time before it is revoked or canceled officially by the interested individual (or potential buyer). On the other hand, the seller is at liberty to continue considering the offer or continue to wait or look for a better offer.

3. It consists of information that proves acceptance (of the offer)

Not all offers are accepted. If an offer is accepted, it is expressed as a positive written response that is in agreement with the exact terms stated by the buyer/potential buyer. In cases where the seller proposes changes to the terms or conditions, he may make a counteroffer and notify the buyer.

4. It may consist of a counteroffer

A counteroffer can also be referred to as a “legally new offer”; it only comes into existence when the original offer is rejected or becomes void. Sometimes, counteroffers can go back and forth between seller and buyer until both (seller and buyer) come to an agreement. At this point, the final accepted offer becomes the binding agreement between the individuals or entities.

5. It consists of an exchange

The exchange part of a real estate deal is very important to most individuals or entities; the exchange aspect of a deal involved the substitution or transfer of property and money or services of any kind, between seller and buyer.

Usually, buyers offer money, services, or something of great value to sellers who, in return, hand over ownership of property to buyers. A real estate contract would not be enforceable if each individual or entity doesn’t offer at least some form of exchange to the other individual or entity.

6. It consists of information that clearly identifies a property

All property must be clearly and unambiguously identified in order to leave no surface scratched. Usually, a legal description is used for each property. Clear identification is necessary so as to erase any uncertainty about a property that is being exchanged, sold, or transferred from seller to buyer.

7. It has a legal purpose

Most countries support legal acts and ban acts that are regarded as illegal. Your real estate contract must have a legal purpose and should not be used for illegal and immoral purposes that are against public policy. Some properties are used to carry out certain activities that violate the local prohibitions that are against operating businesses; for example, some people operate factories or similar types of businesses in residentially zoned areas that prohibit such actions.

8. Its information is stated in writing: it’s a written contract

A valid real estate contract has to be a written contract because that’s the requirement for all legally binding exchanges in real estate. All the conditions or terms surrounding the sales or purchase agreement must be done in writing, even if the contract contains minor items that don’t seem to be important.

Written contracts help to prevent or erase confusion surrounding the content that is used to describe its components or constituents. It is crucial that all relevant and consequential details be written or clearly specified in writing, and whatever is not for exchange or sale must be clearly written as well. In fact, if anything is not in writing, don’t regard it as part of the contract.

9. It is signed

A valid real estate contract must be signed by the individuals involved and have statements that describe all dates and times which are important and should not be ignored by any involved individual or entity without the written consent of the (individual or entity).

Whenever one individual’s consent is ignored or overlooked by the other individual, then the latter has breached the contract or contract terms. Once a breach of contract has occurred, the other individual or entity may be entitled to sue, claim monetary damages, or use the law to force the seller to agree to the contract terms.

Advice

Ensure that all agreements (for real estate sales) made between you and other individuals or entities are done in writing. Unless they are done in writing, do not regard them as being valid, legally binding, or enforceable real estate contracts. Without being written, they aren’t!

No matter how reasonable or convenient it may seem at the moment, never make an oral agreement of any kind on any real estate property. Most countries and laws require all exchanges in real estate to be in writing and enforceable in a court of law. They must include purchase agreements or sales contracts, and leases, and may include loans secured by mortgages or notes, commission agreements with agents, listing contracts, etc.

A contract can be declared invalid or void if it fails to possess the essential elements of a valid real estate contract. An invalid contract has no legal power and is thus unenforceable in a court of law.

Often, the Line Between Failure & Success is so Thin that We Hardly Know When We’re Right There

In a world of difficulties, hardships, challenges, and hustles, being a genius or achieving success often comes by making consistent efforts. But while making those consistent efforts, many people fail or fall off the cliff when they get to the tipping point which, if they could just add a bit more effort, would produce large effects and great success.

The thing is that, after giving their all, so many people fail to recognize when they’ve reached the tipping point or line between failure and success. The next time you feel like giving up, even though you’ve invested a ton of time, patience, money, and whatnot, persuade yourself to push a little bit longer because you might just be on the thin line between failure and success.

Every time we’ve tried and tried and tried and gone some distance, chances are that success is just around the corner, but we fail to recognize it because of a few or countless reasons: the line between failure and success is so thin that we barely realize that we’ve reached it or even passed it.

It’s unfortunate how lots of people have thrown up their hands or given up at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, and a little more hustle would achieve the success they’ve been craving for since forever.

If we are not careful, the more the tide of challenges clears out, the more our impatience would wear thin, and we may hardly know when we’re just an inch away from success: sometimes, our prospects may seem darkest when they’re right there at the turning point to success—a point where many fail to recognize that a little more effort and persistence could turn hopeless failure into glorious success.

Failure only arrives eventually when we give up and decide not to continue trying any longer. Whenever you reach a point where start believing that you can no longer go on, then your self-discipline has begun to run out of gas; rather than throwing up your hands in defeat, move the opposite direction and persist just a little bit longer because success could just be around the corner.

Importance of Seasonal Keywords & Tools for Conducting Research on Seasonal Keyword Trends

Some keywords always remain relevant and popular all year long and will benefit you immensely, year after year, especially if your goal is to create evergreen content; other keywords undergo spikes and rises in popularity during different parts of the year—i.e., they trend seasonally and are thus referred to as “seasonal keywords” because people search for them mostly during certain times of the year.

Holidays are good examples: more people purchase Christmas trees or ornaments in December than any other part of the year; more people look for bathing garments during the months that precede summer, and they look for snowboards during winter; the majority of costume sales occur before Halloween.

Other good examples are the seasons for different sports: many people search for information about the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl early in the year; many people search for information about the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals in April and May of each year.

Generally, many people search for some keywords and phrases at certain times of the year than they do at other times of the year. So, when looking for keywords for your internet business, always remember that certain keywords are more capable of supporting a brand or niche and result in more sales than other keywords. It’s crucial to consider seasonal traffic when building your website.

Importance of using seasonal keywords

Although seasonal keywords and seasonal keyword trends are highly relevant and popular for short time periods, they can help your business strategy to reach new audiences, boost or attract high seasonal traffic, and receive a lot of revenue from seasonal purchases.

In addition, since it’s not every business that uses seasonal keywords, there tends to be less competition among businesses that use them. Using seasonal keywords can really be worth it, but this depends on both your long-term and short-term goals. Ensure that when using seasonal keywords in the short term, it won’t distract you from achieving your long-term SEO goals.

Important advice to consider before using seasonal keywords

• use Google Insights or other tools to discover the seasonal keyword terms that are highly relevant.
• shortly before the season you are targeting, create and publish original content that shall consist of seasonal keywords: certain keywords and keyword phrases (Christmas tree, jewelry, honeymoon, etc.) should be considered before or during a given holiday (Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day). Take note that they will likely spike or rise in popularity around or during holiday periods.
• look for many keywords that can give conversions: if possible, look for hundreds of good seasonal keywords, instead of a few—but this depends on your goals and the size of your site.
• be wary of selecting and using a bunch of irrelevant or low-traffic keywords: get rid of them and focus on the relevant medium- and high-traffic keywords that are capable of converting visitors to customers or making visitors open their wallets.
• don’t discard or neglect your long-term SEO goals when producing seasonal content.

Tools for conducting research on seasonal keywords

When figuring out how often seasonal keywords are being searched for, you can use various tools to monitor them and make your evaluation. Some tools have to be paid for, while others are free. Two examples of free tools include:

1. Free search engine keyword planners (Google, Bing, etc.)

You need a Google AdWords account to gain access to the Keyword Planner keyword research tool which is located at https://adwords.google.com/keywordplanner. You can make use of the end‐of‐the‐year reports of Google Trends www.google.com/trends which provides information on how often a seasonal keyword is used during a given day and when spikes occur.

Bing’s tool page can be accessed at www.bing.com/toolbox/keywords. Even Microsoft has a keyword tool that can be accessed if a user should have an account.

Each individual keyword planner provides additional suggestions based on seed keywords, the level of competitiveness of keywords, and the average number of searches for keywords. Keyword planners go a long way in revealing keyword popularity by mobile devices and the location of search engine visitors or users.

2. Free KSP tool for search engine optimization

Bruce Clay Inc. provides a free keyword tool that can be accessed at https://www.bruceclay.com/blog/free-keyword-research-tool/. You need to simply enter or type seasonal keywords into the “Please Enter Keywords” box and click the “Run KSP” button to get results about keyword counts and demographic information.

When the results appear, you can place your mouse over each seasonal keyword or keyword phrase to view demographic information concerning the type of individuals that are searching for seasonal keywords or keyword phrases.

You can run the free KSP tool as many times and with as many keywords as you wish. There is actually no limit, and you can enter 12 seasonal keywords at the same time.

On the other hand, if you wish, you can go for the following paid tools or services—but you would have to pay at least a bit of cash to use them:

3. SEOToolSet

In addition to the free tools offered by Bruce Clay Inc., you can subscribe for paid fully-integrated SEO tools which are far more equipped than the free version or tool. The paid pro version of SEOToolSet is available at a certain price per month and for up to two domains: www.bruceclay.com/seo/tools.htm.

4. Wordtracker (www.wordtracker.com)

Wordtracker is a keyword tracking service that people usually pay for when selecting either the monthly or annual pricing plans. But before paying to use it, you can test the free trial that is on offer.

5. Keyword Discovery (www.keyworddiscovery.com)

Keyword Discovery is a paid keyword tracking tool or service that was created by Trellian and can be subscribed for at a price that is quite higher price than the price for subscribing on Wordtracker.

Humility Helps to Maintain Self-control

Humility or humbleness goes a considerable or long way in helping to keep our self-control or self-discipline in check! To have better control over our urges, it’s important not to take our self-discipline for granted.

Humility can be easily decimated by arrogance, and vice-versa: assuming an invincible lifestyle or filling up the heart with arrogance or false pride on one end, could gradually reduce or completely erase any humility or humbleness we might have on the other end.

Arrogant people and those who think they are invincible would, more often than not, want to test themselves and their willpower unnecessarily in order to prove how unbeatable they are. In many cases, testing some waters unnecessarily, eventually leads to downfall.

History and research show that arrogant leaders and successful people who are filled with self-pride had:

• the tendency to overestimate their capabilities
• an inflated belief in their self-control, and
• exhibited controlling impulsive behaviors on the people and activities under their control.

By ramping up their egos, they overexposed themselves to temptations and failures: warmongering leaders put themselves in situations that ousted them from power; recovering smokers put themselves in situations that tempted them to smoke; recovering patients put themselves in situations that made them lose their health; etc.

Lack of humility and overinflating the ego increased the risk of a relapse and led to decline and ultimate ruin. Actually, pride goes before a fall. So, one really needs to be aware of pride.

Our self-discipline is like prosperity. It’s possible for it to stay with us for a long time, but it’s equally possible for it to disappear if we don’t keep our humility in check or tweak it the right way!

10 Major Types of Hazardous or Toxic Air Pollutants

Hazardous air pollutants, also called “toxic air pollutants”, are the type of pollutants that are known to cause asthma, birth defects, reproductive effects, respiratory diseases, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, damage to the health and immune system, irritation in vital parts of the body, and other dangerous health and environmental effects.

Most hazardous or toxic air pollutants originate from the following anthropogenic sources: stationary sources such as gas stations, chemical plants, power plants, hazardous waste incinerators, factories, steel mills, and refineries; mobile sources such as buses, cars, and trucks; cleaning and dissolving agents/solvents, and building materials; oil leaks and spills, etc.

Hazardous air pollutants or contaminants could accumulate in the body, and they mix up more frequently than remain as individual substances after they are discharged. When pollutants mix, it complicates the problems of diagnosis and prevention of short-term and long-term illnesses.

These are the major hazardous air pollutants:

1. Benzene

Benzene is a chemical that is widely used in industries for manufacturing detergents, shoes, medicines, dies, explosives, etc. It is mostly discharged from gasoline fugitive emissions and gasoline motor vehicle exhaust, and also from stationary industry sources, but to a much lesser extent.

Tobacco smoke, cooking and heating systems, and various products used in homes may contain or release benzene which could increase the risk of cancer and cause drowsiness, nausea, tremors, depression of the central nervous system, intoxication, and even unconsciousness.

2. Diesel fuel and emissions

Diesel fuel and emissions cause a reported 80% of the total estimated cancer risk due to all types of hazardous air pollutants. Diesel exhaust is a complex mixture of vapors, gases, nickel, benzene, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, hydrocarbons, and fine particles that contain arsenic, etc. People who consistently inhale diesel fumes often experience lung cancer; diesel fuel and emissions increase cardiovascular and respiratory diseases which can cause death.

3. 1,3-Butadiene

1,3-Butadiene is a hazardous air pollutant that is discharged when diesel fuels and gasoline undergo incomplete combustion. It is used in the production of synthetic materials, can be found in tobacco smoke, and may be emitted from petroleum refineries, combustion of wood and agricultural products, wearing of vehicle tires, and burning forest. It irritates the eyes and mucous membranes and can cause headaches, fatigue, blurred vision, and dizziness.

4. Acrolein

Acrolein is emitted in industrial plants whenever it is being manufactured as an intermediate for other chemicals. Like 1,3-Butadiene, acrolein is also found in gasoline and diesel exhaust, tobacco smoke, wood products, forest fire smoke, paper mills, and other non-metallic mineral products. It causes irritation of the throat, nose, eyes, respiratory tract, and pulmonary edema.

5. Carbon tetrachloride

Although the wide use of carbon tetrachloride has been discontinued, because it has an estimated lifetime (remaining present in the atmosphere) of 50 years, its presence can still be discovered or felt upon testing. It irritates the respiratory tract, can poison various cell components, and affects the central nervous system.

6. Coke oven emissions

Coke is used to extract iron/metals from ores, create calcium carbide during manufacture of electrodes and graphite, and helps to convert coal into coke. Coke oven emissions contain benzene, which may cause severe dermatitis, cancer, conjunctivitis, and lesions of the digestive and respiratory systems.

7. Formaldehyde

Although formaldehyde is used to produce useful products such as embalming fluid, textiles, plywood, dies, and particle board, it is hazardous to the skin and respiratory system of animals. As an extremely toxic substance, it can cause cancer.

8. Chromium

Chromium is very important because, when used to coat metal parts and tools, it protects them corrosion and wear. But, hexavalent chromium, which is discharged during anodizing and electroplating operations/processes, causes cancer and complexities during pregnancy and childbirth.

9. Polycyclic organic matter

Polycyclic organic matter is produced when vegetable materials and fossil fuels undergo combustion; its compounds can be found in petroleum refineries, coal tar, motor vehicles exhaust, cigarette smoke, asphalt roads, paper mills, hazardous waste sites, smoke from wood burned in homes, and fly ash from electric power plants that use coal. Polycyclic organic matter can cause health problems in the skin, gastrointestinal tract, eyes, etc.

10. Mercury

Mercury is discharged into the atmosphere, remains active for a long time period, and can easily travel over great distances. It bio-accumulates in the food chain and oxidizes to produce a reactive gaseous form which enables it to increase its rate of deposition in various ecosystems. The downside is that mercury can increase the risk of lung cancer and affect reproduction.

21 Major Specific Types of Air Pollution Sources

All pollutants are generated from a variety of sources—some general, others specific—and can be influenced or affected by weather and local topographical conditions. The 21 major-specific types of air pollution sources in this article are as follows:

1. Agricultural activities

The agricultural activities that are air pollution sources and cause air pollution problems, include but are not limited to: animal feeding operations; production and decomposition of animal manure; improper fertilizer, pesticide, and herbicide application; soil erosion, use of agricultural equipment, and handling of bulk materials.

2. Evaporative sources

Evaporative air pollution sources include all volatile liquids that are not confined in a container/tank and are able to evaporate or discharge vapors into the air. Evaporative sources can be found in many areas and may include aerosol sprays, paints, pesticides, solvents, pesticides, hair sprays, gasoline, etc.

3. Activities in the aluminium industry

The primary aluminium industry produces aluminium metal and molten aluminium from ore, for use in creating a variety of products. Substantial amounts of electricity are used in the production processes and air pollution problems are created from the fuels that are being consumed.

The secondary aluminium industry recovers aluminium cans, scraps, and foundry returns; however, it releases toxics during production processes which usually involve melting, shredding, and removal of coating on materials. The toxics include organic compounds, metals, chlorine, hydrogen chloride, chlorinated benzenes, fluorine compounds, dioxins, and furans.

4. Fires and wildfires

Smoke from fires and wildfires (burning grasses, trees, bushes, and houses) consists of gases, fine particles, and contaminants such as greenhouse gases, the six criteria pollutants, and hazardous air pollutants (furans, PAHs, dioxins, formaldehyde, hydrochloric acid, heavy metals including lead, mercury, and arsenic, etc.).

5. Cement kilns and cement production

The production of Portland cement takes up substantial amounts of electricity and contributes substantially to local air pollution whenever cement is being produced by grinding and heating a mixture of materials such as marl, limestone, clay, iron ore, fly ash, slag from blast furnaces used in rotary kilns which are powered by energy sources such as gas, coal, oil, coke, etc.

6. Activities in the chemical industry

The chemical manufacturing activities that are major air pollution sources and contaminate the air, water, and land, include: purification of raw materials; chemical reactions that occur when raw materials are being converted into other products; finishing operations, including the purification of products; handling, storing, transporting, and cleaning of equipment; disposal of unusable waste; manufacturing of artificial fibers, resin, basic chemicals, synthetic rubber, pesticides, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, paint, adhesives, coating, and soap, along with other cleaning compounds.

7. Controlled burns

Although controlled burns are used in forestry and agriculture to efficiently remove undesirable materials, factors such as weather conditions and the time of the day (when a burn is occurring), contribute to increasing air pollution problems. Controlled burns can cause forest fires if required conditions can no longer be controlled appropriately.

8. Erosion

Erosion (the removal and dispersion of rock and soil fragments by water, rain, flooding, wind, snowmelt, gravity, and organisms) can be caused by nature or humans (through construction, agriculture, etc.) and lead to tree removal and drought, thereby creating, propagating, and increasing pollution in many instances.

9. External combustion sources

External combustion sources are major air pollution sources that are formed from fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, oil, residual oil, and distillate oil as their major source of fuel); they include: process heaters or heating systems; coal-fired power plants; electric power plants that use steam; industrial and commercial solid waste incinerators; commercial, industrial, and institutional boilers; and combustion systems for domestic and commercial uses.

10. Hazardous waste

Waste from used oil, drain and oven cleaners, antifreeze (liquids that lower the freezing point in cooling systems), preservatives, batteries, pesticides, solvents used in home improvement, paints, and building materials could consist of hazardous waste which is any type of waste that is toxic, reactive, corrosive, or ignitable, and can even create more air pollution than the original products they originate from.

11. Internal combustion engines

The internal combustion engines of motor or movable vehicles use fossil fuels as a means of transportation and account for approximately 28% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Internal combustion engines are a major part of cars, buses, motorcycles, dirt bikes, heavy-duty vehicles, light-duty vehicles, recreational vehicles, commercial aircraft, semi-trailers, minivans, SUVs, construction and agricultural equipment, a variety of boats and ships, lawn and garden equipment, snowmobiles, etc. All the mobile sources listed above are major specific air pollution sources that pollute the air through combustion of fuel and fuel evaporation.

12. Activities in the iron and steel manufacturing industry

Iron and steel production consists of various processes and activities that generate criteria air pollutants and numerous other types of pollutants. The processes in the industry include: handling and treatment of raw materials, waste materials, and intermediate materials; iron preparation and sulfur removal; steel production; sintering (recovering of raw materials from waste materials); iron production from original ore; steel pickling (using acid solution to remove oxides); production of semi-finished products; and preparation of finished products.

13. Activities in the natural gas and crude oil extraction industry

Petroleum and natural gas production from oil wells, along with activities such as drilling, processing, storage, transmission or transportation and distribution, consists of processes that release emissions and pollute the atmosphere.

14. Building construction and land development

Land development and building construction activities produce significant amounts of air pollution over short periods of time within and around an area; the activities include: excavation and hauling of materials; site preparation; paving of surfaces; erection or construction of new structures and buildings; demolition of old or existing structures and buildings and structures; tarring of roofs; waterproofing of materials; and painting of structures and buildings.

15. Natural sources

Natural sources of air pollution vary in terms of the type, intensity, and quantity of pollutants they consist of, individually, and they include: the digestive processes in cattle, marine life, and other animals; forest fires caused by any self-generated or induced combustion that produces nitrogen oxides, smoke, ash, carbon dioxide, and other air pollutants; lightning that converts atmospheric nitrogen into nitrogen oxides; dust from areas that have little or no vegetation; geysers that produce arsenic, hydrogen sulfide, other types of heavy metals, etc.; sea salt which releases NaCl and other particles into the atmosphere from the action of wind over salt water; trees and plants which release VOCs into the atmosphere; radioactive materials which discharge radon gas from the Earth’s crust; soil microbial action which forms and discharges nitrogen oxides; volcanoes which produce ash, smoke, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and other air pollutants; wetlands which, through microbial action, produce and release significant amounts of methane into the air.

16. Petroleum refining: refineries

Refineries process crude oil to produce lubricants, diesel fuel, automobile gasoline, and other petroleum-based products. Air toxics are emitted during production, storage, transportation, separation, and upgrading; leaks occur from pumps, valves, compressors, flanges, and other equipment used in natural gas and oil production. Toxic air pollutants are discharged from petroleum storage tanks, process vents, equipment leaks, wastewater collection, and treatment systems in refinery facilities.

17. Public sewage treatment plants/works

Wastewater from industrial, commercial, and residential sources is treated in sewage treatment plants, and usually, the following are released: methylene chloride, VOCs, chloroform, xylene, toluene, ethylbenzene, tetrachloroethylene, and naphthalene.

18. Paper and pulp and mills

When using chemicals and mechanical grinding to convert wood and non-wood sources of fiber into pulp, process gases are emitted along with other types of emissions that are discharged during the heating of materials and energy-producing processes.

19. Solid waste landfills

The waste in solid waste landfills contains microorganisms which, along with chemical reactions, contribute to discharge of landfill gas including ammonia, sulfides, methane, and carbon dioxide into the ambient air.

20. Solid waste incinerators

Solid waste incinerators are used to reduce the quantity of waste generated from municipal, commercial, institutional, and industrial areas. A number of pollutants are discharged during incineration; they include: lead, dioxin, sulfur dioxide, cadmium, mercury, nitrogen dioxide, hydrogen chloride, and particulate matter.

21. Spills and runoff from stored chemicals and storage tanks

Spills could occur and chemicals or substances could leak into the ground, contaminate it, and cause long-term air pollution after people mishandle certain products, and storage tanks corrode, leak, don’t undergo proper maintenance, and are overfilled with substances that end up being a waste and polluting the air.

The chemicals that seep into the ground become part of water runoff and surface bodies of water. A single leakage or spill can seep into the ground and groundwater and cause air and environmental pollution for many years.

Moderation Shouldn’t Serve as an Excuse Not to Do or Be Your Best

Whenever we make firm resolutions to develop ourselves or achieve our goals, we might have the tendency or be tempted to push ourselves way beyond our limit which is the maximum we are capable of doing or producing around a particular time.

Although it is true that our ambitiousness is a virtue we must use to the maximum or extreme, it is equally true that there is some danger involved in doing things to the extreme and going from one extreme to another.

Therefore, we must be prudent on how we handle or use moderation: if you’ve been struggling to work for one or two hours per day, suddenly forcing yourself to work for sixteen hours per day will likely not end with the desired outcome. In fact, it could end in a breakdown or wear out.

If you’re struggling to restrict your appetite by eating once a day or per two days, then suddenly imposing a 7-day fast on yourself would e stressful and likely not end with the desired outcome.

Find somewhere between the extremes—“the middle way”. Stick to it and work on continuously increasing it over time and when you look back, you will see progress. In fact, based on the results you achieve, you could decide whether to still stretch your maximum, your extreme, or your limit!

As much as it is advisable for everybody to push their limit and explore greater boundaries, we don’t need to put our lives, health, emotions, or environment at risk just because we want to achieve good or great results.

Subjecting yourself to extreme hardships could have some merits, but it may not always bring the desired sustainability we’d like to have over the long term. In fact, it could be downright dangerous to subject ourselves to certain extremes!

Using the extreme approach over the long term could wear you and your life out without allowing you to get close to your goals. In whatever you do, don’t waste time hanging around; at the same time, don’t become busy to such an extent that you’re literally sucking the life out of your own life!

Remember to apply moderation in all things—including moderation itself. And if you need to apply a more extreme approach, do so for a fair or short period of time, and in a way that could be beneficial to your goals.

Now let’s take a look at moderation from a different perspective: whenever people use it as an excuse to not do their best: whenever people make mediocrity out of moderation and deprive themselves of doing or being at their best.

Moderation is key but it can go bad if one forgets that going for little or much less can be a bad thing, and going to the extreme can also be a bad thing. Always remember that you can find somewhere between the extremes—“the middle way”—if you really wish to.

For instance, some moderation would be good if you’re trying to lift a heavy weight that you can barely lift off the floor. But what good does it serve you when you let moderation make you become comfortable with consistently lifting something that’s as light as a feather?

If you really want to work on your muscles, what’s valuable in bragging about lifting something that’s almost weightless? Why make mediocrity out of moderation and allow certain levels of moderation to limit your growth?

Beware of any type of moderation that allows you to stick to easy things that are well within grasp and, by so doing, doesn’t allow you to really grow. Furthermore, beware of any type of moderation that forces you to do something that you can barely do.

Generally, any moderation that lowers your standards could end up covering you with mediocrity: a male athlete who thinks that exercising once a week is great—because most of his friends exercise only once a month—will most likely stop challenging himself and become mediocre because of his misuse of moderation.

Although it can be important to inspire yourself by making comparisons with other people, it may be even more important to compare the state of your present self with that of your past self.

For instance, if today you’re still making the same output you were making a year ago when you started producing something, then perhaps you’ve not used moderation in a good or right way. It may be that you have even substituted moderation with self-congratulation.

The Main Features of Ripple Cryptocurrency

The idea behind Ripple (XRP) was initiated way back in 2004 when Ryan Fugger founded a company called “RipplePay”, almost half a decade before Satoshi launched Bitcoin. Now, Ripple is among the most valuable blockchain-based tokens by market capitalization.

According to The Ripple Story, the plan for the protocol behind Ripple cryptocurrency was to create a “peer-to-peer trust network of financial relations that would replace banks”, while working in the same fashion as blockchain technology works.

However, it is important to note that the Ripple crypto platform has its own features or characteristics that make it different from established traditional cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Also important to note is the fact that the Ripple company and Ripple cryptocurrency are two different things, but they are connected to each other: some of the company’s (Ripple’s) payment systems are used with the Ripple crypto or coin which trades as “XRP”.

In 2011, Ripple’s target demographic started paying more attention to Bitcoin which was gradually becoming popular and performing much better than Ripple as a peer-to-peer payment network.

According to Ripple XRP Website, the XRP crypto functions on the basis of the cryptographic signatures inherent in a public chain.

Eventually, Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency was launched in 2012 to serve as a digital payment network for financial institutions. Fast forward to more than half a decade later: between the end of 2017 and the beginning of January 2018, Ripple crypto temporarily ranked higher than Ethereum for ten days.

In fact, for the most part of 2018, in terms of market cap Ripple was the third largest cryptocurrency at approximately $19 billion.

Ripple versus Bitcoin

These are the main differences between Ripple crypto and Bitcoin crypto:

• Bitcoin is an open-source platform that is owned by a community: no particular person or entity controls or owns Bitcoin. On the other hand, Ripple is owned by a private company called Ripple Labs which has offices all over the world and brings a consensus into effect if it receives 80% support from users and partners within two weeks. Basically, although Ripple is owned by a company, it employs a democratic process to please at least the majority.
• Bitcoin’s transaction speed can take up to an hour, and the transaction fees can go as high as $40, depending on demand. On the other hand, Ripple transactions can take as little as four seconds. And even during times of high demand, Ripple’s transaction fees are relatively low or much less, as was the case in 2017 when transaction fees averaged $0.007 which is just a fraction of Bitcoin’s transaction fees.
• Around ten Bitcoin transactions can be made per second. For Ripple, the number of transactions could go as high as 1,500.
• Bitcoin and a number of other minable cryptocurrencies have a supply limit—the maximum number of coins that would ever be mined/minted or in circulation. The supply limit of Bitcoin is 21 million finite numbers of coins, while Ripple (XRP) is limited to the 100 billion coins currently in circulation.

The main features or characteristics of Ripple are as follows

• Ripple is not a fully decentralized platform.
• Transactions on the platform can be made anonymous.
• The token symbol for Ripple is XRP.
• Ripple is not minable or cannot be mined, and thus has no miners on its platform.
• Algorithm processing and coin creation occur by consensus mechanism—not by proof-of-work (PoW) or proof-of-stake (PoS)—to validate transactions and account balances on the system.
• Transactions times are small: transactions can occur within as little as four seconds.
• Ripple uses less energy than bitcoin and transactions costs are very small.

Because Ripple’s unique features are very different from Bitcoin’s features, some people believe that Ripple XRP is not a cryptocurrency. Actually, Ripple is a hybrid of a traditional or fiat currency (a currency that is backed by a government, such as the U.S. dollar) and a traditional cryptocurrency.

The Earlier You Act, the Sooner You’ll be Through

Procrastination only stacks loads and even loads upon loads on us. Procrastination gives some people fewer loads to carry and some other people more, depending on their choices and actions.

Generally, many people have truckloads upon truckloads to carry and never seem to make headway with their duties and realize their dreams.

Only a few people are organized enough to act early or earlier on their stuff and get things done sooner—or even much sooner than usual! Yes, when it comes to getting stuff done on time, it is not compulsory or even advisable to copy exactly what other people are doing; however, it is admirable to imitate people in order to avoid procrastination at home, work, or anywhere in any endeavor.

If you really want to tackle procrastination effectively, the moment you realize you’re wasting time avoiding work or doing nothing, especially when you have a ton to do, immediately stop whatever unproductive thing you’re doing and just start acting or working.

“Thoughts” and the process of thinking usually get the most out of the people who lose to procrastination because, as they allow themselves to ponder over “starting” or “not starting” something, their resistance to “starting” increases, and sooner or later, this resistance to starting overwhelms and overcomes them, and they end up achieving nothing valuable or productive for a whole day, week, month, or significant period of time!

The trick of acting—instead of thinking (pondering)—works better than thinking

Acting early or earlier beats all unforeseen or hidden blocks. On the other hand, thinking or pondering sets us up for potential challenges that may overwhelm us, even when we’ve made a strong resolution to act on stuff earlier and get it done sooner.

“Acting early” is a trick that works because it ensures you maximum resistance against procrastination “at the onset”. It is crucial to make use of such a level of maximum resistance at the onset because the more we think about getting started and don’t act early enough, the more we become sluggish, allow time to pass by, and make it easier to procrastinate instead of actually getting started.

Once you always resist that urge or temptation “not to start” and you actually start performing a task—no matter how unpleasant it is—then you stand to gain some momentum and make it easier to start tasks and get them done instead of giving up and procrastinating.

Whenever you find yourself resisting or hesitating instead of acting early enough or earlier, then act immediately and deal with stuff early and “once and for all”. The earlier you act, the sooner you’ll be done with whatever stuff you act on.

An added advantage of acting early is that it creates more time to focus on new/other stuff and prevents thoughts of “unfinished business” from creeping up and rolling up and down the back of your mind.

Each little act of acting early can help you develop or establish and maintain a habit of choosing to start stuff early instead of allowing all types of stuff—easy, hard, etc.—to accumulate over the passage of time, as cobwebs do in a beautiful house.

If you adopt a habit or work ethic of acting early on stuff, you’ll eliminate or greatly reduce the impact of procrastination on your activities, goals, dreams, and life, and have more time and tranquillity at your fingertips.

8 Potential Benefits of Self-driving or Driverless Cars

Among all the latest and promising advancements in artificial intelligence, one of the technologies that stand out and has the potential to make a great impact on our daily lives and the world economy and societies, is that of self-driving cars which are also known as driverless or autonomous (automated) cars.

But, what is an autonomous, self-driving, or driverless vehicle?

Self-driving cars or vehicles are designed to act independently and be capable of moving from one place to another without input or interference from a human being or operator. Autonomous vehicles can include planes, cars, and ships.

Presently, all the cars that are designed to exhibit some level of self-driving ability still depend on humans to control the car steering wheel, whenever it becomes necessary to do so.

But from what we are witnessing from present-day technological advancements, the future would be different: self-driving cars will not likely have or need steering wheels to turn vehicles’ around during any ride.

Although it may sound absurd to imagine someone “driving” without ever needing to control their car, some vast minds have already been turning this thought into reality. The reality would also attract enormous implications for our day-to-day activities and lives.

There will likely be even more benefits of self-driving cars in the future than we can ever imagine, presently. For now, these are some potential benefits we can expect:

1. More safety and reduced cases of accidents on the streets

With self-driving cars’ computers constantly monitoring their respective surroundings, the traffic and streets would be safer for passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians; in addition, people would have to worry less about likely accidents caused by drunk-driving and cell phone distractions because the probability that self-driving cars would be “under the influence” is zero or next to zero.

2. Reduced hospital expenses

Consequently, as a result of fewer car accidents, there would be safer traffic and streets which, in turn, would reduce hospital expenses that stem from injuries caused by typical car accidents.

3. Improved traffic efficiency

Because self-driving cars are not like many human drivers who usually have unreliable or improper driving habits, their presence will pave way for less traffic congestion and better traffic flow. This will enable police officers to save time and focus on more serious issues instead of wasting time on traffic-related incidences or accidents and tickets.

4. Increased output or productivity

With self-driving cars that are tasked with driving and navigating, the human occupants’ respective levels of output or productivity could be positively and even greatly impacted because they wouldn’t need to spend time on driving. As a result, they would have more time to focus on improving other important aspects of their job.

5. Faster expansion of businesses

With self-driving navigational systems that can evaluate the shortest and quickest routes and also traverse them, deliveries can be made more efficiently, and businesses and economies can expand much faster than has usually been the case.

6. Reduced cases of parking problems

Large areas of space are often allocated for parking in many countries and people usually park improperly, especially in countries where traffic and parking are not so organized. But with self-driving cars that are programmed to park properly, fewer areas of space and fewer parking lots would be needed. The implication is that more space would be allocated for other purposes such as residential and commercial buildings, and agriculture.

7. More options for cheaper mobility

With self-driving cars in place, taxi or human drivers wouldn’t be necessary. As has already been estimated—if all related factors remain balanced or equal—self-driving taxis would be roughly 60% less expensive than current taxi fares.

The competition between different self-driving car services could create more options for cheaper mobility and make self-driving taxis more affordable for people to get to where they want.

8. Reduced negative environmental impact

If self-driving cars are programmed to move more efficiently and through short routes, less fuel would be consumed, thereby further resulting in much less overall energy consumption and negative environmental impact.

With the world’s focus on environmental sustainability, which is presently much higher than at any other time in recorded history, many self-driving cars will be fuelled or propelled by renewable energy sources or electricity.

This would result in even much less emission of climate- and health-damaging gases such as nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide.

The Hidden Value in Your Difficulties

Nowadays, people like dodging difficulties! In fact, it seems dodging difficulties or “looking for a way out” is the fastest growing norm of our time, especially as technology, AI, robots, and countless applications are always around the corner, waiting to be summoned and used to achieve results, quickly and effortlessly.

Although it may be pleasant to desire and experience only easy successes, if easy successes are the only successes you want, you’ll end up generally expecting quick, effortless results. This develops or strengthens a mentality that is weak against difficulties, and it can’t support resilience, patience, and some other important qualities that are crucial to survival.

A mentality that expects quick results—but is weak against the difficulties and the uncertainties of life—would also be unreliable when life hits you hard with challenges or difficulties; in addition, you’ll likely not have the mental toughness to withstand and overcome future difficulties, maybe even the small ones!

Although there is a big difference in value between easy successes and tough successes—which may even require sweat, tears, and blood—does it mean you should accomplish your goals by using only the most difficult successes, and neglecting or rejecting the easier or easiest ones?

Of course not! However, it’s important to note that you won’t stand much to benefit in the school of life if you deliberately avoid all difficulties without at least giving a thought or more about the potential values they may possess.

And yes, it may feel like a smart move to evade difficulties all the time. But the long term impact could end up limiting your potential and making you less potent enough to handle all possible scenarios of life, which include all positive and negative experiences of life.

Life contains a ton of load that we must carry, and the load can take a toll on anyone who is not fit enough to withstand its difficulties—not only its ease which, as we all know, can never be a problem!

Because we all most likely have big, ambitious, and demanding long term goals where our level and power of self-discipline grows strong and shines more in difficulties than in ease—this instills the greatest feeling of having accomplished something worth doing.

Basic Methods Used to Create Surface Models

Most surface modeling softwares are programmed with a matrix/list of an object’s or a part’s vertices and how they are linked to one another to form edges in the CAD database which can mathematically generate surfaces (from points, lines, and curves) between an object’s vertices.

During the process of creating surface models, some surface modelers save additional information that defines and indicates the inner/inside and outer/outside parts of a surface.

This is often accomplished by saving a “surface normal”—a leading or directional line that is normal or perpendicular to the outer part of the surface. This feature makes it easy to shade and render the model.

The basic methods used to create surface models, are as follows:

• Extrusion and revolution
• Mesh surfaces or meshes
• NURBS-based surfaces, or spline approximations

1. Extrusion and revolution

It’s possible to define a surface by using a 2D shape or profile and the axis or course about which it revolves (circles around or moves about in an orbit) or extrudes (forms or takes shape by forcing through an opening).

Figures 1 and 2 below show a surface model that is created by revolution, and the axis of revolution and profile used to create it. Surface primitives (such as cylinders, planes, and cones) are sometimes used as building blocks and can be created from the revolution or extrusion of regular geometric entities.

Figure 1

Figure 2

The surface model (figure 1) above was created by revolving the profile (figure 2) about the axis (same figure 2). (Source: Technical Drawing with Engineering Graphics, 15th edition.)

2. Mesh surfaces or meshes

In the CAD database, vertices or matrix of vertices are used to define flat plane surfaces, and the 3D location of each vertex defines each individual mesh surface. Below, figure 5 shows the matrix/list of a mesh’s vertices, while figures 3 and 4 show the wireframe view and rendered view, respectively.

Mesh surfaces are very important in modeling uneven surfaces in which it isn’t necessary to use completely smooth surfaces. Instead of producing a mesh surface with a slightly bumpy appearance, some CAD modeling packages allow users to define surfaces by a smoothed representation.

Figure 3

Figure 4

592,6177,5596

593, 6177,5594

594, 6177,5596

595, 6177,6601

596, 6177,6611

597, 6177,6621

598, 6177,6621

599, 6177,6616

600, 6177, 6611

601, 6177,6606

602, 6177, 6611

603, 6177, 6631

604, 6177,6641

Figure 5

A Mesh Surface: A mesh surface comprises a series of planar surfaces that are defined by a matrix or list of vertices (figure 5), a wireframe view (figure 3), and a rendered view (figure 4). (Source: Technical Drawing with Engineering Graphics, 15th edition.)

3. NURBS-based surfaces, or spline approximations

The mathematics that is behind and guides non-uniform rational B-spline curves also forms the basis for the method which is used to create surface models and surfaces in most surface modelling systems.

A set of vertices (in 3D) that are used to mathematically define smooth surfaces, are also used to define non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) surfaces.

The advantage that the surface modelers who use NURBS have is that, because rational curves and surfaces can be used to generate both free-form curves and analytical forms (such as cylinders, planes, lines, and arcs), the CAD database doesn’t necessarily have to be equipped with different techniques for creating surfaces by using a surface primitive, revolution, extrusion, or mesh.

Some extruded and revolved surfaces can be “lofted” or “swept”, and spline curves can be used as program or input for extruded and revolved surfaces.

“Lofting” is a term used to define any surface that fits into a series of curves that don’t intersect or meet at any point with each other. On the other hand, “sweeping” is a process whereby a surface is created by sweeping a cross section or curve along one or more “paths”.

In both cases—lofting or sweeping—the overall surface merges from the shape of one curve to the shape of the next curve, as shown in figures 6 and 7 below.

Figure 6

Figure 7

A lofted surface (figure 6) merges a series of curves that don’t intersect into a smooth surface, while a swept surface (figure 7) sweeps a cross section or curve along a curved path and merges the characteristics of both into a smooth surface model (Source: Technical Drawing with Engineering Graphics, 15th edition.)

Figure 8

Figure 9

NURBS surfaces can also be created by meshing curves that are perpendicular or cut across each other, as shown in figure 8 and 9 above. (Source: Technical Drawing with Engineering Graphics, 15th edition.)

Note

If you want to create a surface model, you don’t have to create an entire surface at once. Only entities (technically referred to as “patches”) would be enough, but you have to combine the entities or patches into a continuous model and to create complex surfaces.

Each patch can be approximated or interpolated just like a spline curve can, and surface patches are connected together by employing mathematical methods to merge the approximated edges of the patches and eventually create smooth joints.

It is important to note that sometimes or where necessary, trimming is used to create complex surface patches. For instance, a modeler might start out with a circular patch but trim it to a triangular patch and eventually merge it with other surface patches.

Some surface modeling systems use Boolean operations, while others don’t. It can be difficult to use the systems that don’t employ Boolean operations (or proficient tools for trimming surfaces) to create a feature such as a rectangular hole through a curved surface because the exact shape of the surface and hole has to be defined by assigning or fixing its edges.

Without Patience, Even Millions of Resources & Sacrifices Would Take You Nowhere

Generally, no matter how urgently any pregnant woman wants a child, she has to be patient for nine months to have one. No matter how brilliant a college student is, he or she must spend at least the duration of their course before receiving a certificate and exiting school.

Patience is a great virtue we need most times in combination with self-discipline. For without patience, even millions of resources and sacrifices won’t help us achieve certain goals, especially long-term ones.

If you really want to accomplish long-term goals, be ready to subdue any feelings of instant expectation—exercise patience! Self-discipline might be a necessary additive to keep patience in check as you wait for days, weeks, months, or years to achieve a big result.

Although sometimes you can force results more quickly—by working harder or being more diligent—in many instances, great or impactful results take time and there is just no way on Earth to cut corners or rush to completion.

No matter how many resources you invest or sacrifices you make, without patience and probably self-discipline, you’ll just end up getting nowhere. Like undergoing necessary stages of development or growing from a teenager to an adult, some things only follow a natural order that we can’t control.

If you fail to recognize this and the things that need patience and cannot be rushed, you might not be able to muster and exert enough patience; even when you apply some patience, you might end up misapplying the self-discipline needed to keep your patience in check.

As a result, you might end up achieving nothing instead of eventually achieving something or anything. For example, there is a natural limit to the quantity of fat our bodies can burn per week without breaking down our muscles.

But if we try to rush the natural process by starving ourselves, then the most likely outcome is that we would end up not only going back to square one—or the land of nowhere—but we would put on some additional body fat or weight.

Even with immaterial things such as developing and controlling our minds to eventually radiate optimism, we can’t force ourselves to achieve results overnight.

Transforming or rewiring your mind and brain takes time, and no matter how much sacrifice, time, and resources you spend practicing meditation or reading books about mind or emotional control, you can’t evade a process that requires time.

Lack of sufficient patience might even cause you to lose faith in something that other people have tried and achieved results by remaining steadfast and applying patience.

Generally, people who have taken years or decades to develop a certain habit or trait shouldn’t expect to reverse it completely within a few days, weeks, months, or years.

Approach life with the belief and mentality that there is a process and time for everything and you will always do your best; but in so doing, you won’t allow impatience and its children—discouragement, frustration, etc.—to wear you down if the process is slow or moves slowly.

It would be as meaningless as a pregnant woman who is complaining that she hasn’t conceived a child, even when she is fully aware that her pregnancy hasn’t lasted up to nine months.