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http://www.aahsanguilla.com/uploads/7/3/7/1/7371196/a_constitutional_history_of_anguilla.pdf

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Helping Others Succeed Can Be Your Greatest Success

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Helping Others Succeed Can Be Your Greatest Success

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https://www.becomingminimalist.com/helping-others-succeed/

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“It is not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys are winners before the game ever starts.” – Addison Walker

This past week I sent an e-mail to a friend. I thanked him for helping me over the years and being a significant factor in Becoming Minimalist’s success. He wrote back, “If I have helped you succeed, I am happy.” It was a short e-mail response, but it communicated an important truth: Our greatest successes in life are often found in helping others succeed. Our most lasting and fulfilling achievements are often earned by helping others fulfill theirs.

This is foreign thinking to a culture that often sees the world as one giant competition. In their mind, there is a set number of winners and losers. And if somebody else wins, that’s one less opportunity for me. But I have come to realize the mindset of competition is based on a faulty premise. It assumes there is a finite sized pie – that one more success in another’s life equals one less success in mine. But quite frankly, this thinking is incorrect.

There is wonderful freedom and grace in realizing the size of the pie is not finite – that in reality, the pie keeps growing. Another’s success does not mean I have less opportunity. In fact, another’s success can actually be my success if I had opportunity to enable, encourage, and promote them along the way!

Consider how helping another achieve success (however you/they decide to define it) results in significant benefits in a number of directions:

The receiver has reached a far greater potential than they could have on their own.

The world has been bettered and has been given a life-giving model to emulate.

The giver is remembered fondly and is often publicly (and privately) thanked for their contribution.

A stranger is likely to be the recipient of the original receiver “paying it forward.”

And the cycle begins again.

Now, just to be clear, I am starting with an assumption that our greatest joys in life are rarely found in the relentless pursuit of selfish ambition – that selfish desires always leave us lacking and searching for more. Some may think that line of thinking is too unrealistic, far-fetched, or old-fashioned. They believe that in a dog-eat-dog-world if I’m not looking out for #1, nobody is. But that line of thinking is short-sighted.

Inherently, we know we have been designed to live for something greater than ourselves. Our contribution to this world has to be measured by something more meaningful than the size of our house or the neighborhood where it is located. And our lives are going to find lasting significance in how we choose to live them… and how we enable others to live theirs.

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https://www.berkeleywellbeing.com/loving-yourself.html

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What does it mean to love yourself? Many of us are not quite sure and we struggle to love ourselves. So, here we'll talk about ways to love yourself more.

*This page may include affiliate links; that means we earn from qualifying purchases of products.

Have you ever struggled to believe in yourself? Do you have low self-worth? Is it sometimes hard to be confident? If we struggle with these things, we likely also struggle to love ourselves. Luckily, this is something we can work on over time. In this article, we'll explore what it means to love ourselves. Then we'll start creating a plan with specific actions that can help us love ourselves more.

​Before getting started, we thought you might be interested in our free well-being quiz. ​

And if you're a well-being entrepreneur, coach, or consultant, check out our free Wellness Business Growth eBook to get expert tips, tools, and resources to grow your wellness business fast.

What Does It Mean to Love Yourself? (A Definition)

When we love ourselves, we have an appreciation for our own worth or value. We don't need affirmation from others and we don't need them to tell us that we are good enough, smart enough, attractive enough-we simply know. As a result, we have positive views about ourselves and feel good about who we are most of the time. We also tend to have higher levels of self-worth, self-esteem, and self-confidence.

Loving yourself is super important for well-being. In fact, according to the people who have taken our , a positive view of the self was the thing most related to happiness. That means, the more positive self-views you have-or the more you love yourself-the higher your happiness is likely to be. Other studies have supported this idea by suggesting that having positive feelings about yourself may be a "key to happiness, success, and popularity" (Crocker, & Knight, 2005).What does it look like when you don't love yourself? We might also feel addicted to things that make us feel better in the short term but hurt us in the longer term (Wegscheider-Cruse, 2012). For example, we might use alcohol, drugs, sex, food, shopping, or workaholism to reduce our negative emotions and boost well-being survey

When we don't love ourselves we have more negative feelings and self-focused emotions. For example, we may feel:

Inadequate

Angry

Driven (to prove ourselves to others)

Lonely

Guilty (Wegscheider-Cruse, 2012)

positive emotions.

Video: Learning to Love Yourself

In this video, Amanda Jette Knox shares her inspiring journey of self-love and acceptance through personal stories.

Why Loving Yourself Is Important

If you don't love yourself, you might be more critical of yourself. You might engage in behaviors like negative self-talk-for example, "I'm worthless", "I could never succeed at this", or "I'm not smart enough". These thought patterns can generate feelings of anxiety, sadness, or hopelessness.

There may be many other experiences that go along with low levels of self-love. For example, in one study, school counselors were asked to describe students with low self-esteem (Guindon, 2002). Here are some of the words they used: As you can see, when we have a difficult time loving ourselves, this spills into other areas of our lives and can make it difficult to achieve our goals and build

1. Withdrawn/shy/quiet

2. Insecure

3. Unhappy

4. Angry/hostile

5. Unmotivated

6. Depressed

7. Dependent/follower

8. Poor self-image

9. Lacks self-confidence

healthy relationships.

Learning to Love Yourself

Although increasing our self-esteem and learning to love ourselves is not the easiest thing to do-for example, building skills like gratitude and mindfulness may be easier-we do have the power to increase the number of positive feelings we have about ourselves. Often this starts with action-for example, removing unloving people and behaviours from our lives (Wegscheider-Cruse, 2012). By acting in ways that are self-loving, we slowly teach ourselves that we are worthy and lovable. We show ourselves that we love ourselves.

So for example, we may be tolerating unhealthy relationships-- What does it matter if they treat us like dirt? We probably deserve it. To practice more self-love, we might shift to being someone who stands up for ourselves-- Hey, don't talk to me like that! Or, maybe we've been working a dead end job. But now that we are loving ourselves more, we decide to go back to school to pursue the career we really want.

So often learning to love ourselves takes action. These actions can help shift our thoughts about ourselves. And these positive thoughts about ourselves further promote more self-loving actions. It's an upward spiral that can help us grow our self-esteem and feel better about who we are.

On Loving Yourself First

People often say to "love yourself first". Indeed, we benefit from being loving towards ourselves. But true happiness often comes from loving others too. Plus, when we give our love to others, we learn about what love is and how to give it. This may help us better understand how to love ourselves. We just have to be careful not to love others at the expense of ourselves.

So focusing on loving yourself first is good advice. But don't use this advice to be stingy with your love. Sharing your love is important too.

How to Love Yourself

There are many science-backed strategies that you can use to start loving yourself more. Keep in mind that these may be hard at first. You may not feel comfortable treating yourself with the level of kindness and respect you deserve. So take your time and ease into self-love strategies slowly if you feel like that is helpful to you. Here are some tips to get started:

1. Be Self-Compassionate

(Neff, 2003). Self-compassion involves being compassionate (showing sympathy and concern) towards yourself. According to self-compassion expert, Dr. Kristin Neff, self-compassion includes several components (Neff, 2003). These are:

Self-kindness (versus self-judgement)

Common humanity (versus isolation)

Mindfulness (versus overidentification)

Self kindness involves being patient with the aspects of your personality that you don't like, being caring towards yourself when you're going through a hard time, and being tolerant of your flaws.

Common humanity involves understanding that all people feel inadequate sometimes, that self-doubts are part of the human condition, and that you'll likely go through similar difficulties as others.

Mindfulness (as it relates to self-compassion) involves exploring your feelings with openness and curiosity, attempting to take a balanced view of your situation, and keeping things in perspective
​
Building each of these skills can help boost self-compassion and help you to love yourself more.

2. Practice Loving Kindness Towards Yourself and Others

Loving-kindness meditation is a type of Buddhist meditation that is often used to help people cultivate unconditional kind attitudes toward themselves and others. It involves repeating phrases, such as "may you be happy" or "may you be free from suffering" toward specific others and yourself (Zeng et al., 2015).Loving kindness meditation is a good way to get more comfortable with feeling love for yourself and others. To start loving yourself more, focus especially on the part of the meditation that has you imagine love coming in towards you. Check out our article with
​
loving kindness meditations to learn more.

3. Forgive Yourself

One study showed that adults who completed a six-week forgiveness training reported lower stress, anger, and hurt than people who didn't undergo the training (Harris, et al., 2006). They also felt more capable of forgiving and greater optimism immediately after the training and four months later.

According to some research, forgiveness involves 5 stages (Pollard, Anderson, Anderson, & Jennings, 1998). These are:

Realization: the awareness of an incident which caused pain and suffering

Recognition: an assessment of the painful incident

Reparation: confrontation of the painful incident, admission of responsibility, asking for forgiveness, and receiving it

Restitution: making amends

Resolution: relinquishment of past hurts

When we talk about forgiving ourselves, it may involve a similar process and result in similar outcomes. Follow the process outlined above to become aware of, accept, and let go of past pain you might have caused yourself or others. The mistakes you made, the actions you took (or didn't take), the times when you hurt others-these are all in the past. There is nothing you can do now to change them. All you can do is forgive yourself and do your best not to do the same things again.

​4. Practice Self-Gratitude

Although gratitude for others and for the things in our lives is a great practice for boosting well-being, we can also have gratitude for ourselves and the things we've done. For example, we might tell ourselves "thanks" for eating healthy meals and taking care of our health. Or, we might give ourselves a pat on the back for "speaking our mind in a work meeting". Or, we might be grateful for our pretty eyes, our quick wit, our ability to cook the best bread we've ever had. There are a lot of good things about ourselves to be grateful for. Trying taking a moment each day to notice these. Or, start a gratitude journal to keep track of them.

5. Focus on Your Strengths

You probably already know that it's easier to focus on your flaws or weaknesses-Why does my nose have to be so big?! In fact, the ways we talk to ourselves are often way more harsh and critical than how we would talk to anyone else. But if we want to start treating ourselves with love, we need to knock it off . Instead of criticizing yourself or focusing on your flaws, try to find your strengths and focus on your positive qualities. Believe me, you have them. It's just a matter of shifting your attention to the good things about yourself instead of the bad.

6. Show Yourself That You Love Yourself

As I mentioned earlier, the actions we take to show ourselves that we love ourselves are key. It's just like if we were in a relationship. Our partner might say they love us, but if they don't show us, then we might not believe them. So show yourself that "you love you".You might send yourself away for a relaxing vacation if you're overworked. You might stand up for yourself when others put you down. You might help yourself get your dream job by learning how to

manifest your dreams. Any kind action you take towards yourself can help you start to see that you love yourself. It may only be then that you'll start to believe it.

Video: How to Love Yourself to the Core

Love Yourself Quotes

"Be proud of who you are, and not ashamed of how someone else sees you." - Unknown

"Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we'll ever do." - Brene Brown

"Be yourself. An original is so much better than a copy." - Unknown

"If you're searching for that one person that will change your life, take a look in the mirror." - Unknown

"You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously." - Sophia Bush

More Articles Related to Loving Yourself

If you want to keep learning strategies to love yourself more, here are a few good articles to check out.

Products to Remind You to Love Yourself

Here are some products that may help remind you about your decision to love yourself.

Books Related to Loving Yourself

Here are some books to explore if you want to keep diving into how to love yourself.

Final Thoughts on Loving Yourself

Many of us struggle to overlook our flaws to difficulties and just love ourselves for who really are. Luckily, we can do things to build up this love and create a life where we're truly happy.

References

​Crocker, J., & Knight, K. M. (2005). Contingencies of self-worth. Current directions in psychological science, 14(4), 200-203.

Guindon, M. H. (2002). Toward Accountability in the Use of the Self‐Esteem Construct. Journal of Counseling & Development, 80(2), 204-214.

Neff, K. D. (2003). The development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and identity, 2(3), 223-250.

Pollard, M. W., Anderson, R. A., Anderson, W. T., & Jennings, G. (1998). The development of a family forgiveness scale. Journal of Family Therapy, 20(1), 95-109.

Wegscheider-Cruse, S. (2012). Learning to love yourself: Finding your self-worth. Health Communications, Inc.

Zeng, X., Chiu, C. P., Wang, R., Oei, T. P., & Leung, F. Y. (2015). The effect of loving-kindness meditation on positive emotions: a meta-analytic review . Frontiers in psychology , 6 , 1693.

Key Articles: Content Packages:

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Loving Yourself: Why and How to Love Yourself

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What does it mean to love yourself? Many of us are not quite sure and we struggle to love ourselves. So, here we'll talk about ways to love yourself more. *This page may include affiliate links; that means we earn from qualifying purchases of products. Have you ever struggled to believe in yourself?

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Reflecting - Effective Communication Skills | SkillsYouNeed

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Reflection is important in communication - an extension of listening and a key interpersonal skill. Learn how to check that messages are correctly interpreted.

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Black social justice organizations to support right now

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Black social justice organizations to support right now

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https://hellogiggles.com/diversity/black-social-justice-organizations-support/

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The incident, which occurred last Monday, May 25th, was just one of a string of similar situations to make headlines in recent months and shows a more than troubling pattern in our criminal justice system-that it targets Black people disproportionately, and often results in unnecessary violence. As such, allies and activists are looking for ways to enact real, widespread change.

Participating in protests is one option, but since not everyone is able to do that, you can also help out the organizations doing real, meaningful work toward eradicating the many injustices that Black people face on a regular basis. This includes groups that are assisting with bail for protesters, empowering Black and Brown communities, and collectively working to end police brutality in communities nationwide.

If you are in a position to give, consider contributing to these Black social justice organizations.

The Bail Project works to prevent mass incarceration and combat racial and economic disparities in the bail system. Through donations, the organization pays bail for people in need, working to reunite families and resume the presumption of innocence. By collaborating with local community partners, stakeholders, and public defenders, the organization works toward bail reform.

You can support The Bail Project by donating.

Based in Minneapolis-St. Paul (where Floyd's death took place), Black Visions Collective is a black, trans, and queer-led social justice organization is committed to dismantling systems of oppression and violence by providing resources, education, and legal funds to those in need.

You can support Black Visions Collective by donating.

Communities United Against Against Police Brutalist (CUAPB) takes on the issue of police violence by offering assistance to individuals and families who are dealing with the effects of police brutality and offers a 24-hour crisis line (612-874-STOP) that people can call to report instances of abuse. Additionally, the organization works toward political action to bring about changes in laws, policies, and practices that allow police brutality to occur and educates communities about their rights within the justice system.

Founded in 1908, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is one of the oldest and largest civil rights organizations, with a storied history of working toward political, social, and economic equality for Black people. With nearly half a million members leading grassroots campaigns, the NAACP has an incredible record of spearheading change-including lobbying for the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1964, and 1968, and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

More recently, the NAACP's mission for the 21st century has been outlined in its six " Game Changers," which its website describes as "economic sustainability, education, health, public safety and criminal justice, voting right and political representation, and expanding youth and young adult engagement."

Your support of Black people is null and void if you're unable to acknowledge the fact that Black people are disproportionately subjected to violence and brutality at the hands of police.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) was formed in 2013 by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi as a direct response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin. It has since become a standout example of digital activism, spawning a viral hashtag and becoming a national movement with more than 40 chapters across the country, all with the goal of intervening in police violence against Black people and affirming the importance of Black lives.

You can support Black Lives Matter by donating or getting involved with a local chapter in your city.

After losing their son Trayvon Martin in 2012 to gun violence, parents Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin started this non-profit organization to help other families deal with the emotional and financial fallout of losing a child to similar circumstances. With the backing of members and several companies, the organization is seeking to shift conversations toward reforming gun policy, while providing support, leadership, and counseling to affected families.

Starting as a conference in 2000, the founders of INCITE! came together with the goal of ending violence surrounding women of color in all its forms, including mass incarceration, attacks on immigrants, threats to reproductive rights, and hate crimes against queer women of color. Now, the organization offers resources for WOC looking to fight police brutality in their communities, stop the unjust imprisonment of Black people, end gender and race violence, and combat sexual assault in the military.

The Black Youth Project (BYP) aims to examine the attitudes and culture of young, urban, Black millennials and explore how these factors impact their lives.

BYP conducts research, creates social initiatives, and publishes editorial content written by Black millennials in the areas of race, culture, gender, and sexuality.

To support BYP's mission, you can donate or contribute content.

Conversations about the violence that threatens Black lives often fail to spotlight Black women and femmes, and trans people are especially at risk. Indeed, 2018 was dubbed one of the most violent years for those who identify as transgender-and 82% of the trans people murdered were women of color.

The Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC) works to provide access, opportunities, and a supportive community for trans and gender non-conforming people of color, but especially Black trans women and femmes.

Audre Lorde Project (ALP) is a New York-based organization that focuses on community organizing for LGBTQ+ individuals of color.

You can support ALP by donating, volunteering, or becoming a member.

The Atlanta-based organization and its staff, which mainly consists of Black women, provides preventive education and outreach to help women of color fight against HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. One of the group's initiatives includes a coalition of women's health advocates and health care providers who work to educate and provide access to PrEp for women of color.

Sister Love accepts volunteers and interns who want to help support its mission.

Black Girls Code (BGC) is on a mission to get more Black women working in computer programming, a field in which they are chronically underrepresented.

Since 2011, the organization has brought workshops and after-school programs to various communities to provide computer coding lessons to young girls. And BGC hopes to teach one million Black girls how to code by the year 2040.

You can help BGC reach its goal by donating or volunteering your time.

The organization seeks to build community among all members of the African diaspora by encouraging Black immigrants and African Americans to work together to achieve social and economic justice.

Founded in 2006, BAJI organizes dialogues between members of the diaspora and has initiated campaigns in places like New York, Georgia, California, and Arizona.

Outside of attending local events, you can support BAJI by donating or purchasing some of its merchandise.

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Where to Donate For George Floyd Protests, Black Social Justice Organizations

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The incident, which occurred last Monday, May 25th, was just one of a string of similar situations to make headlines in recent months and shows a more than troubling pattern in our criminal justice system-that it targets Black people disproportionately, and often results in unnecessary violence.

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10 Easy Ways to Help Protect Marine Life

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10 Easy Ways to Help Protect Marine Life

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https://www.thoughtco.com/easy-ways-to-help-marine-life-2291549

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10 Easy Ways to Help Protect Marine Life

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All of our actions impact the ocean and the marine life it holds. Discover how you can help protect marine life no matter where you live.

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Marine Ecology, Human Impacts, & Conservation

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Marine Ecology, Human Impacts, & Conservation

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https://www.nationalgeographic.org/unit/marine-ecology-human-impacts-conservation/

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Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Editors

Julie Brown, National Geographic Society
Anne Haywood, Program Consultant, Environmental & Geographic Education
Christina Riska Simmons
Elizabeth Wolzak, National Geographic Society

National Geographic Program

2010 National Teacher Leadership Institute: Oceans

Other

Special thanks to the educators who participated in National Geographic's 2010-2011 National Teacher Leadership Academy (NTLA), for testing activities in their classrooms and informing the content for all of the Ocean: Marine Ecology, Human Impacts, and Conservation resources.

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& conservation tagged with marine ecosystems

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& conservation tagged with marine protected areas (mpas)

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& conservation tagged with human-environment interaction

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& conservation tagged with pristine seas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
& conservation tagged with ocean conservation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
& conservation tagged with marine ecology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Marine Ecology, Human Impacts, & Conservation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

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https://marinemammalscience.org/facts/pusa-hispida/

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The ringed seal ( Pusa hispida) is an earless seal inhabiting the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. The ringed seal is a relatively small seal, rarely greater than 1.5 m in length, with a distinctive patterning of dark spots surrounded by light grey rings, hence its common name. It is the most abundant and wide-ranging ice seal in the Northern Hemisphere, ranging throughout the Arctic Ocean, into the Bering Sea and Okhotsk Sea as far south as the northern coast of Japan in the Pacific and throughout the North Atlantic coasts of Greenland and Scandinavia as far south as Newfoundland, and including two freshwater subspecies in northern Europe. Ringed seals are one of the primary prey of polar bears and killer whales, and have long been a component of the diet of indigenous people of the Arctic.

Ringed seals are the smallest and most abundant member of the seal family that live in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions. The average life span of a ringed seal is 40 years, with a diet based mainly on Arctic cod and planktonic crustaceans. Typically about 1.5 metres (5 ft) long, the ringed seal is known to be solitary with their main predator being polar bears. Recently, however, the biggest threat to ringed seals has been the changing temperature in the Arctic and the detrimental changes to sea ice that follow. With declines in snowpack and sea ice due to warming ocean and atmospheric temperatures, survival has become tougher for ringed seals in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions. Yet ringed seals are also potentially projected to thrive due to warming, considering the early extinction of their predators.

The ringed seal is the smallest and most common seal in the Arctic, with a small head, short cat-like snout, and a plump body. Its coat is dark with silver rings on the back and sides with a silver belly, giving this seal its vernacular name.[2] Depending on subspecies and condition, adult size can range from 100 to 175 cm (39.5 to 69 in) and weigh from 32 to 140 kg (71 to 309 lb).[3] The seal averages about 5 ft (1.5 m) long with a weight of about 50-70 kg (110-150 lb).[4] This species is usually considered the smallest species in the true seal family, although several related species, especially the Baikal seal, may approach similarly diminutive dimensions. Their small front flippers have claws more than 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick that are used to maintain breathing holes through 6.5 ft (2.0 m) thick ice.[4]

The taxonomy of ringed seal has been much debated and revised in the literature. Due to its wide range, as many as ten subspecies have been described.[5] Currently, five distinct subspecies are recognized: P. h. hispida in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea, P. h. ochotensis in the Sea of Okhotsk, P. h. saimensis in Lake Saimaa in Finland, P. h. ladogensis in nearby Lake Ladoga in Russia and P.h. botnica in the Gulf of Bothnia.[2] The ringed seal is most closely related to the Caspian seal ( P. caspica) and Baikal seal ( P. sibirica), all of which share similar small sizes, features of skull morphology and affinity for ice.[2]

The closest phylogenetic relatives to the genus Pusa are the grey seal ( Halichoerus grypus) and the species in the genus Phoca (the harbor seal and largha seal), in which ringed seals were formerly classified.[6] Together with the remaining northern latitude ice seals ( ribbon seal, bearded seal, harp seal and hooded seal), these seals constitute the subfamily Phocinae.[6]

The populations living in different areas have evolved to separate subspecies, which are currently recognized as:[2]

Image

Subspecies

Distribution

Pusa hispida hispida
Arctic coasts of Europe, Russia, Canada and Alaska, including Novaya Zemlya, Spitsbergen, Greenland and Baffin Island.

Pusa hispida ochotensis
Kamchatka, Okhotsk Sea and southward to 35°N, along the Japanese Pacific coast.

Pusa hispida botnica(validity questionable[7])

The Baltic Sea, especially in the Bothnian Bay where there is a large population, but there are also populations in the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga and the Archipelago Sea.[8] A publication from the HELCOM organisation classified P. h. botnica as ' vulnerable' in 2013.[9]

Pusa hispida ladogensis ( Ladoga seal)

Lake Ladoga

Pusa hispida saimensis ( Saimaa ringed seal)

Lives only in Lake Saimaa in Finland and is one of the most threatened seals in the world with a total population of around 400 individuals.[10]

The three last subspecies are isolated from the others, like the closely related Baikal seal and Caspian seal.

Ringed seals occur throughout the Arctic Ocean. They can be found in the Baltic Sea, the Bering Sea and the Hudson Bay. They prefer to rest on ice floe and will move farther north for denser ice. Two subspecies, P. h. saimensis and ladogensis, can be found in freshwater.

Ringed seals have a circumpolar distribution from approximately 35°N to the North Pole, occurring in all seas of the Arctic Ocean. In the North Pacific, they are found in the southern Bering Sea and range as far south as the seas of Okhotsk and Japan. Throughout their range, ringed seals have an affinity for ice-covered waters and are well adapted to occupying seasonal and permanent ice. They tend to prefer large floes (i.e., > 48 m in diameter) and are often found in the interior ice pack where the sea ice coverage is greater than 90%. They remain in contact with ice most of the year and pup on the ice in late winter-early spring.[11]

Ringed seals are found throughout the Beaufort, Chukchi, and Bering Seas, as far south as Bristol Bay in years of extensive ice coverage. During late April through June, ringed seals are distributed throughout their range from the southern ice edge northward. Preliminary results from recent surveys conducted in the Chukchi Sea in May-June 1999 and 2000 indicate that ringed seal density is higher in nearshore fast and pack ice, and lower in offshore pack ice. Results of surveys conducted by Frost and Lowry (1999) indicate that, in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea, the density of ringed seals in May-June is higher to the east than to the west of Flaxman Island. The overall winter distribution is probably similar, and it is believed there is a net movement of seals northward with the ice edge in late spring and summer. Thus, ringed seals occupying the Bering and southern Chukchi seas in winter apparently are migratory, but details of their movements are unknown.[11]

Ringed seals reside in arctic waters and are commonly associated with ice floes and pack ice.[4] The ringed seal maintains a breathing hole in the ice thus allowing it to use ice habitat that other seals cannot.

Females reach sexual maturity at 4 years while males do not reach maturity until 7 years old.[4] During the spring breeding season, females construct lairs within the thick ice and give birth in these structures. Females give birth to a single pup on ice floes or shorefast ice in March or April after a 9-month gestation period. Pups are weaned after one month[4] and build up a thick layer of blubber.

Females usually begin mating in late April.[4] Males will roam the ice for a mate. When found, the male and female may spend several days together before mating. Then the male looks for another mate.

Ringed seals live about 25 to 30 years.[4] They are solitary animals and when hauled out on ice separate themselves from each other by hundreds of yards.[4]

Ringed seals eat a wide variety of small prey that consists of 72 species of fish and invertebrates. Feeding is usually a solitary behavior and their prey of choice includes mysids, shrimp, arctic cod, and herring. While feeding, ringed seals dive to depths of 35 to 150 ft (11 to 46 m).[4] In the summer ringed seals feed along edge of the sea-ice for polar cod. In shallow water they feed on smaller cod. Ringed seals may also eat herring, smelt, whitefish, sculpin, perch, and crustaceans.

Ringed seal are an important food item in particular for polar bears.[12] During the pupping season, Arctic fox and glaucous gulls take ringed seal pups born outside lairs while killer whales, Greenland sharks and occasionally Atlantic walruses prey upon them in the water.[13]

Ringed seals have long been an important component of the diet of Arctic indigenous peoples throughout their range, and continue to be harvested annually by many communities.[4] Early Paleoeskimo sites in Arctic Canada revealed signs of harvested ringed seals dating from c. 4000-3500 BP, likely captured in frozen cracks and leads in the ice, with a selection for juveniles and young adults.[14]

In 2012 the Government of Nunavut warned pregnant women to avoid eating ringed seal liver due to elevated levels of mercury, although they stressed eating traditional "country food" is still healthy for adults.[15]

Bycatch in fishing gear, such as commercial trawls, is a threat to ringed seals. Climate change is potentially the most serious threat to ringed seal populations since much of their habitat is dependent upon pack ice.[4]

The estimated population size for the Alaska stock of ringed seals is 249,000 animals. In 2010 the trend in numbers for this population was unknown.[4] Ringed seals are listed as a species of "least concern" by the IUCN,[1] and were considered 'not threatened' under the Endangered Species Act in 2006. Reliable estimates of the minimum population, potential biological removal and human-caused mortality were not available in 2006. The level of annual U.S. commercial fishery-related mortality or injury was considered insignificant. The Alaska stock of ringed seals is not considered a strategic fishery stock.[11] In 2008 the US National Marine Fisheries Service began a conservation status review under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to determine if listing this seal under the ESA is warranted.[16]

Ringed seals reside within 35°N and the North Pole, and are thus known as a circumpolar based species. Climate change is projected to affect both polar regions more than anywhere else. This means a changing climate and life for all those residing in these polar regions. As for ringed seals, two potential outcomes lie ahead in this ever-changing climate.

In the past decade, the Arctic region has faced some of its highest temperatures within the instrumental record. Furthermore, within the past 2000 years, summer temperature highs have never been harsher, based on paleo-climate reconstructions.[17] This warming is due to climate feedback mechanisms based on sea-ice melt. As sea ice melts, it frees up more open ocean water to be further heated, thus bringing about a positive feedback. Ocean water retains more heat than sea ice; additionally the albedo of sea ice is much higher than that of ocean water. Ringed seals require sea ice to live and reproduce. They live most of their lives alone, only grouping together into colonies when they are on sea ice to molt, mate, or rest.[18] Without access to sea ice, ringed seals are unable to sustain life, which further affects trophic levels both above and below. Ringed seals are both predators and prey. A predator to zooplankton and fish, the ringed seal is considered a primary consumer as well as a secondary consumer. But the tertiary consumer, or top predator, in the Arctic is the polar bear, feeding mostly on seals, including the ringed seal. Yet through further exploration, the potential fates of this Arctic food web seem to be ambiguous, leading to a very important trade off of polar bear mortality and ringed seal sustenance.[19]

Most research on ringed seals is focused on their requirement of sea-ice to live and reproduce. With climate change projected to occur most dramatically at the poles, the Arctic is fated to change extremely mainly with the melting of ice and changes in snowfall. Ferguson et al.[20] studied ringed seal recruitment in western Hudson Bay with a focus on six environmental variables, including: snow depth, snowfall, rainfall, the temperature when pups were born, North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) mechanisms, and lastly the spring break-up. The results of Ferguson et al. determined that decreases in snowfall had a negative effect on ringed seal recruitment, most likely from the occurrence of earlier break up of sea ice. The main process driving this break up is albedo, with less snowfall and more ocean exposed the ice melts more quickly. With seal pups being forced into the water sooner due to lack of ice, recruitment numbers drops and result in a downward trend of the population. Ringed seals are not the only animals that require sea-ice in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic to thrive. Trophic levels come into play in terms of the food web and the reliance of one population on another or many others for survival. Most of this research is actually studied through simulations, since this requires future projections and interactions between many population, physical ocean, and biological mechanisms. Meier et al.[21] studied current and future projections of climate in regards to sea-ice in the Baltic Sea by means of atmosphere-ocean models. Firstly, the ringed seal relies on sea-ice for breeding and is unable to breed on land, meaning, as ice melts away in the future, breeding grounds will become much scarcer. It was determined that only one bay, Bothnia Bay in the Baltic Sea, will be able to be used by ringed seals for breeding, vastly limiting their options. It was further determined that ringed seals are only able to be successful with strained conditions in areas of 90%-100% ice cover probability. (Meier et al. 2004) The changes in ice scarcity projected for the future seem to greatly hinder the ability for ringed seals to reproduce in the Baltic Sea. Hoover et al.[19] looked at multiple marine populations in the Hudson Bay while factoring in both simulated current and higher harvest rates, ultimately determining that ringed seals are identified to increase in population. This is mostly due to the decrease in polar bear populations, the main predator to the ringed seal. Even with a doubling of harvest rates and under the high (A1B) climate scenario, the ringed seals were determined to thrive even more. Hoover et al. further determined that the ringed seal's large presence as a circumpolar population along with unspecialized feeding makes the ringed seal less sensitive compared with other Arctic land and marine species. One of the final general conclusions made by Hoover et al. stated that while many current harvested populations will decrease with proposed climate change, ringed seals should be considered for redirecting harvest towards their populations.

The ringed seal is a very important link in the food chain, separating primary producers from primary predators. Historically the ringed seal was the most abundant of any other seals in the Arctic, yet this species has had its share of population slumps. First there was over-harvesting of the ringed seal, drastically dropping numbers from about 200,000 in 1900 to only 4,000 in the 1970s. Secondly, pollution from organochlorides due to DDT and other residues caused many Arctic marine mammals including the ringed seal to become sterile. Sterility still affects many marine mammals living in the Arctic, being a mechanism of bioaccumulation within the Arctic food web.[21] The ringed seal is not fragile considering their past, yet climate change will have the greatest population effect on the ringed seals thus far due to anthropogenic causes.

The future of ringed seal populations in the Arctic and Sub Arctic is uncertain, but two main projections surface based around habitat and predators. The first projection focuses on the direct effects of climate change on sea-ice and the limited environment that it will provide the ringed seal with. The majority of past research has been focused around this main idea of quicker melting sea ice leading to lower ringed seal populations from lack of breeding areas. Yet what most research has not also taken into account is the quick drop in polar bear populations. As the main predator of ringed seals, the polar bear's extinction in the coming years will allow for ringed seal populations to flourish. In the end, ringed seals are estimated to thrive with no polar bears present in the Arctic and Sub Arctic.[19] Although this predator factor is involved with more recent research, it does not necessarily mean this will be the outcome, considering the uncertainty in such projections. Overall, ringed seals populations will fluctuate regardless of each potential outcome and climate change is certain to affect not only the ringed seal but all Arctic and Sub Arctic animal populations.

This article incorporates public domain work of the United States Government from references.[4][11]

1. ^ Lowry, L. (2016). "Pusa hispida". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T41672A45231341. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T41672A45231341.en.

2. ^ Miyazaki, Nobuyuki (2009). "Ringed, Caspian and Baikal Seals". In Perrin, William F.; Wursig, Bernd; Thewissen, J. G. M. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Academic Press. pp. 1033-1036. ISBN 978-0-12-373553-9. Archived from the original on 2009-11-09.

3. ^ [1] (2011).

4. ^ Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries. "Ringed Seal (Phoca hispida)". accessed 11 March 2010.

5. ^ Masao Amano; Azusa Hayano & Nobuyuki Miyazaki (2002). "Geographic variation in the skull of the ringed seal Pusa hispida". Journal of Mammalogy. 83 (2): 370-380. doi:10.1644/1545-1542(2002)083<0370:GVITSO>2.0.CO;2.

6. ^ Corey S. Davis; Isabelle Delisle; Ian Stirling; Donald B. Siniff & Curtis Strobeck (2004). "A phylogeny of the extant Phocidae inferred from complete mitochondrial DNA coding regions". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 33 (2): 370-380. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.06.006. PMID 15336671.

7. ^ Berta, A. & Churchill, M. (2012). "Pinniped Taxonomy: evidence for species and subspecies". Mammal Review. 42 (3): 207-234. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2907.2011.00193.x.

8. ^ Meier, H. E Markus; Döscher, Ralf; Halkka, Antti (2004). "Simulated Distributions of Baltic Sea-ice in Warming Climate and Consequences for the Winter Habitat of the Baltic Ringed Seal". AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment. Allen Press. 33 (4): 249-256. doi:10.1579/0044-7447-33.4.249. PMID 15264604. S2CID 198154591.

9. ^ HELCOM (2013). "HELCOM Red List of Baltic Sea species in danger of becoming extinct" (PDF). Baltic Sea Environmental Proceedings (140): 92. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-07.

10. ^ "Saimaa Ringed Seal".

11. ^ Angliss R. P. & Outlaw R. B. (Revised 15 May 2006) "Ringed Seal (Phoca hispida): Alaska Stock". "Alaska Marine Mammal Stock Assessments". NOAA Technical Memorandum AFSC 168: 51-55.

12. C. Michael Hogan (2008) ^ Polar Bear: Ursus maritimus, globalTwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg Archived 2012-03-08 at the Wayback Machine

13. ^ Bjørn A. Krafft; Kit M. Kovacs; Anne Kirstine Frie; Tore Haug & Christian Lydersen (2006). "Growth and population parameters of ringed seals (Pusa hispida) from Svalbard, Norway, 2002-2004". ICES Journal of Marine Science. 63 (6): 1136-1144. doi:10.1016/j.icesjms.2006.04.001.

14. Murray, M. S. (2005). "Prehistoric Use of Ringed Seals: A zooarchaeological Study from Arctic Canada". ^ Environmental Archaeology 10 (1): 19-38

15. ^ Study says ringed seal liver dangerous for pregnant women

16. (28 March 2008). ^ "Proposed Rules". Federal Register 73(61).

17. ^ Olsen, M. S.; Callaghan, T. V.; Reist, J. D.; Reiersen, L. O.; Dahl-Jensen, D.; Granskog, M. A.; Goodison, B.; Hovelsrud, G. K.; Johansson, M.; Kallenborn, R.; Key, J.; Klepikov, A.; Meier, W.; Overland, J. E.; Prowse, T. D.; Sharp, M.; Vincent, W. F.; Walsh, J. (2011). "The changing arctic cryosphere and likely consequences: An overview". AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment. 40 (sp1): 111-118. doi:10.1007/s13280-011-0220-y. PMC 3357772.

18. Ringed seal - Phoca hispida. (2013). Retrieved from ^ http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/ringed-seal/

19. ^ Hoover, C (2013). "Effects of hunting, fishing and climate change on the Hudson bay marine ecosystem: Ii. Ecosystem model future projections". Ecological Modelling. 264: 143-156. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2013.01.010.

20. ^ Ferguson, S. H.; Stirling, I.; McLoughlin, P. (2005). "Climate Change and Ringed Seal (Phoca hispida) Recruitment in Western Hudson Bay". Marine Mammal Science. 21: 121-135. doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2005.tb01212.x.

21. ^ Meier (2004). "Simulated distributions of baltic sea-ice in warming climate and consequences for the winter habitat of the Baltic ringed seal". AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment. 33 (4): 249-256. doi:10.1579/0044-7447-33.4.249. PMID 15264604. S2CID 198154591.

M. S. Olsen, T. V. Callaghan, J. D. Reist, L. O. Reiersen, D. Dahl-Jensen, M. A. Granskog, B. Goodison, G. K. Hovelsrud, M. Johansson, R. Kallenborn, J. Key, A. Klepikov, W. Meier, J. E. Overland, T. D. Prowse, M. Sharp, W. F. Vincent, J. Walsh.

(2011). The changing arctic cryosphere and likely consequences: An overview. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 40(sp1), 111-118. doi: 10.1007/s13280-011-0220-y.

Ringed seal - Phoca hispida. (2013). Retrieved from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/ringed-seal/

Hoover, C (2013). "Effects of hunting, fishing and climate change on the Hudson bay marine ecosystem: Ii. Ecosystem model future projections". Ecological Modelling. 264: 143-156. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2013.01.010.

Ferguson, S. H.; Stirling, I.; McLoughlin, P. (2005). "Climate Change and Ringed Seal (Phoca hispida) Recruitment in Western Hudson Bay". Marine Mammal Science. 21: 121-135. doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2005.tb01212.x.

Meier (2004). "Simulated distributions of baltic sea-ice in warming climate and consequences for the winter habitat of the baltic ringed seal". AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment. 33 (4): 249-256. doi:10.1579/0044-7447-33.4.249. PMID 15264604. S2CID 198154591.

Landis, C. (2009, May). The Arctic Ocean: Water surrounded by land. Retrieved from http://beyondpenguins.ehe.osu.edu/issue/polar-oceans/poles-apart-a-tale-of-two-oceans

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Pusa hispida - Society for Marine Mammalogy

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The ringed seal ( Pusa hispida) is an earless seal inhabiting the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. The ringed seal is a relatively small seal, rarely greater than 1.5 m in length, with a distinctive patterning of dark spots surrounded by light grey rings, hence its common name.

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https://www.cio.com/article/228581/diversity-and-inclusion-8-best-practices-for-changing-your-culture.html

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Recruiting a team without assuring that they will be included by your culture is a waste of your resources and efforts.

"When people find an excellent position, interview, join, and realize the culture is not making space for them, it is a monumental waste of effort - on both sides," says Shapiro.

3. Encourage people to tell their story

A great place to start on this journey is to create forums - Slack groups, employee resource groups, events, and educational opportunities - that establish environments where people can tell their stories.

"If we encourage safe forums for speaking up, we can create a sensitive and mature approach to discussing injustice," says Nichelle Grant, head of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Siemens USA. "We can create a dialogue that strengthens our organizational culture and builds a more resilient organization as a whole."

This can be simple to implement and powerful: Invite experts to speak about topics around equity or that throw a spotlight on diverse experiences. Create forums where people can tell their own story and where people are encouraged to listen and respond.

"When you share stories, people automatically sit up and listen," explains Shapiro. "They find a way to connect their own stories and their own experiences with the stories and experiences you're sharing. At Reaktor we have open DEI meetings that end up as storytelling sessions. We also do education sessions when there are topics people want to talk about."

For example, explains Shapiro, "We found an expert on neurodiversity and asked him to speak. The purpose was to educate us on the basics of neurodiversity. But there was also a question-and-answer session where people were buzzing, typing in lots of questions." That level of interest and curiosity led to Reaktor employees starting a dedicated Slack channel for neurodiversity matters, a safe space for neurodivergent people and advocates to come together. "That is a rich and active place now," she says.

Creating these channels of inclusion are important for the people who are already there, but they also go a long way towards creating a place that is welcoming to new team members. If a neurodiverse person - or a black woman or trans man - arrives and discovers a Slack channel or an employee resource group already exists with a rich community of like people talking openly to each other, they are more likely to feel welcome.

4. Make leaders accountable to your DEI goals

Managers have an outsized influence on the experience of people on their team so it's important that they hear these stories around diversity and inclusion, too. Unfortunately, leaders are often the last to hear from discontent team members, especially if they are seen as the problem. Leaders are gatekeepers for promotion, so when they make decisions that are influenced by unconscious bias, it has a ripple effect on the culture.

The HBR story found that for DEI goals to succeed, executives and leaders must be held accountable to them. Yet most DEI plans don't do this. Only 28% of companies hold C-suite executives accountable for progress against the DEI strategy, 23% for pay equity, 12% for gender diversity, and 5% for racial and ethnic diversity. A mere 7% of companies hold execs accountable for gender diversity in promotions, and 5% are accountabe for racial and ethnic diversity in promotions.

Having a clear process and stated criteria for advancement, too, according to a report from Culture Amp, can move responsibility and decision-making power away from managers so employees believe that bias will not stand between them and opportunities.

"One thing that has been successful for us is to work with leaders and get them ready to hear things that don't match their current beliefs," says McCalla. "It can be hard for skilled, competent, successful leaders who have been around to accept the understanding of systemic oppression - how different identities work. It is hard, especially for those leaders. It is an extra layer of complexity and yet this is the leadership skill for the 21st century."

John Marcante, CIO-in-residence at Deloitte, experienced how hard it is to see the world through a lens that is not your own at an employer-hosted diversity and inclusion event when he was the CIO at Vanguard. "I sat next to a Black executive, and we started sharing stories," he says. "At the time, my son was learning to drive. We got into a conversation about the stories Black parents tell their sons - especially about keeping their hands on the wheel and not reaching for the glove compartment - as an officer approaches the car. I've never taught my son anything like that. It hit me so hard. That was my first understanding that life is very different."

And understanding how different the lens is for underrepresented groups is a great start. No one can be passionate and engaged in solving a problem they can't see.

"I think about this as building a practice where I am weaving in behaviors and actions with intention into everything I do, so that it's part of my job," explains Libby Maurer, vice president of user experience at HubSpot. "If we're not doing that, this is just an extra thing on your checklist that doesn't yield an inclusive environment."

5. Create ways for people to say what's wrong

People who experience bias are often hesitant to tell leaders what's wrong. Overcoming the feeling that nothing will be done about it, that there will be backlash against them, and that speaking up is dangerous to their career is an integral part of living life as an underrepresented group. "Finding avenues for people to speak directly to you while removing any potential backlash that they might feel is so important," says Shapiro.

Even something as simple as an anonymous Google form where people can say what's going on can help. Even better? Solicit feedback through anonymous surveys and feedback tools so that you aren't waiting for someone to experience extreme dissatisfaction before they find the courage to speak.

"We have many listening posts and feedback channels to listen for inclusion issues, lack of inclusion, and a lack of safe environment," says Maurer. Without those sorts of listening posts, and even perhaps with them, you will rely heavily on exit interviews to course correct your efforts.

Solicit feedback in those exit interviews and encourage exiting employees to be candid and you will get better data to measure against your goals, change your culture or leaders, expand DEI programs, and clarify systems around pay, equity, and advancement.

"We have an entire system when folks decide to leave," says Maurer. "So, we can get deep into the drivers for why they made that decision."

6. Examine the rules and assumption that define your culture

Because life is so different for different slices of the population, it's important to examine policies and cultural norms that enforce one culture while excluding others. If you have a dress code, ban things like tattoos or piercings, or require people to come to the office at specific times, you may be excluding members of underrepresented communities that you want to hire or be preventing them from bringing their entire self to work, which makes for an exhausting workplace for them.

"How can you encourage people to be authentic if you're not allowing them to show off their tattoos or piercings and things like that?" asks Adriana Gascoigne, founder and CEO at Girls in Tech. "Do you enable people to be themselves when it comes to their thoughts and feelings? Do you encourage them to generate ideas and come to brainstorms and say what they feel? That is all part of being authentic."

Most people from underrepresented groups can tell stories about having to change, or hide, who they are to survive or be considered for opportunities and advancement.

"Starting my career at a high-profile social networking company, back in 2008 and 2009, I would go into something I called man mode," says Gascoigne. "I was climbing the ladder, surrounded by men. The only way I could be respected was if I wore pantsuits, talked in a lower voice, didn't say anything funny, and was very curt. I had to have lots of slides with numbers and stats. This is very different than who I am as a person."

Women who fight through that bias to find success are often asked to start all over if they have a child and return to a workplace where maternal bias, the assumption that they are less committed because they are mothers, is rampant.

Overall, women leave the workforce - especially those in leadership roles - in much higher numbers than men. If your data shows a high attrition rate for women, those women know why they are leaving.

"I'll guarantee you they know why," says McCalla, as do all underrepresented people who leave. "Maybe you should listen to that why?"

7. Give the DEI leader a seat at the table

In the past five years, there has been a 71% increase worldwide in all DEI roles, according to LinkedIn data. But the HBR study found that work still needs to be done when it comes to listening to the DEI team. It found that 58% of companies have a budget dedicated to DEI but only 21% have a senior role dedicated to this effort. Only 9% have a DEI leader who sits at the same level as other executives. And only 12% of those DEI leaders have a team working for them. The Culture Amp report found that only 34% of DEI leaders reported that they had adequate resources.

Often the DEI role is part of the HR team or an independent person with little say or resources. Empower your diversity people, listen to them, and give them people to help execute against their plan. That will give your DEI effort, according to a recent Time report, "an enterprise-wide mindset and a seat at the decision-making table."

"Companies can't just talk about their mission around diversity, equity, and inclusion," says Marcante. "We have to be adamant about getting the message out that we are committed to diversity - at all levels of the company. We are committed to transparency and equal pay. Actions matter, too. Are the senior leaders sponsoring employee resource groups and diverse talent? Does the diverse talent in the organization get access to senior leaders?" How diverse is your senior leadership team? "That's the only way we change this."

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Diversity and inclusion: 7 best practices for changing your culture

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A team that's diverse and inclusive leads to better outcomes in all areas of business: from recruitment and retention to product development. Here's how to tune your D&I efforts so they work.

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https://www.whalefacts.org/melon-headed-whale-facts/

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With a length of around 10 ft. long, the melon-headed whale is considered a mid-sized dolphin. This dolphin species prefers swimming in warm waters and can be found living throughout the tropical/subtropical oceans of the world.

Although their name refers to them as whales, they are actually part of the dolphin family and are closely related to the pygmy killer whale, which is also a dolphin. The melon-headed whale is known to congregate into large pods of 100 - 1000 dolphins frequently and may be seen swimming alongside other species of dolphins.

Physical Characteristics and Appearance

When fully grown, the melon-headed whale can reach lengths of nearly 10 ft. long and weigh over 450 lbs. These dolphins have an oval-shaped body that tapers towards the flukes, and the head resembles the shape of melon and is triangular in nature as it runs towards the mouth.

The dorsal fin is a little large, triangular, and tapered back in nature near the middle of the back. The flippers are also tapered back and somewhat sickle-shaped along with the dolphin's sides. In terms of color, they have a gray-colored body from the neck to the flukes and a darker gray face, while the belly area may appear to be a light gray to white coloring.

Diet and Hunting Methods

These dolphins are known to consume several different fish and squid. They may also occasionally consume various crustaceans.

When it comes to hunting for food at night or in dark areas, these dolphins are equipped with echolocation. They can bounce sounds off of objects in the area to determine the location, size, density, speed, and direction of the objects surrounding them.

Their echolocation is so advanced that they can easily determine whether the objects in their environment are food, a predator, or an inanimate object. Given their large pod sizes, they are likely to hunt in groups and use echolocation to organize hunting parties.

Habitat and Migration

The melon-headed whale prefers living away from the coastline traveling throughout the world's tropical and subtropical climates. They have been spotting in several different locations such as South Africa, Southern England, Hawaii, Ireland, and the Philippines, among other tropical/subtropical regions. These marine mammals aren't known to perform long migration trips regarding migration.

Social Structure and Communication

The melon-headed whale communicates using various high-pitched clicks and whistles to socialize and share interests with other dolphins. As a species, these marine mammals are a very social group known to travel in large pods of 100 - 1000 dolphins commonly.

During certain aggregations, pods may grow to include several thousand dolphins. When traveling in pods, these marine mammals have been known to change course in unison in repeated sessions during their travels.

While they tend to shy away from large boats and other scary objects, they display some active behaviors. For example, dolphins that feel they are in a comfortable and safe area may be seen making repeated shallow leaps, breaching the water, spy-hopping, or bow-riding for short distances behind some boats in areas that aren't overly commercialized. They have also been spotted traveling and interacting with other dolphins in their local habitat.

Some of these other species may include bottlenose dolphins, Fraser's dolphins, spinner dolphins, and spotted dolphins. Depending on their location, some dolphins have been spotted spending most of their day resting at or near the surface of the water in a fairly inactive manner.

It is suggested that their behavior may differ in different environments based on pod behavior and human interaction. Given their large pod sizes, these marine mammals have also been observed performing large-scale stranding's where as many as 50 dolphins may end up beaching themselves on land or in shallow waters. Some researchers suggest that noise pollution may cause some of these beachings.

Breeding and Reproduction

The average gestation period for the melon-headed whale is assumed to be around 11 - 12 months. After birth, the female dolphin will nurse her child by feeding it milk until it can hunt and survive independently.

The age of sexual maturity, reproduction habits, and the average number of children that the female melon-headed whale produces are unknown. However, some information suggests that females reach sexual maturity between the ages of 10 - 12 while males apparently reach sexual maturity around 15. These dolphins are believed to have an average lifespan of at least 30 years, with males living 5 - 10 years less than their female counterparts.

Threats

The melon-headed whale is known to face several humans threats, which may include:

Bycatch

Hunting

Waste/chemical pollution

Noise pollution

Bycatch - Bycatch occurs when a melon-headed whale swims into a fishing net intended to capture fish (usually on commercial fishing hunts) and gets unintentionally caught in the net where it drowns due to its inability to resurface for fresh air.

In some cases, a dolphin may end assume it has found an easy source of prey (the fish captured in the net), or it may end up swimming into the net because it didn't realize it was there. In either case, this can lead to death as the dolphin cannot rise back to the surface.

Hunting - It is believed that melon-headed whales may be hunted by poachers interested in either selling their meat for human consumption or using the dolphin's meat as a form of bait for capturing others ocean prey.

Waste/chemical pollution - In commercial areas, the melon-headed whale may come into contact or be affected by waste and/or chemical pollution. These forms of pollution can directly affect the dolphin's health, affect the dolphin's food, or cause complications with reproductive behavior and birth.

Noise pollution - It is often suggested that noise pollution from human-made tools and noisy machinery (i.e., planes, sonar, explosives, etc..) may interfere with the dolphin's echolocation and sense of hearing. These noises can cause dolphins to lose their sense of direction and may even cause tissue damage to the marine mammal's ears and brain.

As the earth becomes more noisy, growing concerns regarding the potential effects this is having on marine mammals are continuing to escalate, leading to new research studies on the topic of noise pollution. It is unknown whether these marine mammals face threats from sharks or other large predatory ocean animals regarding natural predators.

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With a length of around 10 ft. long, the melon-headed whale is considered a mid-sized dolphin. This dolphin species prefers swimming in warm waters and can be found living throughout the tropical/subtropical oceans of the world. Although their name refers to them as whales, they are actually part of the dolphin family and are closely ...

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The Reality of Being a Black Woman in America

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The Reality of Being a Black Woman in America

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https://www.rutgers.edu/news/reality-being-black-woman-america

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Deborah Gray White, celebrated for groundbreaking research that gave a voice to enslaved black women, talks about life today

Deborah Gray White, Distinguished Professor of History and professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers-New Brunswick, understands what successful African-American women - and all black women - are up against.

Before the Women's Marches and the #MeToo and Time's Up movements made headlines and brought issues of women's rights back to the forefront, Rutgers scholars had been working for decades as ardent advocates through their research, teaching and outreach. Over the next several weeks, Rutgers Today will be highlighting many of the women whose work is making a noticeable impact.
It would seem to be cause for unequivocal celebration. If you sort Americans by gender and ethnicity and look at the percentage of each group attending some form of higher education, you'll see that African-American women are enrolled in college at a higher percentage than any other group. And yet Deborah Gray White isn't celebrating - yet. "Sometimes," she says, "the more success you have, the more threatening you appear."

White is more than conversant with success. She's a Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History, a professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, and a former chair of the Department of History at the School of Arts and Sciences. She codirected " The Black Atlantic: Race, Nation and Gender" project at the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis, was a research professor at the Rutgers Institute for Research on Women, and is chair of the Rutgers University Committee on Enslaved and Disenfranchised Populations in Rutgers History.

She's written widely on the history of black women in America, and her monograph Ar'n't I a Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South was highly lauded and widely influential. It led to a new subject category ("Woman Slaves") in the Library of Congress and was voted as being among the 100 most admired American history books by the Organization of American Historians.

All of which makes her uniquely situated to understand what successful African-American women - and all black women - are up against. "People think it's only black men who appear threatening, and that's not the case," she says. "They [black women] have to be fearful of police brutality. They have to be concerned that they don't appear too aggressive." Go shopping, and you may be tracked as a potential shoplifter. Walk down the halls of your office, and your coworkers may wonder what right you have to be there.

"Sometimes," she says, "the more success you have, the more threatening you appear."

Citing a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she raises the issue of "weathering: the daily minutiae that black women have to deal with in terms of racism," she says-"weathering," because it wears you down. And so those promising educational statistics have to be weighed against the realities of day-to-day life for African-American women: they suffer from a different set, and a disproportionate number, of health problems; they're three times more likely than white women to die during pregnancy and/or childbirth; they're disproportionately single mothers (67 percent as opposed to 42 percent among Latinas and 25 percent among white women).

Black women have historically been viewed as promiscuous, which made getting legal recourse for rape virtually impossible. "As inconsistent as the law was in regards to white women," says White, "it was just totally nonexistent for black women." She notes that raping a black woman wasn't even against the law in the United States until after the Civil War.

Although White is celebrated for her research and writing on enslaved black women, she's also an acknowledged expert on African-American history in general, a fact evident in her publications, among them Freedom on My Mind, Volume I: A History of African Americans, With Documents; Let My People Go: African Americans 1804-1860; and Scarlet and Black, Volume I: Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History. The last book, which she co-edited with faculty member Marisa J. Fuentes, was the fruit of White's work as chair of the Committee on Enslaved and Disenfranchised Populations in Rutgers History (and the work, it should be noted, of the many Rutgers undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty who researched and wrote about the university's complex and often shadowy relationship with slavery).

Among the book's revelations are that a founder of Queen's College, Philip Livingston, was a slave trader and that Henry Rutgers, after whom the university was renamed, was a slaveholder. Both the college's first president, Jacob Hardenbergh, and its first tutor, Frederick Frelinghuysen, were slaveholders. Like most early American colleges, White pointed out at an event celebrating the book's publication in 2016, Rutgers depended on slaves to build its campuses and serve its students and faculty and it depended on the sale of black people to fund its existence.

As an initial redress against the ills revealed in Scarlet and Black, Rutgers followed the committee's urgings to change the name of New Brunswick's College Avenue Apartments to the Sojourner Truth Apartments, after the celebrated abolitionist and slave whose family was owned by relatives of Hardenbergh; to name the footpath between Old Queens and the Voorhees Mall Will's Way, after the slave who laid the foundation of Old Queens; and to rename the Kilmer Library on the Livingston campus after James Dickson Carr, Rutgers' first African-American graduate, who got his degree in 1892 and went on to Columbia Law School.

As to redress for historical (and current) ills against black women, White says she's hopeful about the future. She notes that it was black women-and LGBTQ women-who founded the movement known as Black Lives Matter. And a black woman was also the driving force behind the #MeToo movement. "These women," she says, "have stepped up and said, 'Hey, black lives matter, gay lives matter, they matter, and we're going to bring it all to the table."

Read the Rutgers Magazine #WeToo story profiling Rutgers scholars here.

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The Reality of Being a Black Woman in America

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Deborah Gray White, a Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History, is celebrated for her groundbreaking research that gave a voice to enslaved black women and an acknowledged expert on African-American history in general.

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https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/report/2020/the-power-of-black-community-from-moment-to-movement/

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2020 has been a year of life-changing moments. The COVID-19 pandemic, politics and racial injustice created moments that have affected every single American. For African Americans, the reckoning has extended beyond any single moment, becoming a matter of life and death.

Indeed, the Black Lives Matter movement is one that's affected every facet of American life. The power of the Black community has never been more evident to the wider American population. The New Black Renaissance shows us how Black creativity through content innovation across digital platforms has uplifted the community.

In our 10th year exploration of Black consumers, Nielsen pays tribute to the moments that make the movement. For big and small brands alike, we assume a great responsibility to help our clients respect Black audiences by making informed decisions that not only present a full mosaic of the community, but also reach beyond the surface to create opportunities for authentic connections.

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The Power of the Black Community: From Moment to Movement

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2020 has been a year of life-changing moments. The COVID-19 pandemic, politics and racial injustice created moments that have affected every single American. For African Americans, the reckoning has extended beyond any single moment, becoming a matter of life and death. Indeed, the Black Lives Matter movement is one that's affected every facet of American life.

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https://www.wnyc.org/story/extinct-gray-whale-population-may-reappear-atlantic/

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The Gray Whale Sneaks Back into the Atlantic, Two Centuries Later | Hypothesis | WNYC

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A researcher says gray whales used to roam back and forth between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Their reappearance off of Africa may be due to global warming.

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https://movies.disney.com/moana

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Three thousand years ago, the greatest sailors in the world voyaged across the vast Pacific, discovering the many islands of Oceania. But then, for a millennium, their voyages stopped, and no one knows why... Walt Disney Animation Studios' Moana is about an adventurous teenager who, with help from demigod Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) sails out on a daring mission to prove herself a master wayfinder and save her people.

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Moana convinces the mighty demigod Maui to join her mission, and he reluctantly helps her become a way finder like her...

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https://animalia.bio/ringed-seal

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Jar seal, Fjord seal, Netsik, Nattiq

Ringed seals are the smallest of the pinnipeds. The color of their coat is variable, but it is usually dark gray on the upperparts, while being light gray to silver underneath. Dark gray spots are ringed by silver or light grayish-white circles, which are clearer on the sides and back and often so close together that they fuse. A Ringed seal is plump with a small, round head and a thick, short neck. Its broad, blunt snout and large, forward-facing, close-set eyes give it an appearance that is almost cat-like. The front flippers are relatively small, with slightly pointed claws of more than one inch in thickness, used for maintaining breathing holes in thick ice. Their whiskers are beaded and light-colored. Males are usually slightly larger than females.

Distribution

Geography

Canada, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Sweden, United States, China, Show More Denmark, Faroe Islands, France, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom Show Less

Ringed seals inhabit the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Sea and the Okhotsk Sea as far to the south as Japan's northern coast in the Pacific, and the North Atlantic coastal parts of Scandinavia and Greenland and as far to the south as Newfoundland, including two freshwater subspecies which live in northern Europe. Ringed seals do not come to shore through much of their range. Instead, they live in Arctic waters and are typically found where there is pack ice and ice floes. Further south and in Lake Ladoga and Lake Saimaa these seals rest on rocks, offshore reefs and island shores when ice is absent.

Habits and Lifestyle

Ringed seals are diurnal, meaning they are active during the day. Adults are solitary except during the breeding season when they may establish their lairs closer to each other. In mid-May they begin to haul out up onto the ice to bask in the sun. They molt during this time and feed less. Ringed seals hunt on their own, and on the ice when resting they will keep away from others. They usually stay near to holes or cracks so that they can get quickly into the water if they need to. They make lairs from snow to protect themselves. Some of the seals migrate seasonally in response to the availability of ice, and there is some evidence of migration over long distances, particularly for juveniles.

Diet and Nutrition

Ringed seals are generalists and their diet includes a range of fish, crustaceans, cephalopods, euphausiids, amphipods, mysids and shrimp.

Mating Habits

Ringed seals are polygynous, one male mating with multiple females. The breeding season is from April to May. The females build lairs amongst the thick ice where they give birth. In March or April, after gestation of 9 months, they bear a single pup. They nurse their pups for 5 to 7 weeks, and, during this time, may move their pups between lairs, usually having 4 to 6 lairs. This allows pups to move independently from shelter to shelter when they are older, if they are attacked. Females usually bear pups between the ages of 6 and 8. Males typically do not breed until they are 8 to 10 years old.

Population

Population threats

Climate change is the greatest threat to Ringed seals. Being dependent upon an ice habitat, both ice and snow need to be stable enough in the spring to allow females to raise the pups in their lairs. But as Arctic ice is continuing to melt every year and the ice breaks up sooner, mothers may increasingly become separated from their pups prematurely, which increases the risk of predation and exposure. Furthermore, warm spring temperatures and spring rains can also cause the collapse of the roofs of lairs, with similar results. Other threats to these seals are pollution, disturbance, and getting tangled in fishing nets.

Population number

According to the IUCN Red List, the world-wide population size of Ringed seals is not accurately known and can be between 1,5 and 3 million mature individuals, including five recognized subspecies: Arctic Ringed Seal - 1,450,000, Okhotsk Ringed Seal - 44,000, Baltic Ringed Seal - 11,500, Ladoga Seal - 3,000-4,500, Saimaa Seal - 135-190. The world-wide population is currently classified as Least Concern (LC) mostly due to broad distribution of Arctic Ringed Seal subspecies.

Fun Facts for Kids

The Ringed seal is named for the small light-colored rings or circles scattered on its back throughout the darker hair.

The Ringed seal pup has woolly, thick, whitish fur when it is born, known as 'lanugo'. As it grows, its fur becomes finer and a little longer than that of adults, dark gray on the upperparts, and silver on the underside. The pups are known at this stage as 'silver jars'.

The Ringed seal is often seen blowing bubbles while it approaches the water's surface. This way it can check to see if a polar bear is there, which may respond to their presence. It is likely to go up for air if it doesn't get a message that there is such a threat.

Ringed seals live in places completely covered in ice, and so they make use of their sharp claws to form and maintain breathing holes in the ice, which may be as thick as 7 feet.

Males' faces are darker than those of females in the spring as the result of an oil gland secretion.

More Fascinating Animals to Learn About

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Jar seal, Fjord seal, Netsik, Nattiq Ringed seals are the smallest of the pinnipeds. The color of their coat is variable, but it is usually dark gray on the upperparts, while being light gray to silver underneath.

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https://archive.org/details/conflictcaringpr0000hutt

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139 pages ; 21 cm

This, then, is not just a book about conflict; it is also a book about caring. It is a book that explains why conflict develops, often among some of the finest people and in some of the best churches. What may be unique is that the book also suggests how conflict and caring interact. Caring is not only advocated, but described within various types of conflict. This is not an easy task. We often don't know of an appropriate expression of caring in a particular conflict

The reality of conflict -- The systems of conflict -- Approaches to conflict -- The conflict-prone church -- Overcoming conflict-proneness -- Trust building -- Communication in conflict -- Variant dynamics in conflict -- Varieties of conflict -- Working on the problems together -- Conflict and the law -- Pastoral support and accountability -- Ethics in conflict -- Conflict and scripture

Includes bibliographical references

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Conflict and caring : preventing, managing, and resolving conflict in the church : Huttenlocker, Keith : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

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Top 10 TERRIFYING Facts About MAORI WARRIORS

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Orcas Living In Captivity Face 6 Shocking Dangers

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Orcas Living In Captivity Face 6 Shocking Dangers

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https://littlethings.com/lifestyle/sad-orcas-at-seaworld

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SeaWorld - known as a popular tourist destination where families can watch live shows featuring sea life - has been getting a lot of press lately, and it's not exactly good.

In 2013, thanks to the documentary Blackfish, the more sordid side of this aquatic theme park has been exposed, causing the public to realize the uncomfortable truth.

What they learned? That whales and dolphins need to be free - like these beautiful dolphins who love to play in the ocean with visiting friends.

Now, because of this new public awareness, SeaWorld is being forced to rethink its top-dollar attractions - and considering the many dangers of captivity, it's no wonder.

In an exclusive piece, we here at LittleThings decided to explore what emotional, physical, and medical struggles these beautiful creatures face when living in captivity.

What do you think about SeaWorld? Do you think it's time to end these orca shows?

Let us know your thoughts below - and please SHARE!

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Around 127 Orcas Have Died In Captivity. SeaWorld's Response? This Is Incredible!

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SeaWorld - known as a popular tourist destination where families can watch live shows featuring sea life - has been getting a lot of press lately, and it's not exactly good. In 2013, thanks to the documentary Blackfish, the more sordid side of this aquatic theme park has been exposed, causing the public to realize the uncomfortable truth.

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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/humpback-whale

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Common Name:

Humpback Whale

Scientific Name:

Megaptera novaeangliae

Size relative to a bus:

What is a humpback whale?

Humpback whales are found in every ocean in the world. Their Latin name, Megaptera novaeangliae, means "big wing of New England." It refers to their giant pectoral fins, which can grow up to 16 feet long, and their appearance off the coast of New England, where European whalers first encountered them. They have dark backs, light bellies, pleats on their throats, and a small hump in front of their dorsal fins, leading to the common name of "humpback."

Whale songs

Humpback whales are known for their magical songs, which travel for great distances through the world's oceans. These sequences of moans, howls, cries, and other noises are quite complex and often continue for hours on end. Scientists are studying these sounds to decipher their meaning. It is most likely that humpbacks sing to communicate with others and to attract potential mates. Humpback calves are known to "whisper" to their mothers.

(Listen to a humpback whale song and explore what it looks like as sheet music.)

Behavior and parenting

These baleen whales are found near coastlines, feeding on tiny shrimp-like krill, plankton, and small fish. Humpbacks migrate annually from summer feeding grounds near the poles to warmer winter breeding waters closer to the Equator. Mothers and their young swim close together, often touching one another with their flippers with what appear to be gestures of affection. Females nurse their calves for almost a year, though it takes far longer than that for a humpback whale to reach full adulthood. Calves do not stop growing until they are 10 years old.

Humpbacks are powerful swimmers, and they use their massive tail fins, called flukes, to propel themselves through the water and sometimes completely out of it. These whales, like others, regularly leap from the water, landing with a tremendous splash. Scientists aren't sure if this breaching behavior serves some purpose, such as cleaning pests from the whale's skin, or whether whales simply do it for fun. (How scientists are unlocking the hidden world of whale culture.)

A favorite of whale watchers, humpbacks also slap the water with their flukes and pectoral fins, rise nose-first out of the water (called "spyhopping"), and do penduncle throws, a behavior unique to this species in which they raise their entire rear torso and tail out of the water, twist, and slam their lower half down onto the ocean surface. Rarer displays include flapping their fins like wings and occasionally gathering in "super groups" of as many as 200, though scientists don't know why.

Conservation

Humpback whale numbers were severely reduced before the 1985 ban on commercial whaling, but the numbers in many population groups have since improved. Today, the biggest threats to humpback whales are collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear.

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Common Name: Humpback Whale Scientific Name: Megaptera novaeangliae Size relative to a bus: Humpback whales are found in every ocean in the world. Their Latin name, Megaptera novaeangliae, means "big wing of New England." It refers to their giant pectoral fins, which can grow up to 16 feet long, and their appearance off the coast of New England, where European whalers first encountered them.

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https://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/subcultural-theory-and-theorists/commodification/

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What is Commodification

What is Commodification?

One of the first studies of commodification was by sociologist Karl Marx who viewed commodification as "expropriating the means of production from much of the population in order to create a supply of laborers who must labor in order to purchase, and consumers unable to produce for their direct use" ( ). Capitalists force workers to sell their labor, producing things for sale that may have little meaning to the laborer, and robbing the worker of their creativity. Marx's definition of commodification focuses on its impact on capital and the economy, but since his time it has become so much more than that. Because of increased exposure to market and mainstream norms, commodification has become an "assess[ment] on human value and worth," resulting in a set expectation of individuals. ( Greaves et. al 61 ).

Two sociological processes intertwined with commodification are:

Both diffusion and defusion are ways that identities and cultures are wiped of their individual meanings and commercialized through the market for everyone to 'enjoy' similarly.

Diffusion is the process of spreading styles, ideas, values, and norms into a wider society (Haenfler Lecture 2017). Once the market focuses on an object or identity to commodify, it starts the process of advertising and promoting that thing to the public. From advertising on television, to stores printing posters and t-shirts, and even through social media, businesses start the process of commodification. However, it is the consumers who have to accept that object or identity for the process to be successful. The process of interaction, such as sharing a punk song on the radio with a friend or seeing an advertisement that uses hip hop, is important to the spread of commodification, as without it, commodified materials would be unable to spread and develop meanings in society ( Fine et. al 1979 ).

Defusion is the process of depoliticizing or 'watering down' the values, meanings, ideals, and subversive potential of a group (Haenfler Lecture 2017). Businesses use defusion to alter the meanings of and commodify things that may not have been originally accepted by the public. In doing this, they are able to present certain 'enjoyable' parts of identities and leave out other aspects, constructing the identity or item to be more marketable.

The Commodification of Subcultures

By now you know that a subculture is a group of people bonded together by a common interest and the desire to resist some part of society. One might think that because subcultures try to resist society that they would be the last groups to be commodified.

A problem with commodification of subcultures is the commodifier's attempt to defuse the culture and misinform the audience about it. This isn't necessarily a deliberate process by the commodifier, but because of their sole focus on positive marketing, misinforming the audience and defusion of the subculture tends to be a result. Because of the desire to gain profit from commodification, some subcultures are much more commodifiable than others. We want to take ideas from queer culture, be in hip hop culture, yet have nothing to do with Juggalo culture.

Advertising, the media, and retail are all a part of the process of commodification's implementation. Because of consumers' desire to make things mainstream, the process of commodification is undeniable in most aspects. Mainstream styles and ideas fluctuate, bringing a variety of certain identities and subcultures into the spotlight for various amounts of time. Take a look at the related tabs to learn more about the commodification of subcultures.

Consumerism: Subcultures vs. Countercultures

Consumerism: Subcultures vs. Countercultures

In " The search for authenticity , " Lauren Alfrey explains the difference between counterculture and subculture: intention. She states that the "'otherness' of countercultures is symbolic; countercultures cultivate difference through intentional acts of distinction while subcultures may experience marginalization through religious or cultural uniqueness" ( 4 ). To a certain extent, subculture participants want to be different; the difference is, they don't to be social outcasts - their subcultural participation is often a product of their ostracism. In a counterculture, and specifically the hipster counterculture, being different and unique the buy-in. Amanda Nordby observes that hipsters do not self-identify but rather are seen as a group because of their similar styles in her piece, " What is the hipster? ", declaring that "hipsters will never admit to being hipsters because putting a label on oneself foils endeavors to be different" ( 53 ).

The subculture itself is based in style and consumption, which is followed through blogs and websites, most intensely by those with "high hipster taste" ( 9 ). Hipsterism is knowingly consumerist; it acknowledges what is popular and what sells, and utilizes that information to build out a palatable but unique style, resistant to mainstream fashion norms. Alfrey's idea of a material subculture aligns very closely with prior definitions of counterculture: "Hipsters [have a] material subculture often symbolized by objects or styles appropriated from past eras, meant to appear ironic or novel with contemporary application" ( 6 ). The different styles and attributes of hipster culture are easily adopted, as usually their uniqueness is still largely seen as cool. Corporations have caught on: "Clothing retailers such as Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, and Free People have thrived since recognizing the counterculture as a marketable brand and adopted knockoff hipster trends as their standard merchandise" ( 52 ).

Punk and Hot Topic

Punk and Hot Topic

What is the subculture?

The punk subculture, also known as the do-it-yourself (D.I.Y.) subculture originated in the 1970s as a movement for teens seeking "an alternative lifestyle divergent from the norms of society" ( Moran 58 ). Punk's subcultural roots were mainly working class, white males who strove to resist society's norms. They are often involved in heavy substance use, and "live by the motto "No Future", celebrating rather than lamenting the world's decline" ( Haenfler 412 ) . Punk music is known to be loud and imposing, with lyrics that talk about rebellion and angst. Punk is not a subculture where an outsider may find it difficult to identify someone involved - rather, punk style aspires to stand out, often succeeding with their attire of unique hairdos, makeup, and dark clothing. The punk subculture consists of many commodifiable aspects which businesses can (and do) market.

Why is it commodified?

How is it commodified?

Have you heard of Green Day? What about Blink 182? These are both examples of punk bands that started off small, but over time have been commodified and commercialized, becoming so popular that almost anyone in the US recognizes their names. Thus, the first example of punk commodification is through the music scene. Green Day formed in 1986 and played at small punk venues for small groups of fans. It wasn't until 1994 that a major record label picked them up and helped distribute their name and new album to thousands more people ( ). All it takes is recognition from a business for the commodification process to start, and for Blink 182 and Green Day, that is exactly what happened. Blink 182 became so popular after its commodification that songs by other groups, such as " " by the Chainsmokers, reference their name. Some people argue that commodification is a good thing for bands because it helps them grow. Many other people stick to the belief that punk is supposed to be resistant to mainstream society, and by commodifying punk bands, they no longer fully represent their original resistance ( ).

Hot Topic, a retail store founded in 1988 (shortly before punk became "mainstream"), plays a sizeable role in the commodification of punk subculture. Hot Topic sells a variety of accessories and clothing which often cater to the punk style. Styles crafted from punk style such as suspenders, hair accessories, and large belts make up a large sector of their clothing section. Some people see this as a good thing because they don't have to spend unnecessary time putting their punk outfit together, but others say Hot Topic shoppers aren't authentic, and that "true goth punk or emo kids make most of the own clothes and accessories" ( Steinberg 177 ). Hot Topic strives to base itself on and keep up with "alternative" music and fashion. When one walks into Hot Topic they are greeted with a dark atmosphere, crowded floor, and loud punk or metal music ( . Hot Topic contradicts the resistance of subcultures because it gives customers the power to purchase items relating to groups that are resistant to being marketed. Hot Topic recognizes that "marketing the material objects associated with subcultural identity and individuality [is] out of context [with] the internalization and values associated with the aesthetic" and tries to avoid discourse by only focusing on specific subgroups for a limited number of months ( Steinberg 172 . Although their efforts to be seen as authentic are strong, many subculturists continue to look down upon Hot Topic.

Music labels and Hot Topic are just two avenues of punk subculture's commodification. Through the years, this commodification has caused punk to lose authority over their resistance because their styles and values are becoming mainstreamed. Although punk strives to stay away from the mainstream by changing themselves constantly, they are continuously pulled back in.

Hip Hop

Hip Hop

What is the subculture?

"In the 20-plus years since it emerged in inner-city New York as an alternative to violence and a way to escape harsh urban realities, hip-hop has become a worldwide musical and cultural force."
Katina R. Stapleton, " From the margins to mainstream: the political power of hip-hop ."

Hip hop is a cultural and political voice of resistance for today's youth that actively calls out and condemns injustice across the board, originating with voices and stories from people of color, that has since flowed into mainstream culture. . Hip hop subculture contains rap, MCing, DJing, breaking, graffiti writing, knowledge, beatboxing, hip hop fashion, and slang-and as of July 2017, hip hop is the most consumed genre of music in the United States ( McIntyre 2017 ). In M. Elizabeth Blair's " Commercialization of the Rap Music Youth Subculture , " she expresses the fear of commercialization of music because, to some, it "means a shift from active musical production to passive consumption, the decline of cultural traditions and community" ( ).

UCLA: The Center for Mental Health in Schools' report, " About Hip Hop Youth Subculture ", explains the contradictions of hip hop subculture with the mainstream hold it has taken:

Being the most popular music genre in the country would mean that hip hop has already been inherently commercialized, but this report suggests that with the commercialization of hip hop came the ostracization and demonization of the culture's originations: working class, urban

communities of color. However, the adoption and arguable appropriation of hip hop by the mainstream is what sticks out. How could something so intentionally subversive, so purposefully resistant to white, wealthy, corporate, militarized America be infiltrated and profited off of by white, wealthy, corporate, militarized America?

Why is it commodified?

"But if hip-hop is 'by the ghetto, for the ghetto', how is the community changed by the fact that it is being played on college campuses across the nation and in the homes of suburban whites? When hip-hop style is being used to sell movies, breath mints, sodas, make-up, fast food, alcohol, clothing, shoes and various other products, one knows that this is a valid concern (Blair, 1993)."
Katina R. Stapleton, " From the margins to mainstream: the political power of hip-hop "

The mainstream obsession with hip hop culture is fascinating in some senses and obvious in others - on one hand, hip hop was not created for (white, Western, corporate) consumption and actively resists aspects of the United States in ways that are considered deviant, but on the other hand, there has been a constant obsession with black culture and entertainment provided by black people for the enjoyment of whites. Capitalist America saw a profitable industry which people of various backgrounds and identities enjoy, and commodified it. It's what's cool-it's expressive, sonically pleasing, and temptingly deviant.

How is it commodified?

"There is nothing wrong with one community learning the cultural forms produced by another, if it respects their specific shapes and meanings. There is something horribly wrong with a dominant community repeatedly co-opting the cultural forms of oppressed communities, stripping them of their vitality and form, the heritage of their creators and then popularizing them. The result is bleach pepsi culture masquerading as the real thing. This is what threatens to dilute the real feeling and attitude of hip hop preventing its genuine forms the freedom to fully develop. The expression of Black people is transformed when it is repackaged without any evidence remaining of the Black historical experience."
Tony Van Der Meer, The Rap Attack

The taking of hip hop's expressive elements of lived experience to be commodified and sold by corporate America is perfectly explained by Marx's concept of alienation, "when something human is taken from us and is returned in the form of a commodity" ( ). Hip hop's defusion in this process is especially problematic because it waters down already largely silenced voices and negates the full extent and emotionality and experience of class struggles and racial oppression. Blair states that "evidence indicates that rap music has moved into the third stage of Gottdiener's model, in which a subcultural trend is sanitized by the producers of the mass culture" ( ). Mark Gottdiener visualized the production and control of ideological meanings as operating in three separate stages, the last two of which explain hip hop is commodified. In the second stage, users modify objects of mass consumption to express their own or their subculture's own individuality, traditions, or symbols. The product of this modification is known as a transfunctionalized object. In the third stage, the producers of mass culture capitalize on that product and produce and market it as a mass commodity ( ). The transfunctionalization of hip hop happens through a collection of samples and blending of styles that all come together in the art form.

Hip hop has been "sanitized by the producers of the mass culture" in two ways: first, corporations and record labels may attempt to dilute the messaging of hip hop for fear of retaliation without an understanding that retaliation and resistance is often ; second, the use of hip hop culture to market things from dolls to cereal to cars uses the attractive parts of the culture for their own personal gain, while disregarding or misusing the important narratives of the culture and songs. Not only does this distorted regurgitation of hip hop discredit and dilute the resistant root of hip hop culture, but it additionally enforces mass culture's denigration of hip hop in its true form. Blair perfectly concludes her examination of the commercialization of hip hop: "This is the most unfortunate outcome for a subculture in which many young people hoped that rap would be a 'way out' or disadvantaged youth and a chance that others might listen to what they have to say" ( ).

Music Festivals

Music Festivals

What is the subculture?

When one thinks of The Summer Music Festival, the image comes to mind of a subculture where, instead of slaving away at a summer job, kids escape to a world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Through commodification of this subculture, advertising and corporate sponsorships have replaced the image of "free love". However, "What has caused the modern destruction of the countercultural festival-and, by extension, the systematic degradation of the modern counterculture movement-is not so much dubious police raids or overpriced tickets, but the fact that modern festival-goers genuinely believe they are taking part in something countercultural while they are in fact participating in the mainstream" ( Delistraty ).

Why is it commodified?

An attempted music festival curation was Woodstock '99, which was created to celebrate and emulate 30 years of the 'peace, love, and rock and roll' of the original Woodstock, the pinnacle of subcultural expression through the music festival. However, despite the money and effort put into it, the festival ended in fire, violence, and sexual assault.

Despite the potential for failure, like Woodstock '99, the market opportunity of music festivals is too big to miss. Brands can cash in on the economic value of youthful rebellion as long as implementation is highly curated and controlled.

How is it commodified?

The summer music festival has transitioned from subcultural to mainstream through commodification and branding.

However, music festivals not only foster music festival/brand interaction but the personal/brand connection. A music festival attendee has physical engagement with brands: sampling products, signing up for email lists, taking branded photos and putting them on social media. It gets pretty elaborate, for example at Governor's Ball NYC music festival "Subway's tasting area was situated in a massive shaded and air-conditioned "Green Room" that featured a DJ, temporary tattoos, and a photobooth. Citibank offered an exclusive viewing platform for Citibank cardholders. In addition to the Bacardi-branded stage, Bacardi staged a "backyard party" with specialty cocktails, shade structures with comfy chairs, "palm-tree periscopes," and "pop-up" performances" ( Jacobs 2017 ). In this sense, engaging with brands and consumerism becomes just as important as the free-spirit-ness and musical appreciation aspects of the music festival.

Unlike other music festivals that identify and interact with commodification through branding, Burning Man lists "decommodification" as a tenant of their principles. They state: "Our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising" ( Burning Man ). However, Burning Man's hypocrisy is evident when examining the census data and makeup of those who attend the festival. Despite its egalitarian principles, the truth is that those who spend the most money on the festival have the most autonomy. "Burning Man's ticket price hints at the shift in demographics. In 1994, tickets were $35, which ballooned to $390 in 2015 - or 16 times the rate of inflation" ( Spencer 2017 ). And as ticket prices soar and those making $100,000 or more nearly doubled in the past ten years ( Burning Man Census ), it's easy to see how Burning Man's commodification of the music festival has lead to exclusionary co-optation of subculture.

The music festival in the contemporary setting is far from its historical connection to subcultures. What identifies music festivals now is not their opportunity to be commercialized but the commercialization itself.

Queer Culture

Queer Subculture

What is the subculture?

Queer culture or queer subculture includes the belief and practice of gender and sexuality expression as one sees fit. It refers to the community of people whose gender and/or sexuality beliefs or performances do not fit into the hegemony. By its very nature, queer existence is revolutionary, deviant, and subcultural.

Why is it commodified?

Many people and advertisers alike believed in tapping into gold mine that is the LGBT community through advertising. What do queer people like? What do they want to or not want to consume? First, it is understood that in order to receive the capital of LGBT people, a company should not position itself to be against the very existence of LGBT people. "Gay men and lesbian consumers are increasingly representing a desired target audience for brands seeking to build brand loyalty in an under-tapped market. The existing literature on marketing to gay men and lesbians suggests that brands targeting this market should position themselves as gay-friendly" ( ). Not only do companies in the 20th and 21st century position themselves as 'gay-friendly' (as they should), but also have representation of queer people in their advertisements.

However, as hinted at in this quote, often these representations can be grossly simplified.

Businesses view queer people and straight people as consumers and, although commercialization of the LGBT community may help them be integrated into the mainstream, the purpose of queer culture's commodification by brands is ultimately to gain capital from the most people as possible.

How is it commodified?

One of the first examples of the commercialization of the queer community is the first commercial , created by IKEA, to use gay people to promote their brand in 1994. Going forward, in 2017, companies and corporations frequently use gay people and a gay-friendly nature to promote their brands.

The reality television show, ' Queer Eye for the Straight Guy ' featured 5 gay men who one each episode would give advice and makeover a straight guy so he could get the girl. The show, originally aired on Bravo, won the Emmy for outstanding reality program in 2004. This is an example of questionable commodification: the show gave a positive spin on the 'usefulness' of the LGBT community but the concept of making money off LGBT people to give straight men makeovers and help them get dates is a little strange. Some sources critique not only the concept of the show but the name for using the word 'queer,' Jung explains in their piece 5 Tips for Netflix's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Reboot -"This isn't just semantic. Queerness, as a term and identity, operates much more elusively: It's fugitive and punk whereas gayness is easily commodified and reproduced... It's hard to know what, exactly, was queer about a show that's so firmly entrenched in an urban, gay, white male sensibility." ( ). The show was and may continue to be, as Netflix will be rebooting ' ', a visible but stereotyped representation and commercialization of queer people.

While consuming these commodifications of queer culture, Yarma Velazquez Vargas asks in her book, " A Queer Eye for Capitalism ", "1) In what way is the program sustaining structures of power and the corporate capitalist media system to promote consumerism? 2) What is the role of advertising in negotiation of identity? ( Velazquez Vargas 2010 )". These questions are important in critically engaging with representations and commercializations of the queer community and identity.

The relationship between the promotion of consumerism and representation of LGBT identity especially comes into play with 'queerbaiting'. 'Queerbaiting' originally refers to the writing of a fictional character to hint at homosexuality or queerness while never actually making this situation happen. The term now can colloquially refer to someone who appropriates queer style, language, or culture to hint at these homosexual undertones but is not actually gay. Queerbaiting in both senses does it exactly what the word would suggest: it caters to and attempts to lure in queer audiences with false hints of representation and no intention of actually providing those actions on-screen or in real life. On the interpersonal level this may gain someone personal cultural and subcultural capital. Additionally, on the more macro level of media, this pandering the queer community earns actual capital.

Scholarship

NOTABLE SCHOLARSHIP

What is Commodification?:

Domhoff, William G. C. "Wright Mills, Power Structure Research, and the Failures of Mainstream Political Science." New Political Science 29th Edition (2007): 97-114.

Heller, Monica. "Globalization, The New Economy, and the Commodification of Language and Identity" Journal of Sociolinguistics (2003): 473-492.

Consumerism: Subcultures v. Countercultures:

Nordby, Amanda. "What is the Hipster?." Spectrum: 25th Edition! (2013): 52-64.

Alfrey, Lauren M. The search for authenticity: How hipsters transformed from a local subculture to a global consumption collective. Georgetown University, 2010.

Punk:

Hip Hop:

Blair, M. Elizabeth. "Commercialization of the rap music youth subculture." The Journal of Popular Culture 27.3 (1993): 21-33.

Stapleton, Katina R. "From the margins to mainstream: the political power of hip-hop." Media, culture & society 20.2 (1998): 219-234.

Queer Culture:

Um, Nam-Hyun. 2010. " Seeking the holy grail through gay and lesbian consumers: An exploratory content analysis of ads with gay/lesbian-specific content . "

More Reading:

Velazquez Vargas, Yarma. 2010. " A Queer Eye for Capitalism: The Commodification of
First Gay (IKEA) Commercial
Music Festivals:

Perralla, Tori. 2017. " More Than A Tent: A Case Study on Live Brand Experiences at Coachella Music Festival . "

Jacobs, Harrison. 2017. " An Unlikely Industry Has Found a 'Genius' Way to Advertise to Millennials . "

Cummings, Joanne. 2015. " Selling the Indie Scene. Music Festivals, Neo-Tribes, and Brand

More Reading:

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What is Commodification One of the first studies of commodification was by sociologist Karl Marx who viewed commodification as "expropriating the means of production from much of the population in order to create a supply of laborers who must labor in order to purchase, and consumers unable to produce for their direct use" ( ).

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https://technode.com/2016/09/21/theres-nothing-dark-evil-black-technology-lost-translation/

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If your technology is described as “black” in China, don’t be offended. Instead, consider it one of the highest compliments you can attain in the tech world. Unlike black magic, it has nothing to do with voodooism or malicious enchantment, but rather a term reserved for only the most mind-boggling, futuristic and out-of-this-world scientific feats.

Think the stuff of sci-fi films: teleportation, humanoid bots, splicing. As for things that are already here – HoloLens, Magic Leap and Tesla’s self-driving cars and cloning of beef cows and pets.

The phrase has roots in the Japanese Anime Full Metal Panic, where “Black Technology” originally referred to scientific accomplishments developed by a species of “whisperers”, stealthily kept from civilians,  and so advanced it’s beyond the bounds of human understanding.

The Chinese tech space has  even been a little too generous with the term of late. Phone and gadget makers have been lauding some of their features as “black technology.”But to get realistic, NFC, gesture sensitive cameras and video filters are nowhere near the league of Black Tech in this century.

So what exactly qualifies you as a member of  the “Black Technology” club? The answer will vary as science progresses, but to avoid sounding conceited, let others entitle you instead of flattering yourself–after all, cool kids don’t call themselves cool.

Xiaomi for one, has not been shy flattering itself

Based in Beijing, April Ma writes on tech trends and covers startups that may (or may not) be the next BATs. Reach her at April.ma@technode.com or Mafangjing (Wechat). More by April Ma

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There’s Nothing Dark Or Evil About “Black Technology” [Lost In Translation] · TechNode

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If your technology is described as “black” in China, don’t be offended. Instead, consider it one of the highest compliments you can attain in the tech

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How do they manage to get enough to eat?

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The relationship between humans and sharks

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The Shark is probably the animal with the worse publicity in the world. This has brought a complex relationship with humans.

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All fun facts about Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins , and how they're different from other marine creatures.

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Tursiops aduncus and T. truncatus

Length
2.6-4m

Weight
120-650kg

Lifespan
30-40yrs

There are two species of bottlenose dolphins—the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and IndoPacific bottlenose dolphin (T. aduncus). The Indo-Pacific has more teeth, is smaller, and has spots on its belly. The prominent melon (forehead) of dolphins contains oily fat and is probably used for echolocation, helping to produce the whistles, clicks and pulses used to find food.

The Monkey Mia dolphin population forms small subgroups in a defined home range. Group members help each other rear calves and cooperate when hunting. Their diet includes fish, squid and crustaceans. Some dolphins in Shark Bay use sea sponges to protect their sensitive rostrums from injury when digging fish out of the sand.

Incubation
13 days

No. eggs
2-4

Fledge
2 weeks

Male bottlenose dolphins can live 30 to 35 years, and females up to 40 years. Females begin breeding at about 10 to 12 years and can have one calf every three to four years. When mating, a group of males try to keep rival groups away from a female while members of the group take turns to mate with her.

More than 2000 dolphins inhabit Shark Bay and there are about 200 in the Monkey Mia area. The dolphins in Shark Bay are mostly Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (T. aduncus). Scientists identify individuals by their large, slightly hooked dorsal fins which are uniquely shaped and scarred.

The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin is listed as ‘data deficient’ on the IUCN’s Red List because it was not known as a separate species before 1998 and this is reflected in scientific data. The common bottlenose dolphin is considered abundant, although habitat degradation and pollution are of increasing concern.

Fact sheet

SHARK BAY

World Heritage

want to see where everything is?

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Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin - Shark Bay

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There are two species of bottlenose dolphins-the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and IndoPacific bottlenose dolphin (T. aduncus). The Indo-Pacific has more teeth, is smaller, and has spots on its belly. The prominent melon (forehead) of dolphins contains oily fat and is probably used for echolocation, helping to produce the whistles, clicks and pulses used to find food.