Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Quick Guide to African Countries

Nigeria (English Speaking) - The most populated African country at 160+ million. The country has an extraordinary amount of oil wealth, but it is also one of the most corrupt countries on earth so most of it has been squandered. It is a giant on the continent. Nigerians are found in large numbers throughout the continent, and are sometimes seen as a bit of a menace/drain in the countries they inhabit.

South Africa (English Speaking) - The economic giant of the continent, it has a much higher standard of living than most of the rest of the continent, however there are still huge swathes of population living in abject poverty. Johannesburg alone accounts for 10% of the entire economy of the entire continent. Gold and mineral wealth abounds, diamonds and a healthy manufacturing sector contribute to it's wealth. It is also notable for the fairly large (~12%) white population. Unfortunately it is run by a horribly inept and entrenched government, also corrupt.

Ethiopia (Amharic Speaking)- Is another giant in terms of population, but is incredibly poor, with a very undeveloped agricultural economy. However, it seems to exert a lot of influence across the continent, (heading up the African Union for example). Ethiopia has one of the most distinct cultures on the continent, with the only written dialect originating on the African continent. It was also the only Sub-Saharan African country to not be fully colonized by a European power.

Democratic Republic of Congo (French Speaking) -This is hardly a functioning state, but should be noted for it's sheer size and potentially massive wealth of resources. The country is huge and virtually ungovernable, but even though it has huge areas of untouched natural areas it also has a sizable population. It is one of the last "Wild West's" in the world.

Egypt (Arabic Speaking) - A massive population and definitely an African power, but their face is firmly pointed towards the Middle-East. The country does have alot of influence and power, but it does not concern itself in African affairs as much as it does towards the ME. It does have some money, but huge portions of the population are very poor.

Ghana (English Speaking) - Not the most populated or richest, but probably the most successful country in terms of fostering a healthy, stable democracy, good governance, and an extremely fast growing economy. It has alot of potential and has been very well managed. It has the corruption associated with any under-developed country, but it has a well educated middle class growing healthily.
I could go on, but those are some of the most essential countries on the continent.

Uganda / Tanzania / Kenya- These three countries could all be grouped together as East Africa. They are all three very interconnected economically and are all generally peaceful and partially developing in key areas of economic activity. All were British colonies, they share Swahili culture for the most part and they are visited by alot more tourists than most other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Kenya (English Speaking) - Kenya is the typical safari tourist destination that is often seen on nature shows. Nomadic tribes and hordes of animals dot the landscape. Culturally it is typically Africa, this is where they speak Swahili "hakuna matata" and all that, Tanzania also speaks Swahili. It is very diverse with desolate lawlessness outbacks towards the Ethiopian and Somali borders, but it also has a very sophisticated and cosmopolitan urban life in Nairobi, with a decent population of Indian descendants of labourers brought by the British. More often than not these Indians are very wealthy indeed. Kenya has always been relatively stable and semi-prosperous (relatively), but it's no stranger to spats of violence.

Tanzania (English Speaking) - A huge country that is home to widely spread-out towns and agricultural communties. Some of these outposts can be pretty isolated and poor, but like Kenya, the primary city Dar Es Salaam is pretty happening and is home to all kinds of wealthy people, as well as slums like Nairobi. Off the coast of Tanzania is the tourist destination of Zanzibar, an idyllic and beautiful place, formerly the seat of the Sultan of Oman. For this reason this island and the coasts of Tanzania and Kenya are much more Islamic than the interior.

Uganda (English Speaking) - Uganda is a beautiful little gem of a country, very densely populated in the lush green hills dotted by lakes, rivers and waterfalls. Like Tanzania and Kenya it is encircling part of the massive Lake Victoria. The country is known for having problems in the past with Idi Amin (Last King of Scotland) and some unrest in the north. But it has the unenviable position of bordering on some of the most unstable regions on earth; the Eastern DRC and Southern Sudan. Other than that, the country itself is now doing better and prospering along under a benevolent dictator. However, they just discovered oil under one of the lakes.

Angola (Speaks Portuguese) - Angola was a very war-torn nation, many Cold War proxy conflicts took place here amongst South African soldiers, Soviet backed movements as well as Cuban guerrilla's sent by Castro. It is now a very fast up and coming country, it has offshore oil, and alot of money is being pumped into the country by Brazil and particularly China. However, the economic elite is very small, very rich and very isolated. Much of the country is still completely undeveloped and dangerous, dotted with land-mines etc; but it is changing very fast and is one to watch.

Namibia/Botswana (English Speaking) - These two countries are very exceptional for a variety of reasons. They are firmly under the influence of South Africa, and are in a similar level of prosperity. Namibia and Botswana are two of the lest densely populated countries on earth, being mostly (very beautiful) desert. Botswana and Namibia have very healthy middle classes and consumer economies in their cities. Namibia also has a large white population like South Africa. They both have a very regulated and very lucrative diamond industry that has worked to benefit most of their tiny populations. For example, Botswana has less than 2 million people in an area the size of Texas or France. Namibia is similarly sparse. Well managed countries with relatively low levels of corruption. They do however, have some of the highest HIV infection rates on earth.

Mali (*French Officially) - Mali is a country smack dab in the heart of the Sahara desert where all population centres are formed along rivers and trade routes. It is a vast country of considerable wealth in the form of gold and minerals. Before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, it used to provide most of Europe and the Middle-East with gold for trade, during this time it had a large population of some of the worlds leading scholars and intellectuals (Timbuktu). However with the influx of New World gold the Malian Empire collapsed. These days it is a cultural tour de force, with a healthy music scene and unique culture. Unfortunately, nomadic tribesmen from the north have gotten hold of Libyan arms that have been circulating since the fall of Gaddafi, and they are causing trouble in the northern half of the country.

Libya (Arabic) - Libya has a very small population of ~6 or 7 million (compared to Egypt with 90 million+), and it has an extraordinary amount of oil wealth. Under Gaddafi people actually lived pretty well, with a government social structure that provided education and healthcare as well as other benefits. However, much of Libya's story is the story of Moamar Gaddafi, during his rule from 1969-2011 he ammassed a huge military stock-pile and was constantly meddling in the affairs of other countries. He used to fund insurgencies in the Philippines, Thailand and even gave support to the Irish Republican Army (terrorists), just to destabilize his enemies and possibly gain favour with some new regime. He saw himself as the Godfather of Africa. Bequeathing much wealth on his Sub-Saharan African allies. Throughout Africa there are clinics and schools and other facilities personally opened and inaugurated by Gaddafi using his (Libyan) funds. He wanted to start a Pan-African currency based on gold that would allow Africa to work together as a trading bloc (i.e. the EU or the US) and shelter all of those small African economies from the perpetual inflation that their currencies are subject to. This would allow prices for their goods to stabilize and allow them to import industrial goods at non-inflated prices and would help the Africans greatly, but Western countries would have to pay much much more for goods if they had to trade actual gold with Africans. It's an interesting notion and maybe someone else can offer more insight than I can in this (supposed to be!) brief summary.

Sudan/South Sudan - Before the creation of South Sudan, Sudan itself was the largest country in Africa and it can be summed up mainly by understanding the way it split. The northern half (what is now called Sudan) is mainly ethnic Arabic/North African as opposed to Black African. This Islamic North has ruled the country and done their best to subdue and dominate the southern black Africans who are of a totally different culture etc. The north and Khartoum are actually pretty civilized along the lines of say Egypt, it is also very peaceful and quiet up there. Almost all oil wealth was concentrated in the North so it is not poor by any means.

However the South physically had/has the oil so therein lies the conflicts.

Now that they have split the South still has to pipe it's oil (and some wealth) through the north, but in the meantime, South Sudan remains a desolate, chaotic region of earth that can hardly be called a country. There is not a paved road leading to any of it's borders.In fact there is only about two miles of pavement in it's capital Juba. 1 in 6 women who become pregnant will die. 1.9% of children complete primary school. 80% of the population does not have access to any kind of toilet facility. The average household is one hour from a water source. The stats are depressing. It is truly one of the least developed places on earth; in stark contrast to the north. Furthermore, South Sudan is still full of weapons and militia-men, the outlook is bleak.

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Making Changes

Two ways to go about becoming more confident in your ability to change you circumstances:

1) The quick "pill" method. It works, and you've heard it before: positive language. The words that you use when you talk to yourself, that internal dialogue that goes on inside your head, matters and it matters a great deal. Even if you believe one thing, it is possible to begin to believe the opposite simply by repeating phrases and using the right language. This works because your brain (and your body too, by the way) responds to the commands that you give it on a, I'll say but I'm not sure its the right word, cognitive basis. Repeat any thought or action enough and it will reprogram itself to fit the mold. It's the whole principle that underlies "practice makes perfect", and it works for thoughts as well as actions. In the same way you can pluck a few strings a hundred thousand times and learn to play the guitar, you can cut out the negative language and replace it with more assured messages that, over a long period of time, will become enshrined in your thought patterns and, ultimately, give you the "language" of confidence and a can-do attitude.

2) Now while the language is great, I have the opinion that it's not nearly enough on its own. What you need in addition is to build trust with yourself (remember, we're still trying to create faith in yourself here... this is all still about believing in your self i.e. confidence!). How do you build trust? It's simple: small, incremental steps. Start with ONE hobby. I recommend exercise as a first hobby (one because your health is the most important thing and two because it is an extremely effective starting point and helps facilitate the changes you are trying to induce). But you don't have to pick exercise... you can choose to learn a language, an instrument.. you can choose to travel or to cook or to kick some ass.. whatever you feel is closest to your heart. Start with that, and then add more hobbies and interests as you go along. Trust me, you could reddit and google all you want but nothing stimulates your intellect like actually going out and physically experiencing something first hand.

Now as you slowly begin to enrich your life, you will slowly begin to believe in yourself more. Please take real note of the word "slowly". The format options of reddit don't even come close for me emphasise it enough. You are making small, incremental steps. It is extremely important to be patient because real change does not and can not happen overnight. It takes an excruciating amount of time. We are trying to reverse bad habits and thought patterns that have been developing for years, and it will take years to reverse them and replace them with something better. The rate of change depends on your commitment but you need to have a really long-term perspective because change is slow. Trust me. But that isn't a bad thing at all.. success is success whether you look at it from a point A to a point B perspective or a point A to point C. It's just a temporal thing. The journey is what matters, really...

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Friday, April 19, 2013

Take Your Privacy Back Online

Don't ask your government for your Privacy, take it back:
If you have any problems installing or using the above software, please contact the projects. They would love to get feedback and help you use their software.

Have no clue what Cryptography is or why you should care? Checkout the Crypto Party Handbook or the EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense Project.

Just want some simple tips? Checkout EFF's Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy.

Monday, April 8, 2013

How to Make Delicious Ramen Noodles

Like all beautiful food, there are two barriers holding people back from making it. One is that they think it will take too long. If you're too busy or lazy to cut something with a knife, you don't deserve to eat beautiful meals. This takes thirty seconds anyway. The other is that they think it will cost too much. This too is a misconception. Everything here can be found a any supermarket.

Ingredients:
  1. Noodles
  2. Soup Base Packet
  3. Green Onion (one, washed and chopped)
  4. Cilantro (chopped, enough to halfway fill a shotglass)
  5. Carrots (cut into splinters, enough to fill a shotglass)
  6. Sweet Corn (frozen kernels, enough to fill a shotglass)
  7. Lime Juice (preferably from a slice)
  8. Garlic (minced)
  9. Chicken (one frozen tenderloin)
  10. Sriracha OR red pepper flakes OR fresh sliced peppers OR all three
  11. black pepper
Begin as though you were making normal, loser ramen. Boil water and add the seasoning packet. Take your frozen chicken tenderloin and put it in the microwave for one minute at full power.

Meanwhile, start heating up some oil in a pan at medium-high. When the pan starts to smoke a bit, add the oil, the garlic, then the white parts of the green onion you sliced. The whole pan should be screaming mayhem. That's okay. Your chicken is defrosted enough. Put it in the pan. It will start to cook.

Put your carrot splinters in the boiling water. They take longer to cook.

Back to the chicken. Once it's not pink in the middle any more, You're going to pull it apart with two chopsticks. I know it's weird. Just do it. You'll get a handful of little strips. I like these more than cubes, and I don't need to dirty a cutting board, because it all happens in the pan. Keep stir frying the strips in the pan until they are crispy but not charred.

Then back to the pot. Add your noodles finally, along with the corn and whatever you use to make it spicy.

Put the chicken in the pot, and scrape in any garlic or green onion left in the pan. As soon as the noodles soften up, pour the contents of the pot into whatever you're eating ramen out of. Soggy ramen is gross.

Pepper loses its flavor if you cook it too long, so add it now. Sprinkle the green part of the green onions you chopped on top of everything, along with the cilantro. Drizzle with lime juice. Garnish with two stalks of cilantro if you are serving this to somebody.

Now eat your delicious ramen.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

How America Subverted te Meaning of a College Education

America's history with education is odd. Mind you - for my perspective to fully make sense - I'll be linking articles. They're sort-of long, but I ask those interested in my response to read them.

While I'm going to be talking mostly about college, I'd implore you to read this article from the Atlantic, What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finald's School Success, but more over...

Education's sole purpose is not "to get a job". Or at least, this has not historically been the case. It has been the intent to educate people - and "education" and what's applicable to the corporate world are not always the same thing.

Valuable knowledge and the ability to understand art, philosophy, social sciences - this shapes thought, this thought shapes society, it shapes our ethics, or actions as citizen, these are things that can empower future leaders to be citizens that can see a bigger picture. These are subjects that give our work meaning and put our work in perspective. It's not what to think that's only important, it's not just a set of skills to do a job that are needed. It's knowing how to think that shapes the course of our society.

The problem with turning education merely into something that people consider directly "useful" is that you create a nation of people who do complex tasks, but who do not question why they are doing them, who these tasks benefit, etc.

Education has turned into nothing more than mere vocational training. It is increasingly people paying for their own job training - something companies used to provide to their employees on their dollar. People through this system become people who toil and follow direction, people who accept a top-down culture (increasingly shaped by corporations) without any kind of rebellion.

And you can see it's effects in youth culture - as the hippies turned to punks, punk grew to grunge and hip hop and rave culture and now you just have this cannibalistic hipster culture that cannibalizes itself. But look at the ethics about the establishment - every passing generation is more accepting than the last, every next generation defines its culture as consumer culture more than the last.

Now - even by the so called rebellious underground cultures - you're considered lame to be protesting "the man" or consumer/corporate culture. And I think, in part, this has to do with america getting away from having respect for thinkers. If you get anything from all I blab about and link to here, get this: Information is not the same as knowledge - and our education system is geared more and more towards information.

But look where we're at today. We (IMO) have too many people going to college, too many people being charged too much to go to college and then essentially become indentured servants for years after education (if they can get a job), and the quality of said education is going down as education is more likely to be vocational training for jobs and not actual education.

But a little history is needed to look at the big picture. At the end of the civil rights era it became illegal to not employ racial minorities from jobs and work places. At the time most companies both did not require you to have a college degree to perform a job, because, like today, college degrees say nothing about whether you can or cannot perform said job.

Look at modern jobs: HR assistants, administrative assistants, call centers, entry level IT workers, some rudimentary sales jobs, entry level graphic design jobs - these don't require college degrees as a means to prove you can do it but it's a prerequisite to being hired.

What is needed is job training. Job training has been slowly externalized - whether by intent or unintentional consequence is beyond me, but why?

Employers started requiring college degrees for simple jobs because it was an economic barrier to keep blacks out. This was largely off the books, unspoken and off the record and hard to substantiate. I used to have several links backing this up and have not been able to find them for some time. If anyone else can find anything backing this up i'd be glad to see it - but until then I suppose you can take my [citation needed] with a grain of salt.

This requirement for college degrees changed the national discussion about education and a number of government programs were eventually started to assist people to obtain college education.

As more people started getting college education, what education gave people started to change, away from something that leaned more towards hard academics and more towards "job training". As this occurred you started to see companies do away with their "on the job training". Because, by happenstance, the process and the expense was now externalized onto the citizen.

In the last 15+ years we've seen a boom in vocational accredited "universities" that are nothing short of diploma factories. These schools are expensive, they have no requirements for attendance really - your high-school GPA, your SAT scores, your ACT scores - none of that matters. But we're all told we need college degrees to get jobs, the government is willing to subsidize part of it, and people are free to sign their name on endless dotted lines.

These schools are the epitome of vocational training, but somehow they're accredited as if they're Clemson or Duke or Radford even. Academic courses are made to be blown through. Fake statistics are given from the schools like "95% of our graduates get jobs in their chosen fields" and they fail to mention to you that if you chose to work flipping burgers, well then you got a job in your chosen field. Devry, Strayer, University of Pheonix, South University, and hundreds more. PBS/Frontline did a good documentary on all this called College, Inc.. There's a small article covering it here.

But that documentary talks about the for-profits chains and online schools and other diploma factories. What about the actual colleges out there? They too have been corporatized and trivialized. You can start to look at this at this blog, How the American University was killed in 5 steps. The short of it covers the defunding of public higher education, the demoralization and impoverishment of professors, the dominance of an managerial and administrative class within the university system, and the insertion of corporate culture and money into the university system. I recommend reading the link.

On top of that, student life has been trivialized by a multi-billion dollar sports industry and the thought that Greek life and college life are one in the same. School, as it becomes a vocational training facility - has also become a means to entertain middle class and rich kids. Chris Hedges again, talks about this in the Perversion of Scholarship.

And when all is said and done this has profound impact on culture. We no longer respect thinkers. We mock English majors, we make fun of philosophers. STEM graduates sit around self assured of our own awesomeness constantly mocking art majors by posing the statement that they're degree means nothing more than a future of asking "Do you want fries with that?"

Do not get me wrong, there is a contradiction in our society - we need more STEM majors to be competitive - but we also need to find a respect of thinkers and these things do not have to be at odds with each other.

In America nothing is more important than making a buck. Never mind the fact that the educational world has been changed into mere vocational training and making us all into indentured wage slaves, because mere job training has been externalized into the regular citizen taking out loans. And why? It all started with rich white businessmen trying to keep blacks out by making it about "qualifications" rather than race.

Even today, the EEOC states that companies of certain sizes must employ a certain percentage of minorities based on the population demographics of the location of the companies. So the companies move further away high minority areas, or they staff minorities in low rung jobs. Anything higher than entry level IT, sales, managerial spots, etc. are still greatly white.

Companies do a little dance, and sometimes even opt to take on the EEOC fines rather than attempt to meet the reasonable quotas set unto them. Meanwhile, a portion of white people are convinced that affirmative action still means they have the short end of the stick now. Tell that to all the black males who got hit much harder - percentage wise - than any other demographic during the recession. But that's another topic.

I suppose my point is this nation doesn't respect thinkers. We only see education as a tool used for job employment. Because we're 'Murica. And nothing is more important than money and buying shit.

In Europe there are fewer college grads, but I find the American dream more alive there than here. A picture was posted the other day of a man who came from a family of janitors. He was the first in his family to go to college. He said he was proof the American dream was still alive.

In most European nations you don't have DeVrys. College isn't some drunken beer fest and endless sporting event to spectate. If you have good grades the state will pay for you to go to school. All you need is good grades in most nations. That's it. And for the most part the corporate world stays out of it.

Even in our "higher academic" realms where education in the sciences are still going strong, schools are selling off the results of studies, patents on inventions that were done by the labor of kids who are paying to attend the school to the highest bidder, so these things can be locked away by some corporation and IP law.

The school system in this nation has been made to serve the interests of business first and foremost and almost exclusively. And the american people can't wait for it to do so even more. They are salivating to kick the shit out of those "faggot" art majors, those "sissy" English majors, those "useless" philosophers, or theoretical scientists even. Because they have the limited vision to see what these people can offer society.

And as we become a nation obsessed with vocation as a means to endless consumption, we find ourselves in a race to the bottom as corporations decide that regardless of how large our loans are (which are nothing more than externalized job training we paid for ourselves) we're too expensive. And now we're meant to compete at the scab wages of nations that haven't figured out that kissing in public isn't a travesty worthy of a stoning.

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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Guide to IT Fields

Support
  1. Helpdesk - Provide phone-based support to users, helping people open their email, reset passwords, etc. Often read from a troubleshooting script or search an internal knowledgebase/wiki for solutions to frequent issues. Entry level, little to no experience needed. Mostly found at mid-to-large sized companies. If a problem doesn't have a simple solution or can't be solved locally, they escalate to...
  2. Helpdesk level 2/Desktop Support - Handles more complex problems that aren't as frequently occurring. May have greater permissions in the corporate network (create accounts for new employees, setup email distribution lists, etc.) Desktop support would be located in the same offices as the user and would help with things that require physical access (set up a projector, swap out broken computers). 0 - 2 year experience required. More complex issues, or new frequent issues are escalated to...
  3. Help desk level 3 - Handles complex problems. May be responsible for basic systems admin tasks such as building/updating system images installed on all users computers, or testing application updates. Highly knowedgeable in applications used in in various parts of the company. Writes knowledgebase articles for level 1. 1-3 yrs experience. Has very complex issues escalated to Systems Administrator, or persons responsible for a certain technology (network outage to the network team, email to the messaging administrator, etc...).
Administration
  1. Systems Administrator - Jack of all trades, responsible for many different systems in the business. Familiar with multiple OSs (Windows, linux, unix), server hardware, basic to advanced networking. Jr. SysAdmin 1-2 years experience, SysAdmin 1-3 years experience, Sr. Sysadmin 3-5 years, Systems Engineer 3-7+ years experience. Will gain knowledge in all areas, but specialize in none.
  2. Network Administrator. Advanced knowledge of networking. Works with Routers, Switches, VOIP phones, firewalls, load balancers, etc. See Systems Administrator for levels.
  3. Storage Administrator. Advanced knowledge of storage hardware (SANS, NAS) and networking infrastructure. Responsible for ensuring data is available, performing, backed up, etc. Generally, no junior positions, sysadmins/network admins may move into this from other areas.
  4. Virtualization Administrator. Combines Sys Admin, Networking, and Storage skills + knowledge of virtualization platforms. Generally, no junior positions, sysadmins/network/storage admins may move into this from other areas.
  5. Database Administrator: Advanced knowledge of 1 or more database systems. Responsible for maintaining database systems, troubleshooting, and working with developers to performance tune applications/databases, database design. general sysadmin knowledge along with basic networking and basic-to-mid storage required. Generally no junior positions, sys admins/developers may move in to the specialization.
Datacenter
  1. Datacenter monkey (NOC) - Monitors datacenter. Tells others when there are red lights. Reboots systems when told, runs cable, plugs things in, rack and stack etc. 0-2 yrs experience. generally moves into network admin or sysadmin positions
  2. Advanced datacenter designer person. Sr. Sysadmin skills + Advanced Networking + heating/cooling/electrical/diesel generators/batteries bigger than your fridge/thermodynamics knowledge.
Development
  1. Developer/software engineer. Writes code, 0-x years experience. Knows languages like Java, C#, Python, Ruby, etc. Familiar with SQL/databases, JavaScript.
  2. Web developer. Writes HTML, CSS, JavaScript. Makes websites look nice. 0-x years experience
  3. Database developer. Knows SQL well, should know database design but probably doesn't. Should know basic database administrator skills but probably doesn't. 0-x years experience.
Business Analyst/project Management
  1. Business Analyst 0-x years experience. Works with business to identify application needs. Writes a SHITTON of documentation. Works with developers to translate business/functional requirements to an application.
  2. Project manager. Works with business and technical teams to ensure proper staffing, resources, timelines etc. No one really likes them, they get shit on by everyone.
Ops (operations)
  1. Sysadmins for web/software companies.
DevOPs
  1. Not a job, a culture! Uses code to manage infrastrucutre and make it robust. Uses infrastructure to make code robust. 5-7 years experience. Reads Visible Ops, Lean Startups, Continuous Deployment, and factory/manufacturing theory books for fun (along with the latest networking wunderbook while coding a program to post in the corporate IRC chat channel whenever new code is deployed into production. Because its all automated, and every employee deploys new code into production, from IT to the receptionist (see: Etsy. First day at Etsy? you click the deploy updates to site button)
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Monday, April 1, 2013

Online Privacy and Deleting Your Digital Footprint

First, you're going to want to 'stop the bleeding' as it were. You need to lock down any potential information leaks like insecure social networking profiles before attempting to actually delete anything, otherwise you'll just hemorrhage more information to replace that which you've removed. I'd recommend using PrivacyFix to accomplish that initial goal: http://privacyfix.com/start

At this point you'll also want to secure whichever browser you're using. Companies use trackers to generate a profile on you that can compromise your security. A list of add-ons that will aid you to that end can be found here: http://fixtracking.com/

Having patched any leaks, you'll want to set about removing your information from any aggregator websites that have posted it. A list of these sites and the proper removal technique can be found here: http://unlistmy.info/

It would also be prudent to examine your past behavior to see if any remnants linger from years before such as defunct MySpace profiles created before you came to understand the important of information security. Sites like Pipl: https://pipl.com/ are extraordinarily useful in this capacity, as they aggregate results from a variety of sites that are not necessarily indexed by Google with any depth.

Finally, if you're especially concerned about something showing up that has yet to arise, you can use Blekko: http://blekko.com/ to generate an RSS feed consisting of any search terms you choose, alerting you upon discovery of anything new. It's not especially broad, but given that Google Alerts have ceased to function properly these last few months, it's the best you're really able to do. There are powerful paid alternatives like Mention if you ultimately choose to go down that route.

There are other techniques that can certainly be of use, but the rest of these approaches tend to be narrow in scope.

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Depression and Thoughts

I will do my best to communicate it. Imagine your mind is like a tree, and your thoughts are like branches. The more time you dedicate towards a certain thought, the stronger that branch will become.

I had terrible depression for seven years. It didn't start bad, but it grew steadily worse and worse. It worsened because each of my thoughts would merge with the "depression branch" and make it stronger and after six years my "tree" was warped and bent under the weight of the depression. All of my perceptions were tied to it, and I had very few branches independent of it.

This was until I learned about Cognitive Therapy. This is the process of monitoring your inner-dialogue and restructuring it. For example: If I did poorly on a test the event would be associated with school, which would be associated with my shame that it was taking me so long to graduate, which then attached itself to the depression branch. Cognitive Therapy taught me to prevent the event from attaching to that branch by stopping the thought-chain of "test failure - school - shame - depression" and instead trying something else like "test failure - shit happens" or "test failure - lesson to learn - don't stay up late."

All of this occurred while I began taking Adderall. After a year of atrophy, the depression branch withered and died because I wasn't supplying it food by linking my thoughts to it. Not only did it die, but entire negative thought-trains are lost to me because they existed solely within that branch.

So nowadays I lay down and wander around my thoughts. If I find a thought that has caused me considerable troubled in the past I will follow it to see where it leads. If it goes nowhere positive then I return to the initial starting point and "snap it." So every time I think of that inciting thought I imagine a twig breaking off, and I remind myself not to journey down that thought. After some time, I forget the thought is even there, and it dies.

Your brain is a plant. Plants need to be trimmed every so often because a branch will become infected, or leaves will rot, or it will grow a limb that hurts its growth. You cut this branch by disassociating from the thought and forbidding yourself from following it.

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