6. Crocodiles 2024

What comes to mind when you think of “power”? For many, power conjures images of authority figures: presidents, monarchs, company executives, and so on and so forth; people granted important positions or titles who have immense control. Others think of power from the inside: the power to make choices for oneself, the power to speak one’s will. However, in his article, “ What Is Power, Really? ,” Rick Miller explores an alternative perspective, breaking power down into several key aspects. First, power is “influence.” But not just any form of influence; true power comes with the sort of influence that “resonates and uplifts” other people. Offering support is more important than getting support; “service is the highest form of leadership.” And of course, if you can achieve this, people will naturally gravitate towards you and be willing to listen to you, just as you listen to them. In order to influence others, a powerful person must have “insight.” This means being able to thoughtfully ...

One of the United States’ Constitutional tenets is freedom of speech—the right to “articulate opinions and ideas” without “fear of governmental retaliation or censorship.” In fact, freedom of speech is written into the nation’s very first amendment. We benefit from this piece of legislation every single day whether it's debating political ideologies with our friends or even writing blogs like this one. But we often struggle to appreciate how privileged we really are: billions must keep their emotions and feelings locked within themselves to avoid a death sentence. Take North Korea, for example. Out of its 26 million inhabitants , only 1 enjoys the right of free speech—Kim Jong Un. If anyone else even questions his authority, they are sentenced to life in prison, which, in North Korea, is equivalent to endless torture. The country has 1.3 million active personnel who enforce the autocratic rules. That’s right behind the US, which is at 1.4 million , but the critical difference is N...

 I intend to keep this blog quite short today. Not because I am lazy... or because I am still a little sick... or because I just don't know what to write as we start to leave this "power" theme in the past. But because, in reality, I feel myself wasting so much time by the minute. I overestimate the amount of time I have until the 10:00PM deadline, yet I underestimate the rate at which this time passes on. I focus too much on the time I waste, or the amount of time I have left to complete a task. When it comes to writing blogs, I spend many hours wondering if my thoughts are even comprehensible to my own audience, trying my best to perfect my craft.  On hot, unproductive summer afternoons, I think that I have all the time in the world to dwell and overthink, completely unaware that the hours I spend doing such bed-rotting activities are getting tossed away. The following chilly evenings, (which are really just times when the sky is pitch black at 5:00PM) are then spent re...

As individuals of today’s society, it is hard to deny the fact that social media has become a vital part of our day-to-day lives. From Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok, social media not only allows people all over the world to connect, but it has also become an essential tool for businesses and organizations. With millions of people using social media platforms, social media provides a way to better customer engagement and digital marketing for companies. Social media platforms facilitate user connections and content sharing, ultimately improving customer engagement. Through customized advertising and campaigns, this digital marketing tool has revolutionized the way businesses connect with their target audience. Businesses are able to increase brand awareness and customer loyalty by cultivating relationships with customers and producing interesting content, which will improve their entire marketing plan. A company that has been benefiting from this fairly recent technique of advertising ...

Open AI's ChatGPT vs Google's Gemini It seems we cannot go a day without seeing the power of AI and how its power will revolutionize the world. Many companies spearheading the AI revolution include Nvidha, Open AI, Google, Microsoft, and startups such as Reid Hoffmen’s emotionally intelligent chatbot PI or Mustafa Suleyman Inflection AI. Thus, this leads to the observation that the company that is farthest in the race for sentient AI will be the company which will hold most of the power in the future. To find out, I decided to conduct a test on two of the most intelligent chatbots currently: Open AI’s ChatGPT 4 and Google’s Gemini. Each chatbot will be prompted to provide the definition and real world use cases of tokenization. I first prompted chatGPT by asking for a summary on tokenization and cryptocurrencies followed by their respective use cases for real world applications (to ensure I do not receive a zero and get referred to admin for academic dishonesty, I have opted to...

 It is not surprising to know that most, if not all, of the top earners in the world would spend millions of dollars on time if they could buy it. Why? Why spend money on something everyone has? Because everyone has it. The ability to gain access to more time than others would allow these billionaires to utilize that time in any way possible, whether productively, spiritually, or for sleep. Regardless of how they use it, the power time posses is undeniable. However, what if there was a way to do this in real life? How can someone add time to their day? Time management. At first, suggesting time management is the power all billionaires crave may seem comical. According to Harvard Business School, millionaires " spen[d] more time engaged in active leisure (e.g., exercising and volunteering)" rather than "passive leisure (e.g., watching television and relaxing) and allocate time to tasks  "they had more control. " Clearly, time management is vital to success if th...

Let’s take a journey down memory lane. I want you to remember your greatest accomplishment. Now, remember the process that you experienced to reach that point. Those hopeful thoughts you had each day—the thoughts that made every second invaluable. Where would you be without those dreams? Imagine how those visions changed your life and shaped who you are today.  Our lives are driven by the goals that we set for ourselves. They help us navigate the arduous paths to realize our dreams and make success that much sweeter. By simply imagining where we want to be, a weight of worry is lifted off our shoulders. That image of getting a good grade, or earning a large amount of money, or obtaining that dream job. A single picture has the power to motivate us to make it a reality.  Imaginations and dreams have incomprehensible power that has proven to be essential to the modern world.  Thomas Edison was inspired by his dreams to light up the world. Mary Shelley had a dream that becam...