Category Archives: Mind Uploading

It seems everywhere you look these days, theres some sort of misinformation floating around.

Most recently weve seen it around the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines, the 2020 US Presidential Election and 5G.

But there are other types of misinformation that are potentially more dangerous, and potentially deadly.

Weve all seen viral cooking and food hacks pop up on social media - theyre fast, bright and usually have an upbeat soundtrack.

As fun as they may be to watch, food scientist, YouTuber and author Ann Reardon is proving you cant believe everything you see.

Ann Reardon is a qualified food scientist, dietitian and mother who has found unexpected fame on YouTube.

Food in itself is fascinating, Reardon tells the Real Life podcast.

But then once you delve into the science of it, theres just so much I mean, essentially cooking is doing mini science experiments.

Youre mixing different ingredients and heating them up and seeing what the outcomes going to be - and small changes can make a big difference!

Her journey started straight out of high school.

I went to uni and did a degree in nutrition and food science, then from there, I went on to do postgraduate studies in dietetics to become a dietician.

Ann has been a community dietician, consulted for food companies and worked with young people before she started having kids.

Then motherhood intervened and she began looking for a new project.

I got into doing YouTube quite by accident when I was pregnant with my third son, I knew I had a year off (with) maternity leave, and I love, love, love little babies, but changing nappies and doing feeds and all of that stuff really didnt use that much of my mind space, and I knew that from previous kids.

So I thought Im going to start a website that I can work on during night feeds and basically just type with one hand and do all of that stuff, so I would just post once a week on the website.

I was doing blog posts every week and only did videos occasionally, if I felt like I could explain it better with a video, especially cake decorating type stuff, showing is much easier than doing.

There was virtually no videos about cake decorating back then on YouTube.

Being a YouTuber didnt exist 10 years ago, nobody knew you could make money from YouTube - you couldnt just upload and start making money.

So I started uploading weekly videos that was near the end of the year off maternity leave, and we could see that the videos were doing really well.

YouTube had emailed me saying, do you want to monetize your videos? and Id ignored it thinking yet its not actually going to make any money

I eventually filled out the form just to stop them emailing me and then realised this could become my part-time job, and I could stay at home, which is what I wanted to do.

But Ann has noticed a change in the types of videos posted to YouTube.

When I started way back then, everyone posted videos to help people you would never imagine trying to post a video that you knew was false.

But the monetisation of videos has seen what she calls content farms pop up, posting outrageous food and craft hacks that look good but are, at best impossible, and at worst, deadly.

Theres a difference between misinformation and disinformation - and thats one of them is deliberate.

If I put up a recipe and Im explaining how something works, but I didnt actually know, and the person had no background in food and thats how they thought it worked, that would be misinformation.

But if you know that what youre saying is wrong, like some of the videos say mix together, ice cream and icing sugar and youll get this beautiful, thick whipped frosting - thats physically impossible, theres no way that they did that.

Theyve switched it out for a different frosting at the end - thats disinformation, because they know that its not true, but theyre doing it for financial gain and to get views.

Weve all heard of puppy farms, places that continually breed dogs with little regard for the health or happiness of the animals, to produce and sell as many puppies as possible.

The digital equivalent is content farms, content creators who pump out viral hack videos with little regard for safety or authenticity, for clicks and cash.

So a content farm is where youve got 50 or 60 stations all filming video at once pumping out just hundreds of videos a month, all to just gain the algorithm to get heaps of views.

Theyre well produced, so they look like they should be real, and a lot of people have that misconception of why would anybody fake this?

But the trend is taking off.

More people are copying that trend now, so some of them are not content farms, some of them are just normal creators.

Normal creators now are doing the same thing, making fake content, making it look like its a real recipe and the outcome is not possible from what theyre saying or theyre doing.

Some of them can get dangerous, some of them are going to waste a lot of ingredients.

The other thing that theyre not sure about is, well if it is fake, why wouldnt YouTube or Facebook take it down? Surely if its fake, they wouldnt leave it up.

In response to Anns claims, YouTube says their Community Guidelines prohibit content that is intended to encourage dangerous activities that have an inherent risk of physical harm. According to YouTube, they use a combination of technology and people to enforce these guidelines.

While many of the fake recipes and hacks are fairly innocuous, others can be extremely dangerous.

In one case, one girl was killed and another injured in China.

They were following (a hack video) where they made a popcorn popper out of a Coke can, and you could do that safely, but it can also go very wrong if you dont know the basics of using flammable liquids.

Its presented in a way that it looks like a kid could do it and it doesnt come with any of the warnings.

One of the content farms, I saw an interview with one of their people and they said they were doing something with the burner and nearly set the whole studio and fire, but they had a fire extinguisher there, so they put it out.

None of the (videos) say you have to have a fire extinguisher next to it, so theyve got safety precautions, but the audience doesnt even get the warning.

With her How To Cook That channel, Ann tries out these recipes and hacks that have gone viral to demonstrate why they dont work.

I can watch the video and go that wont work and I know why it wont work.

Its more a matter of knowing whats going to happen but going it anyway, so that you can actually demonstrate it to people because once theyve seen it falsely work on a video, they need to see what really happens in order to sort of re-educate your mind.

As well as debunking viral hacks and rescuing cakes, Ann has been hard at work writing her first cookbook, Crazy Sweet Creations, released last year.

After 10 years, it took me a while to actually get around to doing it.

Its been going amazingly well, far better than I thought it woulda bestseller in the UK, in the US very, very exciting.

It has lots of desserts and they actually work!

Theyve been tested by multiple people to make sure everythings great, and you will get the outcome that youre supposed to get at the end of it.

Anns book Crazy Sweet Creations is available now. You can also check out the How To Cook That channel on YouTube.

You can hear Anns full interview in the Real Life podcast above. Its available now on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or your preferred podcast platform.

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7NEWS Real Life podcast: Ann Reardon's 'How To Cook That' YouTube channel busting food and cooking hacks - 7NEWS

The reality star is co-parenting her young son, Archie who she shares with ex-boyfriend Rossco Edmonds. Tyla and Rossco split in June 2019 when Archie was just seven months old.

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Love Island's Tyla explains the struggles of co-parenting

Love Island star Tyla Carr has opened up about her struggles to raise her young son amid the collapse of her romantic relationship.

The 28-year-old reality star who appeared on Love Island back in 2017, the same year as Kem Cetinay and Olivia Attwood was in a relationship with businessman Rossco Edmonds, who she shares three-year-old Archie with, but they split in 2019 seven months after their son arrived.

Tyla and Rossco are now raising their child as co-parents, but the former Love Islander has admitted it can be difficult at times.

She explained that she always wants to put her child first, but struggles with keeping the reason for her split from Rossco to herself and wants to keep her reasons secret in order to protect her young son.

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Opening up on Instagram, Tyla explained: "I thought I'd come on here and be a little bit more real about my co-parenting situation, currently in tears, it is the hardest thing ever to deal with these crappy emotions and all the agg that goes with having to break up with someone and trying to be good parent it is the hardest thing.

"I say on here you have to co-parent, be on side and make it bad. When things are good its great when things are rubbish it is horrendous.

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"Im always an advocate if co-parenting but heres some more of the reality. I'm no angel as people well know, I dont do everything right, in fact, I make mistakes everyday!

"Archie comes first an thats all I try and keep in mind"

She went on to hint that she and Rossco endured a particularly painful break-up when they split in June 2019.

She said: "You're not friends with your ex and most of the time theres bad blood so you dont get on bring a child into the mix and youve got a recipe for a real s**t storm.

"Ive never spoken about why my ex and I broke up and Im not sure I ever will (I never ever ever want my baby to know that happened, it was that bad)."

She continued: "Truth is, its not easy! Its actually the most draining thing of al trying to keep the peace for the sake of Archie.

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"At home my baby never speaks to a woman the way Ive been spoke to, or get spoken to on a regular basis. The amount of deep breaths I have to take, Im surprised I dont pass out."

During her Instagram Stories videos, Tyla could be seen getting emotional and breaking down in tears but she assured fans later that she was fine.

Uploading a snap of herself smiling, the reality star wrote: "A little cry helps get it all out your system."

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Love Island's Tyla Carr sobs over 'horrendous' co-parenting nightmare with ex - The Mirror

Modern dating is in its flop era. Intimacy is dead, daters are burned out after two years of swiping, and apps introduced a decade ago are starting to show their age.A new app, Snack, wants you to break up with photo-based dating apps. And while it's designed with Gen Z in mind, it may also be a godsend for millennials who are tired of swiping to find love.

Snack CEO Kim Kaplan knows dating: She spent 10 years optimizing marketing, revenue, and product strategies at Canadian dating site Plenty of Fish. Pre-pandemic, she started thinking about building a video-based app after discovering #singletok, where TikTok users post personal info like their name, age, and zodiac sign to attract potential dates. With the help of a syndicate of Gen Z investors, Kaplan and her team built Snack by asking, "If we were to strip away all the things [about dating apps] that you don't like, what would that look like from a social and dating experience?"

And Snack really does strip it all away. My profile showed my name, age, location, a few hashtagged interests, and my videos that's it. There's no bio or basic info like education level, job, political leanings, and height. Video prompts like "show me how tall you are by comparing yourself to another object in your room" are designed to capture your info and interests instead. Then the algorithm goes to work, identifying video elements, like "skiing," "dogs," and, yes, "fishing," to learn what you like and to surface more compatible matches.

Snack may be built for Gen Z, but millennials can still feel the love. You can choose to see potential matches up to 35 years old.Credit: Snack App

As a young-ish millennial used to swiping apps, Snack's simple design broke my brain (the app is currently available for daters aged 18 to 35, so it's definitely not just for Gen Z). It felt casual, fresh, and really fun, like flipping through my For You Page. You can flick up and down your feed to revisit profiles you've already seen and tell someone you're into them by tapping a heart button. Try swiping right or left, and the app will cheekily remind you that "swiping is old af." After a few days on Snack, Bumble and Hinge started to look more like resumes than dating apps.

And the video element definitely worked for me. After watching a guy I'd usually swipe left on boldly twerk upside down on a wall at a house party, I thought, "Yeah, I'd grab coffee with him."

Kaplan says that's the point: Watching a video, even for a few seconds, forces you to be "more intentional about the decisions you're making" versus the "low intent" of swiping on a photo. Curated photos get stale fast, especially for Gen Zers who constantly update their feeds and share their experiences, or move dating app conversations to Instagram, where they "flirt through the content that they post," says Kaplan. "Why wouldn't you just keep uploading what happened on a weekend or a night out with your friends or what you're studying?" That type of content says more about who they are than a few old pictures. "You're seeing a more authentic version of somebody," Kaplan explains. "[They're saying] here's who I am and I'm proud of who I am, and you're gonna like me for who I am."

Another element of online dating that Snack wants to see dead and buried? Ghosting.

Letting a conversation die when it fizzles, abandoning apps when life gets super busy Kaplan says that kind of "light ghosting" is super common and not a big deal to most daters. But when it comes to chronic ghosting "that actually impacts people, it creates a really negative experience for everybody else on the app." Snack has decided to try to weed out those folks. "If you continually ghost, we're not going to show you as frequently," Kaplan says. "Hopefully, that changes the behavior and gets people to be more open and honest with the other party about what's going on."

She points to last week's West Elm Caleb uproar, noting that Snack would have kept a lot of the women involved from ever seeing Caleb on the app.

The goal for Snack is, "How do we make it easier for you to enjoy and laugh and engage with what people are doing [on a dating app], just like you would on TikTok?" Kaplan says. After all, "Dating is meant to be fun, right?"

Related Video: How Tinder and other dating apps use algorithms to find your match

The rest is here:

Snack is a dating app for the TikTok generation - Mashable

We always talk about the importance of protecting data but just how much data is there in the world? And what can you do to keep your sensitive data away from prying eyes? Lets explore the answers to both of these questions

Data is the lifeblood of your organization. Its what allows you to make informed business decisions, improve the quality of your products, provide better services to your customers, and make your organization more secure. Your most sensitive data customer information, intellectual property, and trade secrets is invaluable, and cybercriminals know it. This is why getting access to your data is often the primary objective for threat actors targeting your business.

But how much data does your business have? Moreover, how much data is in the world as a whole? And how secure is all of this wealth of information? And what steps can you take to make your organizations data more secure?

Thats a lot of big questions with a lot of variables. But as we always love to say around here

Lets hash it out.

If youre wondering how much digital data is in the world well, the answer depends on the source you look at and what factors they include in their calculations. PwC estimated that the digital universe was anticipated to reach 44 zettabytes of data by 2020. Of course, this data was originally reported back in 2018, and their report was based on an IDC data projection that dated back to 2012!

Considering were now in 2022 and the daily data creation growth rate, that number is basically old news. However, it provides some idea of context when it comes to the massive amount of data that exists within our digital universe. Now, lets consider some more recent data.

In March 2021, IDC reported that more than 64 zettabytes of data were created or replicated in 2020 alone. Their latest DataSphere forecasts a 23% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in data creation and replication between 2000-2025.

Okay, throwing these numbers around is all fine and well but what does all of this really mean in terms of how much data is in the world? If youre not a mathematician, its likely that a zettabyte means nothing to you. (Its basically gibberish to me as well!) So, before we go any further in talking about data statistics, lets quickly explore what a zettabyte actually means by giving this term a little context.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) provides a valuable table to put a zettabyte and other incomprehensible numbers into context.

For those of my fellow readers who arent particularly math- or numbers-inclined, lets simplify it a bit more: every time you move up to the next data size level, you tack on three more 0s. So, a kilobyte (1,000 bytes) becomes a megabyte (1,000,000 bytes), and a megabyte becomes a gigabyte (1,000,000,000 bytes). With this in mind, that means that 64 zettabytes (i.e., 64,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes) of data were either created or replicated in 2020 alone.

Okay, all of this is great to know but what does it all really mean? Lets put it into some context.

Netflix says that it takes about 3 GB of data to watch one hour of high-definition streaming video on your device. With this in mind, it means that Netflix requires about 72 GB of data to stream high-definition video content per day. So, thats 26,280 gigabytes of data per year. Putting it another way, thats:

This means that it takes 26.28 terabytes of data to stream HD Netflix shows or movies 24/7 on your device and were still nowhere near even one zettabyte.

Say, you were to record 1 ZB of data to CDs and store each of those discs in a standard case to protect it. If Ive done my math correctly (fingers crossed), this means it would take 1,428,571,428,571 CDs, stacked in their cases, to hold 1 zettabyte of information. Now, consider that it takes approximately 30 CD cases, when laying flat, to equal one foot in height. This means your massive stack of encased discs would stand approximately 47,619,047,619 feet tall (9,018,759 miles)!

Feeling lost? Lets make this a little easier by using a well-known New York City landmark for reference. The Empire State Building, the sixth tallest building in the United States, stands 1,454 feet tall (including the spire and antenna). This means the building stands the equal height of 43,620 stacked CD cases. This means that 1 zettabyte of data saved on stacked discs would be as tall as 32,750,377 Empire State Buildings standing on top of one another!

As another example, consider that the sun is roughly 93 million miles from Earth. (or, 92,900,000 miles if youd like to be more specific). If you were to put 93 million miles in terms of stacking CDs inside their cases, that means this life-giving red giant is approximately 16,368,000,000 stacked discs away from our planet.

Now, consider that weve been calculating these numbers based on 1 ZB of data. If you calculate this for 64 ZB of data, its the equivalent of 577,200,576 miles of stacked disc cases. So, if youre stacking CD cases with discs full of data, that stack would span the distance from Earth to the sun more than six times!

Categories of data expand far beyond any list wed have time to put together. Basically, if you have data, it needs to be secure and have backups available for when something goes wrong. But what are some examples of the types of data that organizations need to keep secure? Lets take a quick gander:

Thats a lot of data. Now that we know what kinds of data you need to protect, its time to see how companies store this wealth of information.

Data storage methods range from one organization to the next. Your organizations data storage needs will likely be different from those of other organizations in part because of the types of data you need to store. Here are a few of the ways you can store data:

Some companies store all of their data onsite while others store everything in the cloud. There are some organizations that adopt hybrid cloud approaches storing some data in the cloud and other data on prem that fall somewhere in the middle and offers the best of both worlds. And, finally, there are larger enterprises that are adopting multi-cloud strategies, which means that they use two or more cloud vendors.

So, what methods do enterprises and other organizations use to store their data and support their workloads? Lets explore the following survey-based predictions data from the Spiceworks report The 2022 State of IT:

You can see the shift in how organizations are breaking up their IT budgets:

Entrusts 2021 Global Encryption Trends Study data shows that three in five (60%) of organizations transfer sensitive or confidential data to the cloud whether or not it is encrypted. Basically, this means theyre uploading plaintext data to servers that unauthorized individuals could potentially access without having some other data security mechanism such as tokenization or data masking in place to make that data unusable. Not a good idea, and certainly not an industry best practice!

Regardless of which approach your organization takes, the big takeaway here is that you need to store this data as securely as possible. This can be done in several ways, depending on the platform or data storage method in question. And no matter which method you choose, just make sure that you have multiple current backups of your data!

Asking why you need to secure your data is like asking why you breathe: its a necessity for life in this case, the life of your organization. Taking steps to encrypt your data is necessary for operating a business or organization. After all, if you dont protect your customers and organizations most sensitive assets, you likely wont remain in business very long. Or, at the very least, youll suffer major financial setbacks and reputational harm.

Cyber security and data security best practices exist for a reason use them to your advantage and keep your valuable data safe and secure. Of course, there are plenty of reasons why you need (and should want) to keep your data secure. Here are a few quick ones:

Data from Sonicwall shows that ransomware increased substantially in Q3 2021. Many modern ransomware attacks are double-edged swords: attackers not only prevent you from accessing your data, but they also may choose to steal your data so they can use it, publish it online or sell it to other bad guys. And they frequently do this regardless of whether you agree to pay the demanded ransom.

By and large, bad guys want easy targets; theyre looking for the low-hanging fruit that offers a potentially big payday for the least amount of effort. Why work harder when they can work smarter, right? While it may be a challenge to be the most secure company in your industry, you should at least be more secure than your competitors.

Spoiler alert: customers want to do business with companies and organizations that they have confidence in. Your customers are going to have a hard time trusting you if you cant be bothered to protect their sensitive data and information.

2021 research from Okta and YouGov shows that 47% of customers will completely cut ties with companies that experience data breaches or reportedly misuse data. Furthermore, their survey respondents also indicate the following:

Needless to say, having ineffective security measures can result in losses of customer relationships, sales, profits, and future business opportunities.

Ever heard of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)? How about the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS)? HIPAA? CCPA? The list of regulations goes on and on. These are all powerful data security regulations that require the secure storage and transmission of data. If youre not compliant with them, youll quickly find yourself in the hot seat and facing substantial fines. Amazon learned that the hard way when they got hit with a $887 million fine for GDPR violations.

Still struggling with coming to terms with having to invest the time, money, and other resources to securing data? Ask yourself the following rhetorical question: Why bother generating or collecting valuable information if youre just going to hand it over to your competitors, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized users without a fight?

When it comes to data security in the internet age, a central part of the conversation revolves around encryption and the framework of technologies, processes, and procedures that support it. Public key infrastructure, or PKI, is what makes secure data transmissions and communications possible on public networks.

We wont get into everything PKI entails in a technical sense here; thatll take way too much time and take us off the topic at hand. However, you can put public key infrastructure to work to help keep your data secure both while its at rest and in transit.

Heres a quick overview of some ways that you can make your IT infrastructure and data more secure:

Of course, theres another critical element to keeping data secure: you need to know where every bit of data is located and who (or what) has access to it. This entails performing regular audits and maintaining a current inventory of assets. You cant protect what you dont know you have.

Securing your data is both an industry best practice and a regulatory requirement. And from a customers perspective, keeping their data secure is a requirement if you want to keep their business. If they dont believe their data is secure with you, then research shows theyre likely to voice their dissatisfaction with their wallets by business with your competitors.

To stay compliant with industry regulations, protect your brands sterling reputation, and maintain customer relationships, its vital to view data security as a primary focus. Now that you have some idea of how much data there is in the world and why its so important, its easy to see why you must do everything possible to keep it secure.

Continue reading here:

How Much Data Is in the World (And How Do You Secure It)? - Hashed Out by The SSL Store

SLINGER A 19-year-old Slinger man turned a moment of disappointment into a career among the elite in his field.

The pivotal moment occurred more than five years ago when Ethan Schulteis was watching his favorite childhood show, Avatar: The Last Airbender, the animated Nickelodeon production about a young boys quest to master the four elements.

I discovered that it was someones job to make these cartoons, Schulteis said. I did some research and found out everything I could about being an animator.

Schulteis parents, Tim and Shelly, enrolled their then-14-year-old son in an online animation course. He set out to make his mark in the cartoon and animation world. And then came that momentary setback.

I discovered I wouldnt be able to work in the animation industry until I was an adult, he said.

Schulteis pursued a related Plan B instead.

I decided Id make my own cartoon, he said. The result? The first and last episode of Schulteis animated web series, The Amagi.

Creating the episode was a long, tiring process that did not generate as many views as Schulteis would have wanted so he pivoted, turning his YouTube channel, The Amagi, into a more traditional YouTube model. He created and published videos of top 10 lists, interviews, news and other topics that piqued his interest, namely cartoons.

On May 28, 2019, Schulteis randomly decided to post a video talking about one of his favorite cartoons, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and specifically the ability to bend lava.

Lets pause this article for a quick tutorial. YouTube is a website for uploading, sharing and viewing videos on a mind-blowing wide variety of topics. Basically, if you have an interest in or question about anything, someone has probably created a video or launched a channel about it. Subjects include entertainment, fashion, sports, technology and travel to just scratch the surface. Programs include commentaries, product reviews, tutorials and advertisements. Anyone who uploads, produces or appears in a video on the video-sharing website is called a YouTuber. If someone clicks a button to get notified when the YouTuber posts a new video, they are called a subscriber. If you successfully attract a large number of subscribers, it can turn into a career. If you attract more than 1 million subscribers, you are among the most elite YouTubers in the world.

Now back to Schulteis, a 2021 Slinger High School graduate, and the global audience he attracts. That post from nearly 3 years ago quickly drew 1 million viewers. Subsequent daily posts drew an average of 100,000 views up to well more than a million. Soon The Amagi was generating a substantial amount of income, which Schulteis reinvested to hire a fulltime editor and part-time writers and voice actors. Eventually the focus of The Amagi switched from America cartoons to Japanese animation. The audience followed and grew. Today, The Amagi has more than 1.3 million subscribers and about 20 million views per month.

At the same time, Schulteis has drawn the attention of the animation industry. Channel Frederator, a popular animation studio, recently asked Schulteis and his team to run its company- owned YouTube channel with more than 2 million subscribers. A decision to translate The Amagi English-language content into Hindi and post it on The Amagi Hindi channel has already amassed more than 75,000 subscribers and 1 million views per month.

Schulteis goals extend well beyond animation.

Going into YouTube, I never intended to only make content on animated properties, he said. I ended up going down that road because thats where the trends were leading and thats the route that was necessary to grow my channel to where it is today.

I created The Amagi 2 to be a place where I could post videos about non-animated properties like Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc., he said. So far the channel has a tad over 55,000 subscribers with 27 videos.

The future is bright and opportunities arrive frequently.

Im actually very content doing what Im doing now for the long term, so in the future I would love to just continue running YouTube channels, he said. A dream project would be managing more channels for companies. Who knows, maybe I could run Nickelodeons channel one day. I could fulfill my dream of working for the company in the end after all.

Continue reading here:

Hitting it big on YouTube | News | gmtoday.com - Greater Milwaukee Today

The judge hearing Novak Djokovics case has queried what more he could have done to prove his medical exemption and criticised the Australian government for reneging on a deal to give him more time to defend his visa from cancellation.

Judge Anthony Kelly said he was preoccupied and somewhat agitated by the issue of why Australian officials did not accept an exemption document provided by the world No 1 male tennis player from a qualified physician, backed up by an independent Victorian government panel.

The federal circuit court began to hear Djokovics case on Monday morning, allowing him temporarily out of detention to view the hearing away from the Park hotel in Melbourne, where he is being held.

The expedited hearing comes ahead of a looming Tennis Australia deadline of Tuesday for Djokovic to be included in the draw to play the Australian Open.

Djokovic is seeking to win a record 10th Australian Open which would be his 21st open grand slam title, the most ever for a male player in singles.

He now finds his fortune at the whims of Australian administrative law which advocates have long complained is stacked against those seeking to regain visas, including the refugees held at the Park hotel, in detention for up to nine years.

Djokovic arrived in Australia late on Wednesday evening before his visa was cancelled at 7.29am on Thursday morning on the basis he may be a threat to health and safety because he was unvaccinated.

Djokovics counsel, Nicholas Wood, told the court the Serbian tennis star had done his level best to provide everything to substantiate his exemption that he recently had Covid-19, including uploading a medical exemption from the chief medical officer of Tennis Australia before travelling.

Kelly interrupted to comment that the status of Djokovics medical exemption preoccupied him, describing it as a relatively significant fact that Djokovic had obtained an exemption from a professor and eminently qualified physician, which was further approved by an independent expert panel established by the Victorian state government.

That document was in the hands of the delegate [who cancelled his visa]. The point Im somewhat agitated about is: what more could this man [Djokovic] have done?

Wood said that Djokovic had been utterly confused when interviewed on Thursday morning, pointing to a note he received before travelling from the home affairs department that his claim for an exemption had been assessed and accepted.

The department argues that response does not amount to an assurance his medical exemption would allow him to enter Australia.

Kelly noted Djokovic was effectively incommunicado from 4am when he was asked to switch his phone off until 7.42am when he was told of the cancellation, as the department reneged on an agreement to give him until 8.30am to consult Tennis Australia.

The Australian government has argued visa-holders cannot be allowed to filibuster by refusing to completely respond to a notice to cancel a visa.

Wood submitted that Djokovic had wanted to wait for a particular time to speak to Tennis Australia and the judge appeared to accept he had done so to effectively take up the opportunity to provide [authorities] anything further [they] might want.

Kelly noted that Djokovic was urged not to get in touch with his lawyers, which Wood said occurred on the spurious rationale it would be in his interests to complete his interview without them.

In its written submission the Australian government argued that any failure to consider further representations from Djokovic is immaterial. Wood labelled that view erroneous unless the delegate had a closed mind about the case.

Kelly suggested on one view the interview could be seen as an ex-post-facto justification for the cancellation decision.

The Australian government submitted that recent infection with Covid-19 by itself is not enough for a medical exemption, and the evidence established that Djokovic has recovered and is therefore not entitled to one.

Through counsel, Christopher Tran, it submitted that Djokovic had given a response to the notice to cancel the visa in the interview and there was no denial of procedural fairness.

Tran said Djokovic may have felt pressured to respond, but urged the judge not to find that was Border Force officials intention.

The hearing continues on Monday afternoon, with further submissions from Tran. The mornings remote hearing suffered technical outages in webcasting that triggered adjournments or closed it from public view.

Earlier on Monday, Wood accused the delegate of the home affairs minister of a paucity of evidence for the decision to cancel Djokovics visa, and warned that any defect in reasoning should see it reinstated.

Legal experts have warned even after the expedited hearing, there is no guarantee Djokovic could secure a court order restoring his visa in time to play, and he could also face his visa being revoked again.

In written submissions the home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, has asked the court, if it sides with Djokovic, to quash the original decision but not to order his release.

The government submitted it had the power to make a fresh cancellation decision and noted other powers including re-detention.

Wood sought an interlocutory injunction to release Djokovic pending the result of the case. Kelly noted on Thursday Tran had ruled out deporting Djokovic before the result.

Go here to read the rest:

Novak Djokovic: judge asks what more tennis star could have done to prove vaccination exemption - The Guardian

Oovoo javer is a video in which a student is asked, Whos the hottest Uber driver youve ever had? He replied, saying that he had never been to oovoo javer, and the video went viral on social media.

Gabriel Cash says that he was walking down the street with his friends when a reporter came up to them and asked Cash about whos the hottest Uber driver youve been with, and Cash replied that he had never been with oovoo javer.

His friends went crazy when he said the word. Later, after the interview, he said that he was chewing gum, and while chewing, he could pronounce the right words and ended up saying oovoo javer.

It could also be seen from the video before the interviewer approached them that the group already had in mind that they had to come on tv and get famous.

They were pretty successful in pulling this off due to Cashs word. After the video went viral, the oovoo javer guy went absent from social media.

After one year, in 2017, the oovoo javer guy returned by uploading a video in which no one thought he would turn out to be the oovoo javer guy.

He titles the video, Have I Ever Been With An Oovoo Javer? The video went viral on social media when he revealed himself as the oovoo javer guy named Gabrielle Cash.

For some years, the people were blessed with meme videos trends and the video-sharing app known as Vine. This app allows the user to record a six-second video of them doing hilarious things.

This brought a lot of hilarious videos for people to watch. During this Vine app, a video went viral on the internet in which a student is asked if he has ever been with a hot Uber driver.

The reply was hilarious that people started making vines and meme videos that featured his response. The student said, Ive never been with oovoo javer.

The student from the videos name is Gabriel Cash, who is currently a content creator. But he is not into the same hilarious content he was featured in oovoo javer.

He creates content for the adult film industry, and Gabriel, alongside his brother, Daniel, makes videos and shares it on Twitter with their fans by the account named The Cash Twins.

So, it can be said that Cash could get the leapfrog when he was featured in the oovoo javer video. Because the video went viral, he quickly made a name for himself and started a career in creating content for the adult film industry.

He and his brother Danielle frequently share videos of s*xuall intercourse with each other on social media. After the oovoo javer, this content skyrocketed Gabrielles career. He receives much criticism for his actions, but he manages these issues professionally.

Gabriel Cash from the oovoo javer video is a content creator for the adult film industry. At first, people didnt know about his profession, and after he revealed that he is the oovoo javer guy, the fans wanted to learn more about him.

After surfing through the internet, the fans found that the oovoo javer guy named Gabriel is a gay p*rn star. His brother Danielle is also working with him in the adult film industry in his brothers same profession.

Daniel says, I will be uploading my own content where you will be able to see everything. He added, Here to make all your fantasy c** true Ill be posting three times a week or more and you wont be disappointed.

It was reported that both the brothers charge $13.99 per month. The brother has a Twitter account called The Cash Twins, in which we can see in the cover photo that Gabrielle and Danielle are standing side-by-side with erect pe**ses.

The account features p*rnographic content in which the brothers are seen to engage s*xually with other partners. They often make adult videos by intimidating a man, letting everyone know they are gay p*rnstars.

The brothers have an Instagram page where they are seen to upload a video saying that they have finally achieved one million views on their Youtube channel.

They created their youtube channel in December 2013, and this channel is basically for content based on lifestyle and fashion. Their fans highly appreciate their fashion styles and employ them daily.

Their p*rnographic content would often lead them to controversies and allegations that they are being involved in incest p*rnography.

According to Merriam-Webster, Incest means a s*xual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry.

This controversy was at the height until June 2020 when they addressed a video, Reacting to my brothers and Is Incest P*rn?!!

In the video, the brother says that they didnt plan to become the first twin brother as Gay p*rn stars.

In January 2019, the brother said that the brothers need more life in an interview. They were broke and didnt have any money to put the food on their table.

So, they decided to make p*rnograhic content for the people, and they added that after entering the p*rn industry, they have become physically, mentally and spiritually happy.

After talking about all this, the brother went down to haters. They said that if they are in s*xual intercourse and if they are sucking each other d**** and getting to eat cheese and make money together, then you guys are just haters.

They also added that if they cant watch the brothers making money together and calling this gross, they sign off immediately.

The brothers always encourage their hater not to watch their s*xual intercourse, and those who dont like their content respect their opinion and suggest they sign off.

At the end of the video, the brothers concluded by saying, We love each other in a brotherly way. They then joke about loving each other in a sisterly way.

See more here:

What Happened To The Oovoo Javer Guy: Where Is He? - Vizaca.com

Its painful to admit it, but its true: The last time Oakland kicked San Franciscos ass this thoroughly was the 89 World Series.

To wit: On the cusp of winter break, every Oakland Unified School District student attending class received a pair of at-home covid tests. Throughout the break, parents were sent numerous and detailed messages reminding them to administer one of those tests three days before the first day of school and the second on the Sunday before school resumed. And, for those parents who didnt do this or who left on vacation before the tests were handed out there was an additional stopgap: Rapid testing was available on school campuses on the first day of school.

All told, some 41,000 tests were disseminated to Oakland public school families. Some 21,000 results were uploaded to a central system. And, on the first day of school, nearly 1,000 students and staff stayed home because theyd tested positive for Covid-19.

No, taking the tests was not mandatory. Uploading the results was not mandatory. But, bottom line, in Oakland, free tests were put in families hands. Families were given every opportunity and many reminders over the break to administer the multiple free tests. Some parents may have ignored this and, perhaps, some pathological person knowingly sent sick kids to school. But, by and large, tens of thousands of parents and kids followed the rules: Students and staff showed up having tested negative, or stayed home.

It really worked the way we wanted it to, said Oakland public school spokesman John Sasaki. Pretty close to 1,000 people were informed they should be staying home and getting better, and not coming to school. And thats great for adults, and great for students.

Students in Berkeley, Marin County and Contra Costa County were also provided with at-home tests. Students in San Francisco were not. So its unclear if things worked out the way the San Francisco Unified School district wanted them to. Hopefully not, because that, too, would be pathological.

San Francisco public school parents were not provided at-home tests for their kids but, on the eve of school restarting, they were encouraged to get kids tested, nevertheless. This is a terrible message to send, especially because it came at a time when testing centers resembled the Coronet Theatre during Star Wars opening weekend, and when tracking down test kits in stores felt like a dystopian hunt for a Tickle-Me Elmo.

Well, that wasnt fun for this San Francisco public school parent. It was even less fun than watching, in person, as Dennis Eckersley beat Brett Butler to the bag for the final out in 89. I have asked the school district to explain the thought process behind its actions (or, more accurately, inactions). I have not yet received an adequate response. It warrants mentioning that Oakland Unified has a contract with Primary Health and San Francisco Unified contracts with Color. Regardless, that doesnt get to the thought process. Not providing tests for kids coming back from winter break is something a district does and then must explain.

The district has also not responded to my queries over whether its accurate that, as the teachers union claims, San Francisco Unified opted out of a state program that wouldve provided it with more than 100,000 tests. The tests were purportedly sent regardless, and have since arrived, many days late and dollars short.

Multiple doctors at the University of California, San Francisco, told me they expect omicron cases to peak in mid-January, and hospitalizations to peak a couple of weeks later (because of widespread vaccination and because omicron is, statistically, milder than its predecessors, hospitalizations remain lower than during the surges of yesteryear, even as cases rise exponentially).

Lets just plan on a month of being miserable, UCSF infectious disease and AIDS specialist Dr. Monica Gandhi said last week. Its going to be a mess.

Adding to that mess, and because of it, schools may yet close down, as they have nearby. But every expert contacted for this story,and I spoke to nine doctors, advised against doing this proactively, unless there were simply not enough teachers for schools to remain open. The doctors did not foresee schools becoming a more fertile transmission ground than society writ large, let alone the bars, restaurants and sporting venues that also remain open (and reopened well before San Francisco schools).

The highest-risk behavior is not in-school behavior, but out-of-school behavior, says UCSF pediatrician Dr. Lee Atkinson-McEvoy

Stanford infectious disease specialist Dr. Jake Scott adds: I dont think schools should ever be shut down for the sake of controlling community levels of covid. Schools have not been driving the pandemic, and closing schools should be the very last resort.

The problem is that omicron is running rampant in society writ large. Society writ large is where we all live; teachers, too. That makes it hard to staff a school.

We still need to mitigate covid, even if we are transitioning toward a seasonal endemic phase; we are not quite there yet, Scott continues. If every teacher is out sick, schools will be closed.

Scott, meanwhile, describes San Francisco public schools testing decision the decision not to provide free at-home tests prior to the break and then urging parents to test their children as irresponsible.

Mitigation strategies are important, and at-home testing is an important tool, Scott continues. And its important for us to provide these tools. It should be free, and it should be widely available.

Like the free tests provided to his child and Atkinson-McEvoys children,all of whom are Oakland Unified students.

So, San Francisco Unified failed the testing test. The tests werent provided to families prior to the break and then families were set on a Hunger Games-like quest to procure one. But the district is not alone in failing to initiate a serious conversation about the evolving role and limitations of preemptive testing as covid becomes an endemic disease.

Theres that word again: Endemic. Essentially, this means that covid will not be eradicated, like smallpox was. Rather, like influenza or colds or certain viral infections, its here with us to stay.

Thats a profoundly dispiriting notion, especially as case counts skyrocket and its led many people to lose hope and compare life in early 2022 to life in early 2020. Thats understandable, but its also facile. To start with, we have vaccines now. More than 96 percent of San Francisco public school teachers are vaccinated, and every student, too, has had the opportunity to be double-vaccinated. Omicron is far more transmissible than its predecessors, but among the vaccinated and boosted, the consequences of getting sick are, blessedly, rarely severe.

In terms of morbidity and hospitalization? I compare it to a new strain of flu, says UCSFs Dr. George Rutherford, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics.

The message that omicron is milder than earlier variants is being misinterpreted to the point that people are pondering if they should hold chickenpox parties and get themselves infected. To borrow a line from Linus Van Pelt, you can, if youre stupid. Even if only a small percentage of omicron patients fall seriously ill, its a small percentage of a very big number, and could swamp the healthcare system. And the long-term effects of omicron are still little known.

Even in a good flu, the estimate is 36,000 deaths in the United States, Rutherford continues. Bottom line: You dont want to get this. We need to exercise caution, and testing is part of that.

But there is a continuum between exercising caution to not catch an endemic sickness and inducing societal upheaval. We do not preemptively test people for colds or the flu. We do not proactively shut down schools or businesses to reduce transmission.

At what point are we ready to say that were not going to be able to prevent cases but need to minimize the consequences of those cases?

This is the difficult discussion we need to have in the coming months. Dr. Anthony Fauci broached it when he said that the focus needs to be on hospitalizations rather than case counts (The impact on society should be measured not on how many people are blowing their nose but on how many people are really getting sick, he told the New Yorker). UCSFs Gandhi made similar points in the New York Times.

Eventually, Americans will have to accept that covid is going to stay in our lives. We will have to take sensible precautions masking, ventilation, testing. But if you catch the disease, your vaccination and booster likely enables you and your family to recover in several days and then return to what will now pass as regular life (Unless a diabolical new variant comes along and ruins everything).

You and your family may already have dealt with this. Mine has. Multiple times. Were dealing with it right now.

Among medical professionals, learning to live with the presence of covid is not a particularly controversial notion (How I Learned to Stop Worrying, and Love the Virus, you could call it).

The controversy comes in when we should do this.

I do think we need to start thinking about covid as something that is going to be with us for the long term, just as colds and other viral infections are with us, says Dr. Adithya Cattamanchi, a UCSF professor of medicine. At what point are we ready to say that were not going to be able to prevent cases, but need to minimize the consequences of those cases?

The midst of an omicron surge may not be the most appropriate (or politic) time to do so. And a monomaniacal focus on testing isnt helpful, either. How effective is masking? Cattamanchi continues. Can both staff and kids upgrade masks? Is there adequate ventilation in schools?

There are, in fact, quantifiable measures of how well ventilated a structure is. My questions to San Francisco Unified regarding such measures in its schools have not yet been answered. Nor have questions about school policy regarding where kids take off their masks and eat.

The sickouts undertaken by teachers in both San Francisco and Oakland which, frankly, more closely resemble wildcat strikes may rankle put-upon parents. But, methods and timing aside, teachers demands for additional sick time, more accessible testing or better masks hardly seem to be exorbitant; this is not akin to asking for mass installation of toilet lids.

Doctors, Cattamanchi notes, arent expected to bring their own personal protective equipment to work; hospitals provide that. He cant see why teachers, or any essential worker, should be expected to provide his or her own PPE.

As for enhanced testing availability, thats not unreasonable, either. Gandhi is of the mind that we should be moving away from testing as covid grows endemic, but she still feels that we, as a society, cant do that until these difficult discussions have been initiated and explanations have been made.

If youre not ready to say, covid is not going away, you have to give people tools to try to contain it, she said.

So, for whatever reason, San Francisco Unified failed this test. And failed to explain why it failed. No surprise there: UCSFs Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo notes that messaging has been abysmal and credibility-destroying, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control on down.

But theres time yet to make up for it. Or not. Either way, the semester is just beginning. Its going to be a long one.

Update: Following publication of this story, SFUSD sent this communique.

Here is the original post:

SFUSD failed the Covid-19 testing test - Mission Local

Last week, the dignity and personhood of Muslim women was targeted once again by putting them up for online auction by an app called Bulli Bai on the platform GitHub. A first information report (FIR) was registered in Delhi and Mumbai and two persons have since been arrested.

In a similar incident last year, an app called Sulli Deals had taken publicly available pictures of mostly Muslim women and created profiles, describing the women as deals of the day. On October 30, 2021, the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) had reported that even 118 days later, in spite of the furore and two FIRs having been lodged against it, no arrests had been made. Not surprisingly, they have still not been arrested.

The words Sulli and Bulli are obvious distortions of the derogatory word Mulli for Muslim women. The idea of distorting the word was to ensure that the host platform does not deny uploading the content in case it happens to check-up its meaning on Urban Dictionary.

Bulli Bai and Sulli Deals must not be regarded as mere cybercrimes, as the police and the government would like us to believe in their fire-fighting mode to contain the damage before the elections nor are they the handiwork of a few perverted individuals for some kicks. Had they been doing it for kicks, they would have broadened their base to include women from elsewhere too. Since most of the victims are Muslim women, the intent was clearly to degrade and humiliate them.

Also read: Muzlim, K2A, Jih@DI, Mull@H: How Right-Wing Trolls Bypass Hate Speech Filters on Twitter

Inflicting a social defeat on Muslims

Communal hatred in todays India has now risen to such a pitch that open calls for genocide of Muslims are being made from public platforms like the Dharma Sansad at Haridwar.

However, the hatemongers also know that in spite of their fervent desire to do away with the Indian Muslims, it is just not possible to eliminate 200 million people. Even in the Second World War, the deadliest military conflict in history, less than 85 million people were killed in nearly six years.

However, they do know that they can indeed manage to humiliate 200 million people, day in day out. They also know that, quite often, humiliating the defeated is more pleasurable than killing him outright and humiliation is often worse than death for the defeated.

As I have written earlier, such incidents are a part of a sinister design to debase Muslims, humiliate them, de-humanise them, injure their dignity and self-respect so much that they come to accept their existence as vanquished people, if not sub-humans (theUntermensch of the Nazis) surviving at the mercy of the majority in a land they are historically not entitled to stand on, as per the Hindutva ideologues.

The ultimate objective of these hate and humiliation campaigns is to wear Muslims down to the point that they are forced to accept a sort of social defeat. Having started with the process of othering, the idea is to force them first to accept a second grade citizen status and finally the status of nowhere people. The grand design is to break their very will to live with self-respect, dignity and honour.

Also read: The Hindutva Ecosystem Has a New Anti-Muslim Narrative. This Time Street Vendors Are the Target.

Targeting the Muslim community through Muslim women

There is a clear strategy behind targeting well-placed, well-educated Muslim women. In the Mahabharata, the Kauravas idea of summoning Draupadi to the assembly instead of merely seizing her, as they could have given their numerical strength was to insult the manliness of the Pandavas, the fount of their self-respect.

When Draupadi pointed out to Dushasana that she, being the daughter-in-law of the Kuru dynasty, could not be insulted thus, he said that she had been rendered a slave-woman with no honour (Sabha Parv, Mahabharat). That is, by reducing her to the status of a slave-woman, they stripped her first of her dignity; her subsequent physical disrobing was a mere formality.

The modern-day hatemongers are doing the same thing to Muslims. It is not about targeting journalists, activists and articulate Muslim women in particular. Insulting well-placed Muslim women conveys to all other Muslims that if the honour of even those women can be violated, where do ordinary Muslim women count? Thats why in Sulli Deals they targeted a Muslim woman pilot who never got into political debates or fights.

A war on the mind, similar to what terrorists seek to do

It is actually a war on the mind. They know how to hit and where to hit so that it hurts the most.

In this sense, it is quite like a terrorist strike. The terrorist also attacks the mind of the target country. They know that they cannot bring a country down to its knees even by a hundred bomb explosions. However, their strength lies almost entirely in the psychological impact of their strikes through the reactions amongst the people and most importantly, in the media.

Their purpose is more than adequately served the moment media starts endlessly playing the tagline country rocked by explosions; showing visuals of the place; interviewing the injured and the survivors, police officials, and self-styled explosive experts; advancing theories on real or imaginary terrorist groups behind the attack; conjecturing about the design of the bomb and how the ISI might have provided the design; sketches of the suspects; and how the country lies helpless before the terrorists.

In the end, a nation is defeated by the fear and not the fire of terrorists.

The design of the terrorist is to manipulate the targets psychological perceptions to induce it to act in the way it is predisposed to act by instinct. This was the design behind the fulminations made in the Haridwar Dharma Sansad too. In that case, one of the objectives, as I had pointed out in an earlier article, was to provoke some Muslims into making an irresponsible statement that could be misconstrued to mean as if they were threatening revenge on the Hindus.

The key to combating this assault on the dignity of Muslim women therefore lies in denying the hatemongers the psychological advantage they seek. If they want Muslim women to feel dejected and despondent by such acts, precisely that has to be denied by helping the targeted women stay strong and carry on the good work they have been doing.

Also read: Thook Jihad Is the Latest Weapon in Hindutvas Arsenal of Islamophobia

Not just another crime but a mortal sin

Treating this as just another crime amounts to reducing the gravity of the sinister machinations. Tomorrow the hatemongers will easily find another way of harassing and degrading Muslim women online. Internet porn forums routinely degrade female actresses, models and sportspersons. The Bois Locker Room had done this for minor school girls. Arresting some people or blocking sites, while good for cooling frayed tempers, will not really touch the virus of hatred coursing through our social life.

All those political leaders who dont get tired of talking about ancient Indian culture and values from every platform forget that in this very country, Lord Krishna got 49 lakh (18 akshauhini) men killed to avenge the insult of one woman Draupadi. Had he so desired, he could have got only the direct culprits (that is, Duryodhana et al.) executed for the crime, but as the supreme godhead, he had to convey an enduring social message that insulting the honour of a woman is not a crime but a sin and hence not negotiable. That is the real Indian culture and standard of morality.

As journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani pointed out in an anguished, heart-rending tweet, we must not remain silent at this juncture merely because the women targeted do not belong to our families. It is a matter of national shame that such things are happening against our Muslim women. This is once again the public disrobing of Draupadi taking place in another era, another form; the mortal sin, however, remains the same. History shall never forgive us if we remain silent and fail to stand by them to keep them strong.

Dr. N.C. Asthana is a retired IPS officer and a former DGP of Kerala. Among his 49 books, the latest book State Persecution of Minorities and Underprivileged in Indiahas been reviewed by Justice J. Chelameswar (Retired) of the Supreme Court.

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Bulli Bai Is Not Just Another Crime But a Design to Humiliate Muslims - The Wire

Sr. Sunitha Ruby, a member of the Congregation of Carmelite Religious, records a motivational video on her mobile using a balloon to make a point, at her convent in Thiruvananthapuram, capital of Kerala state, southwestern India. (Lissy Maruthanakuzhy)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India For Sr. Sunitha Ruby, a nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic has proved a blessing in disguise.

"Everything had come to a standstill. So, instead of putting a full stop, I wanted to continue my ministry," recalls the member of the Congregation of Carmelite Religious, who teaches catechism and also counsels youth in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala.

So, she took to YouTube to remain in touch with her young friends and others, who now call her "YouTube Sister."

The Indian government imposed the lockdown first on March 24, 2020, and it lasted several months with gradual relaxation. In April 2021, several states, including Kerala, reimposed the lockdown after they were severely hit by the COVID-19 second wave.

Ruby says the lockdown gave her an opportunity to "sit with Jesus for long hours, listen to him and talk to him as a friend. That energized me to seek new ways to reach out to my people."

Until the lockdown, Ruby's service was limited mostly to the Latin Archdiocese of Trivandrum where she worked as a teacher, social worker, motivational speaker and retreat preacher. (Trivandrum is the Anglicized name of the city's ancient name, Thiruvananthapuram. The city is some 1,765 miles south of New Delhi, the national capital.)

She also serves as a facilitator (animator) of the Kerala unit of Jesus Youth, a Vatican-approved international Catholic movement.

Sr. Sunitha Ruby (front row) prays in the Congregation of Carmelite Religious convent chapel in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. (Lissy Maruthanakuzhy)

Ruby says prayers and Bible reading during the lockdown emboldened her to do something more for her people. "The lockdown was a period of blessing for me. It compelled me to look for a new way," the 39-year-old nun told Global Sisters Report.

One of Ruby's admirers is Bindu Dixon, a librarian and a local member of Jesus Youth. "When we feel down it is enough to look at her face, even if it is on her YouTube channel. We get energized," she told GSR. Dixon finds Ruby always "shining with grace, full of the Holy Spirit."

Another admirer is Susan Alex, who teaches in Holy Angels School in the Kerala capital of Thiruvananthapuram where Ruby taught until her transfer in October.

"I am what I am today because of her," Alex, a mother of three, told GSR, recounting how Ruby had helped her when her teenage daughter was having problems.

"She deals with everyone with the innocence of a child. We can approach her over the phone any time. In lockdown we used to begin our day with her message on YouTube," she added.

Ruby says her media mission began three years earlier with giving talks on Luminous Radio (an online Catholic radio in various Indian languages).

Alex also says Ruby was her school's strength, as teachers, parents and students found a refuge in her even before the pandemic. "She overflows with Bible quotes. Her approach to people reveals her life is rooted in prayer," Alex added.

Ruby, who is now completing a doctorate in social work, says that until the lockdown her ministry was limited to the Trivandrum Archdiocese and neighboring dioceses of Quilon and Neyyanttinkara. "The lockdown helped expand my ministry. I now reach people beyond Kerala through online," she explained.

Ruby says she has now reached across the globe through Google Meet. She allots them time at night as it is convenient for her to attend to them. She also gives classes for first Communion candidates, and prepares talks for mothers' associations.

She is often invited to address classes in parishes, share the word of God, and conduct online catechism for Kerala immigrants in Canada. People from Canada, Kuwait, and Qatar, besides India, call her for counseling. Parish priests and others refer her to parents and students. She gives motivational classes to youth and adults. Earlier she had also served as a counselor in the school where she taught.

Sr. Sunitha Ruby, a member of the Congregation of Carmelite Religious, on her way to her mission from her convent in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India (Lissy Maruthanakuzhy)

She does catechesis geared to young people. Teachers and parents also go to her for counseling.

She has so far uploaded 121 videos on her YouTube channel, "Sunitha CCR," which has now 8,450 subscribers as of Jan. 7. She launched the channel in March 2020, after the lockdown started.

"I had no one to guide me and my congregation is involved mainly in education, but it encouraged my new venture," she said.

Learning by trial and error, Ruby soon realized that her videos have to be short, attractive and creative to draw young people. "They have to throb with the pulse of the youth, who are not much interested in spirituality. My videos must invite them, without sounding to be preaching," Ruby explained.

Her short videos, which are mostly in Malayalam, deal with topics such as motivation, anger, spirituality, love, relationship and encouragement. "At first they were uploaded on the diocesan channel. Now four channels [belonging to Catholic charismatic groups] are uploading my videos, besides my YouTube," Ruby said.

She uses activities to make her videos attractive. "Sometimes I take a balloon, pencil, needle, candle, matchstick, water, different colors and fruits as examples to explain the message," says Ruby as she gets ready to shoot another video of herself on her mobile phone.

"I realized when we use practical examples with the help of small items, the message is clear, and easy to grasp. The viewers are happy and remember the message, whatever their age."

Ruby has no soundproof studio in her convent, which is on a busy road. So, she has to wait for quiet times to shoot the videos. She completes most videos at the first attempt as she prepares well beforehand by writing in a notebook and practicing it in her mind.

"When we want to do something for God, he arranges everything for us," she said, brushing aside such inconveniences. She is, however, grateful to her companions, who help her do her work.

When Ruby goes out to give seminars and retreats, her superior, Sr. Angel Thomas, would explain to older senior sisters in her community why she is absent for prayers and other community activities. "She would tell them that we have to adapt our mission according to the signs of the time," Ruby said.

Ruby is grateful to Thomas for allowing her to take the scooter when she was transferred to Marion Villa Convent at Kumarapuram, 4 miles from her previous place. "She continues to encourage me at every step," said Ruby, one of two nuns who drive scooters in the province.

Sr. Sunitha Ruby with fellow sisters of the Congregation of Carmelite Religious in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, from left: Ruby, Sr. Agnes K. George, Sister Ushalita and Sr. Angel Thomas (Lissy Maruthanakuzhy)

Nuns in the Kumarapuram convent also help her. "My new community had no Wi-Fi connection. Sister Mary Alice, the school principal, got everything done so that I could continue my mission without a break," Ruby said.

Sister Mary Alice says she cannot do much in social media as she is busy in the school the whole day. "So I encourage her because we can reach a large group of youth through YouTube," she told GSR.

Ruby credits her entry into YouTube to Fr. Laurence Culas, a former director of the archdiocese's pastoral ministry.

The priest says he had advised Ruby to use the social media platform to motivate her catechism students. Ruby "is a very dynamic person who approaches situations very positively and creatively," he told GSR. "We were confident that she would use innovative ways as had done for seminars for youth. She chose YouTube and we encouraged her."

Sr. Sunitha Ruby records a motivational video at the Congregation of Carmelite Religious convent at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. (Lissy Maruthanakuzhy)

The priest also says that Ruby has reached out to areas where nuns usually do not reach, as a teacher, student, motivational trainer, and preacher.

Ruby wants priests and nuns to focus on families to make them strong in faith and relationship. "We have to organize retreats for youth in their style and the way they like colorful," she explained.

The youth counselor says young people meet people from other countries on online sites and build relationship in imaginary rooms. "Parents and adults should learn to use modern gadgets to monitor children," she said.

Ruby began as a primary school teacher after her first profession. After a year, her superiors asked her to study social work, seeing her involvement with people around. When she completed a master's in social work in 2015, the congregation asked her to start its first social service center at Thiruvananthapuram.

Sister Mary Alice says people come to the convent to seek Ruby's advice. "She visits families and helps reconcile estranged couples. We allow her to use all her talents for God's people," the principal added.

Sr. Sunitha Ruby, a member of the Congregation of Carmelite Religious, stands in front of the AVE Social Service Centre she started at her convent premises in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. (Lissy Maruthanakuzhy)

Ruby's visitors are often educated but jobless youth, and those with love failures and video game addiction. She also deals with cases of suicide attempts.

People with no hope in life lose creativity; some have no interest in studying, she said. Many lack self-confidence and self-appreciation. "I make them talk up to a point until they gain strength to manage their life," Ruby explained.

Ambika Robin, a teacher of 18 years, says Ruby's friendliness attracts anyone in any age group. "We can sense her closeness to Jesus," Robin said, noting Ruby's frequent references to the Bible. "She explains Jesus' message in a very simple way, which is the result of her deep prayer life," she told GSR.

Sini Fernandez, a college student who has only watched Ruby online, says she likes the nun's YouTube presentations, which are crisp and short. "The message is very clear and straight," she told GSR.

Ruby says her closeness to God has made her social media ventures successful, although she has no media education. "Otherwise, I would not have been able to enter this field as a member of a rather conservative congregation," she said.

"God gives me inspirations and creative ideas," she said.

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Sr. Sunitha Ruby in India reaches out to young and old via YouTube - Global Sisters Report