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My Favourite Books of 2023

In no particular order, these are my favourite books of the past year.


The Hardware Hacker: Adventures in Making and Breaking Hardware – Andrew “Bunnie” Huang

This book provides an intriguing exploration of hacker culture, technology, and innovation. The book dives into Huang’s journey through the tech landscape, particularly in Shenzhen, offering insights from the factory development pipeline and the unique dynamics of the tech economy there. Readers gain a deep understanding of the complexities involved in producing high-tech devices, while also being inspired by Huang’s creativity and ambition. I recommend this book for tech enthusiasts, it is captivating and fascinating.

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My Favourite Books of 2022

Here is a collection of my favorite books in 2022.

In no particular order, these are books that I highly recommend.

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined – Steven Pinker

An 800-page history on human violence and how it has declined over the centuries. Starting with pre-historic tribes and ending in the modern era, Pinker covers a wide range of topics including conflict, how societies treat enemies, women, minorities, and “others”, as well as a detailed history of homicide and war. He pulls from a broad pool of data and narrates an incredible story which clearly shows an onward trajectory towards increasing order, non-violence, safety, and peace.

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TryHackMe – Kenobi CTF – Write Up

This is a write-up for the Kenobi CTF Room on TryHackMe. TryHackMe features many virtual environments to practice hacking and to learn the concepts of cybersecurity. As part of my own education, and to help others, I will be posting write-ups for some of the challenges that I complete. My write-ups will contain the full solution to these rooms, but also my major mistakes and dead ends as well, as I believe an important part of learning is to see not only what worked, but what didn’t work too. Cybersecurity, and IT more broadly, is often about learning from “failure” and experimentation. If you are planning to use this guide for your own growth, I highly recommend reading it over once before actually trying anything that I outline. This an unpolished overview of how I approached this room, not necessarily the best or most efficient way to solve it.

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TryHackMe – Pickle Rick CTF – Write Up

This is a write-up for the Pickle Rick CTF Room on TryHackMe. TryHackMe features many virtual environments to practice hacking and to learn the concepts of cybersecurity. As part of my own education, and to help others, I will be posting write-ups for some of the challenges that I complete. My write-ups will contain my mistakes and dead ends as well, as I believe an important part of learning is to see not only what worked, but what didn’t work too. Cybersecurity, and IT more broadly, is often about learning from “failure” and experimentation. If you are planning to use this guide for your own growth, I highly recommend reading it over once before trying anything that I outline. This an unpolished overview of how I approached this room, not necessarily the best or most efficient way to solve it.

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One Year of Meditation & How It Changed My Life

Before I began my practice, I had a very poor understanding of meditation. To me it was an archaic religious practice. It was some hippy promise of an ethereal spiritual awakening. Skepticism was warranted of course; meditation is often coupled with new age nonsense. Delusional gurus and crackpot charlatans are in no short supply. But how could someone so clearly off the mark as Deepak Chopra at times seems so insightful? Is there any actual value to meditation? Is it just sitting with your eyes closed? Or is there more to it?

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Canada & The Suez Crisis

This article will analyze the events of the 1956 Suez Crisis and describe the significance of Canada and Lester Pearson. The Suez Crisis was a series of events involving Egypt nationalizing the Suez Canal that instigated a period of imbalance, warfare, political upheaval, and international tension. This paper argues that Lester Pearson of Canada was the leading figure in solving the Suez Crisis, and in doing so, ushered in a new era of Canadian diplomacy and international peace keeping. Continue reading “Canada & The Suez Crisis”

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The Problem of Global Consumption

The human species’ growth and level of consumption is unsustainable. The purpose of this paper is to establish a broad analysis on global consumption patterns, more specifically, on over-consumption. Over-consumption is a global systematic problem in which the process of production and consumption is exploiting the natural world in ways that are unsustainable. This problem is severely draining natural resources and dramatically damaging the environment. Furthermore we are releasing unsustainable levels of greenhouse gases. This paper argues that in order to reduce global consumption, and therefor protect both humans and the environment from consequences, there must be radical and fundamental changes implemented.
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A Review on Russian Policy in Ukraine

A review of the academic literature on Russia’s involvement in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian crisis is drenched in debate. It is complicated by a long political upheaval, an ongoing social and political revolution, and a long history of competing memories and over lapping historical narratives. This review will take a more specific approach to the conflict, rather than focusing on all possible factors, it will focus primarily on the role and intentions of Russia. This review will not explore the developments of the Ukraine revolution, but will explore Russia’s involvement, actions, and interests. From exploring and analyzing many articles, writers, first hand sources, poll results and statistics, this review has narrowed down the important key factors in the academic study of Russia’s involvement and intentions in Ukraine. Ultimately this review has determined two main branches of the academic sphere: Realpolitik VS Kulturkampf, both of which will be described and discussed. Continue reading “A Review on Russian Policy in Ukraine”