OnlineMind

January 4, 2025

Make a Difference in 2025: Why You Should Donate to GiveWell

As the new year begins, many of us are setting resolutions and goals for 2025. A common aspiration is to contribute more to charitable causes, but often, people don’t know where to start. With countless charities vying for donations, it can be difficult to determine which ones are genuinely making an impact and are spending funds effectively. The process of researching and comparing charities can feel overwhelming, leaving many uncertain about whether their contributions are truly making a difference. Often this stress and confusion leads people to not donate at all.

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September 30, 2024October 2, 2024

AWS Summit: Toronto 2024

This year’s AWS Summit in Toronto was an exciting and enriching experience, it provided a chance to dive deep into AWS offerings, explore the latest innovations on the horizon, and connect with like-minded professionals. I had the privilege of attending several insightful talks, and in this write-up, I’ll share a summary of my key takeaways from the event.

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February 19, 2024October 2, 2024

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.

January 6, 2023February 19, 2024

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.

November 28, 2021November 29, 2021

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.

October 25, 2021October 26, 2021

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.

January 30, 2018September 2, 2019

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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May 11, 2016September 14, 2021

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”

April 24, 2016September 14, 2021

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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March 23, 2016September 14, 2021

Why Did Ho Chi Minh Turn To Communism?

The purpose of this paper is to answer how and why did Vietnamese revolutionaries such as Ho Chi Minh adopt Communism to shape the nationalist movement for independence, and furthermore, what the key turning points were in this process. This paper will demonstrate that multiple factors influenced the rise of Communism in Vietnam. Continue reading “Why Did Ho Chi Minh Turn To Communism?”