Most People Never Realize They Are Living Someone Else’s Life

Most prisons don’t have walls.

They have expectations.

They have traditions.

They have rules nobody remembers creating.

They have voices that sound suspiciously like our own but were borrowed from parents, teachers, religions, cultures, employers, friends, and strangers long before we learned how to think for ourselves.

And the most dangerous thing about these prisons is that the inmates often believe they are free.

More than a century ago, Friedrich Nietzsche introduced one of philosophy’s most fascinating characters: Zarathustra.

Unlike prophets who climbed mountains to receive wisdom from God, Zarathustra descended from the mountain after years of solitude.

He returned carrying a message that still feels uncomfortable today.

Not that humanity was sinful.

Not that people needed saving.

But that most people were sleepwalking through life.

Not physically.

Existentially.

And perhaps that message is more relevant now than it has ever been.

The Comfort of Living on Autopilot

There is a strange comfort in not questioning life.

If everyone around you is chasing status, you chase status.

If everyone believes success means a bigger house, a newer car, or a more impressive title, you pursue those things too.

The script has already been written.

Graduate.

Work.

Earn.

Buy.

Retire.

Repeat.

The problem is not that these goals are inherently wrong.

The problem is that most people never stop to ask whether the goals are actually theirs.

I have worked with senior executives who achieved everything they once dreamed of and yet privately admitted they felt strangely empty.

I have met entrepreneurs who built successful businesses only to discover they hated the life required to sustain them.

I have counselled individuals who spent decades seeking approval from people whose opinions no longer mattered.

They weren’t suffering because they failed.

They were suffering because they succeeded at the wrong dream.

Zarathustra’s Warning

When Zarathustra returned from the mountains, he spoke about what Nietzsche called the Last Man.

The Last Man is not evil.

He is not dangerous.

He is not cruel.

He is comfortable.

Painfully comfortable.

He seeks security over growth.

Approval over authenticity.

Entertainment over meaning.

He avoids risk.

Avoids discomfort.

Avoids uncertainty.

Most importantly, he avoids transformation.

The Last Man wants life to be easy.

Zarathustra wanted life to be meaningful.

Those are not always the same thing.

Today, we live in a world obsessed with convenience.

Food arrives within minutes.

Entertainment never ends.

Algorithms decide what we should watch, read, buy, and sometimes even believe.

The danger is not technology itself.

The danger is that convenience slowly replaces consciousness.

We stop choosing.

We start consuming.

Eventually, we forget the difference.

The Invisible Weight of Borrowed Beliefs

Imagine carrying a backpack for your entire life.

At first, it feels normal because you have never known anything else.

Inside that backpack are hundreds of beliefs.

• What success should look like.
• What marriage should look like.
• What masculinity means.
• What femininity means.
• What makes a person worthy.
• What makes a person lovable.

…

Most people never open the backpack.

They simply carry it.

Zarathustra invites us to do something radical.

Take it off.

Open it.

Inspect every item.

Ask yourself:

“Do I truly believe this?”

Or

“Was I simply taught to believe it?”

This sounds simple.

It isn’t.

Questioning inherited beliefs often feels like betraying the people who handed them to us.

But maturity begins where imitation ends.

Why Growth Feels Like Grief

One of Nietzsche’s most overlooked insights is that transformation is painful.

People imagine personal growth as a motivational poster.

A breakthrough.

An epiphany.

A triumphant before-and-after story.

Reality is rarely that neat.

Growth often feels like loss.

You lose certainty.

You lose identities.

You lose versions of yourself that once felt safe.

The person you become must eventually say goodbye to the person you have been.

And that goodbye hurts.

A recovering perfectionist loses the identity of being “the responsible one.”

A workaholic loses the identity of being indispensable.

A people-pleaser loses the identity of being universally liked.

Growth requires surrender.

And surrender often feels suspiciously similar to grief.

Perhaps that is why so many people choose comfort instead.

The Mountain Is Inside You

People often imagine Zarathustra’s mountain as a physical place.

I think it is psychological.

The mountain is solitude.

Reflection.

Silence.

It is the uncomfortable space where nobody tells you who to be.

Modern life seems almost designed to prevent us from visiting that place.

The moment we are alone, we reach for our phones.

The moment we are uncomfortable, we seek distraction.

The moment we feel uncertain, we search for someone else’s answer.

But meaning cannot be outsourced.

Purpose cannot be downloaded.

Identity cannot be purchased.

Some questions require sitting quietly long enough to hear your own voice beneath the noise.

The Question That Changes Everything

Most self-help asks:

“How can I become successful?”

Most philosophy asks:

“What is truth?”

Zarathustra asks a different question.

“Who are you becoming?”

Not what you own.

Not what you earn.

Not what others think of you.

Who are you becoming through the choices you make every day?

Because every action shapes identity.

Every compromise creates a pattern.

Every courageous decision strengthens a different version of yourself.

Character is rarely built during extraordinary moments.

It is built during ordinary ones.

The Descent Matters More Than the Mountain

The part of Zarathustra’s story that fascinates me most is not that he climbed the mountain.

It is that he came back down.

Wisdom that cannot survive ordinary life is merely escapism.

Anyone can feel enlightened in isolation.

The real challenge is remaining conscious in traffic, in meetings, in relationships, in grief, in conflict, and in uncertainty.

The true test of insight is not whether it changes your thoughts.

The true test is whether it changes your life.

DSN Thinks

Perhaps the most unsettling possibility is that the life you are living today has been assembled from pieces handed to you by others.

Not maliciously.

Not intentionally.

Simply unconsciously.

The invitation of Zarathustra is not rebellion for its own sake.

It is awareness.

To examine your beliefs.

To question your assumptions.

To create meaning rather than inherit it.

To become the author instead of merely the audience.

Because the greatest freedom is not doing whatever you want.

The greatest freedom is knowing why you want it.

And perhaps that is why Zarathustra walked down the mountain.

Not to give humanity answers.

But to remind us that the most important questions can only be answered for ourselves.

About the Author

Dr. Sheetal Nair is a psychotherapist, executive coach, author, and founder of Better Mynd Waves. He writes about psychology, relationships, leadership, emotional wellbeing, and the hidden patterns that quietly shape human behaviour. His work explores the intersection of philosophy, mental health, and everyday life.

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By Chris Ho for Sleepyhead

Nearly a third of a person’s life happens in bed, yet that space tends to receive less deliberate attention than almost any other room they occupy. Sleep has become a serious focus within wellness culture, with health researchers and institutions placing it alongside exercise and nutrition as a core pillar of daily health.

Forbes explored the psychology behind bedroom environments, reporting that a person’s surroundings actively shape emotional state and the body’s ability to transition into rest in ways that most people have never closely examined. As that awareness has spread, consumers have responded by modifying what they already own rather than replacing it, Sleepyhead reports.

The Everyday Sleep Problems Driving Change

Most bad nights trace back to a short list of physical conditions that are far easier to fix than people tend to assume. Overheating ranks among the most persistent, and the body’s own biology explains why.

The Sleep Foundation notes that core body temperature needs to drop roughly 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit to enter deep sleep, a process that heat-trapping mattress materials regularly block. Poor support creates its own kind of disruption, one that often goes unnoticed until the back and shoulders register it by morning.

Cheri D. Mah, a sleep physician at Stanford Lifestyle Medicine, has observed that a mattress surface that is too soft or too firm keeps the spine misaligned and prevents the body from fully releasing tension overnight.

Light and noise work the same way, with artificial light from lamps and screens delaying melatonin production and unpredictable sounds fragmenting sleep at any stage of the night. Each problem has a different cause, but they all point toward the same idea that better rest often begins by identifying the exact part of the room working against it.

The Rise of the “Modify, Don’t Replace” Mindset

Most mattresses are built to last between six and eight years, but people often stop sleeping well on them long before then, and a growing number are treating that as something to fix rather than replace, especially with a new mattress costing hundreds to thousands of dollars.

Renters dealing with frequent moves have even less incentive to invest in furniture that may not fit the next space, and the home goods industry has responded to both realities.

According to Yahoo Finance, the global modular furniture market reached $89 billion in 2025 and is projected to hit $145.6 billion by 2035, with growth driven largely by urbanization and the rising number of people living in smaller, more frequently changing homes.

And that same practical way of thinking has started to shape the bedroom, where layered upgrades give people a way to improve comfort without discarding the mattress or furniture they still need.

Real-World Use Cases: Small Changes, Noticeable Results

Small bedroom adjustments tend to show results faster than most people expect, even when the sleep problems themselves look completely different.

A hot sleeper who has spent months waking up overheated at 2 a.m. does not need to throw out their mattress. They can trade heavy bedding for breathable, moisture-wicking fabrics, which the Sleep Foundation recommends for people who sleep hot.

Another sleeper may still have years left in their mattress, but the surface starts feeling uncomfortable after a few hours, making a topper an easier solution than replacing the entire bed. None of these changes looks especially dramatic, yet each one targets the exact part of the night that has been getting in the way of rest.

The Most Popular Sleep Micro-Upgrades

The most popular sleep upgrades stay close to the body or close to the disruption. A mattress topper changes the feel of a mattress without replacing the bed, while cooling sheets change the layer a sleeper notices first. Supportive pillows follow that same logic, sized and shaped for the specific sleep position a person favors.

Light control has become just as practical, especially for people whose rooms face streetlights or early sun, and white noise offers a similar fix for sound by softening the sudden disruptions that cut into sleep.

Mah recommends a bedroom that is “dark, cool, and quiet,” and the most popular upgrades address each part of that directly. Each one gives people a more direct way to shape the night around the way they actually sleep.

Why Small Adjustments Can Have an Outsized Impact

Sleep quality rarely suffers from one problem alone, and the research reflects this.

Dr. Abhinav Singh, a sleep physician, told The Sleep Foundation that “a cooler temperature helps with sleep in many ways, mainly by allowing the body to naturally lose heat and allowing the natural rise of melatonin within our bodies,” and light control follows a similar path because darkness helps the brain stay on its natural sleep schedule.

Physical comfort works more through the body itself, since a better surface can reduce the tension that keeps sleepers moving through the night. Once one problem is removed, the next one becomes easier to notice and easier to fix.

Over time, those small improvements start working together, turning rest from something the body has to fight for into something the bedroom is better prepared to support.

Personalization and Control in Sleep Environments

No two sleepers deal with the same combination of problems, and the same upgrade that transforms one person’s night may leave another’s unchanged. Industry reporting from BedTimes Magazine finds that many people start out thinking they need a single product fix, then realize their actual needs are more specific and personal.

Sleep position and body temperature already vary from person to person, while sensitivity to light or sound adds another layer of difference that no single setup can account for. People are testing small combinations against their own bodies, keeping what helps and setting aside what does not.

Affordable Wellness as a Daily Practice

Approaching the bedroom as part of a health routine, rather than just a place to crash, is becoming the default for people who have started paying real attention to how they feel.

Dr. Marishka Brown, a sleep expert at the National Institutes of Health, described sleep as “a biological necessity” rather than something people can afford to ignore, and the bedroom is where that necessity either gets supported or undermined every night.

A room that feels uncomfortable or uninviting keeps the body on alert, and no bedtime routine fully compensates for a space that does not feel restful to begin with. Most of the changes that bring a bedroom into alignment with health are inexpensive, and many cost nothing at all.

What This Trend Signals for the Future of Sleep

The next phase of sleep products will likely be shaped by how easily they fit into beds people already own. BedTimes Magazine describes the rise of the sleep system as a move beyond the mattress alone, with more attention turning to the layers and tools that change how a bed performs over time.

Manufacturers now have a clearer challenge than simply making bigger-ticket products. The better test is whether an add-on solves a specific problem without forcing the shopper to rethink everything around it. Products built this way make sleep improvement feel more practical, with each piece able to change as a person’s needs change.

Better Sleep, One Small Change at a Time

Better sleep does not begin with a brand-new bed or a bigger budget. It begins with recognizing that the bedroom most people already have is closer than they think, and that fixing the one thing working against rest is more practical than rebuilding from scratch.

A single adjustment can help people wake with more energy and less discomfort, while giving them a clearer sense of what their body was asking for all along. Overall, better sleep is built slowly, and for most people, the first step is simply making the room they already have feel a little more ready for rest.

This story was produced by Sleepyhead and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

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Previously Published on hub.stackernewswire

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Have you ever found yourself in a conversational black hole?

You’re explaining something simple, clear, and logical to your partner, parent, or sibling, and they just… stare at you. They tilt their head. They furrow their brow. They respond with a line so bafflingly off-topic that you wonder if you’ve spontaneously started speaking another language.

Welcome to the art of weaponized incompetence.

This isn’t a communication problem. It’s a military tactic. The abuser doesn’t have a comprehension issue; they have a consequences issue. They understand you perfectly. They just refuse to acknowledge it because acknowledgment would cost them something.

Here are the six strategic reasons a predator plays dumb:

1. To Demolish Your Reality (Gaslighting)

This is the foundational play. By meeting your clear, factual statements with a blank wall of feigned confusion, they force you into a state of profound self-doubt. Their “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” or “You’re imagining things,” is not an expression of confusion. It is a direct assault on your perception of reality.

The goal is to make you question your own mind so thoroughly that you eventually stop trusting it.

2. The Responsibility Dodge (Accountability Shield)

You can’t hold someone accountable for something they “don’t understand.” It is the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card.

By pretending not to grasp why their actions were hurtful or wrong, they place themselves outside the bounds of blame. Their feigned ignorance acts as a bulletproof shield against any form of responsibility. After all, you can’t be guilty if you didn’t even know a crime was being committed, right?

3. To Protect the Business Model (Benefit)

Why would a pimp acknowledge the suffering of the woman working for him? His entire business model depends on minimizing, ignoring, and invalidating the very pain she is describing. Your abuser operates the same way.

Acknowledging your pain would require them to stop the behavior that is causing it — behavior that benefits them through control, financial gain, or ego gratification. Their “confusion” is just good business.

4. The War of Attrition (Exhaustion)

Explaining the same basic concept of human decency over and over again is exhausting. They know this.

They force you to re-explain, rephrase, and provide endless evidence for your simple, valid point. This isn’t a debate; it’s a war of attrition.

They have an infinite supply of “I don’t get it,” while you have a finite supply of energy. Eventually, you give up. They win.

5. The Great Disappearing Act (Protecting Their Self-Image)

Most abusers have a fragile, grandiose self-image that cannot withstand the truth of their own actions. They cannot be a thief and a good person at the same time.

So, to protect their internal narrative of being the “good guy,” they pretend not to see the theft. In their mind, if they don’t acknowledge the crime, the crime never happened.”

6. The Psychological Re-Route (Making You Doubt Yourself)

Their feigned stupidity is designed to turn your focus inward.

Instead of holding them accountable, you start to question yourself:

“Am I not explaining this clearly?

Am I being unreasonable? Am I crazy?”

The spotlight shifts from their bad behavior to your supposedly poor communication skills. You become preoccupied with fixing your delivery, while they get away with the crime.

Case Study in Calculated Ignorance: Maryam’s Brother

Maryam gave her brother $100 to pay the final installment on her laptop while she was sick. He promised to pay the shopkeeper and send her the receipt. Hours later, she asked for proof of payment. He claimed he’d already forwarded it.

She came back to her room and checked her phone. Nothing. She messaged him: “I never received the forwarded receipt.”

He never responded to that message. He never spoke of the $100 again.

Let’s be clear. Her brother understood every single word:

• “Please send $100 to the shopkeeper.” → He understood.
• “Where is the receipt?” → He understood.
• “I did not get any message.” → He understood perfectly.

…

He feigned ignorance and then used strategic silence because acknowledging her words would require him to acknowledge a single, damning fact: he stole the money.

The Real Engine: Consequences

Abusers understand perfectly. The problem is that acknowledgment creates consequences. That is the engine. It’s not stupidity. It’s not confusion. It’s the cold, hard reality that if they admit to understanding, they will have to face the fallout.

Pretending not to understand is a strategy to protect five key assets:

1. Money (and other resources they steal)
2. Control (over you and the narrative)
3. Image (their carefully constructed mask of innocence)
4. Convenience (avoiding the hassle of changing their behavior)
5. Access (to you, their victim)

…

They understand your pain (they cause it). They understand your boundaries (they cross them). They understand your words (they hear them). They understand the truth (they know it).

You are not crazy. You are not a bad communicator. You are dealing with someone who has made a strategic decision to profit from feigning ignorance.

You See Their Strategy. Now it’s time to acquire the counter-intelligence.

Knowing they are playing a game is one thing. Knowing how to dismantle the board is another.

The Survivor’s War Chest is not a communication guide; it is a field manual for psychological warfare. It will not teach you how to explain yourself more clearly to someone who has a vested interest in misunderstanding you.

Instead, it provides the tactical intelligence required to spot covert abuse in real-time, neutralize manipulation without triggering a confrontation, and purge the fog of toxic propaganda from your mind.

Stop arguing with the brick wall. Learn how to dismantle it.

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When my child first asked about coding, I did what most parents do — I searched “Scratch coding classes for kids” and got a wall of results. What I didn’t realize at first is that “Scratch” itself isn’t really a class. It’s a free, open-ended creative tool built by MIT, with no curriculum, no teacher, and no plan for what comes after the basics.

That distinction matters more than it sounds. Below is what I found comparing the official Scratch platform against the structured programs built around it — starting with a quick comparison, then a closer look at each.

Quick Comparison: Scratch Learning Options for Kids

Platform	Format	Live Instructor?	Ages	Cost	Best For
Codeyoung	1:1 Live Classes		KG–12	Paid (free trial)	Structured progress, real feedback
Scratch (MIT)	Self-paced		5–16	Free	Independent, creative exploration
Code.org	Self-paced		4–18	Free	School-aligned basics
theCoderSchool	1:1 Coaching		7+	Paid	Personalized pacing
CodeMonkey	Game-based		6–10	Freemium	Bridge to text-based code
Tynker	Self-paced		7–13	Freemium	Lots of project variety

1. Codeyoung — The One That Actually Felt Like a Class

Out of everything I looked at, Codeyoung was the one that didn’t just hand my kid a tool and walk away.

Why it made more sense than Scratch on its own

Here’s the thing about Scratch: it’s a sandbox, not a syllabus. MIT built it that way on purpose, and for some kids that openness is exactly what they need. But for a lot of kids — including mine, at first — it meant a lot of clicking around without much sense of why anything worked. There was no one to notice when my kid was just copying a tutorial instead of understanding it, and no obvious “what’s next” once the novelty wore off.

Codeyoung uses the same Scratch interface kids already recognize, but adds the parts that were missing for us:

• A real curriculum(STEM.org-accredited) that introduces concepts like sequencing, loops, and variables in an order that actually builds on itself
• Live, 1:1 mentors, so when my kid got stuck or confused, someone noticed right away instead of it going unaddressed
• A path forward— Scratch leads into Python, web development, app development, even Generative AI, so there’s no dead end once Scratch is mastered (which, in our experience, happened faster than I expected)
• A free trial class, which made it easy to compare directly against just doing Scratch on our own first

If Scratch is the toolbox, Codeyoung is the person showing your kid how to actually build something with it — and what to build next.

Pros:

• Live 1:1 mentors who catch confusion in real time
• Structured, accredited curriculum instead of trial-and-error
• Clear progression path beyond Scratch (Python, web dev, app dev, GenAI)
• Free trial class to test before committing

Cons:

• Paid program, unlike most other options on this list
• Live scheduling means less flexibility than self-paced platforms

2. Scratch (MIT) — Still a Great Free Starting Point

To be fair to Scratch: it’s genuinely impressive, and it’s free. Built by MIT’s Media Lab, it’s the most widely used coding platform for kids in the world, and the drag-and-drop blocks let kids build games, animations, and stories without typing a line of traditional code.

It’s based on “constructionist learning” — an idea from MIT professor Seymour Papert that kids learn best by building things they actually care about, not by sitting through lessons. ScratchJr extends this to younger kids, ages 5–7. The community side is also reasonably well-moderated, with email verification required and clear guidelines in place.

The downside, for us, was the lack of structure. There’s no teacher, no curriculum, nobody checking in. If your kid is the type to dive in and figure things out on their own, this might be all they need. If they need a bit more direction, it can lead to the same kind of project on repeat.

Pros:

• Completely free
• Built on a genuinely solid educational philosophy
• ScratchJr makes it accessible from age 5

Cons:

• No curriculum or structured progression
• No teacher or feedback loop
• Easy for kids to plateau or repeat similar projects
• No guidance on what to learn after Scratch

Best for: Independent, curious kids — or as a free add-on alongside something more structured.

3. Code.org — A Solid Free, School-Aligned Option

Code.org is a nonprofit aimed at making computer science accessible, with age-based courses starting from age four. Their well-known “Hour of Code” activities use Scratch-style blocks to teach programming through games and storytelling — and often line up with what schools are already doing.

Pros:

• Free
• Aligns with what many schools already teach
• Wide age range (4–18)
• Structured course progression by grade level

Cons:

• No live teacher or personalized feedback
• Less creative freedom than open Scratch
• Can feel more like schoolwork than play for some kids

Best for: Parents who want something free that mirrors classroom computer science.

4. theCoderSchool — Good for One-on-One Coaching

theCoderSchool runs Scratch instruction through camps, after-school programs, and online sessions, with small groups and private “Code Coaching.” Their progression model — they call it the “Coder Tree” — starts with fundamentals like game logic and variables, then branches into more advanced areas like Unity, 3D engines, and AI.

Pros:

• Low student-to-teacher ratios
• Long-term progression model beyond Scratch
• Flexible formats (camps, after-school, online)

Cons:

• Paid, and pricing can vary by location
• Availability may depend on whether there’s a location near you
• Less brand-name recognition than larger platforms

Best for: Families wanting a highly personalized pace and a longer-term plan.

5. CodeMonkey — A Gentle Step Toward Real Code

CodeMonkey is game-based — kids write actual code to guide a character through puzzles. It introduces text-based syntax earlier than most platforms, but in a low-stakes, game-like way, making it a reasonable bridge between Scratch’s visual blocks and “real” programming languages.

Pros:

• Game-based format keeps kids engaged
• Introduces real text-based syntax early but gently
• Freemium — free tier available before upgrading

Cons:

• Less focus on Scratch specifically, more on transitioning away from it
• Paid tiers needed for full curriculum
• Not ideal for kids who want pure creative/open-ended projects

Best for: Ages 6–10, especially homeschooling families.

6. Tynker — Lots of Projects to Choose From

Tynker combines game-based learning with Scratch-style blocks and offers a large library of projects. It’s a solid self-paced choice for kids who like having plenty of options.

Pros:

• Huge library of projects and lessons
• Freemium model with a usable free tier
• Familiar block-based interface for kids coming from Scratch

Cons:

• No live instructor or feedback
• Paid subscription needed for full content access
• Can feel scattered without a clear learning path

Best for: Self-motivated kids who like variety.

What I’d Ask Before Choosing

A few questions that helped me sort through the options:

• Live teacher or self-paced? A live teacher catches confusion early. Self-paced works better for kids who are already independent.
• Is there a free trial? Any paid platform worth considering should let you try it first.
• Is it age-appropriate? Scratch generally works well from around age 8, with ScratchJr for ages 5–7.
• What happens after Scratch? Most kids move past it within a few months — it’s worth picking something with a next step built in.

Where We Landed

Free options like Scratch, Code.org, and Tynker are genuinely good places to start, and there’s no reason not to try them first. But once it became clear my kid was ready for more than drag-and-drop blocks, having an actual teacher and a plan made a real difference.

Codeyoung’sLive online Scratch Coding classes for kids gave us the same Scratch environment my kid already liked, but with a curriculum, real feedback, and somewhere to go next — plus a free trial class if you want to see for yourself before committing.

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Rather than imagining “prompt engineering” as a new form of writing that appeared *ex nihilo* three years ago, I find it helpful to think about the ways this new kind of writing remixes existing forms of writing. For example, the primary goal of prompt engineering is getting a model to behave in a specific way. We do that by providing it with very clear, unambiguous instructions. There’s a clear connection to technical writing here. Some prompt engineering frameworks claim that adding phrases like “my job depends on it!” to a prompt can improve the quality of responses, so there’s likely an opportunity to draw in aspects of persuasive writing as well. &c. And of course there are the interesting differences between prompt writing and technical or persuasive writing, such as the difference in audience (when you write a prompt, your audience is an LLM). But it’s still the case that knowing something about your audience and how they think (in this case, knowing something about how LLMs work under the hood) can make you a more effective writer.

The key point is to understand that when we started writing prompts for LLMs we started by *writing* – bringing to bear the skills and techniques we already had at our disposal. This realization can connect our work writing prompts to a wider body of knowledge and experience.

I firmly believe that, in addition to technical writing, persuasive writing, expository writing, &c., that we will eventually teach university-level classes on prompt writing. And many of them will be in the English department, and will make these explicit connections between prompt writing and other forms of writing. Prompt writing is undeniably the most economically valuable form of writing one can learn to do.

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By Sean Graham

This week, I’m joined by Jamie Jelinski, author of Needle Work: A History of Commercial Tatooing in Canada. We talk about Jamie’s interest in the history of tattoos, the connection to art history, and the beginnings of tattoos as an industry in Canada. We then discuss questions over regulation and the criminalization of tattooing before chatting about some of the unique case studies in the book.

Historical Headline of the Week

Steven Dyer, “Tattoos in the workplace, how has society’s perception of ink changed?” CTV News, September 21, 2024.

Sean Graham is a cultural historian, an Adjunct Professor at Carleton University, and a contributing editor with Activehistory.ca

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By AIM Media Texas Editorial Board, Public Health Watch

This editorial is part of a series by Public Health Watch and MyRGV.com. Read the first story here. 

Agriculture remains one of the primary elements of the Rio Grande Valley’s economy, creating more than $10 billion in revenue and hundreds of jobs. Obviously, local officials, and probably most Valley residents, support any effort to help the industry thrive and grow, such as efforts, supported by the Texas Department of Agriculture, to resurrect the billion-dollar sugarcane industry that was abandoned in 2024.

That support, however, can’t come at the cost of public health.

As noted in a series of articles that begins today, our Valley experiences a higher incidence of neurological disorders including Parkinson’s Disease that have been linked to several pesticides and herbicides. Those chemicals include paraquat, a weedkiller that is popular among many Valley growers.

Paraquat, along with Agent Orange, was used heavily during the Vietnam War to clear the jungles in that area. After service members exposed to the chemicals increasingly began falling ill with neurological problems, cancers and respiratory issues, our military acknowledged a likely correlation. Exposure to paraquat qualifies veterans for related benefits including treatment and disability compensation.

Because of the evident risk, Vietnam and some 70 other countries have banned the herbicide outright.

The United States, however, is not one of those countries, and paraquat continues to be used on many Valley farms.

Moreover, neurological problems, and their possible link to agricultural products, aren’t new to this region. A spike in prenatal and infant anencephaly, spina bifida and other neurological defects was detected in the early 1990s in the Valley. Although pesticides were studied and commercial bread makers began adding folic acid to their products, a single definitive cause for the problems was never determined.

The risk of chemical exposure is not restricted to our farms, however. Like many fertilizers and pesticides, paraquat generally is sprayed onto fields from airplanes. But it doesn’t stay there. Gulf breezes can carry airborne particles for long distances. Many Valley residents likely have seen ash from sugarcane burns miles away rain down on their homes like black snow.

As noted in our article, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has found that paraquat particles can be detected 20 miles from where they are deposited.

Research into the effects of agricultural chemicals on public health is increasing. Local officials, as well as industry-related organizations, should support and monitor the research, and, if appropriate, set new policies that prioritize public health.

Members of our local congressional delegation should pay heed as well. If our own military and VA have acknowledged likely correlations between paraquat and major health issues, they should consider supporting or expanding the research, and determine if greater regulation is needed.

Ultimately, the convenience and cost savings of using potentially hazardous chemicals on our produce will never offset the greater medical cost of treating related illnesses, and their effect on our quality of life.

This article originally ran on MyRGV.com here.

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This article was originally published by Public Health Watch, a nonprofit investigative news organization. Find out more at publichealthwatch.org.

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Photo credit: A tractor sprays a corn field for spider mites in Edinburg, Texas. Farmworkers rarely know what pesticides they are encountering in their work, so it’s hard for them to assess the dangers they face, or to determine whether their health problems are connected to those exposures. Credit: (Delcia Lopez | MyRGV.com)

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On leadership, friendship, and the kind of trust an office can’t manufacture

A few years back I watched a sales director fall apart over a clay target. Sharp guy, ran every meeting like a courtroom. That morning he missed his first clay, then the next eight, and by the tenth his whole team was howling and this man I’d never seen unsure of anything was laughing too hard to keep going. Something shifted out there that no trust-fall exercise had ever managed. People talked to him differently on the ride back. He talked to them differently too.

The Honest Stuff Comes Out Sideways

Here’s what nobody tells you about how men connect: it almost never happens face to face. Think about the last real conversation you had with another guy, where something true slipped out. You probably weren’t staring across a table. You were doing something — driving, grilling, walking the dog at night. The honest stuff comes out sideways, while you’re both looking at something else.

Why “Just Open Up” Backfires

Told to “open up” face to face, a lot of men hear an interrogation. Hand them a task instead — something to aim at or fix — and the same conversation just happens. The activity does the work, and the guard drops because you’ve stopped thinking about it.

The Office Is the Worst Room for It

An office might be the worst room ever built for two people to actually know each other. There’s a desk in the way, a title reminding everyone who outranks who, and the all-day performance of looking like you’ve got it handled. You can sit ten feet from a guy for six years and never catch him with his guard down. We call that a team. Often it’s just people being careful around each other.

Shared Challenge Dissolves the Hierarchy

Drop that same group into something where nobody’s the expert and the hierarchy quietly falls apart. The sales director wasn’t the boss out in that field — he couldn’t hit a clay to save his life, and that was the best thing that could have happened to him. A specific kind of trust shows up when grown adults are bad at something together: you miss, you laugh, and some guy who’s barely spoken to you walks over to help. That’s exactly why outdoor team-building outings tend to work when a conference room never could.

What Leaders Actually Learn

Be the one who’s bad at it. The most loyalty I’ve seen a leader earn came from cheerfully missing every clay while the team gave him hell. Competence earns respect; being good-naturedly terrible at something new earns what makes people show up for you.

Why Teams Are Trading the Ballroom for the Outdoors

This is why more teams are ditching the hotel-ballroom retreat for something outdoors and a little uncomfortable. Around here they drive out to places like Hyatt Farms Shooting Complex, about forty-five minutes east of Charlotte — a few hundred acres where a team can spend a morning missing clays, giving each other grief, and working out somewhere between stations that they actually like the people they work with. There’s even a private place to host the whole group for lunch afterward. By then the pecking order has gone soft and the conversations have gotten honest.

How to Build This Into Your Own Life

You don’t need a company budget for this. It scales all the way down.

Pick Activities Where Everyone’s a Beginner

Expertise builds hierarchy; being clueless together flattens it. Aim for everyone a little out of their depth at once.

Stand Next to People, Not Across From Them

The connection rides in on the side, while you’re both aimed at something else. It rarely comes at you head-on.

Let Yourself Be Bad at It

That reflex to guard how competent you look is the exact one to override. It might be the most disarming thing a man can do in a room full of other men.

Where It Actually Happens

I still think about that sales director laughing too hard to keep going. The day before, he’d have told you he knew his team. He didn’t — he knew their work. The people he actually met were out in that field, where nobody was keeping score and the guard finally dropped. The only real job is to go put yourself in more places like that.

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Video content has become an essential part of everyday life. Whether recording family memories, creating content for social media, producing professional projects, or capturing footage with drones and action cameras, people rely heavily on video files. Unfortunately, video corruption remains a common issue that can make important recordings inaccessible.

Corrupted videos can occur due to interrupted file transfers, storage media failures, camera malfunctions, system crashes, or incomplete recordings. When this happens, users often encounter playback errors, missing audio, black screens, frozen frames, or videos that simply refuse to open.

To address these challenges, many users turn to specialized video repair software. In this review, we take a closer look at Stellar Repair for Video and evaluate both its online and offline repair solutions to determine whether it deserves recognition as one of the best free video repair software options available in 2026.

Why Video Repair Software Matters

A damaged video file does not always mean the content is permanently lost. In many cases, the video data still exists, but the file structure has become corrupted. Video repair software is designed to analyze the damaged file, rebuild critical information, and restore normal playback.

Without dedicated repair software, users may spend hours trying different media players, file converters, and troubleshooting methods with little success.

Professional repair tools simplify this process and often recover videos that would otherwise remain unusable.

Overview of Stellar Video Repair software

Stellar Video Repair is a specialized application designed to repair corrupted, damaged, or unplayable video files. The software supports a wide range of video formats, including:

• MP4
• MOV
• AVI
• MKV
• WMV
• MPEG
• F4V

It is compatible with videos recorded on:

• Smartphones
• DSLR cameras
• Mirrorless cameras
• Drones
• Action cameras
• CCTV systems
• Dashcams

The software aims to repair videos affected by file corruption, interrupted transfers, storage device issues, malware attacks, and recording interruptions.

Online Video Repair Solution

One of the most convenient features offered by Stellar is its free online video repair platform.

The online version is particularly useful for users who want a quick solution without installing software on their computers. Users simply upload the damaged video file, allow the system to analyze the issue, and then download the repaired version once processing is complete.

Advantages of the Online Video Repair Tool

• No software installation required
• Easy-to-use interface
• Accessible from various devices
• Suitable for quick repairs
• Ideal for occasional users

For individuals looking for the best free online video repair tool, the online repair option provides an accessible starting point for addressing common video corruption issues.

Desktop Video Repair Software

While online tools offer convenience, desktop software typically provides more advanced repair capabilities.

The desktop version of Stellar Repair for Video is designed for users dealing with larger files or more severe corruption problems. It offers additional control over the repair process and supports extensive video recovery scenarios.

Key Benefits of the Desktop Version

Support for Large Video Files

Modern cameras often produce large high-resolution video files. Desktop software can process these files more efficiently than many browser-based solutions.

Enhanced Privacy

Since files remain on the user’s computer, desktop software can be preferable when handling sensitive or confidential footage.

Advanced Repair Capabilities

The software can address complex corruption issues that may not be resolved through basic repair methods.

Batch Repair Support

Users can repair multiple video files simultaneously, saving significant time when working with large collections of damaged footage.

User Experience and Interface

A major strength of Stellar Video Repair is its simplicity.

The software follows a straightforward workflow:

1. Add damaged video files.
2. Start the repair process.
3. Preview repaired videos.
4. Save the repaired files.

Even users with limited technical knowledge can navigate the process without difficulty.

The interface remains clean and organized, avoiding unnecessary complexity while still providing access to important repair functions.

Performance Evaluation

In testing scenarios involving common corruption problems, the software performs well in addressing:

• Black screen errors
• Video freezing
• Audio synchronization issues
• Playback interruptions
• Header corruption
• Distorted video output

Repair success rates can vary depending on the severity of file damage, but the software is capable of restoring many videos that standard media players cannot open.

This makes it a practical solution for both personal and professional users.

Who Should Use Stellar Repair for Video?

The software is suitable for a wide range of users, including:

• Content creators
• YouTubers
• Videographers
• Drone operators
• Security professionals
• Students
• Business users
• Everyday smartphone users

Anyone who regularly works with video files can benefit from having a dedicated repair solution available.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Supports multiple video formats
• Available in both online and desktop versions
• User-friendly interface
• Repairs various corruption issues
• Supports videos from different devices
• Batch repair functionality

Cons

• Severe hardware-related corruption may not always be recoverable
• Large files may require additional processing time

Final Verdict

Video corruption can happen unexpectedly, and recovering important footage often requires more than basic troubleshooting. Stellar offers both online and desktop repair solutions that address a wide range of video playback and corruption problems.

The online version provides convenience for quick repairs, while the desktop application delivers more advanced capabilities for larger and more complex recovery tasks. Considering its ease of use, broad format support, and effective repair features, Stellar Online Video Repair remains a strong contender for users searching for the best free online video repair in 2026.

For individuals seeking a reliable way to restore damaged videos without unnecessary complexity, Stellar’s repair solutions are certainly worth considering.

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By Julie Pollock, University of Richmond

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Previously Published on theconversation.com with Creative Commons License

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I’m happy here in my Internet world with my Internet friends

It’s been hard to look through a tangible lens

Haven’t physically made friends since I left that place which shall no longer be mentioned

Cringing over sappy television & grocery store sushi

If my life were a movie, it’d be juicy that’s why I’m scaling it down several notches

I think this bubble I’m in has botched any idea of fame

When around normies I feel shame

If my life were a game, it’d be the one with all the police chases

My current life involves saving face

I’m somewhere between awkwardness & grace

My Internet friends are rather inviting

As hard as I’ve been fighting my social anxiety still prevails

Dangling off the rails & yet I feel at home

I’d rather be destroyed than disrupt any hope of balance

Question is: am I up for the challenge?

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Many people are looking for the secret to success. Whether they are ‌business owners themselves or investors looking to put their money into successful ventures, the goal is typically the same: try to figure out what is going to last. And while people often think it is the “smartest” companies that are the most successful, or perhaps even the ones that have the most funding, the true metric of success is how long — and, importantly, how well — they are able to survive.

One of the biggest frustrations that investors have today is the instability of the current market. Recent events and geopolitical tensions have shown us that traditional markets like the stock market can be incredibly volatile. Even fiat currency is beginning to show its cracks in the face of political tensions that unsettle the economies of the issuing countries.

Because of this, people are looking to diversify their portfolios with alternative assets. Yet, especially for those who are new to the world of alternative investments, navigating these opportunities can be difficult. It can often sound like a lot of hype with no real, verifiable results to back it up.

But when it comes to diversification and building a financial legacy, there is one key thing all investors must look for: stability. Trends come and go, but the things that work are consistent over time.

How Cedar Creek Capital makes survival a core feature

However, some of the most opportune classes of alternative assets are those that don’t get the hype or mainstream attention. This shift is exactly the focus of Cedar Creek Capital, which, under the guidance of CEO AJ Osborne, has helped numerous investors build their financial legacy through self-storage. While self-storage may seem like an unusual investment on paper, Osborne points out that it has several characteristics that make it advantageous for those looking to diversify their portfolios.

“The greatest advantage of our company has been the greatest advantage of many companies that have become great, successful, and some of the biggest in the world: survival,” Osborne asserts. “At the end of the day, there’s more outside of your control than within it. Markets go up and down. You can’t predict them. You don’t know when or why they may change because you don’t know what will happen in the world.”

As a result, Osborne stresses resilience as the most important quality a company or investment can have. If the goal is to build a financial legacy, investors will want to work with companies that understand the core facets of long-term success: consistent demand, low overhead, and simple operations — all of which are fundamental characteristics of self-storage.

Although any investment or business carries with it an inherent risk, people are understandably always looking for the “safest” bets. And a mindset like Osborne’s, both in investing and in running a business, helps push toward that goal.

“Our company was built prior to 2008. We took on very little debt and learned as we went, but there wasn’t much information. We were an extraordinarily fragmented industry with not huge amounts of opportunities or exits,” Osborne explains. “So, we had to figure it all out through mistakes moving forward. We knew we had to have room for error. Failing and room for error were embedded into the business plan because there was no alternative. There wasn’t even information out there to really operate, buy, underwrite, or anything else.”

“It’s important to do things the right way, not to rush it and put yourself in a position where when things go bad — because they always will — you don’t lose control or lose everything,” Osborne adds. “This isn’t easy, nor is it quick. But after over 20 years of doing this, we’ve learned that we aren’t in control of markets. We never know what will happen, and we can’t predict the future.”

Survival is about going back to basics

Indeed, Osborne’s advice to both business leaders and investors is not to blindly fear uncertainty, but to learn how to use it to your advantage. It’s one of the reasons why Cedar Creek Capital has been so successful for Osborne and the company’s investors, having lasted nearly two decades in the business and weathering a number of financial crises and political events during that time.

Osborne leaves a few final words of wisdom: “Stick to the fundamentals, protect your downside, and put yourself in a position to allow short-term markets to go up or down, but also put yourself in a position to take advantage on the acquisition side when markets are down and to take advantage when markets are up,” Osborne concludes. “Once again, not predicting markets, but instead being in a position to take advantage of them. That is our greatest advantage and opportunity.”

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At the time, I was working as a Center Head at an art school where students of all age groups came to learn dance and music. We had a girls’ dance batch, and one day a young woman, around twenty or twenty-one years old, enrolled in our classes. She had come to India from Russia.

I personally handled her admission. I remember feeling happy that someone from another country had chosen to learn here. I wanted her to feel welcomed and comfortable, the way every visitor should. I hoped that whenever she thought of India, she would remember kindness, warmth, and hospitality.

She used to travel to the institute by auto-rickshaw and attended classes regularly. She was a talented dancer and seemed genuinely interested in learning.

Then, after a few weeks, I noticed that she had stopped coming.

At first, I assumed she might be busy or unwell. But when her absence continued, I called her to ask if everything was alright.

Her answer stayed with me.

She told me that she wanted to continue attending classes, but she was afraid to leave her house. On her way to the institute, a group of young men had started following her. They stared at her, passed comments, and made her feel unsafe. The fear had become so overwhelming that she no longer felt comfortable stepping outside alone.

Then she said something that broke my heart.

She told me that she wanted to return home as soon as possible.

I listened.

And that was all I could do.

I told her to take care of herself and stay safe.

Even today, that helplessness haunts me.

Because the truth is that her story was not unique.

Every day, countless girls and women face the same fear. Different streets, different cities, different faces — but the same fear. The fear of being watched, followed, judged, harassed, or harmed simply for existing in public spaces.

Sometimes I wonder when the day will come when every girl can step outside without calculating risks. When she can travel alone without fear. When freedom will not depend on luck, location, or the time of day.

When will girls be able to live fully, openly, and fearlessly?

I do not have the answer.

What I do have is a lingering sense of shame.

Shame that a young woman traveled thousands of miles to experience a different country, only to discover a fear that so many women here already know too well.

And whenever I remember her, I find myself saying the same words in silence:

I am sorry.
And I am ashamed.

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Don’t lie to yourself. Grounded confidence begins with truth-telling.

Confidence Killers

• Inaction.
• Constant reassurance.
• Thinking without action.
• Avoiding discomfort.
• Comparing yourself with others.
• Hiding mistakes.

Grounded confidence requires courage to act and humility to learn.

Blue-Collar Confidence

“People always talk about talent. But what they don’t want to talk about is the loneliness. An empty gym running the same move over and over. No applause. No crowd.” Larry Bird

Bird is the ONLY person in NBA history to win:

• Rookie of the Year
• Most Valuable Player
• Finals MVP
• All-Star MVP
• Coach of the Year
• Executive of the Year

Build Grounded Confidence

#1. Do hard things

“When I stepped on the court, I wasn’t out there hoping I could win. It is not about talking yourself up. It is about knowing that you have outworked every single person in that room.”

Doing easy things makes you weak. Stretch yourself.

Action answers anxiety.

Action Item: Do one thing you’ve been putting off.

#2. Record your wins

Action Item: List three achievable goals every day. Check them off when you reach them.

#3. Prepare

Preparation softens doubt.

Action Items:

• Rehearse conversations.
• Study before meetings.

#4. Speak with clarity

Hesitation kills confidence.

Action Items:

• Slow your speech.
• Say fewer words.
• Finish sentences.
• Don’t vacillate.

#5. Compare yourself to yourself

Measure progress against yesterday, not others.

Action Item: Keep a journal.

#6. Find a truth-teller

False praise creates weak confidence.

Action Items:

• Seek feedback.
• Keep people who challenge you.

#7. Turn outward

Don’t focus on yourself. Serve others.

Action Item: Help someone succeed today.

Bonus: Shift from, “I’m terrible,” to “I’m learning.”

Challenge: Build grounded confidence in others.

Resources:

3 Tips to Build Confidence in Timid Team Members

Leading With Grounded Confidence

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Previously Published on leadershipfreak with Creative Commons License

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Most beginner income guides are too broad. They point people toward huge buckets like freelancing or ecommerce, then leave them to figure out the hard part alone. The better move in 2026 is to start with a small online offer that solves one painful problem, costs almost nothing to test, and can grow if people buy it.

Most men do not need another theory-heavy side hustle list. They need an offer they can test this week.

Most beginner lists fail for one reason: they confuse a category with a business. “Freelance.” “Sell online.” “Start a blog.” Those are buckets, not offers.

Beginners do better with smaller moves. Find one problem. Pick one buyer. Set one price. Then test it fast. That is how you build skill, confidence, and income without wasting six months on hype.

If you want more side hustle ideas, Moonlite is one useful reference point. Its homepage says the platform already organizes 5.9k ideas and resources, along with 24.6k posts and 29.4k votes, and that every idea, resource, and datapoint is shared, rated, and verified by real people. That is a better filter than another recycled “top 10” list.

Assume the cost estimates below mean you already have a phone or laptop and internet access.

Quick Comparison

UGC demo videos for brands

Brands need fresh creator-style ads all the time. Billo says it works with 22,000+ brands, and Insense says it is trusted by 3,500+ direct-to-consumer brands. Insense also says many campaigns get creator applications within 48 hours and first UGC assets within 14 days. That tells you buyer demand is real.

The good news is that many buyers do not want a polished commercial. They want a believable demo, a simple testimonial, or a quick product story for TikTok, Reels, product pages, and paid ads. That makes this a strong beginner offer if you can speak clearly and follow a brief.

How to start: Pick one niche you already understand, like fitness, pets, or software. Film three short sample demos with products you already own. Then offer one fixed package: three videos, two hooks each, one price.

Expected timeline to first revenue: 1–3 weeks

Typical startup cost: $0–$50

Risk note: If you hate being on camera or cannot follow a brief, this will feel harder than it looks.

Etsy search tune-ups

Many Etsy sellers make good products but weak listings. Etsy’s own Seller Handbook says search visibility depends on stronger titles, tags, categories, attributes, photos, and conversion signals. In plain English: small fixes can make a real difference.

This works because shop owners are often great at making things and weak at writing listings. You are not selling “marketing.” You are selling clearer titles, better tags, stronger photos, and cleaner buyer language.

How to start: Study one niche, like wedding printables or vintage decor. Audit 10 weak listings and record a short Loom showing what you would change. Then sell a fixed-price refresh for three to five listings.

Expected timeline to first revenue: 1–2 weeks

Typical startup cost: $0–$30

Risk note: Never promise sales, because listing quality is only one part of the result.

No-code workspace cleanup

Small businesses buy tools fast and set them up badly. Notion’s marketplace shows 187 consultants and more than 20,000 creators, and Airtable runs an accredited services partner program for workflow discovery, implementation, training, and support. That is a strong sign that setup help is paid work, not just a hobby.

The buyer here is not paying for software. He is paying for less chaos. He wants fewer missed tasks and one place where the team can see what matters. Notion itself positions experts as one-to-one help for integrations, automations, and training.

How to start: Learn one stack, not ten. Notion plus a form tool is enough. Airtable plus one automation is enough. Build your own simple tracker first. Then pitch one clear offer to coaches, agencies, or real estate teams: “I will clean up your workspace and build a system your team will actually use.”

Expected timeline to first revenue: 2–4 weeks

Typical startup cost: $0–$50

Risk note: Scope creep kills profit, so sell one fixed result, not “all your systems.”

Prospect research packs

Founders and small agencies do not just need leads. They need clean lists, target accounts, and useful notes. Clay markets tools for account research, total addressable market sourcing, rep prospecting, and CRM enrichment, and says it is trusted by more than 500,000 teams. That tells you businesses pay for better research and cleaner data.

The edge is not volume. The edge is fit. A list of 50 right-fit prospects with strong notes is worth more than a sloppy sheet of 500 random names. That makes this a good beginner offer if you are careful and willing to check your work.

How to start: Choose one buyer type, like local law firms, dental clinics, or B2B software buyers. Build a clean list of 50 leads with names, titles, websites, and one useful note on each. Then sell it as a flat-fee research pack, not hourly admin work.

Expected timeline to first revenue: 3–10 days

Typical startup cost: $0–$100

Risk note: Bad data ruins trust fast, so verify everything by hand until your process is tight.

Final Thoughts

The pattern here is simple. The fastest beginner income usually comes from fixing boring problems online, not from chasing flashy trends. Brands need content. Sellers need visibility. Small teams need cleaner systems. Founders need better research.

Pick one offer. Test it for two weeks. Charge a flat rate. Improve from real feedback.

If one of these ideas fits, explore thousands of ideas before you commit. Compare cost, time, and real-world feedback, then choose one path and start this week.

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By Vera Tika

Vera Tika argues that Europe’s populist radical right no longer operates only through parties and elections. Its growing influence lies in its ability to shape migration policy, public discourse, digital communication, and the democratic mainstream itself. Now, the populist radical right shapes the very logic through which democratic systems govern, define threats, manage borders, construct belonging, and normalise exclusion

Shaping the democratic mainstream

Across Europe, the populist radical right is shaping democratic politics, even in places where radical-right parties are not in power. Its influence now extends far beyond elections, shaping migration governance, security discourse, media agendas, and digital communication ecosystems. The populist radical right, in other words, no longer operates only as an electoral challenger seeking parliamentary breakthrough. Now, it functions as a broader governing ecosystem.

For years, analysts mainly examined the populist radical right through parties, charismatic leaders, and vote shares. That approach made sense when radical-right actors primarily sought electoral legitimacy and parliamentary normalisation. Today, however, this framework is becoming insufficient. The contemporary power of the populist radical right lies not only in how many elections it wins, but in its growing ability to shape the political terrain on which democratic competition itself takes place.

As Mattia Zulianello recently argued here, contemporary European populism does not operate according to a single political model. Rather, it consists of multiple adaptive and ideologically diverse formations. This diversification helps explain why the populist radical right today operates not only through parties, but through broader governing and communicative ecosystems.

From the margins into the political centre

Across Europe, themes once associated with the political margins increasingly structure the democratic mainstream. Migration control, border securitisation, demographic anxiety, anti-rights discourse, anti-gender mobilisation, sexual identity politics, and the language of ‘national preference’ now circulate far beyond traditional radical-right spaces.

In Germany, debates around deportations and border controls are shaping mainstream political competition well beyond its leading far-right party, Alternative für Deutschland. France has experienced a long process of normalisation initiated by Marine Le Pen and now electorally amplified under Jordan Bardella. This has progressively shifted France’s broader political conversation on migration, national identity, and sovereignty.

Themes once associated with the political margins now increasingly structure the democratic mainstream

As John Ryan recently noted, the growing legitimacy of France’s Rassemblement National reflects the weakening of the country’s traditional republican barriers against the radical right. Bardella’s normalised public image illustrates how the populist radical right is gaining influence not through overt anti-system rupture, but through institutional adaptation and mainstream legitimacy.

In Italy, Giorgia Meloni has normalised hardline migration discourse at European level, particularly around externalisation and maritime border control. This transformation is visible even where radical-right parties remain outside government. In the Netherlands, migration and asylum restrictions became central political issues beyond Geert Wilders’ own electoral success. In Portugal, Chega has hardened public discourse around corruption, migration, and law-and-order politics, despite the country’s historically limited radical-right tradition.

Redefining what is acceptable

The success of the populist radical right, therefore, is not solely the result of electoral breakthroughs. Its deeper success lies in its growing ability to redefine what is politically acceptable, institutionally legitimate, and publicly normalised within democratic politics. This transformation reflects what recent scholarship on the populist radical right describes as negative integration. As Mattia Zulianello notes, this is the construction of political cohesion through common threats, exclusionary boundaries, and opposition to perceived outsiders.

Yet events in contemporary Europe suggest that a further development may be underway. The populist radical right doesn’t operate only through exclusionary mobilisation, but through what we might call boundary governing integration. It is gradually embedding political boundary-making within governance itself.

The populist radical right’s success lies not just in electoral breakthroughs, but in its ability to redefine political normality — shaping how democratic systems govern and normalise exclusion

This is shaping migration management, security frameworks, sexual identity politics, anti-gender mobilisation, public discourse, and the institutional definition of belonging and exclusion. The notion of boundary governing integration builds on broader traditions of boundary-making associated with Fredrik Barth, Michèle Lamont, and Andreas Wimmer. At the same time, it shifts attention from social boundary construction toward the institutional embedding of boundary-making within governance.

Migration governance and digital ecosystems

This transformation is especially visible in migration governance. Since the 2015 refugee crisis, most people see migration not simply as a humanitarian issue, but as a matter of security, sovereignty, and civilisational protection. Policies focused on deterrence, border fortification, and externalisation gradually moved from the political margins toward the institutional centre of European policymaking.

The digital sphere has only accelerated this process. On TikTok, X, Telegram, and YouTube, anti-migrant narratives, conspiracy theories, and nationalist resentment circulate rapidly across borders. Algorithms reward outrage, emotional intensity, and polarisation.

These days, populist radical-right politics circulates not just through traditional party communication, but via aesthetics, humour, and algorithmic virality

As Federico Taddei recently showed, even seemingly apolitical online memes such as the viral ‘nihilist penguin’, once absorbed into radical-right digital ecosystems, rapidly become vehicles for nationalist and exclusionary narratives. Contemporary populist radical-right politics circulates through aesthetics, humour, and algorithmic virality rather than traditional party communication alone.

The populist radical right has thus become more than a party family. Now, it is a broader communicative environment embedded within democratic life itself.

From electoral challenger to governing logic

Historically, the populist radical right largely operated as an outsider force seeking electoral legitimacy and political normalisation. Contemporary Europe, however, points toward another phase of development. The populist radical right increasingly operates less as a discrete political actor and more as a diffuse governing ecosystem. It is increasingly embedded within institutions, policy agendas, media systems, and digital communication environments.

Can radical-right parties fully capture democratic institutions? This is no longer the most pressing concern. The deeper worry lies in the gradual embedding of radical-right governing logics within democratic systems themselves.

The future of the populist radical right may therefore not involve dramatic democratic breakdown. Rather, it may materialise as the normalisation of exclusionary politics within the everyday machinery of democracy.

No.108 in a Loop series on the Future of Populism

This article was originally published at The Loop and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Introduction

In today’s digital world, staying anonymous online has become more of a necessity than a preference. Every search, click, and login leaves behind a digital trace that can be collected, analyzed, and sometimes misused. From advertisers tracking browsing habits to data brokers building detailed user profiles, online privacy is constantly under pressure. For professionals, researchers, journalists, and even everyday users, maintaining anonymity is about reducing exposure rather than disappearing completely.

The challenge is that modern websites rely heavily on tracking technologies such as cookies, browser fingerprinting, and IP logging. These tools can identify users even when they are not logged into any account. As a result, individuals need a combination of strategies and tools to protect their identity and browsing behavior. Understanding how anonymity works is the first step toward building a safer and more private internet experience.

Understanding the Foundation of Online Anonymity

Before trying to stay anonymous, it is important to understand what anonymity actually means in a digital environment. It does not mean being invisible; instead, it means minimizing identifiable information. Every device connected to the internet has a digital identity made up of IP address, browser configuration, operating system, and behavioral patterns.

Websites use this information to create a “fingerprint” that can distinguish one user from another. Even without cookies, this fingerprint can often track activity across sessions. True anonymity requires reducing or masking these identifiers so that no consistent profile can be built.

Users often underestimate how much data is shared automatically in the background. Fonts, screen resolution, time zone, and even hardware details can contribute to tracking. Therefore, achieving anonymity is not a single step but a layered process involving tools, habits, and awareness of how data is collected.

Controlling Browser Fingerprinting and Tracking Tools

One of the most effective ways to improve anonymity is to control browser fingerprinting. Specialized privacy-focused browsers and anti-detect environments are designed to reduce how easily users can be identified. Tools like Octo Browser are often used in scenarios where users need to separate identities or reduce cross-session tracking, especially in digital marketing and research environments.

These types of tools allow users to create isolated browsing profiles, each with its own digital fingerprint. Instead of using one consistent identity across the web, users can segment their activity into separate environments, making tracking significantly harder. This approach is especially useful when combined with cookie isolation and user-agent customization.

However, no tool alone guarantees full anonymity. It must be combined with safe browsing practices and an understanding of what data is still exposed through network connections and login behaviors. The goal is to reduce consistency in your digital footprint, making it difficult for trackers to connect your activity across platforms.

Strengthening Network-Level Privacy

Beyond the browser, network-level privacy plays a critical role in staying anonymous. Your IP address is one of the most direct identifiers available online. Without protection, websites and services can easily estimate your location and track repeated visits.

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) help mask your real IP address by routing traffic through encrypted servers. This makes it appear as though you are browsing from a different location. Similarly, privacy-focused networks like Tor add multiple layers of encryption and routing to make tracing extremely difficult.

However, users should understand that anonymity is reduced if VPNs or secure networks are used alongside personal logins or identifiable accounts. Mixing anonymous browsing with real identity activity is one of the most common mistakes that breaks privacy. A clear separation between anonymous sessions and personal usage is essential for maintaining effectiveness.

Developing Safe Browsing Habits

Tools alone are not enough; user behavior is equally important. Many anonymity breaches occur due to simple habits like logging into personal accounts while using private browsing tools or reusing the same email address across platforms.

To stay anonymous, users should avoid sharing identifiable information unless necessary. This includes avoiding social media logins, disabling unnecessary permissions, and regularly clearing browser data. Even small patterns, such as visiting the same websites at the same time every day, can contribute to behavioral tracking.

Another important habit is being cautious with downloads and extensions. Many browser extensions collect more data than users realize. Choosing minimal, trusted tools reduces the risk of accidental data leakage. Anonymity is often compromised not by advanced tracking systems but by user convenience choices.

Common Mistakes That Break Anonymity

One of the biggest misconceptions about online anonymity is that using a single privacy tool is enough. In reality, several common mistakes can quickly expose identity. The most frequent issue is mixing personal and anonymous browsing sessions on the same device without proper isolation.

Another mistake is relying entirely on VPNs while ignoring browser fingerprinting. Even with a hidden IP address, a consistent browser profile can still reveal identity patterns. Similarly, logging into personal accounts during an anonymous session immediately links that activity back to the user.

Users also underestimate data correlation. Different platforms often share or sell behavioral data, which can be combined to identify users indirectly. Avoiding these pitfalls requires discipline and a layered approach rather than depending on one solution.

Conclusion

Staying anonymous on the internet is not about disappearing completely but about controlling how much of your identity is exposed. It requires a combination of browser-level protection, network security, and responsible browsing habits. Each layer plays a role in reducing traceability and limiting how data is collected and connected.

As tracking technologies continue to evolve, so must privacy strategies. Users who understand how digital footprints are created are better equipped to manage them effectively. The future of online privacy will likely depend on smarter tools and more informed users who prioritize anonymity as a standard practice rather than an exception.

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By Olivia Weeks

Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in Path Finders, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each week, Path Finders features a Q&A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Like what you see here? You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week.

Joe Bond is a writer from eastern Kentucky, now living in New Orleans. His debut novel Hope House released from Hub City Press on May 26th. The book follows a group of adolescent boys in a state-run home for juvenile delinquents in 1980s Kentucky, and a scrappy young counselor trying to teach them all he knows. Bond’s father ran homes like these all throughout his childhood, and the boys his father tried to help were a big part of his life. He’s written about those real life experiences for The Paris Review.

Enjoy our conversation about group-home and small-town relations, changes in the juvenile justice system, and Bond’s father’s reactions to the book, below.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The Daily Yonder: Can we start with a little bit of biography? Can you tell me about yourself, where you’re from, what you do? 

Joe Bond: I grew up in a small town in eastern Kentucky called Cannonsburg, right in the corner where Ohio and West Virginia and Kentucky all come together. Most of my friends’ dads worked at a steel mill, or at a coke plant, a refinery. Those were the typical jobs. But my dad ran a boys’ home, so he was a little bit different. [I] grew up around the home and the teenagers there. That part of Eastern Kentucky was pretty homogenous. It was lower-to-middle class and almost everyone was white. My dad’s boys came from around Cincinnati and Louisville and Lexington, but also from the mountains. We had a pretty diverse group of teenagers who had been committed through the state and there were some pretty interesting kids. They came from broken homes. They’d been in trouble, sold drugs, stole cars. I grew up with one foot in a “normal” world (for Eastern Kentucky), and simultaneously around my dad’s boys, which was a different experience.

DY: It’s interesting having read the book to know that that’s the perspective you have on this whole world. How much, as a kid, did you feel like one of the members of the Hope House equivalent that existed in real life?

JB: My dad had worked in homes since before I was born, so there was never a point where it wasn’t part of my life. I remember being five or six, going to work with him at a group home. He would go to counseling with the boys and I would play in his office.

I remember having some toy cars and I was just sitting there playing and the door got kicked open and a kid came in who had lost control of himself. He was screaming and the childcare workers were trying to calm him down. I remember scooting my cars back because he was on the floor fighting. I just kept playing. It never entered my mind that this was weird or extreme. It was just life – these things happened. We took our family vacations with the boys to the beach one time. My sister, my mom and I went too. I just jumped in the van. My dad took his boys everywhere. A lot of the big camps and juvenile detention centers back then and even now, it’s all incarceration. You lock the kids up and keep them there. But my dad had a totally different point of view. His idea was to take the kids back out in the world. Some of the boys had never been out of Louisville. They’d never seen the ocean. He would take them to the movies. He would take them to baseball games, take them hiking and fishing and camping, let them see the world. I tagged along and listened to their stories. They’d talk about where they were from and what had gone wrong in their lives, who they had back home. I got to see the world through their eyes.

DY: One thing that I wanted to hear you talk about a little bit more is, you’re telling a very small piece of the history of bureaucratization in juvenile detention and foster care systems, and of the death of this more informal, creative, almost haphazard kind of group home. I think there are several allusions to this shift throughout the book, where the boys say things like, “Places like this don’t really exist anymore.” Can you expand a little on that history as far as you know it?

JB: There were a lot of bad places where kids were abused or even killed.  One reaction to that was more oversight and intervention, to put in protections for the kids, which had to be done. But over time, some of the changes and the bureaucracy that followed and the distrust made it harder to really reach a kid. You can make it safer for kids in care, but you can also make it to where they’re never allowed to leave the facility. You can do harm in different ways.

One of our counselors had a swimming pool at his house and wanted to take his boys swimming. He was told, “No, you can’t take them to your house. No way.”  If the end goal is for these kids to be back out in the world, you have to let them out some. If you isolate them from the world that they’re going back into, you’re really doing them a disservice. At one home, licensing wouldn’t let our kids have jobs. They weren’t allowed to work at the local McDonald’s. To me, that is really short-sighted. I mean, the boys might make mistakes when they go out in the world. They might screw things up, but eventually life outside is going to resume.

DY: I think the way that you handled place in the book was fascinating because I think you really give a sense of that mission on the part of Hope House, for the boys to be out in the world, as you say. And also I thought that you really maintained the sort of distance that these kids in the novel feel from the town that they live in. Can you talk about how you were thinking about their relationship to this town that you depict? 

JB: They’re outsiders. That was something I observed in real life.

Most of our kids went to an alternative school. But a few did get to go to public school, and I went to school with them. A lot of our boys played sports, which was pretty controversial in the community. Some people understood the big picture, that these were kids who’ve come from super difficult environments and they didn’t have families and this was their only chance. They supported our boys being in public school with their own children. Others did not support it.

It was real life. Our boys had been through a lot, and whatever changes they’d made for the better, they were still pretty prone to making mistakes. We had kids get in fights. They stole cars. People in the community did not want their cars to be stolen. That’s the risk. You work with kids and let them back out in the world, and sometimes they make mistakes. If you’re from Louisville, and you’ve been sent off for selling drugs and that’s the only world you’ve known, then all of a sudden you’re in a public high school in Eastern Kentucky in the year 1990, it can be pretty tough, even if you’re a great basketball player. You’re going to be surrounded by kids that have lived different lives than you. Some of the people in the community were great. They had good hearts. Other people did not. We had incidents where our boys got jumped. Four or five of our kids who wanted to go to public school and live a normal life, just vastly outnumbered. I remember my dad talking to the high school principal, who refused to punish anyone for beating up our kids. He told my dad that sometimes you just have to take a beating.

DY: Is your dad still around? Has he read the book?

JB: Yes. I sent him an early chapter and he didn’t respond. I called my mom and she said, “He’s back in the bedroom, crying.” He was a great reader. I would send him a chapter at a time and he would call me and tell me who my characters really were.

DY: What was his best edit?

JB: He was great with Karvel McLemore, who is the most sophisticated kid in the book. Karvel is this really street smart kid who understands how trapped he is in life. The world he walks into back home, there’s almost no real way for him to legally survive it. He can be a very successful drug dealer or a very unsuccessful cook at the McDonald’s He’s smart enough to know his situation. In the book, he battles with his counselor, Mr. Watts, about that. My dad’s insight was that it was all happening too quickly on the page, that in real life, you could not turn a kid in a couple of months. I had to go back and revise that timeline. I knew kids like that too. Their trust issues were earned. They had been through other places and when they walk in the door, nothing you say is going to make them believe that you’re different from the people they’ve already met and the people they’ve already had to deal with. It just takes time and you’ve got to build a relationship with the kid. Mr. Watts is based on my dad. I thought I’d made that character too young, but Dad reminded me that he was even younger when he ran his first group home.

DY: I’ve asked you a lot about the real life stuff that helped you write this book. I want to know a little bit now about the more writerly side. Is this a novel you’ve been working on forever? How did it come about? 

JB: I spent years writing about the wrong stuff. Never even thought about writing about the boys I knew and grew up around. I don’t know for sure why I started, but the context was that I became a father. I had a son, and I remember him being about two years old and I had no time to write. I would take him to playgrounds all over Atlanta, where I was living, and the only thing I had time to write was poems. I’d written a poem about a kid who had eaten a lightbulb, which really happened. I just remember writing lines here and there, when I had time. But the kids were pretty complicated, and to write about them in a human way, I needed more context.

I took one poem and turned it into a story. That one was about Damico. It won an award, and by then I had six or seven kids I was writing about and I could see them coming together as a group.That was around 2018 or 2019. At that point I realized, “Okay, I think I have enough material for a novel.” I drafted it over a few years and wrote way too much. I ended up cutting 50,000 words. But over time and over several years, the group came together and I figured out how the boys cared about each other. The timeline was tricky because in real life, kids come and go. That happens in the book some, but I needed a lot of material with them together. The timeline was the trickiest thing to figure out.

DY: Did you have a day job? Do you now?

JB: I’ve done all kinds of stuff. For a while, in high school and in college, I worked in homes. I worked night shift. I worked days, directly with the kids. I coached the softball team. I took the boys on home visits and saw what they’d come from. I went back to get them. I worked in journalism for a long time, writing and editing. I did landscaping. I was a security guard. I worked at a psychiatric hospital. I was a librarian when I lived in New York City. I worked at a law firm in Times Square and did research. That was a good job because I could read books in my downtime. That’s when I was figuring out that I wanted to be a writer. I finished this novel, and now I’m trying to write another one while raising two children.

DY: That’s plenty. What’s the other book about?

JB: Friendship. If you took two kids who could have been in Hope House and put them in their twenties and thirties without actually growing them up, those are my characters. Two friends who need each other.

This article first appeared on The Daily Yonder and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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By Shanna Hanbury

A chemical used in mosquito repellents may disorient bumblebees, stopping them from finding their way back to their nests, a recent study found.

Researchers in Finland exposed 123 buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris), one of the most abundant bumblebee species in Europe, to a standard consumer mosquito repellent containing prallethrin, a type of pyrethroid insecticide.

One group of 44 bees was exposed to the repellant for 1 minute; 35 were exposed for 10 minutes; while 44 were exposed for 20 minutes. A control group of 43 bees was exposed to an identical device that did not release the insecticide. After exposure, the researchers released the bees 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) away from their colonies.

They found 16 bees from the control group made it home. However, only six bees exposed to the repellant for 10 minutes and just two bees exposed for 20 minutes returned.

“Bumblebee colonies depend on workers collecting food,” lead author Kimmo Kaakinen, a biologist at the University of Turku in Finland, wrote in a statement. “So if they cannot find their way back to the nest, the colony’s ability to obtain nutrition deteriorates.”

Usually, the buff-tailed bumblebee forages around 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from its colony and has been found to return home from distances reaching 9.8 km (6 miles), the study noted.

Researchers suggested the reduction in homing success, or even increased travel time, could be due to a disruption to the bees’ spatial navigation and memory, compromised flight capacity or a combination.

The study’s results challenge the assumption that mosquito repellents used commonly by people are safe for pollinators.

In 2024, the European Commission approved the use of prallethrin for a 10-year period, from March 1, 2026 to Feb. 29, 2036. Laboratory tests showed exposure to prallethrin did not increase bumblebee mortality, but the researchers said sublethal effects still “remain poorly understood.”

A 2023 study in the U.S. found prallethrin did not negatively impact honeybees’ recruitment dances or their foraging ability at a feeder.

Co-author of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) study Roger Schürch, a behavioral ecologist at Virginia Tech in the U.S., told Mongabay he was surprised by the magnitude of the effects the latest study uncovered.

“The untreated controls were 8 times better at completing the homing task. Given that we did not find effect at all, further studies may be warranted that try to elucidate the causes of this difference,” he wrote in an email.

He also said the intensity of the exposure, in concentrated 10- and 20-minute sittings, may not be extreme.

“Bees will hop from flower to flower, which may be at variable distances from a repeller… I find it unlikely that an individual bee is getting 20 minutes of full exposure in one sitting,” Schürch added. “But given the magnitude of the effect… I think we ought to find out when such huge effects are seen, and when not.”

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