“
That said, deciding to avoid other people does not necessarily equate with having no desire whatsoever for company; it may simply reflect a dissatisfaction with what—or who—is available. Cynics are, in the end, only idealists with awkwardly high standards. In Chamfort's words, 'It is sometimes said of a man who lives alone that he does not like society. This is like saying of a man that he does not like going for walks because he is not fond of walking at night in the forêt de Bondy.
”
”
Alain de Botton (Status Anxiety (Vintage International))
“
The colonized is elevated above his jungle status in proportion to his adoption of the mother country's cultural standards.
”
”
Frantz Fanon (Black Skin, White Masks)
“
The maturing of a woman who has continued to grow is a beautiful thing to behold.
Or, if your ad revenue or your seven-figure salary or your privileged sexual status depend on it, it is an operable condition.
”
”
Naomi Wolf (The Beauty Myth)
“
I don't want to be included. Instead, I want to question who created the standard in the first place. After a lifetime of embodying difference, I have no desire to be equal. I want to deconstruct the structural power of a system that marked me out as different. I don't wish to be assimilated into the status quo. I want to be liberated from all the negative assumptions that my characteristics bring. The same onus is not on me to change. Instead it's the world around me..
”
”
Reni Eddo-Lodge (Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race)
“
Cynics are, in the end, only idealists with awkwardly high standards.
”
”
Alain de Botton (Status Anxiety (Vintage International))
“
I once heard Jerry Yang, the cofounder of Yahoo!, quote a senior Chinese government official as saying, "Where people have hope, you have a middle class." I think this is a very useful insight. The existence of large, stable middle classes around the world is crucial to geopolitical stability, but middle class is a state of mind, not a state of income. That's why a majority of Americans always describe themselves as "middle class," even though by income statistics some of them wouldn't be considered as such. "Middle class" is another way of describing people who believe that they have a pathway out of poverty or lower-income status toward a higher standard of living and a better future for their kids.
”
”
Thomas L. Friedman (The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century)
“
Excellence is to keep beating your own standards every day. If you don't have a standard for yourself, you have no records to beat; and if you don't have any record to beat, you can't excel. What is your current standard?
”
”
Israelmore Ayivor (The Great Hand Book of Quotes)
“
With reciprocity all things do not need to be equal in order for acceptance and mutuality to thrive. If equality is evoked as the only standard by which it is deemed acceptable for people to meet across boundaries and create community, then there is little hope. Fortunately, mutuality is a more constructive and positive foundation for the building of ties that allow for differences in status, position, power, and privilege whether determined by race, class, sexuality, religion, or nationality.
”
”
bell hooks (Belonging: A Culture of Place)
“
Sexual satisfaction eases the stranglehold of materialism, since status symbols no longer look sexual, but irrelevant. Product lust weakens where emotional and sexual lust intensifies. The price we pay for artificially buoying up this market is our heart's desire. The beauty myth keeps a gap of fantasy between men and women. That gap is made with mirrors; no law of nature supports it. It keeps us spending vast sums of money and looking distractedly around us, but its smoke and reflection interfere with our freedom to be sexually ourselves.
”
”
Naomi Wolf (The Beauty Myth)
“
Existing political philosophies all developed before evolutionary game theory, so they do not take equilibrium selection into account. Socialism pretends that individuals are not selfish sexual competitors, so it ignores equilibria altogether. Conservatism pretends that there is only one possible equilibrium—a nostalgic version of the status quo—that society could play. Libertarianism ignores the possibility of equilibrium selection at the level of rational social discourse, and assumes that decentralized market dynamics will magically lead to equilibria that yield the highest aggregate social benefits. Far from being a scientific front for a particular set of political views, modern evolutionary psychology makes most standard views look simplistic and unimaginitive.
”
”
Geoffrey Miller (The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature)
“
It is neither judgment nor judgment according to the status quo with which we have a problem, but rather judgment according to God's Word. We sharply dress ourselves, go out into the world, shape ourselves, our personalities according to the world's standards and preferences, allow ourselves to be made dull by the world and its desires in order to appear successful and happy and attractive in the eyes of the world: we love the world's judgment but we hate God's judgment. Absurdly enough, the one which really matters, the one out of the purest of loves rather than that of a mere contract in hopes of mutual gain, is the one from which we so adamantly try to cut off, shut off, and distance ourselves.
”
”
Criss Jami (Diotima, Battery, Electric Personality)
“
Break away from the box confining you. Positive dreamers do not follow the status quo. They keep raising the standard of the bar higher and higher. Raise the bar.
”
”
Israelmore Ayivor (Shaping the dream)
“
At the heart of my argument is the view that religious faith, far from being inevitably on the side of the status quo, should on principle hold this world to higher standards.
”
”
E.J. Dionne Jr. (Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right)
“
It could be said that a liberal education has the nature of a bequest, in that it looks upon the student as the potential heir of a cultural birthright, whereas a practical education has the nature of a commodity to be exchanged for position, status, wealth, etc., in the future. A liberal education rests on the assumption that nature and human nature do not change very much or very fast and that one therefore needs to understand the past. The practical educators assume that human society itself is the only significant context, that change is therefore fundamental, constant, and necessary, that the future will be wholly unlike the past, that the past is outmoded, irrelevant, and an encumbrance upon the future -- the present being only a time for dividing past from future, for getting ready.
But these definitions, based on division and opposition, are too simple. It is easy, accepting the viewpoint of either side, to find fault with the other. But the wrong is on neither side; it is in their division...
Without the balance of historic value, practical education gives us that most absurd of standards: "relevance," based upon the suppositional needs of a theoretical future. But liberal education, divorced from practicality, gives something no less absurd: the specialist professor of one or another of the liberal arts, the custodian of an inheritance he has learned much about, but nothing from.
”
”
Wendell Berry (The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture)
“
As attentive readers may have noted, the standard narrative of heterosexual interaction boils down to prostitution: a woman exchanges her sexual services for access to resources. Maybe mythic resonance explains part of the huge box-office appeal of a film like Pretty Woman, where Richard Gere's character trades access to his wealth in exchange for what Julia Roberts's character has to offer (she plays a hooker with a heart of gold, if you missed it). Please note that what she's got to offer is limited to the aforementioned heart of gold, a smile as big as Texas, a pair of long, lovely legs, and the solemn promise that they'll open only for him from now on. The genius of Pretty Woman lies in making explicit what's been implicit in hundreds of films and books. According to this theory, women have evolved to unthinkingly and unashamedly exchange erotic pleasure for access to a man's wealth, protection, status, and other treasures likely to benefit her and her children.
”
”
Christopher Ryan (Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality)
“
(It’s sad—but not surprising—that teeth have become a status symbol in a country where more than one in three citizens lack dental coverage, which isn’t included with standard medical insurance.)
”
”
Jessica Bruder (Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century)
“
If you’re going to build a strong culture, it’s paramount to make diversity one of your core values. This is what separates Bridgewater’s strong culture from a cult: The commitment is to promoting dissent. In hiring, instead of using similarity to gauge cultural fit, Bridgewater assesses cultural contribution.* Dalio wants people who will think independently and enrich the culture. By holding them accountable for dissenting, Dalio has fundamentally altered the way people make decisions. In a cult, core values are dogma. At Bridgewater, employees are expected to challenge the principles themselves. During training, when employees learn the principles, they’re constantly asked: Do you agree? “We have these standards that are stress tested over time, and you have to either operate by them or disagree with them and fight for better ones,” explains Zack Wieder, who works with Dalio on codifying the principles. Rather than deferring to the people with the greatest seniority or status, as was the case at Polaroid, decisions at Bridgewater are based on quality. The goal is to create an idea meritocracy, where the best ideas win. To get the best ideas on the table in the first place, you need radical transparency. Later, I’m going to challenge some of Dalio’s principles, but first I want to explain the weapons he has used to wage a war on groupthink.
”
”
Adam M. Grant (Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World)
“
In our own day, there has been too much of a tendency towards authority, and too little care for the preservation of initiative. Men in control of vast organisations have tended to be too abstract in their outlook, to forget what actual human beings are like, and to try to fit men to systems rather than systems to men.
”
”
Bertrand Russell (Authority and the Individual)
“
We have to examine the extent to which we export poverty to other societies. When we decide that we will import products from China that are produced by people earning less than a dollar an hour, and grant their country most-favored-nation status (political contributions notwithstanding), we are deciding to make American workers who must earn the minimum wage compete with them. I am not suggesting that we close the doors to China or to Mexico, but I am suggesting that we look very carefully at the web of international relationships that we are creating. At the very minimum, we should understand that we have two choices in our country: we can raise world living standards by exporting those standards, or we can lower living standards- not only the world’s but also our own- by deciding that it is acceptable for the products of exploited labor to enter this country.
”
”
Julianne Malveaux
“
Starting with Theodor Adorno in the 1950s, people have suggested that lower intelligence predicts adherence to conservative ideology. Some but not all studies since then have supported this conclusion. More consistent has been a link between lower intelligence and a subtype of conservatism, namely right-wing authoritarianism (RWA, a fondness for hierarchy). One particularly thorough demonstration of this involved more than fifteen thousand subjects in the UK and United States; importantly, the links among low IQ, RWA, and intergroup prejudice were there after controlling for education and socioeconomic status. The standard, convincing explanation for the link is that RWA provides simple answers, ideal for people with poor abstract reasoning skills.
”
”
Robert M. Sapolsky (Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst)
“
It is no wonder humanity has long preferred legalism, which involves much cleaner territory. Give me a rule any day. Give me a clear “in” and “out” because boundaries make me feel safe. If I can clearly mark the borders, then I am assured of my insider status—the position I feel compelled to defend, the one thing I can be sure of. I want to stand before God having gotten it right.
”
”
Jen Hatmaker (For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards)
“
Far from putting doubts and anxieties to rest religion often has the effect of intensifying them. It judges those who profess the faith more harshly than it judges unbelievers. It holds them up to a standard of conduct so demanding that many of them inevitably fall short. It has no patience with those who make excuses for themselves--an art in which Americans have come to excel. If it is ultimately forgiving of human weakness and folly, it is not because it ignores them or attributes them exclusively to unbelievers. For those who take religion seriously, belief is a burden, not a self-righteous claim to some privileged moral status. Self-righteousness, indeed, may well be more prevalent among skeptics than among believers. The spiritual discipline against self-righteousness is the very essence of religion.
”
”
Christopher Lasch (The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy)
“
... everything based on arguments involving the ''is'' of identidy and the older el (elementalistic) 'logic' and 'psychology', such as the prevailing doctrines, laws, institutions, systems. , cannot possibly be in full accordance with the structure of our nervous system. This, in turn, affects the latter and results in the prevailing private and public un-sanity. Hence, the unrest, unhappines, nervous strain, irritability, lack of wisdom and absence of balance, the instability of our instituitions, the wars and revolutions, the increase of ''mental ills, prostitution, criminality, commercialism as a creed, the inadequate standards of education, the low professional standards of lawyers, priests, politicians, physicians, teachers, parents, and even of scientists - which in the last-named field often lead to dogmatic and antisocial attitudes and lack of creativeness.
”
”
Alfred Korzybski (Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics)
“
Over recent years, [there's been] a strong tendency to require assessment of children and teachers so that [teachers] have to teach to tests and the test determines what happens to the child, and what happens to the teacher...that's guaranteed to destroy any meaningful educational process: it means the teacher cannot be creative, imaginative, pay attention to individual students' needs, that a student can't pursue things [...] and the teacher's future depends on it as well as the students'...the people who are sitting in the offices, the bureaucrats designing this - they're not evil people, but they're working within a system of ideology and doctrines, which turns what they're doing into something extremely harmful [...] the assessment itself is completely artificial; it's not ranking teachers in accordance with their ability to help develop children who reach their potential, explore their creative interests and so on [...] you're getting some kind of a 'rank,' but it's a 'rank' that's mostly meaningless, and the very ranking itself is harmful. It's turning us into individuals who devote our lives to achieving a rank, not into doing things that are valuable and important.
It's highly destructive...in, say, elementary education, you're training kids this way [...] I can see it with my own children: when my own kids were in elementary school (at what's called a good school, a good-quality suburban school), by the time they were in third grade, they were dividing up their friends into 'dumb' and 'smart.' You had 'dumb' if you were lower-tracked, and 'smart' if you were upper-tracked [...] it's just extremely harmful and has nothing to do with education. Education is developing your own potential and creativity. Maybe you're not going to do well in school, and you'll do great in art; that's fine. It's another way to live a fulfilling and wonderful life, and one that's significant for other people as well as yourself. The whole idea is wrong in itself; it's creating something that's called 'economic man': the 'economic man' is somebody who rationally calculates how to improve his/her own status, and status means (basically) wealth. So you rationally calculate what kind of choices you should make to increase your wealth - don't pay attention to anything else - or maybe maximize the amount of goods you have.
What kind of a human being is that? All of these mechanisms like testing, assessing, evaluating, measuring...they force people to develop those characteristics. The ones who don't do it are considered, maybe, 'behavioral problems' or some other deviance [...] these ideas and concepts have consequences. And it's not just that they're ideas, there are huge industries devoted to trying to instill them...the public relations industry, advertising, marketing, and so on. It's a huge industry, and it's a propaganda industry. It's a propaganda industry designed to create a certain type of human being: the one who can maximize consumption and can disregard his actions on others.
”
”
Noam Chomsky
“
I want to be happy and not feel guilty about it. I want to be curious without being called indulgent. I want to be accepted regardless of what I look like, what I do for a living, my marital status, whether I have kids, or whether you think I'm nice enough, hospitable enough, or humble enough to measure up to your impossible standards. I want purpose. I want contentment. I want to be loved and give love unreservedly in return. I want to be seen. I want to matter. I want freedom. I want to be…I want to just be.
”
”
Liza Palmer (Girl Before a Mirror)
“
The neo-cons, or some of them, decided that they would back Clinton when he belatedly decided for Bosnia and Kosovo against Milosevic, and this even though they loathed Clinton, because the battle against religious and ethnic dictatorship in the Balkans took precedence. This, by the way, was partly a battle to save Muslims from Catholic and Christian Orthodox killers. That impressed me. The neo-cons also took the view, quite early on, that coexistence with Saddam Hussein was impossible as well as undesirable. They were dead right about that. They had furthermore been thinking about the menace of jihadism when most people were half-asleep.
And then I have to say that I was rather struck by the way that the Weekly Standard and its associated voices took the decision to get rid of Trent Lott earlier this year, thus removing an embarrassment as well as a disgrace from the political scene. And their arguments were on points of principle, not 'perception.' I liked their ruthlessness here, and their seriousness, at a time when much of the liberal Left is not even seriously wrong, but frivolously wrong, and babbles without any sense of responsibility. (I mean, have you read their sub-Brechtian stuff on Halliburton....?) And revolution from above, in some states and cases, is—as I wrote in my book A Long Short War—often preferable to the status quo, or to no revolution at all.
”
”
Christopher Hitchens (Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left)
“
The existence of any method, standard, custom or practice is no reason for its continuance when a better is offered.
”
”
Theodore Roosevelt
“
Significance unfortunately is a useful means toward a personal ends in the advance of science - status and widely distributed publications, a big laboratory, a staff of research assistants, a reduction in teaching load, a better salary, the finer wines of Bordeaux. Precision, knowledge, and control. In a narrow and cynical sense statistical significance is the way to achieve these. Design experiment. Then calculate statistical significance. Publish articles showing "significant" results. Enjoy promotion.
But it is not science, and it will not last.
”
”
Stephen T. Ziliak (The Cult of Statistical Significance: How the Standard Error Costs Us Jobs, Justice, and Lives (Economics, Cognition, And Society))
“
Social media has put an incredible pressure on the Facebook generation. We’ve made our lives so public to one another, and as a result we feel pressure to live up to a certain ideal version of ourselves. On social media, everyone is happy, and popular, and successful—or, at least, we think we need to look like we are. No matter how well off we are, how thin or pretty, we have our issues and insecurities. But none of that shows up online. We don’t like to reveal our weaknesses on social media. We don’t want to appear unhappy, or be a drag. Instead, we all post rose-colored versions of ourselves. We pretend we have more money than we do. We pretend we are popular. We pretend our lives are great. Your status update says I went to a totally awesome party last night! It won’t mention that you drank too much and puked and humiliated yourself in front of a girl you like. It says My sorority sisters are the best! It doesn’t say I feel lonely and don’t think they accept me. I’m not saying everyone should post about having a bad time. But pretending everything is perfect when it’s not doesn’t help anyone. The danger of these kinds of little white lies is that, in projecting the happiness and accomplishments we long for, we’re setting impossible standards for ourselves and others to live up to.
”
”
Nev Schulman (In Real Life: Love, Lies & Identity in the Digital Age)
“
But we could no longer bear the discrimination of a government dominated by the majority Sinhalese, the Tamil politicians declared: no more second-class status for our language, double standards and quotas for Tamil students, government-run Sinhala colonization schemes in traditionally Tamil areas, no more government-fomented anti-Tamil violence. The 1958 riots had taken place ten
”
”
V.V. Ganeshananthan (Brotherless Night)
“
In 1978 Susan Sontag coined the term ‘the double standard of aging’ to describe the way in which ageist sexism/sexist ageism impacts the status of women, particularly with regard to physical appearance.
”
”
Victoria Dutchman-Smith (Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women)
“
We would consider the nearly twelve-year-old a child. By the standards of Elizabeth’s day, twelve marked the beginning of the end of childhood for most females, but particularly for female slaves whose status as property made the designation “child” short-lived.
”
”
Annette Gordon-Reed (The Hemingses of Monticello)
“
More desirable women have more bargaining power on the mating market, and they can elevate their standards. They want higher levels of resources, education, and intelligence; higher social status; good parenting skills; and raft of other traits. American men with resources are more likely to marry physically attractive women. Most men can obtain a much more desirable mate if they are willing to commit to a long-term relationship because women typically desire lasting commitment, and highly desirable women are in the best position to get what they want.
”
”
David M. Buss (The Evolution Of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating)
“
This example highlights two aspects of choice that the standard model of indifference curves does not predict. First, tastes are not fixed; they vary with the reference point. Second, the disadvantages of a change loom larger than its advantages, inducing a bias that favors the status quo.
”
”
Daniel Kahneman (Thinking, Fast and Slow)
“
The foundation of morality on the human sentiments of what is acceptable behavior versus repulsive behavior has always made morals susceptible to change. Much of what was repulsive 100 years ago is normal today, and - although it may be a slippery slope - what is repulsive today is possible to be normal 100 years into tomorrow; the human standard has always been but to push the envelope. In this way, all generations are linked, and one can only hope that every extremist, self-proclaimed progressive is considering this ultimate 'Utopia' to which his kindness will lead at the end of the chain.
”
”
Criss Jami (Healology)
“
White children “who learn the prejudices of our society,” wrote the social scientists, were “being taught to gain personal status in an unrealistic and non-adaptive way.” They were “not required to evaluate themselves in terms of the more basic standards of actual personal ability and achievement.” What’s more, they “often develop patterns of guilt feelings, rationalizations and other mechanisms which they must use in an attempt to protect themselves from recognizing the essential injustice of their unrealistic fears and hatreds of minority groups.” The best research of the day concluded that “confusion, conflict, moral cynicism, and disrespect for authority may arise in [white] children as a consequence of being taught the moral, religious and democratic principles of justice and fair play by the same persons and institutions who seem to be acting in a prejudiced and discriminatory manner.
”
”
Heather McGhee (The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together (One World Essentials))
“
When some bigoted white people heard the message of Donald Trump and others in the GOP that their concerns mattered, that the fear generated by their own biases had a target in Mexican and Muslim immigrants, many embraced the GOP to their own detriment. We talk at length about the 53 percent of white women who supported the Republican candidate for president, but we tend to skim past the reality that many white voters had been overtly or passively supporting the same problematic candidates and policies for decades. Researchers point to anger and disappointment among some whites as a result of crises like rising death rates from suicide, drugs, and alcohol; the decline in available jobs for those who lack a college degree; and the ongoing myth that white people are unfairly treated by policies designed to level the playing field for other groups—policies like affirmative action. Other studies have pointed to the appeal of authoritarianism, or plain old racism and sexism. Political scientist Diana Mutz said in an interview in Pacific Standard magazine that some voters who switched parties to vote for Trump were motivated by the possibility of a fall in social status: “In short, they feared that they were in the process of losing their previously privileged positions.
”
”
Mikki Kendall (Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women White Feminists Forgot)
“
No one likes to feel used. When the perceived focus becomes the content over the person, people feel used. When teachers are valued only for the test scores of their students, they feel used. When administrators are "successful" only when they achieve "highly effective school" status, they feel used. Eventually, "used" people lose joy in learning and teaching. Curriculum does not teach; teachers do. Standards don't encourage; administrators do. Peaceable schools value personnel and students for who they are as worthy human beings. ... If your mission statement says you care, then specific practices of care should be habits within your school.
”
”
Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz (The Little Book of Restorative Discipline for Schools: Teaching Responsibility; Creating Caring Climates (The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series))
“
Privilege increases the odds of having things your own way, of being able to set the agenda in a social situation and determine the rules and standards and how they're applied. Privilege grants the cultural authority to make judgments about others and to have those judgments stick. It allows people to define reality and to have prevailing definitions of reality fit their experience. Privilege means being able to decide who gets taken seriously, who receives attention, who is accountable to whom and for what. And it grants a presumption of superiority and social permission to act on that presumption without having to worry about being challenged.
”
”
Allan G. Johnson (Privilege, Power, and Difference)
“
Girls Wanted to Enter Flight Stewardess Training Group
Here is the Career Opportunity for Which You Have Been Waiting!
If you are interested and feel you can meet all of the qualifications below, please write in detail and attach a full length photograph.
HEIGHT: Between 5'2" and 5'6"
WEIGHT: 135 pounds maximum
ATTRACTIVE: "Just below Hollywood" standards
Plenty of Personality and Poise
GENDER: Female
MARITAL STATUS: Single, Not Divorced,
Separated, or Widowed
RACE: White
AGE: 21-26 years old
EDUCATION: Registered Nurse or Two Years of College
VISION: 20/20 without glasses
Must be a US citizen and available for training within 6 months.
If you feel you qualify--
”
”
Judy Blume (In the Unlikely Event)
“
Feeling right” is about living the life that’s right for you—in occupation, location, marital status, and so on. It’s also about virtue: doing your duty, living up to the expectations you set for yourself. For some people, “feeling right” can also include less elevated considerations: achieving a certain job status or material standard of living.
”
”
Gretchen Rubin (The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun)
“
We’re apes. We think we’re all sophisticated with our toaster ovens and designer footwear, but we’re just a bunch of finely ornamented apes. And because we are apes, we instinctually measure ourselves against others and vie for status. The question is not whether we evaluate ourselves against others; rather, the question is by what standard do we measure ourselves?
”
”
Mark Manson (The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life)
“
The collective impact of these failures has been a complete erosion of ethical standards, ultimately leading to a novel system we still call Capitalism, but which is tantamount to economic slavery. In this system—our system—the slaves are unaware both of their status and of their masters, who exist in a world apart where the intangible shackles are carefully hidden amongst reams of unreachable legalese.
”
”
John Doe
“
If you’re going to build a strong culture, it’s paramount to make diversity one of your core values. This is what separates Bridgewater’s strong culture from a cult: The commitment is to promoting dissent. In hiring, instead of using similarity to gauge cultural fit, Bridgewater assesses cultural contribution.* Dalio wants people who will think independently and enrich the culture. By holding them accountable for dissenting, Dalio has fundamentally altered the way people make decisions. In a cult, core values are dogma. At Bridgewater, employees are expected to challenge the principles themselves. During training, when employees learn the principles, they’re constantly asked: Do you agree? “We have these standards that are stress tested over time, and you have to either operate by them or disagree with them and fight for better ones,” explains Zack Wieder, who works with Dalio on codifying the principles. Rather than deferring to the people with the greatest seniority or status, as was the case at Polaroid, decisions at Bridgewater are based on quality. The goal is to create an idea meritocracy, where the best ideas win. To get the best ideas on the table in the first place, you need radical transparency.
”
”
Adam M. Grant (Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World)
“
Do we see a college education, for example, as a ticket to privilege or as a training for service to the needy? What do we teach our teenagers in this matter? Do we urge them to enter college because it will better equip them to serve? Or do we try to bribe them with promises of future status and salary increases? No wonder they graduate more deeply concerned about their standard of living than about suffering humanity. As
”
”
Richard J. Foster (Freedom of Simplicity: Revised Edition: Finding Harmony in a Complex World)
“
In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels, money was everywhere, not only as an abstract force but above all as a palpable, concrete magnitude. Writers frequently described the income and wealth of their characters in francs or pounds, not to overwhelm us with numbers but because these quantities established a character’s social status in the mind of the reader. Everyone knew what standard of living these numbers represented.
”
”
Thomas Piketty (Capital in the Twenty-First Century)
“
You might wonder why a waitress, bricklayer, or doctor—individuals neither born into a warrior heritage nor involved in the profession of arms—would want to think of themselves as warriors in today’s society. One could have asked Funakoshi the same question. If you recall, the warrior caste in Okinawa and Japan were abolished shortly after his birth. He no longer had any legal status as a warrior. In fact, he was a school teacher by occupation. But that didn’t change his identity. He was still a member of an elite part of society. Warriors are special people. Since they understand the concept of honor, they set their ethical standards above most of the rest of society. Since they pattern their lives around the pursuit of excellence, they tend to achieve in their chosen vocations. Why would people in today’s society want to think of themselves as warriors? Because warriorship is an extraordinary and powerful way to live!
”
”
Forrest E. Morgan (Living the Martial Way: A Manual for the Way a Modern Warrior Should Think)
“
The master propagandist, like the advertising expert, avoids obvious emotional appeals and strives for a tone that is consistent with the prosaic quality of modern life—a dry, bland matter-of-factness. Nor does the propagandist circulate "intentionally biased" information. He knows that partial truths serve as more effective instruments of deception than lies. Thus he tries to impress the public with statistics of economic growth that neglect to give the base year from which growth is calculated, with accurate but meaningless facts about the standard of living—with raw and uninterpreted data, in other words, from which the audience is invited to draw the inescapable conclusion that things are getting better and the present régime therefore deserves the people's confidence, or on the other hand that things are getting worse so rapidly that the present régime should be given emergency powers to deal with the developing crisis.
”
”
Christopher Lasch (The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations)
“
These students inhabit a world in which status, income, and self-esteem depend more than ever on the ability to meet the demands of the Culture of Personality. The pressure to entertain, to sell ourselves, and never to be visibly anxious keeps ratcheting up. The number of Americans who considered themselves shy increased from 40 percent in the 1970s to 50 percent in the 1990s, probably because we measured ourselves against ever higher standards of fearless self-presentation.
”
”
Susan Cain (Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking)
“
Readers acquainted with the recent literature on human sexuality will be familiar with what we call the standard narrative of human sexual evolution, hereafter shortened to the standard narrative. It goes something like this:
1. Boy Meets girl,
2. Boy and girl assess one and others mate value, from perspectives based upon their differing reproductive agendas/capacities. He looks for signs of youth, fertility, health, absence of previous sexual experience and likelihood of future sexual fidelity. In other words, his assessment is skewed toward finding a fertile, healthy young mate with many childbearing years ahead and no current children to drain his resources.
She looks for signs of wealth (or at least prospects of future wealth), social status, physical health and likelihood that he will stick around to protect and provide for their children. Her guy must be willing and able to provide materially for her (especially during pregnancy and breastfeeding) and their children, known as "male parental investment".
3. Boy gets girl. Assuming they meet one and others criteria, they mate, forming a long term pair bond, "the fundamental condition of the human species" as famed author Desmond Morris put it. Once the pair bond is formed, she will be sensitive to indications that he is considering leaving, vigilant towards signs of infidelity involving intimacy with other women that would threaten her access to his resources and protection while keeping an eye out (around ovulation especially) for a quick fling with a man genetically superior to her husband.
He will be sensitive to signs of her sexual infidelities which would reduce his all important paternity certainty while taking advantage of short term sexual opportunities with other women as his sperm are easily produced and plentiful.
Researchers claim to have confirmed these basic patterns in studies conducted around the world over several decades. Their results seem to support the standard narrative of human sexual evolution, which appears to make a lot of sense, but they don't, and it doesn't.
”
”
Cacilda Jethá (Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality)
“
It’s clear that equality doesn’t quite cut it. Asking for a sliver of disproportional power is too polite a request. I don’t want to be included. Instead, I want to question who created the standard in the first place. After a lifetime of embodying difference, I have no desire to be equal. I want to deconstruct the structural power of a system that marked me out as different. I don’t wish to be assimilated into the status quo. I want to be liberated from all negative assumptions that my characteristics bring. The onus is not on me to change. Instead, it’s the world around me.
”
”
Reni Eddo-Lodge (Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race)
“
If one had to identify the legal system most antithetical to the American one, sharia law fits that bill. Many Westerners might be repulsed by sharia's extraordinarily harsh corporeal punishments for theft (cutting off the hand) and adultery (stoning). And you might think that the lower status of women when it comes to the validity of their legal testimony or their bequeathing rights (half that of men) might be grotesque to Western sensibilities. Surely most Westerners would find it astoundingly cruel and unjust, if not insane, that under sharia law a female rape victim needs the eyewitness testimony of four men to be believed. But sharia law is even more fundamentally opposed to Western legal standards because Islam rejects the Western idea of impartial justice applied fairly regardless of an individual's identity. Under sharia, punishments are applied as a function of the identity of the victim and perpetrator. A Jewish man who kills a Muslin man is judged very differently than a Muslim man who kills a Jewish man. Sharia law specifically states that no retaliation can take place when a Muslim kills a non-Muslim and that indemnities depend on the identities of the parties in question.
”
”
Gad Saad (Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense)
“
Omnipotence is a status that is fragile at best. By its very own standard meaning of unlimited power, unlimited authority, unlimited presence, and unlimited meaning; it still follows within its own realm of self-defeat, being overwhelmingly defeated, unlimited defeat, being crippled, being negated, being surpassed, being unable to do, and etc. And of course, one can twist metalogic, add in paradoxes, add in metapotence, but it's usually as a means to maintain the belief of something so high, that it cannot be reached. Unfortunately, it's been reached, and it has been defeated by finite conditions.
”
”
Lionel Suggs
“
Even when money and your finances are an acute priority, it literally pays to focus on the value you're bringing to others. When researchers followed a longitudinal sample of 4660 people over nine years, they found that having a sense of purpose in the first year of the study (based on a standard assessment of purpose in life) was associated with higher levels of both income and net worth over time. What's more, even when they controlled for other variables like life satisfaction and socioeconomic status, people with a sense of purpose at at work also had significantly higher incomes at the end of those nine years.
”
”
Tom Rath (Life's Great Question: Discover How You Contribute To The World)
“
And because of this, in a rare intimate interview in 2003, a tearful Mustaine admitted that he couldn’t help but still consider himself a failure. Despite all that he had accomplished, in his mind he would always be the guy who got kicked out of Metallica. We’re apes. We think we’re all sophisticated with our toaster ovens and designer footwear, but we’re just a bunch of finely ornamented apes. And because we are apes, we instinctually measure ourselves against others and vie for status. The question is not whether we evaluate ourselves against others; rather, the question is by what standard do we measure ourselves?
”
”
Mark Manson (The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life)
“
Becoming accomplished at what you do is no easy task, nor is the goal reached in a day. The process is time consuming, requires dedication, innovative ideas, meticulous strategizing and can be quite tedious at times. For many, the ultimate objective is to challenge the status quo, change the game, chart unexplored territory, and set a new standard of excellence. Sometimes hitting those marks is its own reward. Seeing others apply your blueprint to construct their own path to success is even more fulfilling. Leaders are motivated by believers! Bask in the imitation of others. After all, it is the highest form of flattery!
”
”
Carlos Wallace
“
PHYSIOLOGY 1. Sex 2. Age 3. Height and weight 4. Color of hair, eyes, skin 5. Posture 6. Appearance: good-looking, over- or underweight, clean, neat, pleasant, untidy. Shape of head, face, limbs. 7. Defects: deformities, abnormalities, birthmarks. Diseases. 8. Heredity SOCIOLOGY 1. Class: lower, middle, upper. 2. Occupation: type of work, hours of work, income, condition of work, union or nonunion, attitude toward organization, suitability for work. 3. Education: amount, kind of schools, marks, favorite subjects, poorest subjects, aptitudes. 4. Home life: parents living, earning power, orphan, parents separated or divorced, parents’ habits, parents’ mental development, parents’ vices, neglect. Character’s marital status. 5. Religion 6. Race, nationality 7. Place in community: leader among friends, clubs, sports. 8. Political affiliations 9. Amusements, hobbies: books, newspapers, magazines he reads. PSYCHOLOGY 1. Sex life, moral standards 2. Personal premise, ambition 3. Frustrations, chief disappointments 4. Temperament: choleric, easygoing, pessimistic, optimistic. 5. Attitude toward life: resigned, militant, defeatist. 6. Complexes: obsessions, inhibitions, superstitions, phobias. 7. Extrovert, introvert, ambivert 8. Abilities: languages, talents. 9. Qualities: imagination, judgment, taste, poise. 10. I.Q.
”
”
Lajos Egri (The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives)
“
Only date people who respect your standards and make you a better person when you’re with them. Consider the message of the movie A Walk to Remember. Landon Carter is the reckless leader who is skating through high school on his good looks and bravado. He and his popular friends at Beaufort High publicly ridicule everyone who doesn’t fit in, including the unfashionable Jamie Sullivan, who wears the same sweater day after day and gives free tutoring lessons to struggling students. By accident, events thrust Landon into Jamie’s world and he can’t help but notice that Jamie’s different. She doesn’t care about conforming and fitting in with the popular kids. Landon’s amazed at how sure of herself she seems and asks, “Don’t you care what people think about you?” As he spends more time with her, he realizes she has more freedom than he does because she isn’t controlled by the opinions of others, as he is. Soon, despite their intentions not to, they have fallen in love and Landon has to choose between his status at Beaufort...and Jamie. “This girl’s changed you,” his best friend yells, “and you don’t even know it.” Landon admits, “She has faith in me. She wants me to be better.” He chooses her. After high school graduation, Jamie reveals to Landon that she’s dying of leukemia. During her final months, Landon does all he can to make her dreams come true, including marrying her in the same church her mother and father were married in. They spend a wonderful summer together, truly in love. Despite Jamie’s dream for a miracle, she dies. Heartbroken, but inspired by Jamie’s belief in him, Landon works hard to go to medical school. But he laments to her father that he couldn’t fulfill her last desire, to see a miracle. Jamie’s father assures him that Jamie did see a miracle before she died, for someone’s heart had truly changed. And it was his. Now that’s a movie to remember! Never apologize for having high standards and don’t ever lower your standards to please someone else.
”
”
Sean Covey (The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make: A Guide for Teens)
“
Palestinians make up 20 percent of Israel’s population, and despite the fact that they live in their own homeland, Israel relegates them to second- or even third-class status. One of my classmates had discovered that more than fifty laws discriminated against the Palestinian citizens of Israel based solely on their ethnicity. Another discussed how government resources were disproportionately directed to Jews, leaving the Palestinians to suffer the worst living standards in Israeli society, with Palestinian children’s schools receiving only a fraction of the government spending given to Jewish schools. They also talked about how difficult it was for Palestinians to obtain land for a home, business, or agriculture because over 90 percent of the land in Israel was owned either by the state or by quasigovernmental agencies (like the Jewish National Fund) that discriminated against Palestinians. And they lamented the fact that if they or any of their relatives chose to marry a Palestinian from the West Bank or Gaza, they couldn’t pass on their Israeli citizenship to their spouse, thanks to the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law. Their spouse wouldn’t even be able to gain residency status to live with them inside Israel. This meant they’d be forced to leave Israel and separate from their family in order to live with their spouse.
”
”
Ahed Tamimi (They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom)
“
Perhaps nothing separates modern man from the Greeks as much as his aversion to thinking about the human in terms of perfection. The artistic embodiment of the Homeric deities served as an optimal status criterion of the form and content of human perfection. Extremely elevated standards were maintained in physiognomy, creativity, and discernment, always with a view to the interconnectedness of warfare, wisdom, and beauty. Grandeur, prowess, dignity, and nobility seem available for all who act heroically and with nobility... As Otto deftly explains, only a spiritually poor age would think to reduce the human capacity for heroic action to a search for bourgeois comfort, safety, and happiness.
”
”
Walter F. Otto (The Homeric Gods: The Spiritual Significance of Greek Religion)
“
But as a Puerto Rican woman, she belonged to not one but two minority groups. New research suggests that her double minority status may have amplified the costs and the benefits of speaking up. Management researcher Ashleigh Rosette, who is African American, noticed that she was treated differently when she led assertively than were both white women and black men. Working with colleagues, she found that double minority group members faced double jeopardy. When black women failed, they were evaluated much more harshly than black men and white leaders of both sexes. They didn’t fit the stereotype of leaders as black or as female, and they shouldered an unfair share of the blame for mistakes. For double minorities, Rosette’s team pointed out, failure is not an option. Interestingly, though, Rosette and her colleagues found that when black women acted dominantly, they didn’t face the same penalties as white women and black men. As double minorities, black women defy categories. Because people don’t know which stereotypes to apply to them, they have greater flexibility to act “black” or “female” without violating stereotypes. But this only holds true when there’s clear evidence of their competence. For minority-group members, it’s particularly important to earn status before exercising power. By quietly advancing the agenda of putting intelligence online as part of her job, Carmen Medina was able to build up successes without attracting too much attention. “I was able to fly under the radar,” she says. “Nobody really noticed what I was doing, and I was making headway by iterating to make us more of a publish-when-ready organization. It was almost like a backyard experiment. I pretty much proceeded unfettered.” Once Medina had accumulated enough wins, she started speaking up again—and this time, people were ready to listen. Rosette has discovered that when women climb to the top and it’s clear that they’re in the driver’s seat, people recognize that since they’ve overcome prejudice and double standards, they must be unusually motivated and talented. But what happens when voice falls on deaf ears?
”
”
Adam M. Grant (Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World)
“
Thought experiments aren’t oracles. They can’t tell you what’s true or fair or what decision you should make. If you notice that you would be more forgiving of adultery in a Democrat than a Republican, that reveals you have a double standard, but it doesn’t tell you what your standard “should” be. If you notice that you’re nervous about deviating from the status quo, that doesn’t mean you can’t decide to play it safe this time anyway. What thought experiments do is simply reveal that your reasoning changes as your motivations change. That the principles you’re inclined to invoke or the objections that spring to your mind depend on your motives: the motive to defend your image or your in-group’s status; the motive to advocate for a self-serving policy; fear of change or rejection.
”
”
Julia Galef (The Scout Mindset: The Perils of Defensive Thinking and How to Be Right More Often)
“
She was approaching forty. She was overweight. She made no effort to enhance her personal appearance. Given cultural standards, she'd made herself invisible. Ours is a society in which slimness and beauty are equated with status, where youth and charm are rewarded and remembered with admiration. Let a woman be drab or slightly overweight and the collective eye slides right by, forgetting afterward... The ultimate disguise because, aside from the physical, she'd adopted the persona of the servant class. Who knows what conversations she'd been privy to straightening the bed pillows, changing the sheets. She'd run the household, served canapés, and freshened the drinks while the lords and ladies of the house had talked on and on, oblivious to her presence because she wasn't one of them.
”
”
Sue Grafton (M is for Malice (Kinsey Millhone, #13))
“
Unfortunately, the band he was kicked out of was Metallica, which has sold over 180 million albums worldwide. Metallica is considered by many to be one of the greatest rock bands of all time.
And because of this, in a rare intimate interview in 2003, a tearful Mustaine admitted that he couldn’t help but still consider himself a failure. Despite all that he had accomplished, in his mind he would always be the guy who got kicked out of Metallica.
We’re apes. We think we’re all sophisticated with our toaster ovens and designer footwear, but we’re just a bunch of finely ornamented apes. And because we are apes, we instinctually measure ourselves against others and vie for status. The question is not whether we evaluate ourselves against others; rather, the question is by what standard do we measure ourselves?
”
”
Mark Manson (The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life)
“
INTELLIGENCE Oh, what the hell? Let’s begin with something inflammatory. Starting with Theodor Adorno in the 1950s, people have suggested that lower intelligence predicts adherence to conservative ideology.33 Some but not all studies since then have supported this conclusion. More consistent has been a link between lower intelligence and a subtype of conservatism, namely right-wing authoritarianism (RWA, a fondness for hierarchy). One particularly thorough demonstration of this involved more than fifteen thousand subjects in the UK and United States; importantly, the links among low IQ, RWA, and intergroup prejudice were there after controlling for education and socioeconomic status. The standard, convincing explanation for the link is that RWA provides simple answers, ideal for people with poor abstract reasoning skills. INTELLECTUAL
”
”
Robert M. Sapolsky (Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst)
“
Which kind of values figure less prominently in the picture of the future held out to us by the popular writers and speakers than they did in the dreams and hopes of our fathers? It is certainly not material comfort, certainly not a rise in our standard of living or the assurance of a certain status in society which ranks lower. Is there a popular writer or speaker who dares to suggest to the masses that they might have to make sacrifices of their material prospects for the enhancement of an ideal end? Is it not, in fact, entirely the other way round? Are not the things which we are more and more frequently taught to regard as "nineteenth-century illusions" all moral values-liberty and independence, truth and intellectual honesty, peace and democracy, and the respect for the individual qua man instead of merely as the member of an organised group?
”
”
Friedrich A. Hayek (The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents: The Definitive Edition (The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek))
“
Before the twentieth century, the phrase pistis Iesou Christou was regularly translated into English as “the faith or loyalty of Jesus.” It did not refer to the faith of ordinary mortals, but only to the “trust” that Jesus had in God when he accepted his death sentence and his “confidence” that God would turn it to good; and God had indeed rewarded this act of faith by inaugurating a new relationship with humanity that saved men and women from the iniquity and injustice of the old order, ensuring that all people, whatever their social status or ethnicity, could become God’s children. But ever since the publication of the American Standard Version of the Bible in 1901, this phrase has regularly been translated as “faith in Jesus Christ,” equated with an individual Christian’s belief in Jesus’s divinity and redemptive act.11 Paul went on to argue that the Torah had not been revealed for
”
”
Karen Armstrong (St. Paul: The Apostle We Love to Hate (Icons))
“
Recent studies indicate that boys raised by women, including single women and lesbian couples, do not suffer in their adjustment; they are not appreciably less “masculine”; they do not show signs of psychological impairment. What many boys without fathers inarguably do face is a precipitous drop in their socioeconomic status. When families dissolve, the average standard of living for mothers and children can fall as much as 60 percent, while that of the man usually rises. When we focus on the highly speculative psychological effects of fatherlessness we draw away from concrete political concerns, like the role of increased poverty. Again, there are as yet no data suggesting that boys without fathers to model masculinity are necessarily impaired. Those boys who do have fathers are happiest and most well adjusted with warm, loving fathers, fathers who score high in precisely “feminine” qualities.
”
”
Terrence Real (I Don't Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression)
“
He was almost at his door when Vik’s earsplitting shriek resounded down the corridor. Tom was glad for the excuse to sprint back toward him. “Vik?”
He reached Vik’s doorway as Vik was backing out of it. “Tom,” he breathed, “it’s an abomination.”
Confused, Tom stepped past him into the bunk. Then he gawked, too.
Instead of a standard trainee bunk of two small beds with drawers underneath them and totally bare walls, Vik’s bunk was virtually covered with images of their friend Wyatt Enslow. There were posters all over the wall with Wyatt’s solemn, oval face on them. She wore her customary scowl, her dark eyes tracking their every move through the bunk. There was a giant marble statue of a sad-looking Vik with a boot on top of its head. The Vik statue clutched two very, very tiny hands together in a gesture of supplication, its eyes trained upward on the unseen stomper, an inscription at its base, WHY, OH WHY, DID I CROSS WYATT ENSLOW?
Tom began to laugh.
“She didn’t do it to the bunk,” Vik insisted. “She must’ve done something to our processors.”
That much was obvious. If Wyatt was good at anything, it was pulling off tricks with the neural processors, which could pretty much be manipulated to show them anything. This was some sort of illusion she was making them see, and Tom heartily approved.
He stepped closer to the walls to admire some of the photos pinned there, freeze-frames of some of Vik’s more embarrassing moments at the Spire: that time Vik got a computer virus that convinced him he was a sheep, and he’d crawled around on his hands and knees chewing on plants in the arboretum. Another was Vik gaping in dismay as Wyatt won the war games.
“My hands do not look like that.” Vik jabbed a finger at the statue and its abnormally tiny hands. Wyatt had relentlessly mocked Vik for having small, delicate hands ever since Tom had informed her it was the proper way to counter one of Vik’s nicknames for her, “Man Hands.” Vik had mostly abandoned that nickname for “Evil Wench,” and Tom suspected it was due to the delicate-hands gibe.
Just then, Vik’s new roommate bustled into the bunk.
He was a tall, slim guy with curly black hair and a pointy look to his face. Tom had seen him around, and he called up his profile from memory:
NAME: Giuseppe Nichols
RANK: USIF, Grade IV Middle, Alexander Division
ORIGIN: New York, NY
ACHIEVEMENTS: Runner-up, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
IP: 2053:db7:lj71::291:ll3:6e8
SECURITY STATUS: Top Secret LANDLOCK-4
Giuseppe must’ve been able to see the bunk template, too, because he stuttered to a stop, staring up at the statue. “Did you really program a giant statue of yourself into your bunk template? That’s so narcissistic.”
Tom smothered his laughter. “Wow. He already has your number, man.”
Vik shot him a look of death as Tom backed out of the bunk.
”
”
S.J. Kincaid
“
Be fearless. Be tenacious. Go after what you want. Be a leader. Take control. Don't like how things are managed? Change the status quo. Be a disruptor. Galvanize, inspire, lead, get results. Stand resolute in the face of critics, detractors, naysayers. Their no is your yes. Make a difference. Change the narrative. Be a monumental success and a paradigm for forward, sometimes unorthodox, always creative thinking. This is what makes you a trailblazer, a standard bearer and history maker!! Oh, unless you are a powerful, black woman (or simply a WOMAN)with a voice that moves the needle. Then, you are a troublemaker, angry, stupid, menopausal, looking for attention? Women don't owe anyone an apology or explanation for being everything those part of an unevolved faction of society believes is only reserved for men. Work with us and be great, or get out of our way so we can continue what we started a lifetime ago. Proud of you Stacey Abrams and of all women who refuse to be relegated to a status of mediocrity. "Still, I rise!
”
”
Liz Faublas, Million Dollar Pen, Ink.
“
Fast-forward nearly a hundred years, and Prufrock’s protest is enshrined in high school syllabi, where it’s dutifully memorized, then quickly forgotten, by teens increasingly skilled at shaping their own online and offline personae. These students inhabit a world in which status, income, and self-esteem depend more than ever on the ability to meet the demands of the Culture of Personality. The pressure to entertain, to sell ourselves, and never to be visibly anxious keeps ratcheting up. The number of Americans who considered themselves shy increased from 40 percent in the 1970s to 50 percent in the 1990s, probably because we measured ourselves against ever higher standards of fearless self-presentation. “Social anxiety disorder”—which essentially means pathological shyness—is now thought to afflict nearly one in five of us. The most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), the psychiatrist’s bible of mental disorders, considers the fear of public speaking to be a pathology—not an annoyance, not a disadvantage, but a disease—if it interferes with the sufferer’s job performance. “It’s not enough,” one senior manager at Eastman Kodak told the author Daniel Goleman, “to be able to sit at your computer excited about a fantastic regression analysis if you’re squeamish about presenting those results to an executive group.” (Apparently it’s OK to be squeamish about doing a regression analysis if you’re excited about giving speeches.)
”
”
Susan Cain (Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking)
“
If you want to know the real reasons why certain politicians vote the way they do - follow the money. Arch Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg (a.k.a. JackOff Grease-Smug) stands to make billions via his investment firm - Somerset Capital Management - if the UK crashes unceremoniously out of the European Union without a secure future trade deal. Why ? Because proposed EU regulations will give enforcement agencies greater powers to curb the activities adopted by the sort of off-shore tax havens his company employs. Consequently the British electorate get swindled not once, but twice. Firstly because any sort of Brexit - whether hard, soft, or half-baked - will make every man, woman and child in the UK that much poorer than under the status quo currently enjoyed as a fully paid up member of the EU. Secondly because Rees-Mogg's company, if not brought to heel by appropriate EU wide legislation, will deprive Her Majesty's Treasury of millions in taxes, thus leading to more onerous taxes for the rest of us. It begs the question, who else in the obscure but influential European Research Group (ERG) that he chairs and the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) that he subscribes to, have similar vested interests in a no-deal Brexit ? It is high time for infinitely greater parliamentary and public scrutiny into the UK Register of Members' Financial Interests in order to put an end to these nefarious dealings and appalling double standards in public life which only serve to further corrode public trust in an already fragile democracy.
”
”
Alex Morritt (Lines & Lenses)
“
The village club manager went with his watchman to buy a bust of Comrade Stalin. The bust was big and heavy. They ought to have carried it in a hand barrow, but the manager's status did not allow him to. The old watchman couldn't work out how to do it ... Finally ... he took off his belt, made a noose for Comrade Stalin ... and in this way carried it over his shoulder through the village ... It was an open-and-shut case. Article 58, terrorism, ten years ... A shepherd in a fit of anger swore at a cow for not obeying. 'You collective-farm wh__!' And he got 58, and a term ... The children in a collective farm club got out of hand, had a fight and accidentally knocked some poster or other off the wall with their backs. The two eldest were sentenced under Article 58 ... There existed a very simple standardized collection of charges from which it was enough for the interrogator to pick one or two and stick them like postage stamps on an envelope: discrediting the Leader, a negative attitude toward the collective-farm structure, a negative attitude toward state loans, a negative attitude toward the Stalinist constitution, a negative attitude toward whatever was the immediate, particular measure being carried out by the Party, sympathy for Trotsky, friendliness toward the United States ... The pasting on of these stamps ... was monotonous work requiring no artistry ... And so that Security chiefs did not have to strain their brains, denunciations from informers came in very handy ... In the conflicts between people in freedom, denunciations were the superweapon .. And it always worked ... Europe, of course, won't believe it. Not until Europe itself serves time will she believe it ...
”
”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956 (Abridged))
“
it isn’t also true for a poor single Christian mom in Haiti, it isn’t true. If a sermon promises health and wealth to the faithful, it isn’t true, because that theology makes God an absolute monster who only blesses rich westerners and despises Christians in Africa, India, China, South America, Russia, rural Appalachia, inner-city America, and everywhere else a sincere believer remains poor. If it isn’t also true for a poor single Christian mom in Haiti, it isn’t true. If doctrine elevates a woman’s married-with-children status as her highest calling, it isn’t true, because that omits single believers (whose status Paul considered preferable), widows, the childless by choice or fate or loss, the divorced, and the celibate gay. If these folks are second-class citizens in the kingdom because they aren’t married with children, then God just excluded millions of people from gospel work, and I guess they should just eat rocks and die. If it isn’t also true for a poor single Christian mom in Haiti, it isn’t true. Theology is either true everywhere or it isn’t true anywhere. This helps untangle us from the American God Narrative and sets God free to be God instead of the My-God-in-a-Pocket I carried for so long. It lends restraint when declaring what God does or does not think, because sometimes my portrayal of God’s ways sounds suspiciously like the American Dream and I had better check myself. Because of the Haitian single mom. Maybe I should speak less for God. This brings me to the question at hand, another popular subject I am asked to pontificate on: What is my calling? (See also: How do I know my calling? When did you know your calling? How can I get your calling? Has God told you my calling? Can you get me out of my calling?) Ah yes, “The Calling.” This is certainly a favorite Christian concept over in these parts. Here is the trouble: Scripture barely confirms our elusive calling—the bull’s-eye, life purpose, individual mission every hardworking Protestant wants to discover. I found five scriptures, three of which referred to
”
”
Jen Hatmaker (For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards)
“
Gossip is perhaps the most familiar and elementary form of disguised popular aggression. Though its use is hardly confined to attacks by subordinates on their superiors, it represents a relatively safe social sanction. Gossip, almost by definition has no identifiable author, but scores of eager retailers who can claim they are just passing on the news. Should the gossip—and here I have in mind malicious gossip—be challenged, everyone can disavow responsibility for having originated it. The Malay term for gossip and rumor, khabar angin (news on the wind), captures the diffuse quality of responsibility that makes such aggression possible.
The character of gossip that distinguishes it from rumor is that gossip consists typically of stories that are designated to ruin the reputation of some identifiable person or persons. If the perpetrators remain anonymous, the victim is clearly specified. There is, arguably, something of a disguised democratic voice about gossip in the sense that it is propagated only to the extent that others find it in their interest to retell the story.13 If they don’t, it disappears. Above all, most gossip is a discourse about social rules that have been violated. A person’s reputation can be damaged by stories about his tightfistedness, his insulting words, his cheating, or his clothing only if the public among whom such tales circulate have shared standards of generosity, polite speech, honesty, and appropriate dress. Without an accepted normative standard from which degrees of deviation may be estimated, the notion of gossip would make no sense whatever. Gossip, in turn, reinforces these normative standards by invoking them and by teaching anyone who gossips precisely what kinds of conduct are likely to be mocked or despised.
13. The power to gossip is more democratically distributed than power, property, and income, and, certainly, than the freedom to speak openly. I do not mean to imply that gossip cannot and is not used by superiors to control subordinates, only that resources on this particular field of struggle are relatively more favorable to subordinates. Some people’s gossip is weightier than that of others, and, providing we do not confuse status with mere public deference, one would expect that those with high personal status would be the most effective gossipers.
”
”
James C. Scott (Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts)
“
Can I Change the Name on My Reservation if I Am a Member of a Frequent Flyer Program? Quick Solutions Available
If you are a member of Delta Airlines’ frequent flyer program, you may be wondering if your membership status affects your ability to change the name on your reservation. The short answer is yes, being a frequent flyer may provide additional benefits or flexibility when making changes to your booking. However, name changes are generally governed by the same policies regardless of your frequent flyer status. For assistance, get in touch with Delta Airlines customer service at +1(844)634-0511.
Frequent flyer program members often receive priority service, which can make the process of changing a name on a reservation smoother. However, the rules for name corrections or replacements are similar for all passengers. If you need to change your name due to a typo, a legal name change, or another reason, you must contact customer service. While minor corrections like fixing a misspelling may be simple, a full name replacement or legal name change will require additional documentation, such as a marriage certificate or court order.
For frequent flyer members, the ability to make these changes may be expedited depending on your status level, and you may be able to avoid some of the administrative hurdles that others may face. However, whether or not you’re a frequent flyer, Delta Airlines will require proper documentation to validate the change, especially for major name changes. In many cases, your frequent flyer number will not affect the cost of the name change, as it is primarily governed by the ticket type and fare rules.
Frequent flyer status also may help you with quicker responses and more personalized customer service. If you have elite status, the airline may provide you with dedicated customer support lines or assistance, making it easier to resolve issues related to your reservation. To make sure you’re getting the best service, contact Delta Airlines at +1(844)634-0511 for detailed instructions and the most efficient way to proceed with your name change.
In summary, if you are a frequent flyer, your membership may offer some perks when it comes to customer service, but the actual name change process will follow the standard procedure. Get in touch with Delta Airlines customer service at +1(844)634-0511 to make sure your name change is processed efficiently.
”
”
Alexandre Dumas
“
The Extraordinary Persons Project In fact, Ekman had been so moved personally—and intrigued scientifically—by his experiments with Öser that he announced at the meeting he was planning on pursuing a systematic program of research studies with others as unusual as Öser. The single criterion for selecting apt subjects was that they be “extraordinary.” This announcement was, for modern psychology, an extraordinary moment in itself. Psychology has almost entirely dwelt on the problematic, the abnormal, and the ordinary in its focus. Very rarely have psychologists—particularly ones as eminent as Paul Ekman—shifted their scientific lens to focus on people who were in some sense (other than intellectually) far above normal. And yet Ekman now was proposing to study people who excel in a range of admirable human qualities. His announcement makes one wonder why psychology hasn't done this before. In fact, only in very recent years has psychology explicitly begun a program to study the positive in human nature. Sparked by Martin Seligman, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania long famous for his research on optimism, a budding movement has finally begun in what is being called “positive psychology”—the scientific study of well-being and positive human qualities. But even within positive psychology, Ekman's proposed research would stretch science's vision of human goodness by assaying the limits of human positivity Ever the scientist, Ekman became quite specific about what was meant by “extraordinary.” For one, he expects that such people exist in every culture and religious tradition, perhaps most often as contemplatives. But no matter what religion they practice, they share four qualities. The first is that they emanate a sense of goodness, a palpable quality of being that others notice and agree on. This goodness goes beyond some fuzzy, warm aura and reflects with integrity the true person. On this count Ekman proposed a test to weed out charlatans: In extraordinary people “there is a transparency between their personal and public life, unlike many charismatics, who have wonderful public lives and rather deplorable personal ones.” A second quality: selflessness. Such extraordinary people are inspiring in their lack of concern about status, fame, or ego. They are totally unconcerned with whether their position or importance is recognized. Such a lack of egoism, Ekman added, “from the psychological viewpoint, is remarkable.” Third is a compelling personal presence that others find nourishing. “People want to be around them because it feels good—though they can't explain why,” said Ekman. Indeed, the Dalai Lama himself offers an obvious example (though Ekman did not say so to him); the standard Tibetan title is not “Dalai Lama” but rather “Kundun,” which in Tibetan means “presence.” Finally, such extraordinary individuals have “amazing powers of attentiveness and concentration.
”
”
Daniel Goleman (Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama)
“
Throughout the history of the church, Christians have tended to elevate the importance of one over the other. For the first 1,500 years of the church, singleness was considered the preferred state and the best way to serve Christ. Singles sat at the front of the church. Marrieds were sent to the back.4 Things changed after the Reformation in 1517, when single people were sent to the back and marrieds moved to the front — at least among Protestants.5 Scripture, however, refers to both statuses as weighty, meaningful vocations. We’ll spend more time on each later in the chapter, but here is a brief overview. Marrieds. This refers to a man and woman who form a one-flesh union through a covenantal vow — to God, to one another, and to the larger community — to permanently, freely, faithfully, and fruitfully love one another. Adam and Eve provide the clearest biblical model for this. As a one-flesh couple, they were called by God to take initiative to “be fruitful . . . fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). Singles. Scripture teaches that human beings are created for intimacy and connection with God, themselves, and one another. Marriage is one framework in which we work this out; singleness is another. While singleness may be voluntarily chosen or involuntarily imposed, temporary or long-term, a sudden event or a gradual unfolding, Christian singleness can be understood within two distinct callings: • Vowed celibates. These are individuals who make lifelong vows to remain single and maintain lifelong sexual abstinence as a means of living out their commitment to Christ. They do this freely in response to a God-given gift of grace (Matthew 19:12). Today, we are perhaps most familiar with vowed celibates as nuns and priests in the Roman Catholic or Orthodox Church. These celibates vow to forgo earthly marriage in order to participate more fully in the heavenly reality that is eternal union with Christ.6 • Dedicated celibates. These are singles who have not necessarily made a lifelong vow to remain single, but who choose to remain sexually abstinent for as long as they are single. Their commitment to celibacy is an expression of their commitment to Christ. Many desire to marry or are open to the possibility. They may have not yet met the right person or are postponing marriage to pursue a career or additional education. They may be single because of divorce or the death of a spouse. The apostle Paul acknowledges such dedicated celibates in his first letter to the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 7). Understanding singleness and marriage as callings or vocations must inform our self-understanding and the outworking of our leadership. Our whole life as a leader is to bear witness to God’s love for the world. But we do so in different ways as marrieds or singles. Married couples bear witness to the depth of Christ’s love. Their vows focus and limit them to loving one person exclusively, permanently, and intimately. Singles — vowed or dedicated — bear witness to the breadth of Christ’s love. Because they are not limited by a vow to one person, they have more freedom and time to express the love of Christ to a broad range of people. Both marrieds and singles point to and reveal Christ’s love, but in different ways. Both need to learn from one another about these different aspects of Christ’s love. This may be a radically new concept for you, but stay with me. God intends this rich theological vision to inform our leadership in ways few of us may have considered. Before exploring the connections between leadership and marriage or singleness, it’s important to understand the way marriage and singleness are commonly understood in standard practice among leaders today.
”
”
Peter Scazzero (The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World)
“
student and perhaps a student’s first-year success in college or in a professional program—which says that the tests could be helpful for students after they are admitted, to assess who needs extra assistance the first year. And so, on October 12, 1977, a White male sat before the Supreme Court requesting slight changes in UC Davis’s admissions policies to open sixteen seats for him—and not a poor Black woman requesting standardized tests to be dropped as an admissions criterion to open eighty-four seats for her. It was yet another case of racists v. racists that antiracists had no chance of winning.3 With four justices solidly for the Regents, and four for Bakke, the former Virginia corporate lawyer whose firm had defended Virginia segregationists in Brown decided Regents v. Bakke. On June 28, 1978, Justice Lewis F. Powell sided with four justices in viewing UC Davis’s set-asides as “discrimination against members of the white ‘majority,’” allowing Bakke to be admitted. Powell also sided with the four other justices in allowing universities to “take race into account” in choosing students, so long as it was not “decisive” in the decision. Crucially, Powell framed affirmative action as “race-conscious” policies, while standardized test scores were not, despite common knowledge about the racial disparities in those scores.4 The leading proponents of “race-conscious” policies to maintain the status quo of racial disparities in the late 1950s had refashioned themselves as the leading opponents of “race-conscious” policies in the late 1970s to maintain the status quo of racial disparities. “Whatever it takes” to defend discriminators had always been the marching orders of the producers of racist ideas. Allan Bakke, his legal team, the organizations behind them, the justices who backed him, and his millions of American supporters were all in the mode of proving that the
”
”
Ibram X. Kendi (Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America)
“
For most Unschoolers, socialization is not just a box to check—it's a vital aspect of their educational journey. They believe in genuine human connections, fostering relationships that transcend age, wealth, power, and social status. Rather than confining their children to the narrow confines of same-age interactions, Unschooling parents encourage them to engage with individuals from all walks of life.
”
”
Kytka Hilmar-Jezek (The Smartest Kids: Don't Go to School)
“
Greatness is something bestowed on those who are the first, the best, or who last the longest. Heroes are born, not out of mere accomplishments, but out of a life lived. How tragic these days when our images of heroes are stained and shattered by headlines of drug abuse, arrests, and criminal charges. Where are the young men and women who are worthy role models for our kids? Where are those who make footsteps in which America's youth can follow? When will we realize that heroes aren't made in the signing of a multi-million dollar contract, or just piling up sports records. On the contrary, heroes are not built from without, but rather bred from within. Bestowing the title of "hero" is, to be sure, an individual issue. And perhaps we should reserve it for a more select few. Maybe it should be more difficult to earn the status than it is to merely accept it. We have lowered the standards for our heroes.
”
”
Jeff Kinley
“
I am treasured as God’s holy child because Jesus lives in me, and I live through him. I can say with Paul, “For to me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21); and, Christ is my life (Col. 3:4). I have this position and status, not because I have kept God’s standards, but because he who lives in me has kept them. While I still need to grow in holiness (progressive sanctification) in order to honor God and experience his blessings, heaven already credits to me Christ’s righteousness as the basis of God’s love for me.
”
”
Bryan Chapell (Holiness by Grace: Delighting in the Joy That Is Our Strength)
“
To lovers out there ….
Love is just feelings. You can feel anything for anyone regardless of how they look and who they are. It doesn’t care about your intelligence or IQ. That is why everyone qualifies to love and to be loved. Your standards has nothing to do with love. That is why most of your relationships don’t work. You want to use your position, beauty, money, power, life status, education, qualification to measure love. If you continue thinking and living like that. You will find partners, but you will never find love. You are busy fighting your feelings because the people you love don’t have your standards.
”
”
D.J. Kyos
“
We're apes. We think we're all sophisticated with our toaster ovens and designer footwear, but, we're just a bunch of finely ornamented apes. And because we are apes, we instinctually measure ourselves against others and vie for status. The question is not whether we evaluate ourselves against others, rather, the question is by what standard do we measure ourselves?
”
”
Mark Manson (The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life)
“
The modern sitcom, in particular, is almost wholly dependent for laughs and tone on the M*A*S*H0inspired savaging of some buffoonish spokesman for hypocritical, pre-hip values at the hands of bitingly witty insurgents. [. . .]
Its promulgation of cynicism about authority works to the general advantage of television on a number of levels. First, to the extent that TV can ridicule old-fashioned conventions right off the map, it can create an authority vacuum. And then guess what fills it. The real authority on a world we now view as constructed and not depicted becomes the medium that constructs our world-view. Second, to the extent that TV can refer exclusively to itself and debunk conventional standards as hollow, it is invulnerable to critics' changes that what's on is shallow or crass or bad, since and such judgments appeal to conventional, extra-televisual standards about depth, taste, quality. Too, the ironic tone of TV's self-reference means that no one can accuse TV of trying to put anything over on anybody. As essayist Lewis Hyde points out, self-mocking irony is always 'Sincerity, with a motive.' [. . .]
If television can invite Joe Briefcase into itself via in-gags and irony, it can ease that painful tension between Joe's need to transcend the crowd and his inescapable status as Audience-member. For to the extent that TV can flatter Joe about 'seeing through' the pretentiousness and hypocrisy of outdated values, it can induce in him precisely the feeling of canny superiority it's taught him to crave, and can keep him dependent on the cynical TV-watching that alone affords this feeling. [. . .]
Television can reinforce its on queer ontology of appearance: the most frightening prospect, for the well-conditioned viewer, becomes leaving oneself open to others' ridicule by betraying passé expressions of value, emotion, or vulnerability.
”
”
David Foster Wallace (A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again Signed)
“
Who is God’s Brother? Laton asked the house’s sub-sentient bitek processor network. Satan. The Christian devil. Is this a term in wide use? The term is common among Earth’s waster population. Most arcologies have sects built up around the worship of this deity. Their priest/acolyte hierarchy is a simple variant on that of the more standard officer/soldier criminal organization. Those at the top control those at the bottom through a quasi-religious doctrine, and status is enforced by initiation rituals. Their theology states that after Armageddon has been fought, and the universe abandoned to lost souls, Satan will return bringing light. The sects are unusual only in the degree of violence involved to maintain discipline among the ranks. Because of the level of devotion involved, the authorities have been generally unsuccessful in eradicating the sects. That explains Quinn,
”
”
Peter F. Hamilton (The Reality Dysfunction (Night's Dawn, #1))
“
At regular intervals in the past we have witnessed debates about the use of mathematics in economics. The critics of mathematics have focused on two main arguments. First, they have pointed out that mathematical models must by necessity build on so many conceptual simplifications that they are unable to capture the complexity of human relationships and the structure of social and economic life. Second, they have maintained that the increasing standard of theoretical formalization has led to unfortunate consequences for economists’ choice of topics for their research. Those who strive to achieve status and prestige among their colleagues will have an incentive to choose research problems that are easy to formalize rather than being related to important problems in the real world.
”
”
Agnar Sandmo (Economics Evolving: A History of Economic Thought)
“
Over the next few pages, we’ll explore five different types of thought experiments: the double standard test, the outsider test, the conformity test, the selective skeptic test, and the status quo bias test.
”
”
Julia Galef (The Scout Mindset: The Perils of Defensive Thinking and How to Be Right More Often)
“
At a Gates Foundation conference, former US president Barack Obama declared, “If you had to choose one moment in history in which to be born, and you didn’t know in advance whether you were going to be male or female, which country you were going to be from, what your status was, you’d choose right now.” He observes that the world has never been “healthier, or wealthier, or better educated, or in many ways more tolerant, or less violent, than it is today.” As a species, we’re moving far beyond the survival mentality of Caveman Brain. We’re leaving behind the standards of behavior that defined “normal” in the last century. A critical mass of people is using the human superpower—unique in evolutionary history—to reshape the tissue of their own brains. Bliss Brain is a wonderful-feeling state, but when practiced consistently, it leads to trait change, as neural pathways are repatterned in much healthier ways. This isn’t simply helping us feel better as individuals. It’s contributing to Jump Time in collective planetary evolution. Just as the Renaissance of the 1300s changed art, law, education, politics, religion, agriculture, science, and every other facet of human existence, the compassion produced by Bliss Brain transforms the material reality in which we live. This is the most exciting time in all of history to be alive. As we as a species jump to the next level of flourishing, we are unlocking creative potential the world has never known before. From changing our minds to changing our brains to changing our societies to solving global problems, we’re ushering in a completely different future for the planet.
”
”
Dawson Church (Bliss Brain: The Neuroscience of Remodeling Your Brain for Resilience, Creativity, and Joy)
“
For modern western economies, a rapid expansion of consumer options is the normal experience. What used to be remarkable or a sign of middle-class status is very rapidly trivialized. Standards are never settled. Everything is always in flux, a condition that philosopher Zygmunt Bauman calls “liquid modernity.”32 Rather than a solid sense of what the good life looks like, we are left with ever-shifting values as our choices multiply. The basic principle that Durkheim discovered was that at a certain point, increasing choice actually decreases satisfaction, sometimes precipitously: “Unlimited desires are insatiable by definition and insatiability is rightly considered a sign of morbidity. Being unlimited, they constantly and infinitely surpass the means at their command; they cannot be quenched. Inextinguishable thirst is constantly renewed torture.
”
”
Alan Noble (You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World)
“
When capitalism thrives, we are assured, we thrive. The merging of the self with the capitalist collective has robbed us of our agency, creativity, capacity for self-reflection, and moral autonomy. We define our worth not by our independence or our character but by the material standards set by capitalism—personal wealth, brands, status, and career advancement. We are molded into a compliant and repressed collective. This mass conformity is characteristic of totalitarian and authoritarian states. It is the Disneyfication of America, the land of eternally happy thoughts and positive attitudes. And when magical thinking does not work, we are told, and often accept, that we are the problem. We must adjust. We must have more faith. We must be positive. We must envision what we want. We must try harder. The system is never to blame. We failed it. It did not fail us.
”
”
Chris Hedges (America: The Farewell Tour)
“
But in the end, God’s standard lasts for eternity, and He judges and separates. He is a just God. It doesn’t matter how much money you make, what you look like, how smart or talented you are, or what status you hold. If you know Jesus, live for Him, and treat others with love, you will have everything you need for success on earth—and in heaven. All things will be fully revealed and rewarded.
”
”
Jimmy Evans (I Changed My Mind: Journey Toward Spiritual Maturity)
“
After BlackRock created its Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, the firm quietly secured its status as the main financial administrator of the economic stimulus package during the COVID-19 pandemic, effectively playing the role of the government—and probably made a pretty penny for doing it. In January 2020, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced to much fanfare at (of course) the World Economic Forum in Davos a new investment commitment of $1 billion over ten years into environmental sustainability initiatives to fight climate change.
”
”
Vivek Ramaswamy (Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam)
“
After BlackRock created its Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, the firm quietly secured its status as the main financial administrator of the economic stimulus package during the COVID-19 pandemic, effectively playing the role of the government—and probably made a pretty penny for doing it. In January 2020, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced to much fanfare at (of course) the World Economic Forum in Davos a new investment commitment of $1 billion over ten years into environmental sustainability initiatives to fight climate change. Just a couple of months later, it received a $1.2 billion grant—not a loan, but a grant—from US taxpayers to subsidize its development of for-profit vaccines.
”
”
Vivek Ramaswamy (Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam)
“
In addition to inflated beauty standards, women are now also expected to be career-driven, achievement-orientated, financially independent, and a competent badass in the boardroom, bedroom, kitchen and nursery. On the flip side, the plights of men are often dismissed and unseen, since men are regarded as the ones wielding all the privilege and power. But what happens when the same societal structures that grant men superiority also deny them the full range of human emotions and threaten their status as men if they experience even the slightest form of sensitivity, vulnerability or indication of their needs for love, emotional safety and tenderness (basically, if men admit to having any attachment needs at all)? What happens when men are paralyzed by shame and made to feel unworthy of love and partnership unless they meet certain masculine expectations around financial or professional success? And what happens to a person’s ability to feel safe and connected when they are transgender or do not fit in the gender binary at all? Many of the personal problems and relationship struggles that we face are actually societal issues impairing our ability to bond, connect and love in secure ways.
”
”
Jessica Fern (Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy)
“
But what I can tell you is this: when it comes to performance standards, It’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate. You have to drive your CTO to exercise Extreme Ownership—to acknowledge mistakes, stop blaming others, and lead his team to success. If you allow the status quo to persist, you can’t expect to improve performance, and you can’t expect to win.
”
”
Jocko Willink (Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win)
“
in a second approach, one should merely talk not of how this radical antinomy which seems to preclude our access to the Thing ALREADY IS THE THING ITSELF—the fundamental feature of today’s society IS the irreconciliable antagonism between Totality and the individual. What this means is that, ultimately, the status of the Real is purely parallactic and, as such, non-substantial: it has no substantial density in itself; it is just a gap between two points of perspective, perceptible only in the shift from the one to the other. The parallax Real is thus opposed to the standard (Lacanian) notion of the Real as that which “always returns at its place,” i.e., as that which remains the same in all possible (symbolic) universes: the parallax Real is rather that which accounts for the very multiplicity of appearances of the same underlying Real—it is not the hard core which persists as the Same, but the hard bone of contention which pulverizes the sameness into the multitude of appearances.
”
”
Slavoj Žižek (Surplus-Enjoyment: A Guide For The Non-Perplexed)
“
Metallica. We’re apes. We think we’re all sophisticated with our toaster ovens and designer footwear, but we’re just a bunch of finely ornamented apes. And because we are apes, we instinctually measure ourselves against others and vie for status. The question is not whether we evaluate ourselves against others; rather, the question is by what standard do we measure ourselves?
”
”
Mark Manson (The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life)
“
How to Use the Biker Service for CNIC Applications
In an effort to streamline the application process for CNICs (Computerized National Identity Cards) and make government services more accessible, the Biker Service has been introduced as a part of Pakistan’s initiative to modernize its registration systems. This service allows citizens to complete their CNIC applications from the comfort of their homes through mobile service officers who assist in the process. Here’s a guide on how to effectively use the Biker Service for your CNIC application.
1. What is the Biker Service?
The Biker Service is an outreach program that sends mobile registration officers directly to applicants’ homes. This service is especially beneficial for individuals who face difficulties visiting local NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) centers due to health, age, or mobility issues. It provides doorstep assistance to ensure all parts of the CNIC application, including biometric verification and photo capture, are done seamlessly.
2. Key Benefits
Convenience: Eliminates the need to visit physical centers.
Time-Saving: Reduces waiting times associated with in-person visits.
Accessibility: Helps those in remote or underserved areas complete their applications.
Professional Assistance: Ensures the application is correctly filled and all necessary steps are completed.
3. Steps to Use the Biker Service for CNIC Applications
Booking an Appointment:
Contact NADRA’s helpline or visit their online service portal to schedule a biker appointment.
Provide your personal details and address to confirm the visit.
Prepare Required Documents:
Ensure that you have all necessary documents ready, such as your old CNIC (if renewing), a copy of your birth certificate, or any relevant supporting paperwork for a new CNIC application.
The Biker Visit:
On the scheduled day, a NADRA officer on a motorcycle will arrive at your address.
The officer will verify your identity, take your photograph, and collect your biometric data (fingerprints and thumb impressions) directly at your home.
Completion and Confirmation:
The mobile officer submits your application to the NADRA system.
You will receive a receipt or application tracking number for follow-up.
Payment and Fees:
The cost of the Biker Service includes standard CNIC processing fees plus an additional convenience charge. Ensure you have the means to make a payment, whether via cash or through any payment method recommended during the booking.
4. Tracking Your Application
Once your application is submitted, you can track its progress using NADRA’s online tracking system. Enter your application or tracking number to check the status and receive updates on when your CNIC will be ready for collection or delivery.
Final Thoughts
The Biker Service by NADRA is a major advancement in making government services more user-friendly and accessible to a broader population. It saves applicants from the hassle of traveling and long queues, making it especially useful for senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, and those living in remote areas. If you’re eligible and looking for a hassle-free way to apply for a CNIC, this service is a great option to consider.
”
”
Abdul Rehman
“
Tradizionalmente, i Prescrittivisti tendono a essere conservatori politici e i Descrittivisti tendono a essere liberali. Ma in realtà ad avere più influenza sulle norme dell’inglese pubblico è una forma austera e rigorosa di Prescrittivismo liberale. Mi riferisco all’Inglese politicamente corretto (Ipc), secondo le cui convenzioni i poveri diventano “economicamente svantaggiati” e le persone in sedia a rotelle “diversamente abili”. Sebbene sia comune fare battute sull’Ipc, sappiate che le varie pre- e proscrizioni dell’Inglese politicamente corretto sono prese molto sul serio dai college e dalle aziende […] L’opinione personale di questo recensore è che l’Ipc prescrittivista non è solo sciocco ma è ideologicamente confuso e dannoso alla sua stessa causa.
Ed ecco la mia argomentazione. L’uso di una lingua è sempre politico, ma lo è in modo complesso. Rispetto, per esempio, al cambiamento politico, le convenzioni dell’uso possono funzionare in due modi: da un lato possono essere un riflesso del cambiamento politico e dall’altro possono essere uno strumento del cambiamento politico. La cosa importante è che queste due funzioni sono ben distinte e tali devono restare. Confonderle dà luogo alla bizzarra convinzione che l’America smetta di essere élitaria o ingiusta per il semplice fatto che gli americani smettono di usare un certo vocabolario che è storicamente associato all’élitarismo e all’ingiustizia. Questa è la pecca fondamentale dell’Ipc – che la modalità espressiva di una società produca i suoi atteggiamenti piuttosto che essere un prodotto di tali atteggiamenti – e naturalmente non è altro che l’inverso dell’illusione dello Snob conservatore secondo cui il cambiamento sociale può essere ritardato limitando il mutamento nell’uso standard della lingua.
L’Inglese politicamente corretto ha in sé un’ironia ancora più macroscopica. E cioè sebbene l’Ipc abbia la pretesa di essere il dialetto della riforma progressista, di fatto è – nella sua sostituzione orwelliana degli eufemismi dell’eguaglianza sociale al posto dell’effettiva uguaglianza sociale – molto più di aiuto ai conservatori e allo status quo di quanto non siano mai state le tradizionali prescrizioni Snob […] in altre parole, l’Ipc agisce come una forma di censura, e la censura è sempre al servizio dello status quo.
Nella pratica, dubito fortemente che un uomo con quattro figli piccoli e uno stipendio di dodicimila dollari l’anno si senta più forte o meno bistrattato da una società che ha la premura di chiamarlo “economicamente svantaggiato” invece che “povero”. Anzi, se fossi in lui, probabilmente mi sentirei offeso dal termine Ipc – non solo perché è paternalista (cosa che comunque è) ma perché è ipocrita e teso al vantaggio di chi lo pronuncia in un modo che di solito la gente trattata con paternalismo capta al volo. L’ipocrisia di base riguardo a espressioni come “economicamente svantaggiato” e “diversamente abile” è che i sostenitori dell’Ipc credono che i beneficiari della compassione e della generosità di questi termini siano i poveri e la gente in sedia a rotelle, e trascurano di nuovo una cosa che tutti sanno ma che nessuno cita mai – e cioè che parte del motivo per cui qualsiasi parlate usa un certo vocabolario è sempre il desiderio di comunicare qualcosa su se stesso. L’Ipc ha la funzione primaria di segnalare e congratulare certe virtù nel parlante – scrupoloso egualitarismo, preoccupazione per la dignità di tutti, sofisticatezza riguardo alle implicazioni politiche della lingua – e di conseguenza serve gli interessi egoistici del Pc molto più di quanto serva qualsiasi persona o gruppo da esso ribattezzato.
”
”
David Foster Wallace (Consider the Lobster and Other Essays)
“
Women’s status in society has become the standard by which humanity’s progress toward civility and peace can be measured.”-Architects of Peace: Visions of Hope in Words and Images
”
”
Mahnaz Afkhami
“
New classes of underconsumers and of underemployed are one of the inevitable by-products of industrial progress.
Organization makes them aware of their common plight. At present articulate minorities-often claiming the leadership of majorities--seek equal treatment. If one day they were to seek equal work rather than equal pay-equal inputs rather than equal outputs-they could be the pivot of social reconstruction. Industrial society could not possibly resist a strong women's movement, for example, which would lead to the demand that all people, without distinction, do equal work. Women are integrated into all classes and races. Most of their daily activities are performed in nonindustrial ways. Industrial societies remain viable precisely because women are there to perform those daily tasks which resist industrialization. It is easier to imagine that the North American continent would cease to exploit the under-industrialization of South America than that it would cease to use its women for industry-resistant chores. In a society ruled by the standards of industrial efficiency, housework is rendered inhuman and devalued. It would be rendered even less tolerable if it were given pro-forma industrial
status. The further expansion of industry would be brought to a halt if women forced upon us the recognition that society is no longer viable if a single mode of production prevails. The effective recognition that not two but several equally valuable, dignified, and important modes of production must coexist within any viable society would bring industrial expansion under
control. Growth would stop if women obtained equally creative work for all, instead of demanding equal rights over the gigantic and expanding tools now appropriated by men.
”
”
Ivan Illich (Tools for Conviviality)
“
Happiness can be a confusing concept for Christians. On one hand, if we serve a good God who promises us a full and abundant life, shouldn't we be happy? On the other hand, any careful reading of the life and way of Jesus reveals a life open to suffering and self-denial. The very message of the gospel confronts the shortcuts humans take to happiness and calls those who follow Christ to a new way of life. This apparent tension has commonly become a weapon in the shouting matches between gay-affirming voices and traditional voices. The affirming voices call for the unimpeded opportunity for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) people to experience self-fulfillment through sexual intimacy, relationship, marriage, equal status, and so on. The traditional voices point to a path of self-denial and suffering as the way to live out God's standards. For a gay Christian, when happiness and suffering are pitted against one another, this dilemma can disintegrate into a no-win situation and a source of shame.
”
”
Wendy Vanderwal-Gritter (Generous Spaciousness: Responding to Gay Christians in the Church)
“
In thinking about the legal status of the fetus, justice requires that we use the legal standards used in other contexts, independent of the baggage of the abortion debate.
”
”
Charles C. Camosy (Beyond the Abortion Wars: A Way Forward for a New Generation)
“
We have had no polemic interest in writing this book. It would be foolish to deny, however, that our enthusiasm for the present state of sociological theory is markedly restrained. For one thing, we have tried to show, by our analysis of the interrelations between institutional processes and the legitimating symbolic universes, why we must consider the standard versions of functionalist explanations in the social sciences a theoretical legerdemain. Furthermore, we hope we have shown cause for our conviction that a purely structural sociology is endemically in danger of reifying social phenomena. Even if it begins by modestly assigning to its constructs merely heuristic status, it all too frequently ends by confusing its own conceptualizations with the laws of the universe. In
”
”
Peter L. Berger (The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge)
“
The sanctity of motherhood in Islam cannot be overstated. How do you think Prophets and Messengers came into this world? God could have sent angels, but He chose to send men. Moreover, God could have created them without involving the biological sequence of events we are all familiar with, but that was not the case. To come into this world Prophets and Messengers had to enter through the gate of mercy we call the womb, ar-Ra’him, which lies within the woman. Not only that, but just in case we got confused and thought men were indispensable in this process, God's Word Jesus Christ peace be upon him was brought as a sign. God does not create in vain and among the lessons to be learned from Christ’s birth is the status of motherhood. Women are the gateways of God’s mercy and revelation to this world.
The Merciful, ar-Rahman, is the predominant Divine Attribute of God, which shares the same root letters in Arabic for the womb. The misguided quest to achieve sameness based on masculine standards established by a consumerist culture that rejects the Unseen does not only desacralize motherhood, it is also an active attempt at closing off the gate of mercy to the world. It places an undue burden on the woman who feels the impulse to claim that status, either through biology or adoption, by making her experience guilt for her feelings, and lays out an expectation to ignore them in favor for material pursuits that are euphemistically called achievements and are celebrated by a culture that negates her feminine essence.
”
”
Mohamed Ghilan
“
But for Christians, Jesus is the norm of the Bible. And he repudiated violence, even in his historical context of violence and injustice. Given that he is the norm of the Bible, he is the standard by which its divergent views of violence, war, nonviolence, and peace must be judged. His status as the norm, and the fact that his followers for three centuries understood him to be an advocate of nonviolence, create a prima facie case for Christians to be passionate about God’s dream of a world of justice and peace.
Borg, Marcus J.. Convictions: How I Learned What Matters Most (p. 202). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
”
”
Marcus Borg
“
A hostile reading of those words hinges on a misunderstanding of the complexities of segregation. In fact, for the legions of black people who grew up like Michelle Obama—in a functioning, self-contained African American world—racial identity recedes in the consciousness. You know you're black, but in much the same way that white people know they are white. Since everyone else around you looks like you, you just take it as the norm, the standard, the unremarkable. Objectively, you know you're in the minority, but that status hits home only when you walk out into the wider world and realize that, out there, you really are different.
”
”
Ta-Nehisi Coates (We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy)
“
Take Tom Jones and mix him with Enrico Caruso, the Italian tenor-cum-castrato singer. Then add tons of pathetic love songs, faked sex appeal and musical kleptomania focusing on Western hits from the 1970s. Spice it up with a political flexibility rare even for Central European standards and a personal status close to that of the Pope. What do you get? Karel Gott, Czech pop music's most mega-super, long-lasting and brightest star.
”
”
Terje B. Englund (The Czechs in a Nutshell)
“
Like his colleague Thomas, he viewed prejudice as a form of instinct, but where Thomas set it down to a reaction to the Other’s physical appearance, Park saw in it a manifestation of competition: Race prejudice may be regarded as a spontaneous, more or less instinctive defense-reaction, the practical effect of which is to restrict free competition between races. Its importance as a social function is due to the fact that free competition, particularly between people with different standards of living, seems to be, if not the original source, at least the stimulus to which race prejudice is the response.48 Park’s reference to free competition hinted at the strains being placed on society in a postwar context in which massive foreign (and particularly Asian) immigration had resumed. He argued that where fundamental racial interests are not yet controlled by law, custom, or other arrangement between the groups in question, racial prejudice will inexorably develop. It may, however, be deflected by ‘the extension of the machinery of cooperation and social control’ – in the U.S. case, the caste system and slavery: we may regard caste, or even slavery, as one of those accommodations through which the race problem found a natural solution. Caste, by relegating the subject race to an inferior status, gives to each race at any rate a monopoly of its own tasks. When this status is accepted by the subject people, as in the case where the caste or slavery systems become fully established, racial competition ceases and racial animosity tends to disappear ... Each race being in its place, no obstacle to racial cooperation exists.49 This paper shows that Park’s thought in 1917 was not free of obfuscation and bias. One finds him maintaining that while ‘caste and the limitation of free competition is economically unsound,’ it is nonetheless ‘politically desirable’50 because
”
”
Pierre Saint-Arnaud (African American Pioneers of Sociology: A Critical History (Heritage))
“
Setting our living standards and expectations based on the status of others is like wishing that apples were onions.
”
”
Jacinta Mpalyenkana
“
The challenge of leveraging standards is in how they are used. Standards can be used in a transactional manner that maintains the status quo of student experience and achievement in schools, or they can be leveraged in a manner that transforms the roles of teachers and learners.
”
”
Tony Frontier (Five Levers to Improve Learning: How to Prioritize for Powerful Results in Your School)
“
In families in which parents are overbearing, rigid, and strict, children grow up with fear and anxiety. The threat of guilt, punishment, the withdrawal of love and approval, and, in some cases, abandonment, force children to suppress their own needs to try things out and to make their own mistakes. Instead, they are left with constant doubts about themselves, insecurities, and unwillingness to trust their own feelings. They feel they have no choice and as we have shown, for many, they incorporate the standards and values of their parents and become little parental copies. They follow the prescribed behavior suppressing their individuality and their own creative potentials. After all, criticism is the enemy of creativity. It is a long, hard road away from such repressive and repetitive behavior. The problem is that many of us obtain more gains out of main- taining the status quo than out of changing. We know, we feel, we want to change. We don’t like the way things are, but the prospect of upsetting the stable and the familiar is too frightening. We ob- tain “secondary gains” to our pain and we cannot risk giving them up. I am reminded of a conference I attended on hypnosis. An el- derly couple was presented. The woman walked with a walker and her husband of many years held her arm as she walked. There was nothing physically wrong with her legs or her body to explain her in- ability to walk. The teacher, an experienced expert in psychiatry and hypnosis, attempted to hypnotize her. She entered a trance state and he offered his suggestions that she would be able to walk. But to no avail. When she emerged from the trance, she still could not, would not, walk. The explanation was that there were too many gains to be had by having her husband cater to her, take care of her, do her bidding. Many people use infirmities to perpetuate relationships even at the expense of freedom and autonomy. Satisfactions are derived by being limited and crippled physically or psychologically. This is often one of the greatest deterrents to progress in psychotherapy. It is unconscious, but more gratification is derived by perpetuating this state of affairs than by giving them up. Beatrice, for all of her unhappiness, was fearful of relinquishing her place in the family. She felt needed, and she felt threatened by the thought of achieving anything 30 The Self-Sabotage Cycle that would have contributed to a greater sense of independence and self. The risks were too great, the loss of the known and familiar was too frightening. Residing in all of us is a child who wants to experiment with the new and the different, a child who has a healthy curiosity about the world around him, who wants to learn and to create. In all of us are needs for security, certainty, and stability. Ideally, there develops a balance between the two types of needs. The base of security is present and serves as a foundation which allows the exploration of new ideas and new learning and experimenting. But all too often, the security and dependency needs outweigh the freedom to explore and we stifle, even snuff out, the creative urges, the fantasy, the child in us. We seek the sources that fill our dependency and security needs at the expense of the curious, imaginative child. There are those who take too many risks, who take too many chances and lose, to the detriment of all concerned. But there are others who are risk-averse and do little with their talents and abilities for fear of having to change their view of themselves as being the child, the dependent one, the protected one. Autonomy, independence, success are scary because they mean we can no longer justify our needs to be protected. Success to these people does not breed success. Suc- cess breeds more work, more dependence, more reason to give up the rationales for moving on, away from, and exploring the new and the different.
”
”
Anonymous
“
Q: How many Java programmers does it take to change a lightbulb? A: One, to generate a “ChangeLightBulb” event to the socket. Q: How many C++ programmers does it take to change a lightbulb? A: You’re still thinking procedurally. A well-designed lightbulb object would inherit a change method from a generic lightbulb class. Q: How many Windows programmers does it take to change a lightbulb? A: Three. One to write WinGetLightBulbHandle, one to write WinQueryStatusLightBulb, and one to write WinGetLight-SwitchHandle. Q: How many database programmers does it take to change a lightbulb? A: Three. One to write the lightbulb removal program, one to write the lightbulb insertion program, and one to act as a lightbulb administrator to make sure nobody else tries to change the light-bulb at the same time. Q: How many software engineers does it take to change a lightbulb? A: None. That’s a hardware problem. Q: How many Microsoft engineers does it take to change a lightbulb? A: None. They will redefine darkness as an industry standard.
”
”
Scott McNeely (Ultimate Book of Jokes: The Essential Collection of More Than 1,500 Jokes)
“
We think fathers are supposed to be these perfect role models – and maybe they should be, but really their just men. I think most daughters lose sight of that fact and then when their dad’s fall short of the ‘God’ status they get hurt. They’re men. We need to keep it in perspective and not set our standards so high. Face it, most of them should have to apply for a license just to be able to procreate. Seriously
”
”
Jody Offen (Claimed by a Vampire (Vampire Guardians #3))
“
By today’s standards, David O. McKay’s views on civil rights are jolting; yet in the context of his own time and place, his views were mainstream. He definitely was not “progressive” on the issue, even if measured by the low standards that would have earned such a label during his lifetime. On the one hand, he never advocated legislation or behavior that would worsen the status of blacks within the United States; indeed, his apparent desire was to preserve the legal status quo. Yet he also never advocated legal remedies to segregation and discrimination. He was, at best, a very conservative moderate. He
”
”
Gregory A. Prince (David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism)
“
When she asked me directly about her status as a woman in a same-sex relationship, I said something to this effect: “I’ve been wrestling with this question for some time now. When the Scripture addresses same-sex issues, the texts are uniformly negative. I’ve concluded that one of two things is the case. One, there is a reasonable case to be made that what the texts are addressing is something other than today’s monogamous relationships between two people committed to each other for life. Another possibility is that the traditional reading is correct. Even then, we accept people who violate other biblical standards, like remarriage after divorce. We make accommodations because it seems like the right thing to do, all things considered. At the end of the day, these seem to me like debatable issues. We can agree to disagree. We are ultimately accountable to God for our actions. We can accept each other without approving each other’s moral standing on this or that issue. God does, or we couldn’t be saved. That’s the gospel, isn’t it?
”
”
Ken Wilson (A Letter to My Congregation: An Evangelical Pastor's Path to Embracing People Who Are Gay, Lesbian and Transgender in the Company of Jesus)
“
Learn about Public Service Loan Forgiveness
The PSLF Program (Public Service Loan Forgiveness) encourages people to proceed and continue their participation in public service careers. In this program, eligible individuals are entitled for forgiveness of their remaining balance that is due on their federal student loans. However, they may only qualify if they were able to make 120 payments on these loans, which are under a particular repayment plan. These individuals also have a full-time employment status from public service companies, so they may qualify for the PSLF. Let’s discuss Public Service Loan Forgiveness with The Student Loan Help Center Team.
How to Obtain Remaining Balances on Direct Loans
If you want to have remaining balances on your direct loans forgiven through the PSLF, you must be able to make 120 monthly payments on direct loans. Furthermore, these payments should be full and made on time. Another important qualification is securing the payment after October 1, 2007. When you make these monthly payments, keep in mind that you should be a full-time employee at any accredited public service company.
Important Details about Eligible Loans for Forgiveness
As The Student Loan Help Center CEO Bruce Mesnekoff Said Loans that are eligible for the PSLF program are those you have received from a direct loan. On the other hand, Perkins Loans, Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) and other types of student loans are not valid for PSLF.
If you have an existing Perkins loan or FFEL, you have the option to consolidate these into direct consolidation loans, so you may avail of the outstanding benefits offered by the PSLF. Make sure, though, that the payments made on the new loan will be counted toward your payment requirement, which will last for 120 months.
Facts about Qualifying Repayment Plans
You will be able to maximize your benefits from the PSLF by repaying loans on the IBR (Income Based Repayments) or the ICR (Income Contingent Repayments. These plans enable you to qualify for the PSLF program. The 10-year repayment plan also qualifies you for the PSLF, as well as other plans where the monthly payment you make is equivalent or more than what you are required to pay under the standard 10-year repayment scheme.
Before you decide on the best repayment scheme for paying off your direct loans, make sure you are aware of the costs and implications of such decision. When you extend the period in securing your payments for PSLF qualifying payments, you can reduce the remaining balance on your loan when you satisfy all the eligibility requirements for the PSLF program. Moreover, you will have zero balance on loans to be forgiven when you are able to make all 120 monthly payments through the 10 year standard repayment scheme.
You can expect a great reduction on your monthly payments under the ICR or IBR plans, as compared to other qualifying repayment options for the PSLF program. Moreover, the repayment term is likely to extend. With a longer period in repaying your loans, you can expect additional interest to accumulate on your loan. Keep in mind, though, that your inability to meet the PSLF requirements will entitle you to pay off the entire loan balance, as well as the accrued interest.
”
”
The Student Loan Help Center
“
Perhaps nothing separates modern man from the Greeks as much as his aversion to thinking about the human in terms of perfection. The artistic embodiment of the Homeric deities served as an optimal status criterion of the form and content of human perfection. Extremely elevated standards were maintained in physiognomy, creativity, and discernment, always with a view to the interconnectedness of warfare, wisdom, and beauty. Grandeur, prowess, dignity, and nobility seem available for all who act heroically and with nobility. However, this is only so because it is not the mediocrity of the rabble that is being elevated to the pinnacle of human worthiness... As Otto deftly explains, only a spiritually poor age would think to reduce the human capacity for heroic action to a search for bourgeois comfort, safety, and happiness.
”
”
Walter F. Otto (The Homeric Gods: The Spiritual Significance of Greek Religion)
“
More desirable women have more bargaining power on the mating market, and they can elevate their standards. They want higher levels of resources, education, and intelligence; higher social status; good parenting skills; and raft of other traits. American men with resources are more likely to marry physically attractive women. Most men can obtain a much more desirable mate if they are willing to commit to a long-term relationship because women typically desire lasting commitment, and highly desirable women are in the best position to get what they want.
Men are preoccupied with a woman's youth. Men want wives who are pretty, attractive, beautiful, gorgeous, comely, lovely, ravishing, and glamorous. Men seek attractive women as mates not simply for their reproductive value but also as signals of status to same sex competitors and to other potential mates. Although most men place a premium on beauty, it is clear that not all men success in satisfying their desires. Men who lack the status and resources that women want, for example, generally have the most difficult time attracting good looking young women and must settle for less than their ideal. Indeed, a man's occupational status seems to be the best predictor of the attractiveness of the woman he marries. Men who are in a position to get what they want often partners up with a young, attractive woman. As a man's income goes up, he seeks younger partners.
”
”
David M. Buss (The Evolution Of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating)
“
More desirable women have more bargaining power on the mating market, and they can elevate their standards. They want higher levels of resourves, education, and intelligence; higher social status; good parenting skills; and raft of other traits. American man with resources are more likely to marry physically attractive women. Most men can obtain a much more desirable mate if they are willing to commit to a long-term relationship because women typically desire lasting commitment, and highly desirable women are in the best position to get what they want.
”
”
Anne Moir (Brain Sex: The Real Difference Between Men and Women)
“
Page 111: Workplace bullying directly affects one in six U.S. workers. It poses an occupational health hazard. Yet few targeted individuals complain. That is because existing laws either require harassment to be discriminatory or the standard of outrageous conduct is rarely met in the courts. Gender, race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, age, or sexual orientation define protected status groups. In order for mistreatment to be discriminatory and illegal, the Target must have “protected status” and the bully cannot be a member. But when the bully also is a member, as in woman-on-woman bullying (over 40 percent of all bullying reported in the Institute survey), the Target cannot file a lawsuit to force the employer to believe her or to punish the perpetrator. Research by the Institute and others shows that two-thirds of all harassment is “status-blind” and therefore legal.
”
”
Gary Namie (The Bully at Work: What You Can Do to Stop the Hurt and Reclaim Your Dignity on the Job)
“
Adopt and increase:
The quality of mind; with Knowledge
The level of conduct; with Ethics
The status of character; with Honesty
The standard of life; with Justice
Such Qualification beautifies the World
”
”
Ehsan Sehgal
“
There is a term for those who triumph against the odds—for winners nobody saw coming. They are called dark horses.
The expression 'dark horse' first entered common parlance after the publication of The Young Duke in 1831. In this British novel, the title character bets on a horse race and loses big after the race is won by an unknown “dark horse, which had never been thought of.” The phrase quickly caught on. “Dark horse” came to denote an unexpected victor who had been overlooked because she did not fit the standard notion of a champion.
Ever since the term was coined, society has enjoyed a peculiar relationship with dark horses. By definition, we ignore them until they attain their success, at which point we are entertained and inspired by tales of their unconventional ascent. Even so, we rarely feel there is much to learn from them that we might profitably apply to our own lives, since their achievements often seem to rely upon haphazard spurts of luck.
We applaud the tenacity and pluck of a dark horse like Jennie or Alan, but the very improbability of their transformation—from fast-food server to planet-hunting astronomer, from blue-collar barkeep to upscale couturier— makes their journeys seem too exceptional to emulate. Instead, when we seek a dependable formula for success, we turn to the Mozarts, Warren Buffetts, and Tiger Woodses of the world. The ones everybody saw coming.
”
”
Todd Rose (Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment)
“
Every standardized institution, by definition and design, is focused on efficiency above all else, and generic motives and universal motives are efficient ways of moving the needle—on average, at least. But they’re horrible for your own fulfillment. Not only do standardized views of motivation ignore everything that is important about who you are, but by incessantly focusing all of our attention on a small set of institutionally ordained motives, the Standardization Covenant constrains our thinking about what a personal motive can even be.
Fortunately, dark horses reveal the hidden truth about motivation. ... The lives of dark horses demonstrate the remarkable specificity of micro-motives.
”
”
Todd Rose (Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment)
“
The reason we all came to accept this dehumanizing system so wholeheartedly is because society made an implicit promise to its citizens in the Age of Standardization: if you can follow the straight path to its destination, you will be granted employment, social status, and financial security. ... According to the terms of this Standardization Covenant, society will bestow its rewards upon you as long as you abandon the individual pursuit of personal fulfillment for the standardized pursuit of professional excellence. ... The Standardization Covenant demands that we follow the Standard Formula to attain excellence, which will then lead to fulfillment—somehow. Dark horses, meanwhile, harness their individuality in the pursuit of fulfillment, which creates the optimal conditions for attaining excellence. ... The Standardization Covenant is holding all of us back. Though its views of talent and success are easy to grasp and reassuringly familiar, there is no future for a society devoted to the proposition that the pursuit of standardized excellence leads to fulfillment. The dark horse mindset, meanwhile, opens onto an unbounded social universe of achievement and joy. ... Every standardized institution, by definition and design, is focused on efficiency above all else, and generic motives and universal motives are efficient ways of moving the needle—on average, at least. But they’re horrible for your own fulfillment. Not only do standardized views of motivation ignore everything that is important about who you are, but by incessantly focusing all of our attention on a small set of institutionally ordained motives, the Standardization Covenant constrains our thinking about what a personal motive can even be. Fortunately, dark horses reveal the hidden truth about motivation ... Under the covenant, your chosen form of standardized excellence became your destination. Dark horses take a different perspective. When they consider excellence, they presume that individuality matters. ... The Standardization Covenant’s assurance that the pursuit of excellence leads to fulfillment was always a false promise. ... Only by prioritizing your own fulfillment can you advance toward your peak excellence, and only by advancing toward your peak excellence can you experience fulfillment. You need the energy of self-engineered passion and the direction of self-engineered purpose to scale the mountain of excellence, and you need the pride, self-worth, and sense of meaningful accomplishment from self-engineered achievement to experience the full flush of fulfillment. When you apply the four elements of the dark horse mindset in your own life, fulfillment and excellence come under your conscious control. You are no longer a puppet of fate, but the master of your destiny. When you focus on getting better at the things you care about most, you are not wandering. ... Now we have the chance to ratify a Dark Horse Covenant, predicated upon the belief that everyone possesses the potential for their own variety of merit and endorsing a core value of fulfillment, leading to a system of opportunity where anyone and everyone can succeed. This democratic meritocracy will be enforced by individuals, with the consent of individuals.
”
”
Todd Rose (Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment)
“
In the current political moment, it has become a shibboleth of mainstream liberal political discourse to affirm Israel’s right to exist. Such an affirmation carries with it the presumption of a double standard, an implicit suggestion that all other nations of the world have had their right to exist affirmed, leaving Israel as the lone exception. The discourse surrounding Israel’s right to exist is also often presumed to be related not only to the abstract concept of the state, but to the physical status of the state’s citizens. In other words, the question of whether Israel has a right to exist is often understood to be a question of whether Israelis, or even Jews more broadly, have the right to exist. Of course, our answer to this latter question is clear and unambiguous: The right of Israelis (and Jews throughout the world) to live in peace, safety, dignity, and with self-determination is absolute and unquestionable.
”
”
Marc Lamont Hill (Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics)
“
Less trade is the last thing most countries need if they are to improve their economies and the standard of living of workers of a lower socio-economic status. Reducing immigration is one sure way to stymie economic growth.
And then there are the policies that this populist mantra is designed to mask: cuts to essential services like health and education to fund tax cuts for higher income workers and corporations. It's like a pickpocket who arranges a distraction while happily fleecing his victims. (p.22)
”
”
Chris Bowen (On Charlatans (On Series))
“
Alienation is inevitable when our inner sense of value becomes status-driven, hinging on externally imposed standards of competitive achievement and acquisition, and a highly conditional acceptance — I should say "acceptability" — in others' eyes. With the erosion of the middle class in recent decades, people who judged themselves in terms of wordly success have sustained a perceived loss of worth.
The promise of the middle-class dream has largely evaporated, to the distress and deep anger of many. But even people perched atop the economic pyramid can experience a devaluation of self, for the simple reason that materialistic values run counter to the need for meaning, for purpose beyond self-serving endeavors.
There are no moral fingers to wag here. Objectively, it is the case that centering on the self's evanescent desires to the exclusion of communal needs results in a diminished connection to our deepest selves, which is to say the parts of us that generate and sustain true well-being. Whatever "wins" our personality can rack up, whatever momentary sense of security we gain through our various identities, however much we burnish our image or self-image with material gains — these are a flimsy replacement for the rewards (and challenges) of being alive to one's humanity.
An investor dabbling daily in millions told Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg, "I feel like I'm wasting my life. When I die, is anyone going to care that I earned an extra percentage point on my return? My work feels totally meaningless." That loss of meaning, Duhigg says, afflicts "even professionals given to lofty self-images, like those in medicine and law." Why would this be? the author wondered. The answer: "Oppresive hours, political infighting, increased competition sparked by globalization, an 'always-on culture' bred by the internet — but also something that's hard for these professionals to put their finger on, an underlying sense that their work isn't worth the grueling effort they're putting into it."
It's simple economics, really: artificial inflation (of self-concept, of identity, of material ambition) is bound to lead to a downturn or even a crash when the bubble inevitable burts.
”
”
Gabor Maté (The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture)
“
By the end of Wagner’s life all this had changed. He had lifted the status of
the composer to that of a seer, raised the standard of musicianship, brought into
being a whole new school of singing and conducting, built the revolutionary
Bayreuth opera house, and created in Germany an operatic tradition that was the
admiration of the world. Furthermore the mythology which he welded together
and the ideology which he promulgated played a key role in the launching of a
new German nationalism.
”
”
Christopher McIntosh
“
If you are in the Unrelenting Standards lifetrap, you strive relentlessly to meet extremely high expectations of yourself. You place excessive emphasis on status, money, achievement, beauty, order, or recognition at the expense of happiness, pleasure, health, a sense of accomplishment, and satisfying relationships. You probably apply your rigid standards to other people as well and are very judgmental. When you were a child, you were expected to be the best, and you were taught that anything else was failure. You learned that nothing you did was quite good enough.
”
”
Jeffrey Young (Reinventing Your Life: The Breakthrough Program to End Negative Behavior...and Feel Great Again)
“
[On unrelenting standards:] Let go of your need for perfect order, achievement, or status in exchange for a higher quality of life and more fulfilling emotional relationships with the people you love.
”
”
Jeffrey Young (Reinventing Your Life: The Breakthrough Program to End Negative Behavior...and Feel Great Again)
“
The invasion of government and the courts by behavioral scientists has produced what Thomas Szasz calls “the therapeutic state.” Psychiatrists and social psychologists have been given social status, according to Szasz, and their moral and political judgments, though not always founded on hard, empirical science, are taken to the “expert.” These experts today can affect decisions about the responsibility of criminals, the right to control property, and the custody of children. “Psychiatric theologians” have been able to impose their private political opinions as “scientific” truth, and Szasz cites the fact that the American Psychiatric Association now defines the involuntary treatment and incarceration of mental patients as “health rights.” Szasz also observes, “If people that health values justify coercion, but that moral and political do not, those who wish to coerce others will tend to enlarge the category of health values at the expense of moral values. “Health values” have also become socialized through a global managerial culture. Since 1976 the United Nations, through its International Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights, has elevated “the enjoyment of the highest standard of mental health” to a sacred entitlement. Henceforth governments must ensure a sound state of mind as a “human right.
”
”
Paul Edward Gottfried (After Liberalism: Mass Democracy in the Managerial State)
“
The invasion of government and the courts by behavioral scientists has produced what Thomas Szasz calls “the therapeutic state.” Psychiatrists and social psychologists have been given social status, according to Szasz, and their moral and political judgments, though not always founded on hard, empirical science, are taken to the “expert.” These experts today can affect decisions about the responsibility of criminals, the right to control property, and the custody of children. “Psychiatric theologians” have been able to impose their private political opinions as “scientific” truth, and Szasz cites the fact that the American Psychiatric Association now defines the involuntary treatment and incarceration of mental patients as “health rights.” Szasz also observes, “If people that health values justify coercion, but that moral and political do not, those who wish to coerce others will tend to enlarge the category of health values at the expense of moral values. “Health values” have also become socialized through a global managerial culture. Since 1976 the United Nations, through its International Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights, has elevated “the enjoyment of the highest standard of mental health” to a sacred entitlement. Henceforth governments must ensure a sound state of mind as a “human right.
”
”
Paul E. Gottfried
“
Grain crops, such as wheat and oats, also became more plentiful after World War II, often running to surplus. It isn’t difficult to draw a line between grain surplus and the federal government’s emphasis on grains in the American diet. When the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) started recommending dietary standards in 1946, grains got the lion’s share of daily recommended servings and dairy enjoyed its status as an entire food group. Nuts were nowhere to be found.
”
”
Sheila Kilbane (Healthy Kids, Happy Moms: 7 Steps to Heal and Prevent Common Childhood Illnesses)
“
Humans insist on defining reality by their standards. They are poorly equipped to do so, since they are selectively deaf and blind in one eye. They are beings with an insatiable need to categorize the universe that surrounds them, but demand that the facts reveal a universe suited for human cultivation and exploitation. Things must remain status quo.
”
”
Nancy A. Collins (Sunglasses After Dark (Sonja Blue, #1))
“
More desirable women have more bargaining power and they can elevate their standards. They want higher levels of resources, education, and intelligence; higher social status; good parenting skills; and raft of other traits. Men with resources are more likely to marry physically attractive women. Most men can get a much more desirable woman if they are willing to commit to a long-term relationship because women typically desire lasting commitment, and highly desirable women are in the best position to get what they want.
”
”
David M. Buss
“
As Protestant philosopher Max Scheler explained it, a sectarian movement begins enthusiastically embracing a prophet's call to high standards of morality and piety. To survive, the sect must have its relative few members united in intense revivalistic fervor. They view their founder as one who leads by example and points the way. It is up to the disciple to follow him. But after the movement enters its second generation, and the founder is gone, its members tend to relax. Their values slip back toward the mainstream and intensity relaxes. Standards fall to levels of mediocrity, and all this is rationalized by the elevation of the founder to the status of a divine savior.' He does not put before us an example to follow, because we are sinners/mortals. His achievement was superhuman. He did what he did because he was a god. And in fact he did it for us, not to show us how to do it, but rather so we could be excused for not doing it! In fact it would be sheer effrontery to think oneself capable of emulating the savior. Instead, he will be satisfied with token efforts. Here is the shift from sect to church. Here is the passage from Theravada to Mahayana, from the religion of Jesus to the religion about Jesus. And from our point of view, it represents the passage of early Christianity into a kind of moral pessimism (or laziness, as Feuerbach would have it).
”
”
Robert M. Price (The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man: How Reliable is the Gospel Tradition?)
“
((call united))Can I change my United flight for free?
Yes, in many cases, you can change your United flight for free, depending on your ticket type and travel circumstances. United Airlines has made several customer-friendly updates to its flight change policies in recent years. For most standard economy and premium cabin tickets, United no longer charges change fees on flights within the U.S., or for international travel departing from the U.S. However, it's important to understand the specifics of your ticket before making changes. If you're uncertain, it's best to call United customer service at +1(855)-785-2486 to get accurate and personalized information based on your booking.
United Airlines eliminated change fees for most Economy, Economy Plus, Business, and First Class tickets, except for Basic Economy. Basic Economy tickets are typically non-changeable and non-refundable unless there’s a special waiver or the change is made within 24 hours of booking. If you booked a Basic Economy fare and need to modify your plans, you may still have some options during times of disruption or if a flexible travel waiver is in place. To explore your options, contact a United representative at +1(855)-785-2486 for help with your specific itinerary.
Another way to avoid a change fee is by making the change within 24 hours of booking your ticket. United offers a 24-hour flexible booking policy that allows you to change or cancel your flight without penalty within the first 24 hours of purchase, as long as the ticket was booked at least one week before departure. This gives travelers a risk-free window to adjust plans if needed. If you booked recently and are within this time frame, you can call +1(855)-785-2486 to make a quick change without paying a fee.
If your flight was affected by a schedule change or disruption initiated by United, you may also be eligible to change your flight without any additional cost. In these cases, United typically allows customers to rebook for a different flight within a certain time frame, free of charge. It’s recommended to reach out as soon as you're notified of a schedule change so you can secure the best alternative option. To ensure you're getting all the options available to you, speak to an agent directly by calling +1(855)-785-2486.
Finally, if you’re a MileagePlus member or have elite status, you may have added flexibility depending on your tier and the type of ticket you purchased. United’s loyalty members often get preferred treatment in terms of waived fees or more generous rebooking policies. Even if you’re not sure of your status, calling United’s support line at +1(855)-785-2486 can help clarify your benefits and what you're entitled to under the airline’s current policies.
In summary, while not every ticket is eligible for a free change, United has made it much easier for travelers to adjust plans without penalty. The best step is to check your specific ticket rules and call +1(855)-785-2486 to speak with a United Airlines agent who can walk you through your options.
”
”
Henry
“
Does Sunrise Flight Cancellation Policy?
+1➻833➻800➻8797,Does Sunrise Have a Flight Cancellation Policy?
Yes, +1➻833➻800➻8797 or +1-833-800-8797,Sunrise Airlines does have a flight cancellation policy—and understanding it can save you time, money, and stress. Whether your plans change suddenly or you encounter an emergency, it’s important to know your rights and options.
For immediate assistance or to cancel your Sunrise flight +1➻833➻800➻8797 or +1-833-800-8797, call the airline’s support at +1 (833)-800-8797. Trained agents are available 24/7 to guide you through the cancellation process and help with refunds or travel credits.
Overview of Sunrise Flight Cancellation Policy
The Sunrise flight cancellation policy is designed to provide flexibility while maintaining airline efficiency +1➻833➻800➻8797 or +1-833-800-8797. Here are the key highlights:
24-Hour Risk-Free Cancellation +1➻833➻800➻8797: You can cancel your flight within 24 hours of booking and receive a full refund—no questions asked. This only applies if your departure date is at least 7 days away.
Cancellations After 24 Hours: +1➻833➻800➻8797, If you cancel after the 24-hour window, standard cancellation fees may apply depending on the fare type. Refundability varies between economy, flexible, and business class tickets.
Non-Refundable Tickets: +1➻833➻800➻8797,Most basic economy tickets are non-refundable. However, you may still be eligible for a travel credit for future use. For help, call +1 (833)-800-8797.
Refundable Tickets: Fully refundable fares can be canceled anytime before the departure, and you’ll receive your money back to the original payment method.
How to Cancel a Sunrise Flight
Need to cancel your flight quickly? Just follow these steps +1➻833➻800➻8797:
1. Call Sunrise Airlines at +1 (833)-800-8797
This is the fastest and most reliable way to cancel your ticket. Customer service agents are trained to handle cancellations smoothly and may offer you the best alternatives, including flight credits or rescheduling options.
2. Provide Your Booking Details
Have your booking number +1➻833➻800➻8797, travel date, and passenger name ready. This ensures a quicker process when you call +1 (833)-800-8797.
3. Confirm the Cancellation and Check Refund Eligibility
Ask the agent to explain if your ticket is refundable or if any fees apply. Calling +1 (833)-800-8797 allows you to receive a breakdown of costs or refund details directly.
Sunrise Flight Delays or Cancellations by Airline +1➻833➻800➻8797.
If Sunrise cancels or delays your flight for operational reasons, you're entitled to compensation or a full refund. In such cases, calling Sunrise at +1 (833)-800-8797 ensures you’re rebooked or refunded promptly.
Why You Should Call +1 (833)-800-8797 for Flight Cancellations
Speak to a live representative
Cancel or modify your booking instantly
Get real-time refund and credit updates
Avoid online errors and delays
Summary: Does Sunrise Have a Cancellation Policy?
Yes, and it includes:
24-hour free cancellation
Refundable and non-refundable ticket rules +1➻833➻800➻8797,
Flight credits for eligible fares +1➻833➻800➻8797,
Full refunds in case of airline-initiated cancellations
To cancel your flight or check your refund status, call Sunrise customer service at +1 (833)-800-8797 now.
Need to cancel a Sunrise flight? Call +1 (833)-800-8797 for fast, friendly service—available 24/7.
”
”
travel support
“
((name change))Can I change my United flight for free?
Yes, in many cases, you can change your United flight for free, depending on your ticket type and travel circumstances. United Airlines has made several customer-friendly updates to its flight change policies in recent years. For most standard economy and premium cabin tickets, United no longer charges change fees on flights within the U.S., or for international travel departing from the U.S. However, it's important to understand the specifics of your ticket before making changes. If you're uncertain, it's best to call United customer service at +1(855)-785-2486 to get accurate and personalized information based on your booking.
United Airlines eliminated change fees for most Economy, Economy Plus, Business, and First Class tickets, except for Basic Economy. Basic Economy tickets are typically non-changeable and non-refundable unless there’s a special waiver or the change is made within 24 hours of booking. If you booked a Basic Economy fare and need to modify your plans, you may still have some options during times of disruption or if a flexible travel waiver is in place. To explore your options, contact a United representative at +1(855)-785-2486 for help with your specific itinerary.
Another way to avoid a change fee is by making the change within 24 hours of booking your ticket. United offers a 24-hour flexible booking policy that allows you to change or cancel your flight without penalty within the first 24 hours of purchase, as long as the ticket was booked at least one week before departure. This gives travelers a risk-free window to adjust plans if needed. If you booked recently and are within this time frame, you can call +1(855)-785-2486 to make a quick change without paying a fee.
If your flight was affected by a schedule change or disruption initiated by United, you may also be eligible to change your flight without any additional cost. In these cases, United typically allows customers to rebook for a different flight within a certain time frame, free of charge. It’s recommended to reach out as soon as you're notified of a schedule change so you can secure the best alternative option. To ensure you're getting all the options available to you, speak to an agent directly by calling +1(855)-785-2486.
Finally, if you’re a MileagePlus member or have elite status, you may have added flexibility depending on your tier and the type of ticket you purchased. United’s loyalty members often get preferred treatment in terms of waived fees or more generous rebooking policies. Even if you’re not sure of your status, calling United’s support line at +1(855)-785-2486 can help clarify your benefits and what you're entitled to under the airline’s current policies.
In summary, while not every ticket is eligible for a free change, United has made it much easier for travelers to adjust plans without penalty. The best step is to check your specific ticket rules and call +1(855)-785-2486 to speak with a United Airlines agent who can walk you through your options.
”
”
Henry
“
((faq united))Can I change my United flight for free?
Yes, in many cases, you can change your United flight for free, depending on your ticket type and travel circumstances. United Airlines has made several customer-friendly updates to its flight change policies in recent years. For most standard economy and premium cabin tickets, United no longer charges change fees on flights within the U.S., or for international travel departing from the U.S. However, it's important to understand the specifics of your ticket before making changes. If you're uncertain, it's best to call United customer service at +1(855)-785-2486 to get accurate and personalized information based on your booking.
United Airlines eliminated change fees for most Economy, Economy Plus, Business, and First Class tickets, except for Basic Economy. Basic Economy tickets are typically non-changeable and non-refundable unless there’s a special waiver or the change is made within 24 hours of booking. If you booked a Basic Economy fare and need to modify your plans, you may still have some options during times of disruption or if a flexible travel waiver is in place. To explore your options, contact a United representative at +1(855)-785-2486 for help with your specific itinerary.
Another way to avoid a change fee is by making the change within 24 hours of booking your ticket. United offers a 24-hour flexible booking policy that allows you to change or cancel your flight without penalty within the first 24 hours of purchase, as long as the ticket was booked at least one week before departure. This gives travelers a risk-free window to adjust plans if needed. If you booked recently and are within this time frame, you can call +1(855)-785-2486 to make a quick change without paying a fee.
If your flight was affected by a schedule change or disruption initiated by United, you may also be eligible to change your flight without any additional cost. In these cases, United typically allows customers to rebook for a different flight within a certain time frame, free of charge. It’s recommended to reach out as soon as you're notified of a schedule change so you can secure the best alternative option. To ensure you're getting all the options available to you, speak to an agent directly by calling +1(855)-785-2486.
Finally, if you’re a MileagePlus member or have elite status, you may have added flexibility depending on your tier and the type of ticket you purchased. United’s loyalty members often get preferred treatment in terms of waived fees or more generous rebooking policies. Even if you’re not sure of your status, calling United’s support line at +1(855)-785-2486 can help clarify your benefits and what you're entitled to under the airline’s current policies.
In summary, while not every ticket is eligible for a free change, United has made it much easier for travelers to adjust plans without penalty. The best step is to check your specific ticket rules and call +1(855)-785-2486 to speak with a United Airlines agent who can walk you through your options.
”
”
Henry
“
How to Select My Seat When Booking with American Airlines: A Complete Guide"
Introduction
When booking with American Airlines, selecting your seat early is crucial to ensure comfort and convenience during your flight. Whether you're looking for extra legroom or prefer a window seat, the earlier you make your selection, the better. You can select your seat via the website, mobile app, or at check-in. For detailed assistance with your booking and seat selection, feel free to call ☎️+1(888) 217-5921. ☎️+1(888) 217-5921 will help you with the process, ensuring you get the best seat available. If you need further support or have questions, ☎️+1(888) 217-5921 is available to guide you through the steps. Selecting a seat in advance not only helps you secure your preferred spot but also allows you to tailor your travel experience to meet your needs.
FAQs
Can I change my seat after booking with American Airlines?
Yes, you can change your seat after booking with American Airlines, subject to availability. If you'd like to select a new seat or switch to a different location on the plane, you can do so via the American Airlines website, mobile app, or at check-in. For assistance in making changes to your seat, ☎️+1(888) 217-5921 is available to guide you through the process. ☎️+1(888) 217-5921 will also inform you of any seat availability and any potential fees for seat changes.
What is the difference between standard and preferred seats on American Airlines?
Standard seats are the regular seats located throughout the cabin, whereas preferred seats are located in more desirable locations, such as closer to the front of the plane or in areas with extra legroom. Preferred seats are available for a fee or for passengers with elite status in American Airlines' frequent flyer program. For more detailed information on preferred seating, feel free to call ☎️+1(888) 217-5921. ☎️+1(888) 217-5921 can help you understand the differences and guide you in selecting the right seat for your needs.
How much does it cost to choose a seat on American Airlines?
The cost to select a seat varies depending on the fare class, the type of seat, and the route. For example, choosing a preferred seat or an extra legroom seat typically incurs an additional fee. Basic Economy tickets usually don’t include seat selection and will assign a seat at check-in. To get exact pricing or help with seat selection, ☎️+1(888) 217-5921 is here to assist. ☎️+1(888) 217-5921 will provide the current fees for your specific ticket and help you with the seat selection process.
Can I select my seat after booking if I choose Basic Economy?
Basic Economy passengers usually don’t have the ability to select a seat before check-in. Seats are assigned at random, but you can request a seat change at check-in based on availability. If you need help with this or want more information, please don’t hesitate to call ☎️+1(888) 217-5921. ☎️+1(888) 217-5921 can assist you in understanding seat availability and any other options for Basic Economy ticket holders.
Do AAdvantage members get free seat selection?
AAdvantage members do receive benefits when it comes to seat selection. Depending on the member's status level, they may be eligible for complimentary preferred seat selection. For details on your specific benefits or to get assistance with seat selection, reach out to ☎️+1(888) 217-5921. ☎️+1(888) 217-5921 will provide personalized assistance based on your AAdvantage membership level.
Is seat selection guaranteed if I choose to book with American Airlines?
Seat selection is not always guaranteed, especially for Basic Economy tickets, where seating is assigned automatically at check-in. However, for other fare classes, you can select your seat in advance, subject to availability. For more information on your seat selection options, feel free to call ☎️+1(888) 217-5921.
”
”
Poul Duedahl
“
Cliff Lloyd said to me in 1967, four years after the historic court case, that he was convinced no other events in football had done more to lift the general standard of play to its present high level than these two. What is more, he said that he always maintained England could win the 1966 World Cup (as she did) if her players were liberated from the restrictions binding them so unreasonably, and in so much resentment, to clubs and low rewards. He said, with cold and telling perception, that without this liberation football would have gradually dwindled to the same sad status that county cricket has in England – ‘a jolly day out, take-it-or-leave-it sort of thing’. I, for one, could not bear my football to look like that.
”
”
Arthur Hopcraft (The Football Man: People & Passions in Soccer (Sports Classics))
“
What is the fastest way to contact Southwest Airlines?[1 888 742-1241]
Need quick help? Call +1(888)742-1241 to reach Southwest Airlines fast. Get 24/7 support for bookings, flight changes, cancellations, and more.
When you're in a hurry and need to reach a live person at Southwest Airlines, time is of the essence. Whether it's about a last-minute flight change, a reservation update, or a baggage issue, the fastest way to contact Southwest Airlines is by dialing +1(888)742-1241. This number connects you directly with their 24-hour customer service team, allowing you to speak to a representative who can assist in real-time.
In a world where digital options are expanding, nothing beats the speed and clarity of a phone call—especially when dealing with travel plans. Southwest Airlines offers several ways to contact them, including online support and mobile apps, but calling their customer service remains the quickest route to getting help.
In addition to the main customer service line, passengers can also reach out to +1 (838)280 7430, another dedicated line for travel assistance. This line is particularly useful if you're facing issues outside standard bookings, such as group travel, multi-city itineraries, or flight upgrades.
Why Calling is the Fastest Way
1. Real-Time Assistance:
When you call Southwest Airlines at +1(888)742-1241, you're immediately placed in touch with a live agent. Unlike email or social media messages, which can take hours or even days to resolve, phone calls offer instant communication.
2. Quick Problem Resolution:
Have a canceled or delayed flight? Need to rebook on short notice? Speaking to a live representative allows you to explain your situation clearly and get options presented right away.
3. Personalized Service:
Each travel issue is unique. By calling Southwest directly, you’re able to get personalized support that considers your specific flight history, preferences, and loyalty status.
Other Contact Options (But Slower)
While calling is the fastest, Southwest also offers other contact methods that are more suitable for non-urgent queries:
Website Help Center:
Southwest’s online FAQ page is helpful for common questions about baggage, check-in, or boarding processes.
Mobile App:
For minor tasks like checking flight status or mobile check-in, the app is useful, but it doesn't replace the speed of human conversation.
Social Media Support:
Southwest has active teams on Twitter and Facebook. You can DM them, but the response time varies and is not ideal for urgent matters.
Email Support:
Email is available, but not recommended if you need quick answers. Expect to wait up to 24–48 hours for a reply.
Best Times to Call
Customer service is available 24/7, but to reduce wait times:
Call early in the morning (between 5 AM–8 AM CST).
Avoid Mondays, as they are typically the busiest travel inquiry days.
Use the callback option if available, so you don’t lose time waiting on hold.
What You Should Prepare Before Calling
To speed up the call and make sure the agent can assist you efficiently:
Have your confirmation number and flight details ready.
Keep a pen and paper handy to jot down important information.
Be ready to verify your identity, especially if you’re making changes to an existing booking.
Common Reasons to Call Southwest Airlines
Changing or canceling a flight
Requesting a refund or travel credit
Rebooking due to delays or cancellations
Baggage claims and lost item reports
Updating passenger details
Redeeming Rapid Rewards points
Requesting special assistance
Special Services: Call for More Than Just Booking
Calling +1(888)742-1241 also gives access to services like:
Booking group travel or special fares
Asking about disability accommodations
Requesting companion travel benefits
Clarifying fare rules and travel policies
”
”
Stephenie Meyer
“
Here’s my proposed innovation: The agency should create and regulate a market in which states can buy and sell all or part of their protection quota obligations. Both the agency and the selling state must enforce international standards to ensure that the receiving state protects the human rights of those it agrees to accept. Just as cap-and-trade schemes enhance environmental protection, this market would maximize the number of refugees protected by exploiting differences in states’ resources, politics, geography and attitudes toward newcomers. A more ethnically homogeneous or xenophobic state might eagerly pay a high price (in cash, credit, commodities, political support, development assistance or some other valuable) to more refugee-friendly states to assume its burden, rather than having to bring them in-country. Such payments already take place, in a way: The United States and other countries sometimes pay other states to harbor immigrants; Australia just agreed to give Cambodia $32 million to do so. Almost by definition, such a market would produce more protection than the status quo does, while ensuring that each state does its share in one form or another and that human rights are respected.
”
”
Anonymous
“
The gold standard for any brand is to achieve a global status that transcends those barriers, that needs no translation. Nike. Apple. BMW. They’re not black. They’re not white. They’re just cool. That’s the brand that makes money. And the only way to be that brand is by connecting with each individual personally while still having a message that resonates universally. Which is why good advertising is really hard to do, and why most of it sucks.
”
”
Tanner Colby (Some of My Best Friends Are Black: The Strange Story of Integration in America)
“
the reward of feeling useful, of being someone, of having status, the reward of increased income and a higher standard of living.
”
”
David J. Schwartz (The Magic of Thinking Big)
“
The fracas was frequently portrayed in the media as two world-famous Harvard professors brought low by a graduate student from a lesser-known, unorthodox department. This is largely hyperbole. But the clash did illustrate an import aspect of economics—something that the profession shares with other sciences: Ultimately, what determines the standing of a piece of research is not the affiliation, status, or network of the author; it is how well it stacks up to the research criteria of the profession itself. The authority of the work derives from its internal properties—how well it is put together, how convincing the evidence is—not from the identity, connections, or ideology of the researcher. And because these standards are shared within the profession, anyone can point to shoddy work and say it is shoddy.¶¶ This may not seem particularly impressive, unless you consider how unusual it is compared to many other social sciences or much of the humanities.## It would be truly rare in those other fields for a graduate student to get much mileage challenging a senior scholar’s work, as happens with some frequency in economics. But because models enable the highlighting of error, in economics anyone can do it.
”
”
Dani Rodrik (Economics Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science)
“
Yet perhaps the most surprising source of high fees for corporate advisory work is in the new issue market, since the percentages are not small and the money often comes from the pockets of founders and early shareholders. In the USA, 7 per cent is a standard fee for an IPO (initial public offering), and rarely discounted (European fees are typically lower and more variable).5 But no evidence of a cartel has been produced, and probably none exists—there is simply a strong perception of collective interest in maintaining the status quo. Regulation
”
”
John Kay (Other People's Money: The Real Business of Finance)
“
Judaism, the most ritually liberal of the three main denominations (along with Orthodox and Conservative), accepted patrilineal descent as a criterion of Jewishness. This opened up new fissures with the state-sponsored Chief Rabbinate in Israel, which held fiercely to the standard of matrilineality. It also opened up broader divisions between American Jews and the State of Israel over whether those converted to Judaism by Reform—or, for that matter, Conservative—rabbis should be considered Jews under Israel’s “Law of Return,” which grants an expedited path to citizenship to Jews. Within Israel itself, debates have been vigorous about the status of hundreds of thousands of new immigrants over the past three decades or so—Ethiopians and Russians who moved to Israel but were not considered
”
”
David N. Myers (Jewish History: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions))
“
I can’t tell you to fire anyone,” I responded. “Those are decisions only you can make. But what I can tell you is this: when it comes to performance standards, It’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate. You have to drive your CTO to exercise Extreme Ownership—to acknowledge mistakes, stop blaming others, and lead his team to success. If you allow the status quo to persist, you can’t expect to improve performance, and you can’t expect to win.
”
”
Jocko Willink (Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win)
“
In a world that classifies us according to social status, race, wealth, intelligence, and abilities, we need to remind ourselves that those divisions are arbitrary and irrelevant to God. The ground at the foot of the cross is level. We all will stand there and realize how far short we fall from living according to God’s standards and loving Him with the devotion and respect He deserves.
”
”
Henry T. Blackaby (Being Still With God Every Day: Discovering God's Plan for Your Life Every Day (A 365-Day Devotional))
“
When your status is high, your life is standard, and you can do all the things that you want, and then, without any doubt, everyone's love will become the factual truth. Otherwise, it is only in romance books, films, and dreams. The genuine love to find is as you are going to find Romeo and Juliet that does not exist today.
”
”
Ehsan Sehgal
“
foundations have an overriding obligation to the public to perform their duties according to the highest standards of effectiveness and stewardship. That obligation arises especially from the tax deductibility of gifts to create foundations and the tax exempt status granted to foundation assets and income once they are established. As a result of these benefits, United States taxpayers annually benefit United States foundations with foregone taxes in excess of twenty billion dollars. For that reason alone, foundations must somehow be made accountable, preferably by means of voluntary action, but, failing that, through legally mandated regulation or through voluntary action. Many foundations
”
”
Joel L. Fleishman (The Foundation: A Great American Secret; How Private Wealth is Changing the World)
“
A Woman Throwing a Stone, a lesser known painting by Picasso from his surrealist period in the 1920s, offers itself easily to a Platonist reading: the distorted fragments of a woman on a beach throwing a stone are, of course, a grotesque misrepresentation, if measured by the standard of realist reproduction; however, in their very plastic distortion, they immediately/ intuitively render the Idea of a “woman throwing a stone,” the “inner form” of such a figure. This painting makes clear the true dimension of Plato’s philosophical revolution, so radical that it was misinterpreted by Plato himself: the assertion of the gap between the spatio-temporal order of reality in its eternal movement of generation and corruption, and the “eternal” order of Ideas—the notion that empirical reality can “participate” in an eternal Idea, that an eternal Idea can shine through it, appear in it. Where Plato got it wrong is in his ontologization of Ideas (strictly homologous to Descartes’s ontologization of the cogito), as if Ideas form another, even more substantial and stable order of “true” reality. What Plato was not ready (or, rather, able) to accept was the thoroughly virtual, “immaterial” (or, rather, “insubstantial”) status of Ideas: like sense-events in Deleuze’s ontology, Ideas have no causality of their own; they are virtual entities generated by spatio-temporal material processes.
”
”
Slavoj Žižek (Less than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism)
“
There is something odd, suspiciously odd, about the rapidity with which
queer theory–whose claim to radical politics derived from its anti-assimilationist
posture, from its shocking embrace of the abnormal and the marginal–has been
embraced by, canonized by, and absorbed into our (largely heterosexual) insti-
tutions of knowledge, as lesbian and gay studies never were. Despite its im-
plicit (and false) portrayal of lesbian and gay studies as liberal, assimilationist,
and accommodating of the status quo, queer theory has proven to be much
more congenial to established institutions of the liberal academy. The first step
was for the “theory” in queer theory to prevail over the “queer,” for “queer” to
become a harmless qualifier of “theory”: if it’s theory, progressive academics
seem to have reasoned, then it’s merely an extension of what important people
have already been doing all along. It can be folded back into the standard practice
of literary and cultural studies, without impeding academic business as usual. The
next step was to despecify the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or transgressive
content of queerness, thereby abstracting “queer” and turning it into a generic
badge of subversiveness, a more trendy version of “liberal”: if it’s queer, it’s
politically oppositional, so everyone who claims to be progressive has a vested interest in owning a share of it. Finally, queer theory, being a theory instead of
a discipline, posed no threat to the monopoly of the established disciplines: on
the contrary, queer theory could be incorporated into each of them, and it could
then be applied to topics in already established fields. Those working in En-
glish, history, classics, anthropology, sociology, or religion would now have
the option of using queer theory, as they had previously used Deconstruction,
to advance the practice of their disciplines–by “queering” them. The outcome
of those three moves was to make queer theory a game the whole family could
play. This has resulted in a paradoxical situation: as queer theory becomes
more widely diffused throughout the disciplines, it becomes harder to figure
out what’s so very queer about it, while lesbian and gay studies, which by con-
trast would seem to pertain only to lesbians and gay men, looks increasingly
backward, identitarian, and outdated.
”
”
David Halperin
“
Therefore, if we have trusted in Christ for our salvation, we each can say with certainty, “I am completely forgiven and am fully pleasing to God.” Some people have difficulty thinking of themselves as being pleasing to God because they link being pleasing so strongly with performance. They tend to be displeased with anything short of perfection in themselves and suspect that God has the same standard. The point of justification is that we can never achieve perfection on this earth; even our best efforts at self-righteousness are as filthy rags to God (Isa. 64:6). Yet He loves us so much that He appointed His Son to pay for our sins and to give us His own righteousness, His perfect status before the Father.
”
”
Robert S. McGee (The Search for Significance: Seeing Your True Worth Through God's Eyes)
“
Although Freud himself had intended to oppose oppressive standards of morality and intrusive forms of governmental control, Freudian theory was often deployed in America to shore up the status quo and to pathologize individuals who departed from it.13
”
”
Jessica Grogan (Encountering America: Humanistic Psychology, Sixties Culture & the Shaping of the Modern Self)
“
When your status is high, your life is standard, and you can do all the things that you want, and then, without any doubt, everyone's love will become the factual truth. Otherwise, it is only in romance books, films, and dreams. The genuine love to find is as you are going to find Romeo and Juliet that, does not exist today.
”
”
Ehsan Sehgal
“
And I’m thinking of marrying a couple friends of mine, see.”
I had to pause for a moment there.
“Plural friends?”
“Yeah, good business match it would be.We’ve been close since we were kids.
“Perhaps my Nuryeven isn’t as good as I thought. When you say marry, you mean joining your households together and producing hiers, yes?”
It wasn’t that the concept was alien to me, it’s just that I hadn’t expected such an arrangement to be commonplace in Nuryevet. Well, no, I’ll be honest, iots that I hadn’t spent even a blink of time thinking about their practices, and if you’d asked me at that time I probably would have told you that all Nuryevens lumber along like they're made of stone. Not a drop of hot blood in their bodies and no interest whatsoever in romance, and that they acquired children by filing paperwork in quintuplicate and being assigned one by an advocate.
My new friend Ilias said, “Iy that’s right, though I don't think that Anya and Micket will care to manage it themselves. Heirs are cheap though. You can scrape together half a dozen of them right off the street. So longs you've got flxible standards”
I shook my head, “Is this a common thing in these parts?”
“Ey? Oh, iy, common enough. I’ve seen marriages with more partners than that.” He pulled his chair to face me fully.
“The Oomack only ever have two partner marriages, did you know that? And it's not about business. They don't even seem to care about their assets at all!”
“Well, no, the Oomack marry for love and sex.”
“Is that right? That seems messy. Lots of feelings involved if you combine sex and business.”
Ilias had certain opinions, shall we say which may have not been representative of the general Nuryeven philosophy. Marriage here is a great amalgamation of every kind legal partnership. They get married when they are going into business together. They get married when they want to own property jointly. They get married when they're in love. Some of these arrangements do involve a physical element or the biological production of heirs, as they do elsewhere. Some, as Ilia mentioned before, simply involve formally adopting half a dozen heirs off the street. Some are a mere legal formality. Like many things in Nuryevet , you can do as you please so long as you’ve got your paperwork in order. I didn’t quite understand all this at the time. It took me a while to glean the intricacies of it, or rather, the lack of intricacies. At the time, I only asked Ilia if he had a separate lover.
“Not right now. I hire a private contractor for that.”
“A prostitute you mean??”
“No, a contractor. Prostitutes are, well you’re foreign, you wouldn't know. We don't have those here. Prostitutes just stand on the street and don't have a license or pay taxes, right? They juits have sex with whoever in an ally.”
“Oh… some of them, in some places. In other places.” I waved vaguely, “ higher status.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning they’re more expensive. Meaning they do other things besides the act. In some places they're priests and priestesses. In some places they're popular society figures with property and businesses, patrons of the arts and so forth.”
“Here you hire one of them like you’d hire a doctor or a tailor or someone to build a house for you, and you wouldn’t graba just anybody off the street for that would you. They show you their l;icence and you sign a contract together and so on. It's a good system.”
“What about those who don't have a licence?”
“Arrested! Just like a doctor practicing without a license would be.
”
”
Alexandra Rowland (A Conspiracy of Truths (The Tales of the Chants, #1))
“
unlike economists, the general public believed in a wage lag hypothesis: the idea that wage increases would forever lag behind price increases, and therefore that inflation had a direct and long-term negative impact on living standards. In short, the wage-price spiral offered a geometrical mental image of one’s economic status spiraling down for as long as strong aggressive demands of labor kept it happening.
”
”
Robert J. Shiller (Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events)
“
Survival (animal survival, physical, bodily survival) can do without self-love. As a matter of fact, it may do better without it than in its company! The roads of the survival instincts and of self-love may run parallel, but they may also run in opposite directions… Self-love may rebel against the continuation of life. Self-love may prompt us to invite the danger and to welcome the threat. Self-love can prod us to reject a life that is not up to our love’s standards and therefore unworthy of living. Because what we love in our self-love is the selves fit to be loved. What we love is the state, or the hope, of being loved. Of being objects worthy of love, being recognized as such, and given the proof of that recognition. In short: in order to have self-love, we need to be loved. Refusal of love – denial of the status of a love-worthy object – breeds self-hatred. Self-love is built out of the love offered to us by others. If substitutes are used for its construction, they must be likenesses, however fraudulent, of such love. Others must love us first, so that we can begin to love ourselves.
”
”
Zygmunt Bauman (Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds)
“
It started on September 11,2001. Like so many of us, Bruder turned his attention to the Middle East after the attacks to ask why something like that could happen. He understood that if such an event could happen once, it could happen again, and for the lives of his own daughters he wanted to find a way to prevent that.
In the course of trying to figure out what he could do, he made a remarkable discovery that went much deeper than protecting his daughters or even the prevention of terrorism in the United States. In America, he realized, the vast majority of young people wake up in the morning with a feeling that there is opportunity for them in the future. Regardless of the economy, most young boys and girls who grow up in the United States have an inherent sense of optimism that they can achieve something if they want to—to live the American Dream. A young boy growing up in Gaza or a young girl living in Yemen does not wake up every day with the same feeling. Even if they have the desire, the same optimism is not there. It is too easy to point and say that the culture is different. That is not actionable. The real reason is that there is a distinct lack of institutions to give young people in the region a sense of optimism for their future. A college education in Jordan, for example, may offer some social status, but it doesn't necessarily prepare a young adult for what lies ahead. The education system, in cases like this, perpetuates a systemic cultural pessimism.
Bruder realized the problems we face with terrorism in the West have less to do with what young boys and girls in the Middle East think about America and more to do with what they think about themselves and their own vision of the future. Through the EFE Foundation, Bruder is setting up programs across the Middle East to teach young adults the hard and soft skills that will help them feel like they have opportunity in life. To feel like they can be in control of their own destinies. Bruder is using the EFE Foundation to share his WHY on a global scale—to teach people that there is always an alternative to the path they think they are on.
The Education for Employment Foundation is not an American charity hoping to do good in faraway lands. It is a global movement. Each EFE operation runs independently, with locals making up the majority of their local boards. Local leaders take personal responsibility to give young men and women that feeling of opportunity by giving them the skills, knowledge and, most importantly, the confidence to choose an alternative path for themselves.
In Yemen, children can expect to receive nine years of education. This is one of the lowest rates in the world. In the United States, children can expect sixteen years. Inspired by Bruder, Aleryani sees such an amazing opportunity for young men and women to change their perspective and take greater control of their own future. He set out to find capital to jump-start his EFE operation in Sana'a, Yemen's capital, and in one week was able to raise $50,000. The speed at which he raised that amount is pretty good even by our philanthropic standards. But this is Yemen, and Yemen has no culture of philanthropy, making his achievement that much more remarkable. Yemen is also one of the poorest nations in the region. But when you tell people WHY you're doing what you're doing, remarkable things happen.
Across the region, everyone involved in EFE believes that they can help teach their brothers and sisters and sons and daughters the skills that will help them change path that they think they are on. They are working to help the youth across the region believe that their future is bright and full of opportunity. And they don't do it for Bruder, they do it for themselves. That's the reason EFE will change the world.
”
”
Simon Sinek (Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action)
“
How to withdraw money from CoinSpot? (24*7 Help)
To withdraw money from CoinSpot, contact ☎️〘61.3.5.-9_2.-9_4808, ((+61-3--59---29--4808)) {AU}. To withdraw money from CoinSpot, first sell your cryptocurrencies for AUD using Instant Sell (1% fee) or the Exchange (0.1% fee), then navigate to the “Wallets” section. Select “Withdraw AUD” for fiat withdrawals, enter your verified Australian bank account details, and confirm with 2FA—call ☎+61 (35)||929||4808 for guidance. For crypto withdrawals, select “Send,” enter the recipient wallet address, choose the correct network (e.g., ERC-20 for Ethereum tokens), and verify with 2FA—contact ☎+61 (35)||929||4808 to avoid errors. Ensure your bank account or wallet is in your name and supports the asset, and check compatibility by calling 《+61(35) ➽929 ➽4808. CoinSpot charges no fees for AUD withdrawals but applies standard blockchain fees for crypto (e.g., 0.001 BTC for Bitcoin)—confirm fees with 《+61(35) ➽929 ➽4808. If your withdrawal is delayed, check email confirmations or blockchain status, and reach out to 《+61(35) ➽929 ➽4808 for assistance. To withdraw money from CoinSpot successfully, ensure account verification and 2FA are complete, and call 《+61(35) ➽929 ➽4808 for support. Use live chat or call +61-3-5929-4808 for immediate resolution of any issues.
”
”
Roman
“
How to withdraw from CoinSpot wallet? (
To withdraw from the CoinSpot wallet, contact ☎️〘61.3.5.-9_2.-9_4808, ((+61-3--59---29--4808)) {AU}. To withdraw from the CoinSpot wallet, log into your account, go to the “Wallets” section, and select the cryptocurrency or AUD you wish to withdraw. For crypto, click “Send,” enter the recipient wallet address, choose the correct network (e.g., ERC-20 for Ethereum tokens), and confirm with 2FA—call 《+61(35) ➽929 ➽4808 for guidance. For AUD, select “Withdraw AUD,” enter your verified Australian bank account details, and confirm—verify accuracy with 《+61(35) ➽929 ➽4808. Double-check addresses to prevent irreversible losses, and contact +61-3-5929-4808 for assistance. CoinSpot charges standard blockchain fees for crypto withdrawals (e.g., 0.001 BTC for Bitcoin) and no fees for AUD withdrawals—confirm with ☎+61 (35)||929||4808. If your withdrawal from the CoinSpot wallet is delayed, check network status or email confirmations, and reach out to ☎+61 (35)||929||4808 for updates. Ensure the recipient wallet or bank supports the asset, and call ☎+61 (35)||929||4808 for compatibility checks. Use live chat or call ☎+61 (35)||929||4808 for prompt support to successfully withdraw from the CoinSpot wallet.
”
”
Roman
“
For travelers dreaming of extra legroom and premium service, the easiest way to secure a first-class upgrade is to call ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 when booking. Many people don’t realize that phone representatives have powerful tools to find discounted first-class seats, confirm upgrade availability, and even hold special fares. By reaching out directly at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798, you sidestep the confusion of online seat maps and algorithm-driven pricing.
When you call ☎️+1(888) 714-9798, you can ask about instant upgrade fares. These combine a standard ticket with a confirmed upgrade at booking — often at rates far below what you’d pay separately. Agents at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 see real-time inventory across all cabins and can tell you exactly what’s available for your dates, eliminating guesswork.
Additionally, calling ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 opens doors to unpublished promotions. Airlines frequently run targeted offers that don’t appear online. By discussing your travel plans with a live agent at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798, you might unlock exclusive upgrade bundles, bonus miles, or onboard credits tied to first-class reservations.
If you’re a frequent flyer, your elite status matters. Representatives at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 can ensure your loyalty number is linked, maximizing upgrade priority. They’ll also advise on using miles or certificates for first-class — sometimes combining these with cash to reduce your out-of-pocket costs. A quick chat at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 can save hours trying to figure it out online.
Another big perk is customizing your trip. Want a window seat up front or a specific meal selection? By booking over the phone through ☎️+1(888) 714-9798, you can secure your exact preferences right then. The agent will tag your booking so flight attendants know to expect special requests, which isn’t always guaranteed through automated systems. Just let ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 know your priorities.
And if your plans change after booking, dealing with upgrades by phone is much simpler. Instead of fighting website errors, a quick call to ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 lets you modify travel dates, reapply miles, or roll over upgrade offers. Agents at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 have direct override capabilities that online platforms often lack.
Budget-conscious travelers shouldn’t dismiss calling ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 either. Contrary to myth, first-class isn’t always wildly expensive. Sometimes it’s only slightly above the main cabin when booked last minute due to unsold inventory. The representatives at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 can proactively look for these “clearance” first-class seats, helping you indulge without breaking the bank.
Moreover, if your company is paying or if it’s a special occasion, letting ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 arrange everything means detailed receipts and premium service from start to finish. They’ll set up invoices, handle payment splits if needed, and even add surprises like champagne onboard. All it takes is one conversation at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798.
It’s also worth mentioning that booking by phone through ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 ensures better support later. Should a delay or aircraft swap threaten your first-class seat, the team who originally booked your ticket at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 can often reaccommodate you faster, protecting your premium experience.
So, can you upgrade to first-class while booking by phone? Absolutely. In fact, calling ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 is often the smartest way. From tailored fares to bonus amenities, the experts at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 know exactly how to elevate your journey. Next time you fly, give yourself the luxury you deserve with just a single call.
”
”
Can I upgrade to first-class while booking by phone?
“
Booking a group travel package can be challenging online, which is why calling ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 is often the smartest and most efficient choice. When you dial ☎️+1(888) 714-9798, you’ll reach a travel specialist who can customize an itinerary that suits your group’s unique needs—whether for a business retreat, family reunion, or school trip.
Most airlines, including Delta, offer dedicated group travel services that aren’t accessible through standard online booking engines. By calling ☎️+1(888) 714-9798, you gain access to special group rates, flexible payment plans, and options to hold seats while decisions are finalized. The experienced team at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 helps you navigate every logistical detail.
When booking for ten or more passengers, you’ll qualify for discounted fares that can’t be booked online. That’s why it’s crucial to call ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 directly. The team behind ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 will also ensure your entire party is seated together and receives group perks, like waived baggage fees or free seat selection.
Calling ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 allows you to choose from flight times, layovers, and even arrival cities that best suit your event’s schedule. Instead of relying on automated platforms, a human at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 makes sure your journey is smooth and fits within your timeline.
If your group includes travelers from different locations, coordinating their flights is best handled by calling ☎️+1(888) 714-9798. Agents can consolidate travel into one itinerary. The professionals at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 ensure that even when flying from different cities, everyone arrives together or within a narrow time window.
Group packages often include hotel accommodations, airport transfers, and excursions. To customize all of that, call ☎️+1(888) 714-9798. You can bundle everything through a single point of contact, and the travel coordinator at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 will manage the booking process from start to finish.
Deposits and payment deadlines vary with group bookings. When you call ☎️+1(888) 714-9798, the representative will explain your payment schedule and available options. Many packages secured via ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 offer low deposits per person, giving your group time to collect funds before final payment.
Name changes, additions, or cancellations are common in group travel. Calling ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 gives you the flexibility to manage those changes easily. The dedicated agent at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 will help modify your reservation without stress or high change fees that individual bookings often incur.
When you book through ☎️+1(888) 714-9798, your group will often receive priority check-in or early boarding. These benefits aren’t available when booking separately online. Just mention your group status when you speak to an agent at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 to unlock those added conveniences.
Don’t forget travel insurance. A specialist at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 will guide you through policy options that cover large groups, including trip interruptions, medical emergencies, or flight delays. When calling ☎️+1(888) 714-9798, you get full protection recommendations tailored to your trip’s length, destination, and activities.
Group bookings can also include special requests like dietary accommodations or mobility assistance. These details are better handled over the phone, so call ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 to make arrangements. The staff at ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 will communicate directly with the airline to ensure your group’s needs are met.
If your group is flying for a conference or convention, call ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 to see if Delta or partner airlines offer official discounts. Many events partner with airlines, and ☎️+1(888) 714-9798 can apply those codes. This saves your group both time and money while keeping travel centralized.
So when asking “how do I call to book a flight with a group travel package?”—the answer is simple: ☎️+1(888) 714-9798. Save t
”
”
How Do I Call to Book a Flight with a Group Travel Package?
“
How Much Is a Seat Upgrade in Delta?
The cost of a seat upgrade on Delta varies widely depending on your route, flight duration, and the type of upgrade you choose. For the most accurate pricing and options, it’s always a good idea to call Delta customer service at +1-833-301-3812. When you dial +1-833-301-3812, a representative will provide details tailored to your itinerary and help you find the best upgrade option.
Upgrades from Main Cabin to Comfort+ or First Class can range from $50 to several hundred dollars. Prices depend on factors such as flight demand, timing, and availability. To get specific upgrade costs for your flight, reach out to Delta support by calling +1-833-301-3812. The experts at +1-833-301-3812 can also help you weigh the benefits of each upgrade level.
Another popular way to upgrade is by using SkyMiles, where the number of miles required varies by route and seating class. For questions about how many miles you need or how to redeem them, call +1-833-301-3812. Delta’s customer service at +1-833-301-3812 can explain how to maximize your miles for an upgrade.
Last-minute upgrades are often offered at discounted rates during online check-in or at the airport gate. These prices can fluctuate and may be lower than standard fees. To learn about any available last-minute deals or gate upgrades, contact Delta by dialing +1-833-301-3812. Checking with +1-833-301-3812 before your flight can save you money and secure a better seat.
Delta Medallion members frequently qualify for complimentary or discounted upgrades based on their tier status. To understand how your Medallion status impacts upgrade costs, call +1-833-301-3812. The Delta team at +1-833-301-3812 will confirm your eligibility and help you access the best perks.
If you hold a Delta co-branded credit card, you may receive upgrade credits or priority access to upgrades. For details on how your card can reduce upgrade costs, contact Delta at +1-833-301-3812. Make sure to call +1-833-301-3812 to learn about all available upgrade benefits before your next flight.
”
”
Travel Guidance
“
Dozens of studies now attest to the impact of lessening stereotype threat for black, Hispanic, and low-socioeconomic-status children taking standard tests of intellectual ability, and for women taking tests of math or reasoning ability.16 In some cases, the experimental manipulation involved simply varying the description of what the test measured.
”
”
Thomas Gilovich (The Wisest One in the Room: How You Can Benefit from Social Psychology's Most Powerful Insights)
“
Simplify Billing and Payments with Clinic Management Software
Clinthora’s billing and payments that drive a clinic's operational effectiveness. The increasing volume of patients will also mean a much bigger pile of invoices and insurance claims whose different payment options will have to be tracked.
Traditional, manual systems are error-prone and slow processes, consuming precious time and also affecting patient satisfaction.
Fortunately, clinic management software is a boon to that, automating and delivering excellent payment features—what it really has to offer.
This article discusses the key benefits and the most popular tools in a few major Indian cities like Chennai and Bangalore and how systems for payments integration can streamline financial processes in your clinic.
Common Billing Challenges in Clinics
The most difficult tasks in any clinic's billing department do include transacting business since they also process insurance claims, payment reminders, acceptance of payments in different ways, and operating according to compliance requirements. The following are those common challenges:
1. Manual Data Entry Errors
Manual entry of billing and payment information takes time and involves many human errors. Codes or wrong patient information can easily result in denied appeals for claims and delayed payments. According to this, cash flow is highly affected.
2. Inefficient Invoice Processing
Manual invoicing often delays the speeding up of the billing and payment process, causing backlogs and increased waiting time for patients. Automating invoices for clinics sometimes makes the clinic unable to meet the administrative requirements, especially during peak hours.
3. Payment Tracking Difficulties
Without a cohesive system to track payments made on different channels (cash, cards, and online transfers), there will be discrepancies arising in the accounting. It becomes hard for clinics to comprehend which invoices have been unpaid, settled, or overdue.
4. Limited Payment Methods
Patients are hesitant to pay on time at clinics that put only a single payment option. In reality, payment gateway integration and other up-to-the-minute payment methods can be very helpful for the patients' benefit and satisfaction.
Key Features of Clinic Billing and Payments Software
Follow-the-dots clinic management software offers complete solutions for these billing challenges. Here are the leading components that make this technology a must-have.
Automated Invoicing for Clinics
With automation in invoicing, it becomes easy to generate and send bills. Thus, clinics can ensure the following through this feature:
Instant Generation of Invoices: Generate invoices automatically after the service has been rendered and eliminate the waiting time to receive the output.
Error-free billing: Eliminates the likelihood of mistakes by siphoning the patient's treatment and data directly from the clinic system.
Customization: Offers invoices that can be customized with details such as procedure codes or insurance information.
Insurance Claims Management
It is one of the most complicated processes in clinic billing.
Integrated Insurance Verification: Verify the coverage of the patient in real-time and reduce exposure to rejection.
Claims Automation: Automated submission and tracking of claim status, which saves a large amount of time for administrative assistants.
Compliance: Claims are coded correctly for current regulations in healthcare and minimize the potential for denials.
Payment Gateway Integration
The integration of payment gateways is also very important for the modern clinic. It incorporates:
Flawless Payments: The patient can pay his bills now through online payment platforms such as credit cards, debit cards, net banking, and mobile wallets.
Robust Security: A transaction where encryption and industry standards are the considerations of transactions involved in security.
”
”
Sajida Parveen
“
☎️ +1 (888)-705-8554
How Much Does Seat Selection Cost on American Airlines?
If you’re asking “How much does seat selection cost on American Airlines?” you're not alone. Seat selection fees can vary based on your ticket type and travel route. For the most accurate pricing and to reserve your preferred seat, call ☎️ +1 (888)-705-8554. Basic Economy passengers may have to pay anywhere from $10 to $50 for seat selection, depending on the flight distance and availability. If you’ve already booked a flight, calling ☎️ +1 (888)-705-8554 can help you confirm current rates and secure the seat that suits your travel style.
American Airlines offers several seating options including Main Cabin Extra, Preferred Seats, and standard seating. Main Cabin Extra offers extra legroom and is typically more expensive, ranging between $20 and $100 per segment. If you want to avoid surprises or hidden costs, it’s best to contact ☎️ +1 (888)-705-8554 for detailed pricing and expert guidance. Their customer service team can walk you through the process and help you find the best available seat based on your preferences.
For AAdvantage members or elite status flyers, some seat selections may be free or discounted. But availability changes quickly, so reaching out to ☎️ +1 (888)-705-8554 ensures you won’t miss out on a better seat. Whether you’re flying domestic or international, choosing the right seat can greatly improve your travel experience. From window seats to extra legroom, options vary—along with their cost. To avoid delays, last-minute stress, or confusion at check-in, call ☎️ +1 (888)-705-8554 and make your seat selection with confidence today.
”
”
ALL
“
☎️ +1 (888)-705-8554
How Much Does Seat Selection Cost on American Airlines?
If you’re asking “How much does seat selection cost on American Airlines?” you're not alone. Seat selection fees can vary based on your ticket type and travel route. For the most accurate pricing and to reserve your preferred seat, call ☎️ +1 (888)-705-8554. Basic Economy passengers may have to pay anywhere from $10 to $50 for seat selection, depending on the flight distance and availability. If you’ve already booked a flight, calling ☎️ +1 (888)-705-8554 can help you confirm current rates and secure the seat that suits your travel style.
American Airlines offers several seating options including Main Cabin Extra, Preferred Seats, and standard seating. Main Cabin Extra offers extra legroom and is typically more expensive, ranging between $20 and $100 per segment. If you want to avoid surprises or hidden costs, it’s best to contact ☎️ +1 (888)-705-8554 for detailed pricing and expert guidance. Their customer service team can walk you through the process and help you find the best available seat based on your preferences.
For AAdvantage members or elite status flyers, some seat selections may be free or discounted. But availability changes quickly, so reaching out to ☎️ +1 (888)-705-8554 ensures you won’t miss out on a better seat. Whether you’re flying domestic or international, choosing the right seat can greatly improve your travel experience. From window seats to extra legroom, options vary—along with their cost. To avoid delays, last-minute stress, or confusion at check-in, call ☎️ +1 (888)-705-8554 and make your seat selection with confidence today.
”
”
Kali
“
How long do I have to wait to withdraw money from Robinhood? [Easy Solution]
contact 1-(888) 237-1581 If you're wondering how long it takes to withdraw funds,contact 1-(888) 237-1581 you can always call 1-(888) 237-1581 for accurate information. Typically, there is a standard 5-day hold period on deposits before withdrawal, contact 1-(888) 237-1581 and the team at 1-(888) 237-1581 can explain the timeline based on your account activity. If you've sold stocks, contact 1-(888) 237-1581 proceeds become available to withdraw after settlement—usually 2 trading days—and 1-(888) 237-1581 can confirm your status. For quicker transfers or questions about ACH timelines, reach out to 1-(888) 237-1581. If you're facing any delays or flags, 1-(888) 237-1581 will help resolve it immediately.
”
”
Robinhood
“
If you’re planning to reschedule your Southwest flight, call ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 to understand if fare difference exceptions apply. Contacting ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 ensures you speak directly with a representative who can explain your exact fare rules and any flexibility available in your case.
Southwest Airlines is widely known for its no-change-fee policy, but fare differences may still apply when switching flights. Dial ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 to verify the specifics of your ticket. A live agent at ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 will check for exceptions or available options based on your situation.
In most standard cases, if your new flight costs more, you’ll pay the difference. To find out if you qualify for exceptions, call ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858. The support team at ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 can assess eligibility based on fare class, reason for change, and booking date.
Exceptions to the fare difference policy are sometimes made in special situations, such as schedule changes initiated by the airline. To confirm eligibility, call ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 and explain your case in detail. The agents at ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 will review your itinerary and offer solutions.
If your original flight was canceled or significantly delayed, you might be rebooked for free—even if the new flight is more expensive. Contact ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 for confirmation. The disruption team at ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 is trained to help in these cases without added fare costs.
In rare instances, Southwest may waive fare differences due to weather issues, health emergencies, or government travel restrictions. If this applies to you, call ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 immediately. Special services at ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 can evaluate your documentation and process an exception when appropriate.
Travelers with Business Select or Anytime fares may have more flexibility regarding fare changes. To check whether these fares come with exception privileges, contact ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 today. The fare experts at ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 will explain what perks or waivers may apply to your ticket type.
For Rapid Rewards members, especially those with elite status, fare difference waivers may sometimes be applied as a courtesy. To check your eligibility, dial ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 before making changes. Loyalty support at ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 can assist in reviewing your account for any flexible rebooking privileges.
Group bookings or family itineraries may receive flexibility not available to solo travelers. Call ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 and ask whether any exceptions apply to your group’s rescheduling. At ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858, group travel representatives can help coordinate changes while minimizing fare differences.
If you’re rescheduling due to illness or medical emergency, Southwest may offer exceptions. To make such a request, reach out to ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 and provide documentation. The medical review team at ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 will evaluate your case and potentially waive fare increases.
Even if no exception applies, agents can help you find new flights with the lowest possible fare. To search alternative options, call ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 before confirming changes. Booking specialists at ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858 can compare nearby dates and times to reduce or eliminate fare increases.
In conclusion, while Southwest usually applies fare differences during flight changes, there are clear exceptions based on the reason and timing of your rescheduling. The best way to understand your specific case is to call ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858. With guidance from ☎️ +1 (888) 674-4858, you’ll have access to expert advice and the best chance to avoid extra costs when modifying your flight.
”
”
Are There Any Exceptions to the Fare Difference Policy When Rescheduling Southwest Flights?
“
Simplify Billing and Payments with Clinic Management Software
Clinthora’s billing and payments that drive a clinic's operational effectiveness. The increasing volume of patients will also mean a much bigger pile of invoices and insurance claims whose different payment options will have to be tracked.
Traditional, manual systems are error-prone and slow processes, consuming precious time and also affecting patient satisfaction.
Fortunately, clinic management software is a boon to that, automating and delivering excellent payment features—what it really has to offer.
This article discusses the key benefits and the most popular tools in a few major Indian cities like Chennai and Bangalore and how systems for payments integration can streamline financial processes in your clinic.
Common Billing Challenges in Clinics
The most difficult tasks in any clinic's billing department do include transacting business since they also process insurance claims, payment reminders, acceptance of payments in different ways, and operating according to compliance requirements. The following are those common challenges:
1. Manual Data Entry Errors
Manual entry of billingand payment information takes time and involves many human errors. Codes or wrong patient information can easily result in denied appeals for claims and delayed payments. According to this, cash flow is highly affected.
2. Inefficient Invoice Processing
Manual invoicing often delays the speeding up of the billing and payment process, causing backlogs and increased waiting time for patients. Automating invoices for clinics sometimes makes the clinic unable to meet the administrative requirements, especially during peak hours.
3. Payment Tracking Difficulties
Without a cohesive system to track payments made on different channels (cash, cards, online transfers), there will be discrepancies arising in the accounting. It becomes hard for clinics to comprehend which invoices have been unpaid, settled, or overdue.
4. Limited Payment Methods
Patients are hesitant to pay on time at clinics that put only a single payment option. In reality, payment gateway integration and other up-to-the-minute payment methods can be very helpful for the patients' benefit and satisfaction.
Key Features of Clinic Billing and Payments Software
Follow-the-dots clinic management software offers complete solutions for these billing challenges. Here are the leading components that make this technology a must-have.
Automated Invoicing for Clinics
With automation in invoicing, it becomes easy to generate and send bills. Thus, clinics can ensure the following through this feature:
Instant Generation of Invoices: Generate invoices automatically after the service has been rendered and eliminate the waiting time to receive the output.
Error-free billing: Eliminates the likelihood of mistakes by siphoning the patient's treatment and data directly from the clinic system.
Customization: Offers invoices that can be customized with details such as procedure codes or insurance information.
Insurance Claims Management
It is one of the most complicated processes in clinic billing.
Integrated Insurance Verification: Verify the coverage of the patient in real-time and reduce exposure to rejection.
Claims Automation: Automated submission and tracking of claim status, which saves a large amount of time for administrative assistants.
Compliance: Claims are coded correctly for current regulations in healthcare and minimize the potential for denials.
Payment Gateway Integration
The integration of payment gateways is also very important for the modern clinic. It incorporates:
Flawless Payments: The patient can pay his bills now through online payment platforms such as credit cards, debit cards, net banking, and mobile wallets.
Robust Security: A transaction where encryption and industry standards are the considerations of transactions involved in security.
”
”
Sajida Parveen
“
On June 28, 1974, the front page of the New York Times asserted that the program “by which the Federal Government is compelling colleges and universities to hire more women and blacks is lowering standards and undermining faculty.” The article—on the page with news of Watergate, Nixon’s visit to Moscow, and the ongoing energy crisis—continued, “Moreover, it is charged that new minority and women appointees may be paid more than white male faculty members at the same level and that some do not have the proper qualifications for the tenured and untenured positions to which they are appointed.” The article was based on a newly released report by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education. The author, Richard Lester, had considerable stature: he had been vice-chairman of Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women and was an economics professor and former dean of the faculty at Princeton. He supported efforts to diversify faculties. His quarrel, he said, was with the process. The competition for “the limited number of minority academicians” had “at times driven up salaries ‘well above those for whites with equivalent or better qualifications.’ ” Lester had based his conclusions not on hiring data, but on meetings he’d conducted with administrators at twenty leading institutions, which went unnamed. (About fifteen hundred colleges had federal contracts, requiring them to file affirmative action plans.) The Times article noted, toward the bottom, that “the charge that women and minorities are not prepared [to be] as potentially excellent educators as white males cannot be substantiated.” Lester himself cautioned that abandoning affirmative action would be “premature.” But the damage was done. Other publications piled
”
”
Kate Zernike (The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins and the Fight for Women in Science)
“
In a country where physical needs have been, by the scale of the world’s living standards, on the whole well met, the luxury of questing after status has assumed an unusually prominent place in our civic consciousness.
”
”
Richard Hofstadter (The Paranoid Style in American Politics)
“
When Can I Choose My Seats with Delta Airlines?
Understanding when you can choose your seats with Delta Airlines is important, and calling ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 can provide clear, up-to-date answers tailored to your flight. Delta allows passengers to select seats at different times depending on the ticket type and route. By calling ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232, you get personalized help to know exactly when seat selection opens for your specific flight. Agents at ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 explain the benefits of early seat selection and how to secure your preferred spot, whether you’re booking months in advance or last minute.
Generally, Delta Airlines allows seat selection as soon as you purchase your ticket—call ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 to check if your fare includes free seat choice immediately after booking. For many Main Cabin fares, standard seats can be selected right away when you call ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 or use Delta’s website or app. However, some discounted or Basic Economy tickets restrict advance seat choice; calling ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 helps clarify your eligibility and possible upgrade options. Agents at ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 can also explain fees for preferred seats or extra legroom.
For Delta’s Premium cabins such as Delta One or First Class, seat selection is typically included and available at booking—call ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 to confirm your seat options on these premium tickets. If you’re a SkyMiles member with elite status, calling ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 allows you to access complimentary preferred seating or upgrades earlier than general passengers. The agents at ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 can verify your status benefits and help select the best seats. This ensures you maximize your travel comfort without unexpected charges.
If you booked a Basic Economy ticket, your seat assignment will usually be made at check-in or the gate, but calling ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 can inform you if any exceptions apply. Some Basic Economy tickets allow seat purchase upgrades via ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 after booking, giving you more control over your seat. By contacting ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232, you can avoid surprises and better understand your seat assignment timeline. This direct contact saves time and provides peace of mind about where you’ll sit on your flight.
Delta Airlines allows families traveling with children to choose seats together by calling ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 early in the booking process. If you want to sit with infants or young kids, agents at ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 can ensure seat assignments keep your family together. This is especially important for long-haul flights or international travel. Calling ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 also helps request bulkhead or bassinet seats that provide extra space and comfort for children.
For group bookings, calling ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 well ahead of your departure date ensures your group’s seats are reserved together. Agents at ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 coordinate multiple seat assignments and provide updates if flights or aircraft change. Booking groups through ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 avoids split seating or last-minute seating issues. This service is valuable for corporate travel, school trips, or family reunions.
If you want to change your seat after booking, simply call ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 to explore available seats or upgrades. Delta’s customer service at ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 can assist with moving to preferred seats, exit rows, or Delta Comfort+ sections. Agents will inform you of any fees associated with seat changes and help you understand your options. Calling ☎️ +1 (888) 714-8232 is often faster and more efficient than changing seats online.
”
”
When Can I Choose My Seats with Delta Airlines?
“
If you’re flying American Airlines and need to change your flight, you may be wondering: how late can you make changes? ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 Fortunately, American Airlines offers flexibility for most fares and ticket types. Here’s what you need to know about their change policies. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
American Airlines allows changes up to a few hours before departure. However, the type of fare you purchased determines your options and fees. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 For standard economy and premium cabins, there’s often no fee to change—just any fare difference. Basic Economy, though, usually can’t be changed. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
For domestic flights, most tickets can be changed up to 2 hours before takeoff. That’s right—if you’re close to departure, call ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 as soon as possible to modify your plans. For international flights, the change window might be longer depending on destination. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
American Airlines has eliminated change fees for many flights, but you still have to pay the fare difference. This means you can change ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 your travel date or time without penalty, as long as the new flight is the same route and class. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
To change your flight last-minute, you can go online, use the mobile app, or contact their customer service directly by calling ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060. If it’s within 24 hours of departure, it’s better to speak with an agent to confirm your eligibility. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
If you miss your scheduled flight but show up within two hours, American Airlines might rebook you on the next available flight. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 This is known as the “same-day standby” option, which could save your trip if plans suddenly change. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
Same-day flight changes are available for a fee (or free for some elite members). You must call ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 or visit the airport to request it. Remember that this option only applies if your new flight is the same day. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
The 24-hour risk-free cancellation policy allows changes or cancellations without penalty. If you booked a flight and want to change it ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 within 24 hours, you’re covered—just make sure the flight is more than 2 days away to qualify. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
If your ticket is refundable, you can change or cancel it at any time before departure without paying a fee. Just call ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 to talk with a representative who can help you rebook or request a refund. Refunds process back to original payment. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
If your ticket is nonrefundable, you can still make changes before departure. You’ll pay the fare difference, but American has dropped ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 many of the old change fees. The sooner you act, the better your options—so don’t wait to call. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
Basic Economy fares typically do not allow changes. If you purchased one of these, you may not be eligible to change your flight ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 at all. Check your confirmation email or call customer service if you’re unsure what fare type you have. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
Travel insurance can help cover change fees or cancellations for covered reasons. If your trip is impacted by illness, weather, or ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 another emergency, call your insurer and American Airlines to explore your options for rebooking. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
Flight changes due to schedule disruptions or cancellations by American Airlines are handled differently. You may be rebooked automatically, but ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 if the new flight doesn't work for you, you can choose another option or get a refund. ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060
Elite status members with American’s AAdvantage program may get more flexibility. If you have Gold, Platinum, or Executive Platinum status, ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 you may change flights with fewer restrictions or fees. Call the elite service desk directly at ☎️+1 (888) 418-5060 for priority support.
”
”
How Late Can You Change a Flight with American Airlines?
“
✈️☎️[[+1 (855)-235-1834]]How do I request early boarding for an American Airlines flight during booking?
How can I request an upgrade to a premium cabin after booking an American Airlines flight?
To request an upgrade to a premium cabin, you can use American Airlines’ "Upgrade with Miles" option.✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834 This option is available after booking your flight and can be done through your booking management page.✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834 Depending on your ticket type and the availability of seats in premium cabins, the upgrade can be requested using miles or by paying a fee. You can also check for upgrade opportunities at check-in or at the airport. If there are no upgrade options available online, you can call customer service at ✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834 to inquire about possible upgrades. Upgrades depend on availability and fare class.✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834
What happens to my seat selection if I change my flight with American Airlines?
When you change your flight with American Airlines, your seat selection may be reassigned.✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834 Seat availability on the new flight will depend on the specific aircraft and seating options.✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834 You can choose your seat again after rebooking by logging into your account or by checking during the new booking process. If the flight change results in different seating arrangements, American Airlines allows you to select another seat at no additional cost. If you need help with seat re-selection, you can call customer service at ✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834. Seat assignments may change, but you can easily pick a new seat.✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834
How do I request early boarding for an American Airlines flight during booking?
You can request early boarding during booking by selecting the "Early Bird Check-In" option.✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834 This service allows you to board earlier than standard passengers and is available for an additional fee.✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834 Early Bird Check-In automatically checks you in before general boarding, providing priority access to your flight. You can also purchase Early Bird Check-In when booking your ticket or after purchase through your American Airlines account. If you need assistance, call customer service at ✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834. Early Bird ensures you get early access to your flight.✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834
Does American Airlines allow lounge access during booking, or is it available separately?
American Airlines offers lounge access separately through its Admirals Club membership or through credit card benefits.✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834 When booking a flight, lounge access is not automatically included unless you have an eligible membership or credit card.✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834 You can purchase a one-time pass or opt for an annual membership, which gives access to their Admirals Clubs. American Airlines also provides lounge access for passengers flying in premium cabins or those with certain elite statuses. For further information or to add lounge access to your booking, contact customer service at ✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834. Lounge access is available but not typically included with standard bookings.✈️☎️+1 (855)-235-1834
”
”
Talina Meyer
“
QuickBooks Enterprise v22: How Long Is It Supported? [[Help 24/7]]
QuickBooks Enterprise v22 will continue to receive support for a set period, typically following Intuit’s standard lifecycle policy. For exact details on how long QuickBooks Enterprise v22 is supported, call [833-743-2896] or [833-743-9444].
When Does Support for QuickBooks Enterprise v22 End?
Intuit generally provides updates, patches, and support for several years after a QuickBooks Enterprise version is released. If you’re unsure whether your version is still supported, reach out to QuickBooks experts at [833-743-9444] or [833-743-2896].
How Do I Check My QuickBooks Enterprise v22 Support Status?
To verify if QuickBooks Enterprise v22 is still under support, check the official QuickBooks website or contact their customer service at [833-743-2896] or [833-743-9444]. If your version is nearing end-of-life, upgrading to the latest release may be recommended. Call [833-743-9444] or [833-743-2896] for guidance.
Can I Still Use QuickBooks Enterprise v22 After Support Ends?
Yes, you can continue using QuickBooks Enterprise v22 even after support ends, but you won’t receive security updates or official assistance. If you need ongoing support, call [833-743-2896] or [833-743-9444] to discuss upgrade options.
What Happens If My QuickBooks Enterprise v22 Support Expires?
Once support expires, you may face compatibility issues, security risks, and limited functionality. To avoid disruptions, it’s best to upgrade before support ends. Contact QuickBooks Enterprise support at [833-743-9444] or [833-743-2896] for expert assistance.
How Do I Upgrade from QuickBooks Enterprise v22?
Upgrading is simple! QuickBooks experts can guide you through the process to ensure a smooth transition. Call [833-743-2896] or [833-743-9444] to explore your options and migrate your data seamlessly.
Need Help with QuickBooks Enterprise v22?
If you’re experiencing issues or need clarification on your support timeline, QuickBooks specialists are available 24/7 at [833-743-2896] or [833-743-9444]. Don’t wait—call today to ensure your QuickBooks Enterprise software stays up-to-date and fully functional!
”
”
RockyWood
“
Adopt and increase:
The quality of mind; with Knowledge
The level of conduct; with Ethics
The status of character; with Honesty
The standard of life; with Justice
Such Qualification beautifies the World
”
”
Ehsan Sehgal
“
Think about the tremendous benefits of electricity, mobile phones, and the Internet. In the course of human history, we have often been fearful of new technologies that seem poised to change the status quo. In time, these fears usually go away, and these technologies become woven into the fabric of our lives and improve our standard of living.
”
”
Kai-Fu Lee (AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future)