Law of Conservation of Energy

This one is titled "Law of Conservation of Energy". It's about time I hit my readers with some Science talk. After-all Physics was my favorite subject in school. This law states that "Energy cannot be created or destroyed. But it can be transferred from one place to another" OR "...but it can be transformed from one form to another". Everybody and their Mother has heard about this in one way or another, even if they've never sat in a science class. But would you believe me if I told you this statement also applies to our daily lives and not just physics or some electromagnetic phenomena? Like I always say, anyone who invented something scientific just had to look at human behavior to realize that their invention was right under their nose the entire time, and not in years spent in a science lab. Well, that's just my personal opinion. If you don't believe me, look at the Faraday's Law. Everything about the Faraday's law screams: Male/Female Intimacy.....but that's an X-rated topic for another day. Here I go digressing.

Have you ever wondered why you feel positive just being around certain people? We all have that friend that always keeps a smile on our face. Their positive energy rubs off of us from being around them. Alternatively, we all have negative mood-killing friends too. All these emotions/feelings/energies can transfer from individual to individual when they are around each other. Nowadays, generally, you cannot be alone even if you want to. We are interacting with hundreds of people via social media, i.e., looking at stories, pictures, videos, texts, etc. At any point in time, one is looking at 10 different emotions. Your friend Nana-Yaw posts a picture from that job you always wanted, Adwoa posts a video on her way to a wedding wearing her favorite outfit, Mary posts a picture of her dad's funeral. Maame Yaa, the girl you dislike, posts a story about her date-night with the caption "When your hubby gives you everything you want in the world", Barak posts a couple of gym pictures showing how ripped he's looking while you are sick of the 10kg-fat you've gained in the past month, Edem posts a picture of his new car, Sharon posts a quotation from Exodus about how merciful God has been. Finally, Reina posts a funny video and it gets you cracking up for a quick second. In a span of 1-minute, you've gone through an emotional rollercoaster. From happiness, maybe jealousy, sorrow, anger, to envy, fatigue, to demotivation, motivation, and to laughter. These are all energies transferred from different situations you  are connected to. So guess how many emotional changes you'll go through in a day when you spend a ton of time running through people's 'lives' on social media? That's an insane amount of emotional change. I know it might seem like one isn't affected. One might even think they have thick-skin but again Energy cannot be destroyed. You are being affected either physically, mentally or psychologically and you just don't realize it yet. What's worse is: the addiction. I am no medical professional but I know for certain that human emotions aren't supposed to be in constant gear-change like that. That'll lead to depression. Next thing you know, you feel the need to post on your own social media just to fit in like everybody else, or make your life seem great like everybody else, want sympathy or validation like everybody else, to not show your flaws and failures like everybody else. As my favorite artiste, Nas, said in the song Everything, "People will do anything to be a part of everything. Inclusion is a hell of a drug"......that's real. 

Nobody has time but everybody has time. We've all become attached to this thing so much that we are losing sleep, losing focus, losing precious time, losing friends, not getting our priorities in check, getting addicted, living a lie, and going through unhealthy emotional rollercoasters we are not even aware of. That is scary. Zoo Animals we've all become. Damn. This is not to let you think about deleting your social media. Hell, I won't even delete mine. But just be aware. Be in control. Be you. Lower your gaze, as the Muslims say. That is key.

Oh! Nas just posted an Instagram story. Got to go check it out. And oh! follow me on @mubaraks_mind and @sultan_drinks_ghana on Instagram. WHAT IRONY. haha

Stay Positive.......Thanks for reading y'all.........Love!!

FYI:

"A report by the Royal Society for Public Health in the UK surveyed 1500 young people (14 - 24 years) to determine the effects of social media on issues such as anxiety and depression, self-esteem and body-image. Their findings show that YouTube had the most positive impact while Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat all had negative effects on mental health"

Enterprising at a Boss's Table

For me, the best music are those whose lyrics strike a train of thought. Rap music generally does that for me. I'm not much of an R&B fan. I don't see the point in listening to people's love lives and heartbreaks all day. I hate Heavy Metal & Rock. I don't know what the hell they are constantly screaming about. I'll listen to some Dancehall music here and there. Country music is generally the most uninspiring genre ever created. All their music, voices, sounds, subject matter and production sound the same. That's really dreary and unexciting. So of course I'm here to discuss some rap.

My favorite rap/music artist is NAS. He recently dropped his self-titled 11th studio album called "NASIR". I have been anticipating this album for about a year now. It finally dropped on the 16th of June and I got the chance to listen. Every record off the seven-song album was really good but one record caught my attention immediately. This was track 6, titled - ADAM and EVE. In the last verse of this 3-verse song, he rapped:

"What comes first...peace or the paper? 

Before I had a piece of paper, peace was in my favor. 

Before I started to eat at the table ,it had leaches and traitors. 

Cut the fat from the meat, extract the weak, bon appetit, no bacon". 

He then goes on to say:

"These clowns got false crowns, fictional kings. 

You broke my heart Fredo, You brought this thing of ours down to a fable. 

Be advised my guys are dying, enterprising at a boss's table"

I was so intrigued by this Fredo line because it struck a cord. Fredo is a character in The Godfather. The Godfather is a trilogy that critics have acclaimed - the best Mafia/Mob/Gangsta movie and novel of all time. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. It has some of the best life lessons you'll ever learn on screen. To keep things short. The Godfather, Vito Corleone, was the head of a Mob, who at his old age chose the youngest of his sons, Michael Corleone, to succeed him as Godfather of the Mobs. Michael's older brother was Fredo Corleone. Fredo eventually cut a secret deal with a rival mob for some business that would see him get a large kickback so he could be his 'own man' and garnish respect as he felt he was being side-stepped in the Corleone family business. Little did he know that the rival mob only used him to get closer to The Godfather so they could assassinate him. The attempt on the Godfather's life was unsuccessful and the Corleones eventually found out that the leak in their organization was Fredo, their own brother. The infamous words "I KNOW IT WAS YOU FREDO. YOU BROKE MY HEART" was a scintillating scene in the novel/movie when The Godfather approached Fredo about his betrayal. This is in accordance with the fact that Fredo put his entire family and their organization in jeopardy because of jealousy, false sense of independence, and the urge to also be looked at as a Don, just as Nas raps in his song "YOU BROUGHT THIS THING OF OURS DOWN TO A FABLE". ....... "BE ADVISED MY GUYS ARE DYING ENTERPRISING AT A BOSS'S TABLE". Poetry or rap metaphors is subjective so my perspective of the verse may differ from others. To me, "enterprising at a boss's table" means having a different agenda contrary to what the laid down agenda is. For example, as a coach of a team, you have a game plan heading into a game which the team has to believe in and execute. Once individuals start "enterprising at your table", that means they have their own agenda in mind different from the team's goal, which will eventually cost the team. Usually, this stems from jealousy, selfishness and a lack of perspective. That's why Nas says "Be advised my guys are dying". Meaning it'll eventually lead to your (our) demise.

So many times we've seen money, misguided independence, and insecurity destroy friendships, businesses, families, relationships and teams. One has to comprehend that there's always one person in a group who is more likely to be the face of, the leader of, the most successful of, the most liked of, and most respected of. As long the group is successful, that should be good enough for the other member(s). But often than not, everybody wants to have a taste of leadership, nobody wants to take orders, everybody wants the fame and just as much respect. A seed is sown in ones head and everyone starts enterprising at the boss's table, which eventually leads to lack of focus, individualism and a miserable end to an otherwise successful franchise. Few years ago, I was introduced to a great book called "THE 48 LAWS OF POWER".  The 1st Law was "NEVER OUTSHINE THE MASTER". I won't bore you with the details but do pick up that book. Its a great read. It directly relates to the topic on discussion which even made the aforementioned lyrics more incredible.

To end this. Everybody has to play a part. There always has to be a leader. A leader should be respected irrespective of age, family history, physical attributes, or financial position. Jealousy and envy should be consciously put in check. Always move off of strategy and NOT emotion. Emotion will only sway your judgement and lead you astray. As long as the group/family/team/organization is successful, your part is important even if it flies under the radar. Usually, that's what actually holds down the fort.

Shout-out to NAS for these thought-provoking bars. See how a poetic line can ignite a discussion? Now you know why I rock with him heavily.

PS: DON'T BE FREDO..........he eventually got murdered for his betrayal

Thanks for reading y'all..............Peace ✌✌

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The Corleones (from left to right) - Michael (son), Vito (Dad), Sonny (son), Fredo (son)

When Michael (right) told Fredo (left) "I know it was you Fredo, You broke my heart"

Vito Corleone - The Godfather

Micheal Corleone -  Youngest son of Vito Corleone who became the Godfather after his dad, Vito 

Vito passing the torch to Michael

Nasir Jones (Nas) - illest rapper/poet alive. My favorite

Nas' new album "Nasir" Album cover - Track 6: ADAM & EVE inspired this post

THE 48 LAWS OF POWER by Robert Greene. Great read. Do pick it up!

The same feeling from 4-years ago

I just had a feeling I had 4 years ago (Jan. 2014) when I my first IEEE journal paper got accepted. The feeling is basically making a loud involuntary scream for a couple of seconds which may or may not involve running around like a crazy person and eventually calling somebody on phone. That was how important my first paper meant to me. With all humility, I'd say that was a game-changer and a trend-setter.

Fast-forward to 4 years (7th April 2018) and I just had a similar feeling, not as intense but equally significant. This time I screamed just a little, not as high-pitched and not as long. This time I'm not on the 23rd floor of an apartment complex somewhere in a cold country but I'm at my office in the institution I work in on a Saturday evening. So I guess this feeling is somwhat irrespective of time and location.

So what happened? I've been doing this particular research-design on converting omnidirectional antennas to unidirectional antennas for about a year. I finally got to achieve good results which I was super-excited about. I sent a manuscript of the work for publication in the IEEE Transactions of Antennas and Propagation. You can call this the "Supreme Court of Antenna Design". Here, your work will be reviewed and you'll be informed if it's 'trash' or if its 'good'. So I hear back from them after a month after submission and the reviews are quite okay, but they ask some serious questions and want me to make some changes and resend for further review. This is crucial because how you answer their questions can make or break your entire work. My attempt to answer these questions has haunted me for the past few weeks. Even my sleep pattern has been affected, damn! What's worst is, there's no good material on this topic since it's not an area a lot of antenna researchers target. So today, I finally get to answer a lot of the questions except one major one. I do have an answer, but something tells me it's not convincing enough. Just before I start putting my answer on paper, I come across a recent publication (August 2017) with an interesting title and I decide to just glance through out of curiosity. After the first couple of sentences, I abruptly get up from my seat, look to the sky, and shout "Aahhhhhhhhhhhhh" for like 5 seconds straight. Then I leave my office and go walk around the corridor for about a minute hoping I didn't just see what I just saw. I think I totally figured out how to explain my design and make it convincing from what I read. The light bulb has been lit in my head y'all! My sleep pattern is about to get better again 😀.

You know what's really fascinating though, the originator of that idea this particular paper used was born in 1990 by my previous professor Prof. Per-Simon Kildal. I worked under him during a project 3 years prior to screaming that first time. I used to overhear him say "Soft and hard surfaces" every time and I used to think "whats with this old man and soft and hard things". Little did I know, 7 years down the line, it'll make me scream like a fat kid who has been promised cake.

My paper may still be rejected by the way. But hey, I have to celebrate progress, right?

Prof. Per-Simon Kildal passed away 21 April, 2016.

Rest in Peace Per-Simon! You are that dude! If I make one-tenth of the impact you made, I have made it.

Thanks for reading y'all................Love! 

 

Prof. Per-Simon Kildal: Chalmers University of Technology: 1951 - 2016. RIP!

  

This is the paper I just saw that made me scream. These Koreans are doing the most. The used Per-Simon's idea really well

 

 

They listed Per-Simon Kildal as a reference. Originator of "Soft and Hard surfaces in Electromagnetics". Now you get why referencing is crucial and super-important.

 

Light Bulb just lit up in my head. Today was a good day