Posted on by sphere of humanity

INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGY ON YOUTH

By Aparna and Adithya V

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Today, all of us are leading a distressful life in an otherwise peaceful world. We are always on our phones and other gadgets.

It is 2020, and it is Quarantine period. During this quarantine period , all of us are highly cautious and concerned about our well- being. Have you ever wondered why this could have happened?

I personally believe that these are the cries of our mother earth.

“Nature is always hinting at us. It hints over and over again. And suddenly we take the hint”
-Robert Frost

In this world of advanced technology, we were all leading a life of comfort and happiness. Everything is just a click away on our phones. We listen to music,play games, watch movies and television shows on our gadgets. We run behind the latest technologies available in the market so as to make our lives more and more comfortable, but somewhere, something has gone wrong and that led us to our present situation.

Are we giving nature the respect it deserves ? We need to respect nature!!!

All of us have already forgotten life in the past and how it helped us evolve into our personality . Each time we cross our limits, mother nature mourns for itself and these mournings are reflected to the world as Nippah virus, Flood, Corona virus and many more to come.

In the past such disasters were less common, but, in the present times the attack of such disasters are experienced frequently. In the earlier times, people loved and worshiped nature and even a religion called Paganism existed then. We treated nature with care, and love.

But, what is happening to our present society? This is a question to all of them out there who are reading this.

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The elderly frequently keep telling us about how they had spent their youthful days fruitfully and how it formed the building stones for their lives ahead. They keep telling us many things such as how much kilometers they used to walk to their school, how they studied along with working in the fields to support their families etc.

Ironically, in the present world children are born with mobile phones in their hands. According to me, this is a very bad thing to do and follow as it is obvious that it will lead to serious problems- health wise, morally, emotionally and psychologically in their future lives. People of our generation have already given themselves to the electronic world.

We were not given phones at our young age, but, still we turned out to be ardent worshipers of our electronic gadgets. We have come down to the extent of texting the person sitting next to us in next room.
We even forget the existence of such a person sitting next to us. If such dreadful is our situation, just imagine the situation of our next generation who are given electronic gadgets at their tender ages. The importance of face to face communication, the value given to our lives, etc is getting degraded day by day just due to our blind addiction to the recent technologies. And this needs to stop.

We need to regulate our dependence on the internet and technological devices and learn to respect nature, treat it with care and love. We need a healthy balanced ecosystem. We should protect and preserve our environment, bring back greenery into this world.

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Can robots ever behave like humans?

By Praveen and Ananthan

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We often hear ourselves saying that robots are devoid of feelings and incapable of experiencing emotions.

But with the passage of time and progress in society, haven’t things changed and improved? Innovations have changed the society. Technology has improved SO much and made lives infinitely better.

Isn’t it often said that the early human which existed about two million years ago didn’t have feelings and as the time passed by they were exposed to different situations and in trying to adapt to them they developed the feelings like hunger, pain, fear, love and so on ?

So eventually shouldn’t that happen with robots too ? Maybe if 100 years from now, robots would have feelings and emotions like us?

Today, Robotics is a budding field.

People are making different robots for different tasks and needs.

Modern scientists are trying to bond human DNA to the coding in its central operating device which is said to be,”The brain of the robot”, but many vital information is yet to be gathered, conclusions are yet to be made. Many other biological process can be followed up in robots but someday in the future wouldn’t it be possible ?

The creators are trying their level best to make robot’s sensors and actuators as precise as the neuron in human body.

We can see Andro-humanoid like Sophia is a major success in this trails and modern science is at its peak. Cutting edge technology is changing the world.

In the future, Epidemic and Pandemic situations could be handled in much appropriate and easy way with the help of robots. But we need to be careful too. To not overuse and misuse technology.

Aritificial Intelligence, and research in fields like Machine learning, and neutral networks is helping scientists discover new things .

Through techniques like machine learning and neural networks, firms across the globe are investing in teaching machines to ‘think’ more like humans.

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E-commerce

By Nanditha Krishna and Harinandana

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What is ‘e-commerce’ ?

Electronic commerce is better known to us as ‘e-commerce’. It is one of the largest sectors of the electronics industry. It essentially involves the purchase-both buying and selling of products via electronic means such as internet or other e-services. It will be an understatement to say that e-services are simplifying our lives in a trillion ways. Technology has changed our lives in unimaginable ways. Need to buy grocery? Or stationary? Or order food ? Or books? or shop clothes ? We have numerous applications available to us on our phones(and other electronic gadgets) and products are just a click away away from being available to us.  Add to this, Cash/Card on delivery has changed the way we purchase products online.

Thus, the e-commerce industry is a rapidly growing one.

E-commerce actively utlilizes mobile commerce, e-fund transfer, internet marketing and transaction processing.

We get to choose from a very broad range of products online. Online shopping has given us more choices in purchasing products. It can provide flexible personalized product and customer customization. It can also help organizations save a lot of time and help them expand business, ensuring access of products to the whole world, not limiting it to a specific area. Geographical constraints are overcome.

Online stores like Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra are examples of E–commerce websites. Various discount vouchers available on their websites have helped encourage online shopping.

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Brief History of E-commerce :
( The source for the tidbits of history of e-commerce we’ve collected and mentioned below is Wikipedia).

The venture was started in 1971 or 1972 when the ARPANET used to arrange a cannabis sale between students at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This initiative was later called as “the seminal act of e-commerce” by John Markoff in his book ‘ What the Dormouse Said’ . In 1972, Mohammed M. Atalla filed a patent for a secure transaction system over telecommunications networks, utilizing encryption techniques to assure telephone link security. This is considered as a precursor to Internet-based e-commerce. In 1979, Michael Aldrich demonstrated the first online shopping system and in 1981,the first business-to- business (B2B) online shopping system was installed by Thomson Holidays UK.  In 1982,’Mintel’ was introduced nationwide in France by France Telecom and was used for online ordering.

Gateshead SIS/Tesco is the first B2C online shopping  system and Mrs Snowball is the first online home shopper . This was in 1984. In April 1984, CompuServe launches the Electronic Mall in the US and Canada. It is the first comprehensive electronic commerce service. The first internet based system for e-commerce ,Compumarket was introduced by Sequola  Data Corp in May 1989. Here, sellers and buyers could post items for sale and buyers could search the data base and make purchases with a credit card .

In 1995 , Amazon.com was launched by Jeff Bezos which inturn became a revolution in the field of e-commerce. E-bay was founded by computer programmer Purre Omidyar as an Auction Web. It is the first online auction site supporting person-to-person transactions. By 1999, Global e-commerce reached $150 billion and by 2001 had the largest userbase of any e-commerce site. In 2003, Amazon.com posted it’s first yearly profit and by 2015, Amazon accounts for more than half of all e-commerce growth , selling almost 500 millions SKU’s in  the US. The Global e-commerce transactions generate $29.267 trillion including $35.516 trillion B2B transactions and $3.851 trillion for B2C sales by the end of 2017.

Though India has the second most user base in the world , the growth of e-commerce is comparatively low in our country . This is because, Indians prefer ‘cash-on- delivery’ system as the most efficient payment method.

E-commerce in India

The e-commerce market in India is estimated to grow from $10 billion every year to between $ 70 – 260 billion every year by 2025* .

In 2017, the largest e-commerce companies in India were Flipkart, Amazon,Myntra, Paytm and Snapdeal.

In 2018, Amazon beat Flipkart and was recorded as the biggest e-commerce in India in terms of revenue.

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Impacts on customers

 E-commerce is in simple words convenient to customers. It can also grand you with international market and quality products which may not be available in the retailer shops nearby. The detailed information of a particular product is gained by the customer and it also cuts the transaction costs which is made possible by the lack of intermediates.
However it also has certain demerits which include the assurance about the quality of the product or- in the case of clothes wrong size chosen is a big problem. The returning of products and the refunding of money spent is also another threat in this  field.

Impacts on environment
  The use of cardboards is a major issue in the case of e-commerce. In 2018, they generated 1.3 million tons of container cardboards in North America which was 1.1 million in 2017**.
 This shows that as the use of e-commerce increases, the use of cardboard containers also increases and only 35 percent of North American cardboard manufacturing is from recycled content. In Europe, the recycling rate is 80 percent and in Asia ,it is 93 percent. Amazon has reduced usage of packaging material by 19 percent by 2016 since they are the largest users of cardboard boxes.

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Impacts on Traditional retail
 The frequently referred trend “retail apocalypse” is a major impact caused by e-commerce to the traditional retailer . The rise of e-commerce outlets like Amazon*** , has made the traditional retailing community’s efforts to attract the consumers harder. They are now forced to change their sales strategies. They also use the internet for promotions and advertisements.

Impact on markets and retailers

E-commerce markets are growing at noticeable rates. The online market is expected to grow by 56% in 2015–2020****.
In 2017, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 2.3 trillion US dollars and e-retail revenues are projected to grow to 4.88 trillion US dollars in 2021*****.

Impact on supply chain management

The emergence of e-commerce has provided an efficient way of delivering the benefits of the new supply chain technologies.

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Impact on employment

E-commerce has helped generate new job opportunities due to information related services, software app and digital products-to manage large amounts of information, customer demands, and production processes. Warehouse require more staff to be managed, supervised and organized.


Sources :
* https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/indian-e-commerce-market-to-touch-200-bn-gmv-by-2025-bofa-ml/49735275

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/amazon-pips-snapdeal-to-become-indias-2nd-largest-online-marketplace-after-flipkart/articleshow/52017176.cms?from=mdr

https://m.economictimes.com/small-biz/startups/battle-for-top-slot-flipkart-continues-to-nudge-ahead-of-amazon-in-terms-of-gross-sales/articleshow/58388338.cms

** http://lite.cnn.com/en/article/h_bad505d11b50114d6a78bc4f7a40f4ce?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202019-07-16%20Supply%20Chain%20Dive:%20Operations%20%5Bissue:21926%5D&utm_term=Supply%20Chain%20Dive:%20Operations

***
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-meltdown-of-2017/522384/

****
https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2016/01/29/online-sales-will-reach-523-billion-2020-us/

*****
https://www.statista.com/topics/871/online-shopping/

General other sources :
Wikipedia
Economic Times
CNN News
Business Standard

Posted on by sphere of humanity

IS TECHNOLOGY A BOON OR NOT?

By Laxmipreethi and Malavika Harikumar

IS TECHNOLOGY A BOON OR NOT ?

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Technology is not something which can be defined in a simple definition. It is something which has transformed man from the lowest degree of a caveman to the highest position of a spaceman. Technology which is being introduced and improved almost everyday is making our lives simpler. Though these technologies have both merits and demerits, they are more or less making the human kind smarter. We people, living in the twenty- first century have experienced all those ‘dreams’ written in early science fictions. Technology thus is outstandingly impacting our lives and has helped us make our life simpler and smarter.

Technologies are not something that happened overnight but it is the end result of many intellectual hard work over the years. The invention of radio, telephone, television, computer, mobile phones etc are the fascinating outcomes of the early and late technologies. And to a great extent these have become our one of our basic necessities. Everything and anything can be known from the extensive range of information from internet just at the ease of a click. These technologies which is developing over years have made India a software super-power.

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Internet as part of technology is being used for business and educational fields, transportation schedule, marketing areas, online shopping . Due to this improved technology important news reach us super-fast. We are very fortunate to witness some of the most fascinating technical advancements like social media which enables us to be more social and it further created many interactive platforms. Social networks, blogs, reviews, conferences are also a result of these awesome technologies,which not only is catching the attention of the youth, but both old and young alike.

Science is the greatest boon man has ever got and technology is the best tool for constructive purposes. This same technology has also improved the health facilities of medical science and also enabled us to dream of life in outer planets. It gave us the vision in robotics and satellite launching. These technology has made our life easy, simple, comfortable and luxurious.

Now let us take a look at the demerits of technology.

Social medias nowadays are the explicit application of technology. Instagram , Facebook , tik tok etc are the platforms where people post personal pictures and videos . Intrusion of privacy is an issue. Misuse of personal pictures is another.

Technology , these days also has replaced the jobs with machines and gadgets which leave people jobless and much more accurately lazy . Over exploitation of electronic gadgets is harmful to the people themselves as it becomes an addiction and leads to many major health issues . As people becomes glued to the electronic gadgets they lose their connection with the nature.

Nature was considered as a mother by our ancient poets ; paganism ; a religion where nature was worshiped , by people. Wordsworth was the greatest example and representation of a nature loving generation . Now in this twenty first century where we witness such a technological boom , there is no more nature worshiping or not even adoring the beauty of nature . This is definitely a crisis that the humanity is going to suffer in the upcoming years . Dante’s ‘ Divine comedy ‘ , an eminent piece of work in the list of Italian literature evidently depicts the picture of hell , his inferno ( 9 circles of hell ) is said to become true in the future years and human race will witness a devastating situation as a consequence of the over booming technology and destruction of nature . Science and technology has also been used as a weapon at times of wars . If this technology reaches the wrong hands then it is a devastating situation for the world economy . These technological developments is also a deviation from our traditional path .

It is high time we do something about this . The youth is always backbone of an economy , if the awareness and precaution is taken by the youth , then the future is secured. Nobody’s control over the other is efficient as much as self control over oneself . One should have self awareness in using all the electronic gadgets and technological application . In this modern world where friends are more influential than family , good and effective peer group must be formed . It is the duty of the present generation to make sure that the technology is used in a positive and informative way without using it negatively or let it manipulate us to assure a promising future.

Posted on by sphere of humanity

Technology vs Human Brain

By Devi Krishna S

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Machines are more like humans. In the 21st century, humans rely
on gadgets to store information that is vital.  Data and other documents
are stored in those gadgets and people believe that its safer because earlier
the documents were manually recorded and most of them are not existing now. It
is quite evident that humans relay on machines. Machines have vital role in
industrial development. Digital technologies support companies to accelerate
according to the trends. Both internet and computers together to connect with
our lives seamlessly which make sense of the world.

Technology makes life more easy and informative. Information is available in
a way that was unimaginable just a few decades ago. Technology lies behind
global development and it provides information on health care, business and
technology. Technology has transformed our lives.

 People rely on machine’s opinion even for the most important and
vulnerable situations and its quite clear that machines are playing a vital
role in the world.

Human brain and machines combine to have a great impact to world’s
development. Earlier we had a misconception that we all individuals, companies
and countries have no facility to foresee anything but technology has changed
the way we look at world. Artificial Intelligence has helped us make massive
changes in research and development. We can in fact make great changes to the
world if we combine both human brain and technology.

 

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From the land of Cashews to the city of Nizam

By Sandra Vasanth and Safa Salim

Hyderabad-the pearl City of India has its own place in my heart since childhood. I don’t know the exact reason for that though. Maybe it is because of the mesmerizing movie scenes depicted from there ?

Somehow I happened to know about the Ramoji film city. So to me, Hyderabad was merely Ramoji. So with much hurdles and pleadings, Appa finally agreed to take us there.

There was a very good welcome in the Rajiv Gandhi airport. But the excitement soon had a dull phase. The place welcomed us with its unbearable heat and hot winds stabbing directly to our face. We waited there till our Uber arrived. The first thing I would appreciate in Hyderabad is it’s clean,smooth roads. Despite the roads that bursts at the seams in Kerala, Hyderabad roads deserved much appreciation. The Uber stopped before Amrita castle. After the security check,we were allotted our rooms. If there is a heaven on earth ,I would like to call the room no 503 of Amrita castle as one(The AC which was used rarely when guest arrived there in home was now pathetically recalled).The Stay was itself another wonder.The resort occupied room in tunnels and we called it “tunnel of fireflies”.


Wherever you go,you will find a Malayali there. We too found one-Johnson uncle,a name we used to hear ever since the trip was planned. Uncle took us to the heart of the coral city. The city took us back to a time when beauty and craftsmanship went hand in hand.Uncle just like a guide,was talking about Hyderabad continuously about its History and Geology. In fact there was a lot to talk about his 36 years of experience in the city. 

Numberless bangles,clothes, streetfood, colours, waved their palms at us. Various “akka,akka” resonated in our senses. We pretended to neglect all these considering our wallet and we gathered the courage to walk forward regardless of these attractions. Amma was thoroughly missed during all these times.     Whenever Hyderabad strikes in anyone’s mind,it would be Charminar! This is considered as the centre base of the city, built around 1591. Some people say there’s an underground tunnel connecting Golkonda fort to Charminar,possibly intended as an escape route for the Qutub shahi rulers.     

Golkonda fort-An outstanding example for brilliant engineering and magical architecture.

Infact the stunt scenes of “Aadhi” the malayalalm movie,are shot from here.     Salar-Jung museums:One of the three National Museums of India.Endowed to the nation after the death of Salar Jung.

HITEC city-Hyderabad information technology and engineering consultancy city abbreviated as HITEC CITY.     

Snow world- A paradise founded for the unbearable heat outside,this is how I would like to define the creation. Falling in white flakes,absolutely phenomenal dusting of snow,blanket of snow and music played in between takes everyone in euphoric feel.

Altogether,a Paisa-Wasul experience.     

RAMOJI FILM CITY-A magical realm filled with excitement and wonderful surprises at every turn.
As the world’s largest integrated film city and India’s only thematic holiday destination with magic of cinema.   
 It leaves all the visitors with some memorable experiences.To help u from sunburn,the medical team before kickstarting the journey provide you with pills to withstand the unbearable heat(Imagine the climate there!).     Overall a must visit place and should not be missed if one goes to Hyderabad. 


PS: Not spoiling the thrill by giving more details.Go enjoy the fantasy land all by yourself.   

 Birla Mandir,Qutub shahi tombs,Necklace road,Lumbini park are other attractions here.
Well,the place has everything which a person wants.

You have good place to chill,you have great places to explore,you have water parks,great restaurants,some lakes here and there.

Well,if you are a night owl,this place will cover you up.

You have good places to eat even if it is midnight.Some good stretches of roads to drive on.Then for the food lovers,the place is a heaven,you just need to know where to go.Some of the must eat things if you are going to Hyderabad are:the famous bawarchi biriyani,kurbani ka meetha,the haleem you could grab during ramzan,irani tea,famous icecream etc.   

 Gokul chat in koti,dhai puri and dhai pappdi are must try.

Another spot for foodjoints is sindhi colony near paradise.The dosa centres which opens between 2am and 5am to soothe your tastebuds.And if I continue more, I will run out of space telling about the place.   

 Despite the beauty the place offers,traffic and pollution are very bad here.Terrible autowalah baiiyas who honk,drivers who drive on wrong side-because of the median they argue,lack of civic sense in general,I might be stretching out on a limb here when I say this and even offend a few but it’s the bitter truth.   

 All these being said, I still believe Hyderabad as one of the most hospitable cities to live notbwithstanding the recent telungana agitations,where people from different   religions and states who speaks differet languages live in harmony.

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The three R principle

By Ashika S Kumar and Arundathi M.

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In the present world waste has become one of the biggest problems affecting each and every part of our environment. Anyway we cannot completely avoid waste production, but what we can do is to take self precaution and thereby reducing the amount of waste produced.


When we first hear the word Waste hierarchy many questions may arise in our mind like, What is its purpose ? What it really means ? What is the need for it ? and so on.
Actually it is a part of waste management process and is used to reduce the amount of waste. It mainly involves three processes: Reduce,Reuse and Recycle.

They are known as the three R’s of waste management process. These are essential for a sustainable living as they help as to reduce the amount of waste we have to throw away. The ideas behind three R’s are really simple:

• Reduce: To reduce the amount of waste we produce.

• Reuse: To reuse the items before replacing them.

• Recycle: To recycle the items which can be recycled.

When we take a deep look into each of the process we may feel it is so easy, but it does not seem so easy when we start to follow it in our life.

1. REDUCE :

       The first R is all about reduction in the amount of waste we produce. Reduction is the main among the three as, if the amount of waste produced is less, the things to be reused and recycled will be automatically reduced. Some methods we can adopt in our life to reduce wastes are:

¤ Buy only necessary things.

¤ While buying a product rethink the fact whether it can be reused and recycled.

¤ Try to avoid buying food materials having too much of packing.

¤ If possible completely avoid the use of plastic.

¤ Reduce the use of electricity, For eg: Lights should not be used during day time.

¤ Reduce the amount of petrol by using public transport systems.

¤ Reduce the wastage of food by making only the sufficient amount of food and the rest can be used in compost making.

¤ Shopping can be reduced by buying things which are durable and long lasting.

¤ Shopping of new clothes can be reduced by using the old clothes by mending them.

¤ Using second hand goods is also one of the method to reduce the waste.


2. REUSE :

     Reuse simply refers to using the same thing again and again for different purposes. It refers to the reuse of object as it is without treatment. It is a sustainable process as it reduce pollution and waste.
Reusing is better than recycling because it saves the energy which is used to dismantle and re-manufacture products. It also saves the forest and water supplies as it reduces the need for raw materials. Examples of reused items include anything bought as second-hand including furnitures and clothing.

    Here are some methods to practice reuse in our daily life :

    ® We should make sure that we are not buying things unnecessarily until the one wit us is damaged. This can save money as well as the space in our storage room.

    ® After cleaning thoroughly we can reuse food containers.

    ® Rather than throwing things away, (old things and food that is left out )it could be donated to the poor.

    ® Make new things from the things in trash.

    ® Glass bottles could be reused by storing nails and screws in it.

    ® Use the both sides of a paper for printing. OR use the unwanted papers for writing the list of grovery items , notes etc.

    3. RECYCLE :

           Recycling is an energy consuming process in which the item is turned into raw material that can be used again.It reduces the waste disposal as it transforms the used materials like plastic, glass and paper into new material. Also recycling plays an important part in sustainable living for decades. In UK, recycling is a very expensive process. Examples of recycled materials include fibreglass from glass bottles , insulation materials from newspaper or plastic bottles.

           Here are some benefits of recycling :

           ✓ Reduces the amount of waste

           ✓ Conservation of natural resources

           ✓ Increases economic security by tapping a domestic source of material.

           ✓ Prevents pollution .

           ✓ Helps to create job opportunities in manufacturing and recycling industries.

           ✓ Saves energy.

   Some methods of recycling in our daily life :

           • Kitchen and garden waste  can be recycled by making your own compost. Compost has great use in garden as it contains nutrients essential for the growth of plants.

           • Old newspapers , magazines , notebooks etc are recycled to new paper or cardboard.

           • Food cans made of steel could be melted and moulded into new cans.

           • Drink cans which are usually thin and light is made of aluminium could be easily recycled.

           • Waste wood is turned to new wood products.

           • Glass is very easy to recycle . Waste bottles and jars are melted and used again and again.

           • Waste vegetable oil could be recycled to a useful vehicle fuel called biodiesel.

           • Plastics are hard to recycle. Plastics can be recycled into more durable products like flower pots and plastic pipe. Another solution is the use of bioplastics which are environment friendly.

So the 3 R’s ( Reduce, Reuse , and Recycle)  are a way of life , we must understand that it is our duty to take good care of our planet that depends on our deeds. It is not someone else’s issue , it is the responsibility of the person you see at mirror every morning.

You CAN make a difference!!!