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Identity Theft – is it stealing? According to so much articles the stigma of Identity theft is classified as stealing from someone, though it can’t be classified under a certain crime, as you are not really stealing something touchable , though the theft is of something so valuable that the theft of your identity is one of the most “petty” crimes to commit. According to authorities, this type of crime is not easy to handle, because the assumption and thief can only be caught in the act or there should be some sort of solid proof that sustains the victims claim to have been robbed of their identity. Therefore in almost all states and countries this crime is a mere “Serious petty crime” class. Personally I feel this type of crime is just as well in the class of murder, as the victim of identity theft is stuck in an emotionally destroying situation. Your only real value in life is your name, as employers, credit providers, insurance, ect have to take time to check your record and qualify you for their certain product or work. These victims are placed in such a difficult situation, which will most probably last for years after the culprit was caught, just to clear their own name of the offenses this thief did under the victim’s respectful name.
My research on this subject opened my eyes to the dangerous individuals out there, and their personal capabilities, I also found that in the interim of the situation there is more than one type of culprit we as society is not even aware of.
Identity cloning and concealment In this situation, the identity thief impersonates someone else in order to conceal their own true identity. Examples might be illegal immigrants, people hiding from creditors or other individuals, or those who simply want to become "anonymous" for personal reasons. Another example are posers, a label given to people who use somebody else’s photos and information through social networking sites. Mostly, posers create believable stories involving friends of the real person they are imitating. Unlike identity theft used to obtain credit which usually comes to light when the debts mount, concealment may continue indefinitely without being detected, particularly if the identity thief is able to obtain false credentials in order to pass various authentication tests in everyday life. Criminal identity theft When a criminal fraudulently identifies himself to police as another individual at the point of arrest, it is sometimes referred to as "Criminal Identity Theft." In some cases criminals have previously obtained state issued identity documents using credentials stolen from others, or have simply presented fake ID. Provided the subterfuge works, charges may be placed under the victim's name, letting the criminal off the hook. Victims might only learn of such incidents by chance, for example by receiving court summons, discovering their drivers licenses are suspended when stopped for minor traffic violations, or through background checks performed for employment purposes. It can be difficult for the victim of a criminal identity theft to clear their record. The steps required to clear the victim's incorrect criminal record depend on what jurisdiction the crime occurred in and whether the true identity of the criminal can be determined. The victim might need to locate the original arresting officers and prove their own identity by some reliable means such
as fingerprinting or DNA fingerprinting, and may need to go to a court hearing to be cleared of the charges. Obtaining an expungement of court records may also be required. Authorities might permanently maintain the victim's name as an alias for the criminal's true identity in their criminal records databases. One problem that victims of criminal identity theft may encounter is that various data aggregators might still have the incorrect criminal records in their databases even after court and police records are corrected. Thus it is possible that a future background check will return the incorrect criminal records. This is just one example of the kinds of impact that may continue to affect the victims of identity theft for some months or even years after the crime, aside from the psychological trauma that being 'cloned' typically engenders.
Medical identity theft Medical identity theft occurs when someone seeks medical care under the identity of another person. In addition to risks of financial harm common to all forms of identity theft, the thief's medical history may be added to the victim's medical records. Inaccurate information in the victim's records is difficult to correct and may affect future insurability or cause doctors relying on the misinformation to deliver inappropriate medical care.
Synthetic identity theft A variation of identity theft which has recently become more common is synthetic identity theft, in which identities are completely or partially fabricated. The most common technique involves combining a real social security number with a name and birth date other than the ones associated with the number. Synthetic identity theft is more difficult to track as it doesn't sho w on either person's credit report directly, but may appear as an entirely new file in the credit bureau or as a subfile on one of the victim's credit reports. Synthetic identity theft primarily harms the creditors who unwittingly grant the fraudsters credit. Individual victims can be affected if their names become confused with the synthetic identities, or if negative information in their sub files impacts their credit ratings.
Child identity theft Child identity theft occurs when a minor’s Social Security number is used by another person for the imposter’s personal gain. The imposter can be a family member, a friend, or even a stranger who targets children. The Social Security numbers of children are valued because they do not have any information associated with them. Thieves can establish lines of credit, obtain driver’s licenses, or even buy a house using a child’s identity. This fraud can go undetected for years, as most children don’t discover the problem until years later. Child identity theft is fairly common, and studies have shown that the problem is growing. The largest study on child identity theft, as reported by Richard Power of the Carnegie Mellon Cylab with data
supplied by All Clear ID, found that of 40,000 children 10.2% were victims of identity theft. We gathered some statistics to show you how these people operate and the how high the risk still applies in the country.
2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005
18 – 24
8.5 %
25 – 34
7.6 %
35 – 49
7.9 %
50 – 64
7.3 %
65 +
4.3 %
Race White
7.3 %
Black / African American
5.2 %
Hispanic
5.8 %
American Indian / Alaska Native
6.1 %
Asian / Hawaiian / Pacific Islander
8.5 %
Two or More Races
11.6 %
Identity Fraud Rate
Juggling
Two Jobs The average person has one job to pertain, relate and fulfil a need. Some individuals have a sense of working effort to not only juggle two jobs but fulfil both roles to their best possible effort. There are so many reasons why these individuals decide to fulfil these two roles, some are busy building an empire outside of their day jobs, either running their own business on the sideline, whilst fulfilling the role of employee under someone else’s structures, procedures and rules. Then there is the person whom walks the line to such an extent that an extra income is absolutely vital, these people are usually either single mommies or individuals whom find their selves in a situation or stage in life where the little income they receive from both jobs are just enough to pull them through a month. I came in contact with a few people during this month that world be the perfect example of individuals who has it in them to juggle two roles daily. A single mother and workaholic. Even though these individuals already have roles that subdue all their time, they still find time to fill other role. You may be sitting there and thinking that how can a single mother be two roles, where in actual fact a single mother already have two roles when doing a full day job, as being a mother is also a role in society that needs to be filled, the same with being a father, whether you are a stay home parent or working parent, when your day ends at work , you have to switch roles from being professional to being a parent. It is sometimes so healthy to be able to switch between these roles, as in today’s lifestyle the neccecity is so big to be able to juggle two jobs, as most employers are either looking for cheap labour or a mere flexible individual to fulfil two roles in their working environment, whether you are appointed as admin lady , but you need to be able to do the books of the company as well. There are a few ways to see
this in a good way, if you teach yourself a few tricks of the trade, juggling two jobs wont become easier but it will become bearable. Here are a few points which I found very useful juggling two jobs, do not expect this to work for you immediately as it takes practice and it differs from person to person. Focus There is always a reason why you find yourself in this situation, whether you are starting a business on the sideline, maybe in deyer need of the extra financing, or its merely to keep your job as your employer expects this from you. You need to be able to focus on the task at hand, and focus on the reason behind this situation you find yourself in, this reason you need to focus on while applying these roles, as this may be the only thing keeping you going each day. Try not to redirect your focus during the day, as the average mind thrives on only one focus, therefore it is vitally important to remember that you are there for a reason, and you need to stand up and face it , to be able to get through this and see this through. Another part to focus on is the fact that you cannot be two roles at once, you need to have a time for each role, its no use to try and be both roles at once. You need to enable yourself to switch your focus from one role to another when needed, and this means you need to shut down one role while completing another role.
Prioritise Two jobs have more tasks to be completed that having only one role to attain, therefore it is vital for you to be able to prioritise, if you are fulfilling two roles at work, you need to be able to tell which of the functions within these roles are most important and diarise it for yourself, this might feel ridiculous
to diarise a list of tasks each day, but in due time your mind will master the ability to automatically prioritise this for you daily. If in the interim you are trying to start your business on the sideline or have a second job after hours whichever the case may be, always keep in mind that your employer or employers pay you for the hours you commit to them, therefore you need to prioritise the tasks in such a way that you do not overstep the boundaries of one or the other employer. This means , you need to able to go to work in the mornings, and know that from this time to that time i need to fully devote myself to this employer, and not think or do anything during these hours to fulfil your second or third employers need, as time is essentially money for each business.
Manage This may sound absolutely berserk, but you need to manage yourself and your personal lifestyle, if you are well focused and mastered that skill , managing yourself is an absolute bliss. This means you need to know what you have space and time for in your life, sounds selfish , and yes it absolutely is , but take to mind that you only have one life, and allowing unnecessary drama or people into your life , will make you loose focus and completely through you off track. If I say letting people into your life, i do not only mean physically, I’m actually refereeing to work politics or complicated friendships, that subdue time for you to think about nonsense or devote time to sort out things that is absolutely useless. Always keep in mind , you are running a race, if you run the race smart for the first few years, the last few years will be the best you will ever remember. Some individuals spend time fussing over things, and playing mind games to entertain themselves, you do not have time or space for that when you are already juggling two roles, this immediately tells me , there is some drive behind you that got you where you are today.
Those three points are the most vital points you need to get through each day, in due time you will master them , and the rest will come automatically. Always remember there will be individual that will try and through you off your game, but you need to remain steady in what you are aiming to achieve.
Something wicked this way comes The end is nigh. End of the world? No, the end of Facebook. This article will only be published 3 weeks after it has been written, but by now you all would have seen, if not participated, in the latest social phenomenon ‘Confession Pages’ on Facebook.
information through social media, especially in smaller communities. Basically this was a recipe for disaster… think of all the people you know who owned a power bracelet or a pair of crocs and multiply them by a thousand. Every person who got hooked on these pages due to their fear of missing out suddenly wanted to jump on the bandwagon. The only thing people who ‘liked’ these pages ever wanted to talk about was what this guy or that girl confessed and who commented on it. Something that could be very distracting especially with looming tests and exams. If there is one thing any person on earth loves to do it is judge people, and has an opinion about every type of behaviour. Small things amuse small minds one can argue, but when it happens on such a grand scale surely there must be something wrong within our societies. Lucky for you, you have me to investigate. First and foremost we need to look at the type of posts that get confessed and why they get so much feedback. They are mostly about sexual exploitations or rebellious behaviour, going against the norms of society or relationship related deeds. The people commenting then generally approve or disapprove and so a debate gets waged until the next post comes along. As mentioned earlier these posts started to compete with each other to see which can get more attention. Sure there were some innocent enough, but how long can you stay innocent in Sodom & Gomorra.
For those who have just come out of a coma, a confession page is a site that people go on to anonymously and confess some type of behaviour they would never do openly. It started out innocently enough, but grew into a terrible monster. To my knowledge these sites started up on different campuses for the students to confess their worst behaviour, all part of a laugh, it soon turned into a competition between hostels and residences, followed by intervarsity proportions. And the bigger the audience, the worse the people confessing tried to make the shock value. Safety measures were put in place to safeguard the users from potential harm but that could only last so long as people found loopholes in the system to acquire more info. I mean a campus is only that big and social circles eventually cross. The biggest problem these pages had was that although the original posts were anonymous, the users commenting on the posts weren’t, so if these users don’t have the correct security settings on their profile they were at risk of getting tracked down. Surely nobody can be that stupid? Well, you don’t need to be a computing guru to figure out how to get
Humans learn though example, and I’m sure there are countless of minds that came across these pages that saw what the moral norms are of students, who think if they don’t act or do the same they won’t be seen as normal. We should all take care in remembering that as much as you want to stand out as an individual now, back in your pubescent years you just wanted to fit in and belong. And if you think it’s not your job to monitor what generations after you get exploited by, then you are even more disillusioned than you think.
Trust me, I am the last person to preach about a moral code, as the debaucheries I’ve committed is basically summed by the first few confessions of every page. The problem I have with these vile sources of trivial information is how it stereotypes so many people. Something they’ve been trying to forget and break away from all of a sudden gets publicized just because it is ‘safe’ to, because it is anonymous. It becomes apparent why South Africa is so swamped with rape, adultery, violence, ludeness, drug and alcohol abuse, fraud, and corruption. If the top universities have people contributing to these factors, what chance does the rest of the country have without the knowledge, education and means to combat these atrocities? They reckon once they graduate the shameful, secret behaviour of their varsity days end when they put on a toga? That they magically forget all the bad habits they picked up during these formative years? Even worse are those who participate in these events are aware of it, and yet you decide to turn the blind eye and say: ‘Not my problem’.
If student confessions weren’t bad enough, the posts of post grad social media was worse. Trying to bate all the addicts in some feeble attempt to go back to their ‘glory days’, and when I say an addict I mean the people who read and comment on the posts, feeding the monster that was still growing. The same people who comment on every matter, who feel that they have somehow earned some celebrity status because people interacted with them, who liked what they had to say. They get this enormous boost of egotistical self believe. I can only think how it engulfed their personal lives, going from obscurity to internet rock stardom even though in a small online community. Sad really, pathetic actually. All the people who frequent these sites trying to be a part of something different, I am sorry to tell you that your parents failed you, your teachers failed you, the people who were
supposed to take care of your mental and social upbringing failed you. Life Orientation teachers across the country will have their hands full with the general insolence and ignorance that these sites portray. How long I will have to suffer through it remains to be seen, I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only. From a personal viewpoint I’m disappointed in all the acquaintances I have that frequent the sites and see how they interact with the same people I find so morally corrupt and damaged, but hey who am I to judge…
Star Trek Wars: The Next Generation
I say movies knowing that some ‘Trekkies’ (Star Trek fans) would correct me by saying that Star Trek built its following through the tv series where Star Wars was originally only a trilogy of movies. For the purpose of this article I’ll stick to the term ‘movies’, as it is construes any type of motion picture. My logic is flawed I know, but I’m human, not Vulcan.
The movie empires strike again!
For those who lost me during the introduction, let me give you a quick debriefing regarding the two franchises. Let’s start of with Star Wars, the original trilogy was created in 1977 and started with Episode IV: A New Hope, followed by Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and finally Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi. Star Wars focusses on political agenda and the abuse of power to obtain it. The rhetoric of sacrifice and loyalty is deeply interwoven within the plots of the characters. I could write a synopsis surrounding the characters and main themes but I’d rather you watch it for yourself to draw your own conclusions or do what any other person would, ‘google it’.
The Star Trek and Star Wars franchises have gained cult status over the past few decades as their following has waged an ongoing war between each other in support their of favourite. With Disney Studios obtaining the rights to Lucas Arts, the company founded by the creator of Star Wars George Lucas, for an estimated amount of $700 million and the Star Trek series continuing with its franchise reboot, it is just a matter of time for these two science-fiction classics to clash again. Luckily for our readers you have me to prepare you for the war that will soon wage.
Star Trek plots, whether that of the films or tv series, always ask the viewer whether they would follow a logical safe approach in a scenario or trust their gut, which although reckless is usually intended for a greater purpose. Through its plethora of characters it finds different ways to identify itself with the viewer.
In what will undoubtedly be labelled as ‘the clash of titans’ these two industry giants will compete to gain a next generation of followers to ensure the longevity of the two respective brands continues. Sure there are other sci-fi movies which deserve a mention, but the influence these two have had on pop culture is immeasurable. If you are able to read, write or speak the English language you would have had dealings surrounding these movies.
With the technological advances in the film making industry the next generation of movies will be able to take its plots and characters to a whole new level. To encapture the imaginations of anyone who watches it, opening a whole new dimension to their thought processes. With fans being able to be more engaged than previous generations it will be an epic war on the fields of social media.Whether you sit on the fence or choose a side, the battle itself will entertain the world perhaps even more than the movies itself, it reminds me of a comedy adventure movie ‘Fanboys’. Without copying and pasting more details of characters from Wikipedia, I’ll rather you discover and rediscover them for yourselves, may the force be with you, live long and prosper.
YOGA AND YOUR MIND
This is the simplest posture. In this, you need to lie on your back and rest your legs against a wall. Inhale and exhale slowly. While both inhaling and exhaling, try and keep a count of 5. Your eyes should be closed. This posture does not involve any kind of strain on your body. Hence, anyone can perform it. Apart from curing depression, people suffering from lack of sleep can also be benefited by this exercise. It helps you in your concentration, brings you back in the present and reroutes circulation. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
You start by lying down firmly on the mat. You should keep your hands towards the side with palms down. Now you bend your knees. Next, you have to lift yourself up using your abs. Hold this position for a while. This posture brings in positive energy. You can feel the sudden rush on energy through your body once you complete it. It also calms the mind and hence, frees you of depression. You can use a pillow or any other support to hold that position for a while. People with back ache can avoid this position. Marjariaasana
Yoga has always proved beneficial in curing various diseases. It has also proved extremely helpful in other problems like obesity, anxiety and depression. Depression is the worst effect of a busy lifestyle these days. With the rapid increase in the run for betterment, there are always failures which are not very welcomed by people. Hence, depression becomes our worst evil. It can, however, be very effectively controlled with the help of yoga. Meditation and yoga when practiced with the right postures and the right state can cure depression without any medication. Discussed below are certain postures by which you can curb depression: Viparita Karani
This asana can be performed in two ways. The first is the cow. You remain on all fours. Keep your backbone in one line, your knees below your hips and your hands below your shoulders. The next step is to pull your stomach towards the
floor and pull your face up, towards the sky. Hold this position for a while. The next position is the cat. You again have to remain on all fours. This time, push your stomach upwards and bring your face down. Hold this position for a while.
People with back ache problems should especially do this exercise as it cures backache problems. It promotes an ideal spine alignment and also strengthens back muscles. It thus builds up concentration and helps cure depression.
This is called the locust position. You start by lying down on your stomach. Keep your hands on the sides with palms facing upwards. Next you lift up your legs as well as the upper torso including your arms. You should lift up your chest as high as it is comfortable. This posture again opens up your heart. It not only cures depression but also helps in curing indigestion, gall bladder problems, low energy levels and fatigue. People with backaches could also do this exercise. But people with serious stomach ailments or back problem should abstain from practicing this yoga exercise. Essential pose – Savasana
Mastyasana
This is also called the fish position. You start by down on your back with arms on the side and palms down. The next step is to pull yourself up. Keep your legs firmly on the ground and make your chest protrude. This causes your lungs to expand making more room for the air. This improves breathing. Your heart gets opened in this position. This unclogs all the tension in the core tissue. It thus helps in curing tension and depression. This position is very basic and anyone can do it. Salabhasana
This is the most essential pose in yoga practice. This step must always be done while winding up your yoga session. All you need to do is lie straight on your back with your arms on the side and feet apart, in a neutral position. It is also known as corpse pose. When in the right posture, relax yourself and start stretching your body. It should be stretched as if someone is trying to pull our head and body in two different directions. You need to ease your breathing while practicing Savasana. You should practice to hold your breath when in the stretching position. You should focus on your breathing when doing the mental yoga exercise. This increases concentration and improves blood circulation. It improves concentration and majorly helps in relieving tension thus curing depression.