Story Updates

Time for fun follow-up on some hot Independent stories.

In Search of Ruhi May 3, 2010

...the work of the Ruhi Institute has gained ... some sort of endorsement or approval by the Baha'i Administration as claimed by Mr. Anonymous...

"Mr. Anonymous" is the person who wrote statements on Ruhi web pages without identifying him/herself, such as "The Ruhi Institute curriculum has been adopted by the Baha'i World Centre..." Independent could not find any collaboration of that sort of official endorsement, until the 2010 Ridvan letter from The Universal House of Justice (UHJ) which refers to "Ruhi Institute" at least three times.

Build a Central Bank in Your Kitchen

Do-it-yourself projects can save a lot of money. By this criterion, building your own central bank (CB) is the ultimate money saver, regardless of your skill set, with readily available ingredients in your own home. Key concepts of money presented previously in Independent articles are summarized, providing background and step-by-step instructions to build your own CB. Fig. 1 lists some CB attributes and indicates that CBs come in two types: evil and good.

Fig. 1: Central Bank Types

Civil War U.S.A.

Recent developments suggest signs that the Second Civil War in the United States has already begun. In this follow-up of the last Independent article on "Story Updates", some of these signs and their consequences will be examined. These consequences will likely be international. Hence, these developments merit world-wide attention.

Unlike the first Civil War in the U.S. where northern states fought with southern states, the Second Civil War portends to pit the U.S. federal government against virtually all states in the "union". These signs may be reviewed in two parts: (1) fundamental disputes between the Feds and the States and (2) escalation of the ongoing armed conflict.

Making Straight A's

Making straight A's is a do-it-yourself project for students from high school through college and into post-graduate programs. The proven method presented generally can raise grade point averages by about two points -- e.g., from D to B, from C to A and from B to best in class (arrows in Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Class Grade Distribution

This article describes the method for making all A's, starting with motivational factors and simple learning principles, which suggested the successful 1964 prototype used by the author at the University of Chicago (me in Fig. 1) and finally, the more recent, stream-lined recipe for straight A's.