The Insider November 2020

The

NOVEMBER 2020

INSIDER

General partner

Partners

Special thanks to Morten Hansen, Ksenija Sunepe, SÄ ra Zdanovska, Kasparas Rutkauskas, Agris DÄ vis Mednis

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BalticPrint 2 / THE INSIDER

CONTENTS ASSOCIATES OF THE MONTH

5

THE NEVERENDING STORY

6

INTROVERTS, EXTROVERTS

7

WEIRD RELIGIONS

8

AN IMAGINARY UNIVERSITY

10

TIMOTHY DEXTER CARRIES COAL TO NEWCASTLE

12

SA ELECTIONS

14

SUNLIGHT BOOSTING TEA BUSINESS

16

A GUIDE TO MULLED WINE

20

THE POLITICAL COMPASS TEST

22

ONE DIGITAL PAGE PER US ALL?

24

PYRAMID

25

HORRORSCOPES

26

..

THE INSIDER / 3

Dear readers, Frustration has become one of the most prominent feelings this time of year, as the day seems over before it has truly begun. Seemingly, our regular 24 hours have been reduced by half, with never-ending evenings enjoying their stay. Nevertheless, they do have their own charm and can be very enjoyable. To ensure that they are, look through these pages!

From cover to cover - this issue is filled with excitement, lightheartedness, as well as new ideas. Please welcome the new associates of the Insider team, as they have expressed themselves amazingly in their first issue, and we’re sure that they’ll continue to do so! Expect intriguing articles about weird religions, an imaginary university, and much more ;)

Yet those are not the only tempting articles in this issue... If you’ve been lately wondering about Brexit, we have something for you! You’ll definitely find interesting Morten’s view on the subject within the first pages. Continuing in the following pages with common misconceptions about us – people. However, if you wish to clear some things up and simply be sure, check out horrorscopes for how to do that!

Finally, for a fun evening, make your own mulled wine by following a recipe from us, and indulge in multiple fun games created just for you! Of course, the wine goes in great combination with the meme and gossip pages as well ;)

Tons of love, The Insider

The The Insider Insider Team Team Editor-in-Chief Un a Na r nic k a

E lizab ete B eat r ise K ancēvič a

Designers D arj a S ediha El ī za Ozo l a K r i š j ān i s D o bel is 4 // THE THE INSIDER INSIDER 4

Anna Luīze R ezevsk a B enjamins O guroks K r ister s Š avalgins Aiva Juste

Ksenija Sune p e Amand a Zvaigzn e Pet ro S emenik hi n

Veronik a M orozova Laura K amergrau ze

Ioana Vat am an-M arginean u

Editors

Tat siana Paulousk aya

M ad ara Buš a

Associates of the month Madara Markāne

EVENT COM Tookk the initiative and hosted the Eventcom teambuilding

Matīss Kokins

BUS COM Provided students with an exclusive discount code from Ukiyo and organized an Ukiyo gift card for the Internship Experience Sharing event

Sabīne Šurna

EVENT COM Provided great ideas for possible online events and in detail described how these ideas could be executed

Kristers Melnis

BUS COM Helped with foodraising for the Chess Tournament participants

Roberta Treija

EVENT COM Has been very enthusiastic and helpful in organizing the teambuilding and future online events that we are all excited about

Elizabete Rupā

BUS COM Foodraised sweets for the Internship Experience Sharing event as well as the Chess Tournament

Rimants Žogota

EDU COM Helped a lot for Internship Experience Sharing. Very proactive. :))

Uvis Arbidāns

SPORTS COM Organized chess torunament

Krišjānis Dobelis

MARKETING COM thought of giving out masks, made a new logo with a mask, overall - a big help with good ideas!

Vasilisa Kotova

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Perfomed the best in sales calls, helped organising the teambuilding and made a visual for the scholarship programme

Tenis Lēnerts

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Did well with the sales calls, initiated an event committee is currently organising and obtained sponsors for It himself

Augustinas Kvaselis

IT COM Spearheaded the development of SSER Discord and Minecraft servers. Has been showing great THE INSIDER /5 initiative consistently.

by Morten Hansen

The NeverEnding Story

… was the title of a 1984 movie as well as of a song performed by Limahl (I bet that 99% of you have never heard of him but check the song on YouTube, if for no other reason than to check his very 1980s hairstyle). I think his only other claim to fame is having the same date for his birthday as I have, ahem…

The song came to my mind as I was asked by The Insider to write about Brexit (and thank you for not suggesting a corona-related topic; sick and tired of those). Great Britain fought the whole of the 2nd World War, from 1 September 1939 to 8 May 1945, altogether 2077 days if my calculations are correct.

The Brexit referendum took place on 23 June 2016 and Britain is supposed to – finally, finally – complete the Brexit-exit by 1 January 2021. That is a process of 1652 days or approximately 80% of the time it took to fight Germany, Italy, Japan etc.

And at least the Brits managed, then, to be on the winning side, if I may be allowed to be somewhat sarcastic…..

Besides these historical observations there will not be many other observations regarding Brexit – be for it or against it but the whole process has displayed an amazing degree of incompetence. From initiating a referendum where it was not spelled out what a “no” would mean to trade talks that, at the time of writing, must – MUST! – be finished in 40 days (31 December 2020) but still with no idea of what the outcome might be but what could be detrimental to companies and individuals in Britain.

At least the Brits are not alone in creating messy outcomes. The Americans recently held an election – I think you may have heard of it…. Counting the votes took a long time. In fact, it took longer than an American operation in 1969 that sent three men to the moon and returned them safely to Earth.

Where is the world taking us, as we older people tend to say – and in these cases, with good right.

by Morten Hansen 6 6 // THE THE INSIDER INSIDER

Introverts, extroverts, and common misconceptions

by Petro Semenikhin

Oh,

the eternal dichotomy: are you the shy, lonely Joe who likes to be alone, or the partying, always-in-the-spotlight Andy with a million friends? Unfortunately, that’s the only two possibilities most people imagine when they think of introverts and extroverts (some people spell it “extraverts”, however that’s incorrect). Needless to say, the world is not this black and white. Everything is a lot more complicated, and here’s why.

First things first, what determines your place on the introvert/extravert spectrum?

The simple answer is genetics and the conditions you were raised in. The longer version has lots of anatomy and includes a part of the brainstem called the reticular activating system, or RAS, which regulates your levels of arousal as well as your wakefulness and the transitions between sleeping and waking up.

This system is largely responsible for the survival of our special way back in the age of mammoths and sabretooth tigers. When you’re awake, the RAS regulates how much information you perceive and shoots up the arousal level when a potential threat is spotted so that you can adequately respond to the danger. And this where the genetics come in: each and every person has a set base point in terms of arousal, whether that be higher or lower than average.

Hans Eysenck, one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century, theorized that those with naturally low set points tend to trust and open up to those around them more, hence behaving extrovertedly. The opposite is true for those who have high set points: these people are always wary of their surroundings and are always in fight or flight mode around others, thus being unable to relax and generally having a bad time. They are known as introverts. Eysenck also proposed a distribution of people by natural arousal levels. He claimed that 15 percent of the population have a very low base level, 15 have a very high one and 70 fall somewhere in between.

“But what does this all have to do with misconceptions”, you may ask. Well, first of all, introverts aren’t always shy, and extroverts aren’t always annoying. In the case of the former, shy people are scared of ending up in social situations while introverts simply dislike being around others (reasons listed above). In the case of the latter, well, annoyingness is just a personality trait, not tied to a certain personality type.

Lastly, don’t try to place yourself on one end of the intro/extroversion scope. As you saw, most people are a mix of both (granted, people do lean more strongly to one or the other), so liking solitude while going to parties as often as the next guy doesn’t make you a freak – it actually makes you normal. Oh, and for the love of God stop telling introverts to “go out more and meet some people”. It’s their body, they can’t do anything about it. Caring is good, overbearing is not. Peace. •

THE INSIDER / 7

by Kristers Šavalgins

A

lready tried praying to all the imaginable Gods for on-site studies?

Want to guarantee a good grade in Micro or FE, but have no Gods left? Fear not! Light a candle, put your hands together and start praying to these gods instead, maybe some really exist. (For legal purposes, I am not implying that some Gods might not exist, and I am also not guaranteeing that you will pass your exams.)

weird RE

Pastafarianism or Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster A relatively new religion which was started in 2005 (Although they claim to have existed in secrecy for hundreds of years), when a concerned citizen Bobby Henderson sent an open letter to Kansas State Board of Education. In the letter he voiced his concern about teaching creationism in Biology classes and demanded that they spend equal time on the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The Flying Spaghetti Monster is a monster with two wobbly eyes, made of spaghetti and two large meatballs. The Monster created the universe after getting drunk, which explains a lot of the defects like covid deniers. Their only dogma – reject all dogmas. According to Pastafarians pirates are divine beings. In his open letter Henderson shows a graph which correlates dropping pirate numbers with global average temperature rise.

All Y1s probably will slam me for not telling this before our Academic Study paper submission deadline (For the older folk – our paper was about climate change). Believers also have religious headwear – colanders, which they try to sneak into their ID photos. Although not many countries recognize this religion officially, the most important thing is that Flying Spaghetti Monster afterlife has a Beer Volcano and a Stripper Factory. So, get on your knees (if they do not hurt from last weekend, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, wear your mask) and start praying to our 8 / THE INSIDER new overlord, Flying Spaghetti Monster! R’amen!

Scientology

When people are calling your new, shiny religion a cult, a business or a new religious movement, you know you are on to something. Scientology was created by American author L. Ron Hubbard. In 1950 he published a set of ideas and practices called Dianetics. These ideas were originally intended to be a new psychotherapy method but swamped with financial difficulties Hubbard transformed these ideas into a religion.

Scientology’s goal is true spiritual enlightenment and freedom for all. It addresses the spirit, and that man is more than a product of his environment, or his genes. There are no dogmas, everyone discovers the truth themselves. It sounds all fine and dandy, there is more about spiritual cleansing and other religious stuff, but are we here to promote the religion? No, we are here to entertain and educate you. Scientology has a crazy track record of controversies, biggest of them is “Operation Snow White”. Up to 5000 Scientology agents infiltrated various government agencies around the world. In the USA it tried to regain their status as a religious organization, which was taken from them in 1967. Why they need that status? To not pay taxes. The government recognized that Scientology was not only a church, but also a scheme to make money, and a lot of it.

When the operation was compromised it resulted in the biggest FBI raid in the US history. Scientology kind of succeeded, they regained their tax-exemption status in 1993. Some sources say Scientology make as much as 500 million US$ annually, so maybe it is time to put that SSE knowledge to use and make some money by exploiting religious activities, hehe, not saying that you should, but you know where to find me.

Spaghetti monster propaganda

ELIGIONS Maradona and Presley churches

Maybe you want to pray to someone who lived in your own lifetime or at least in your parent’s lifetime. I have 2 religions for you then. I know, sometimes I surprise even myself.

If you are a devoted football fan, Iglesia Maradoniana or the Church of Maradona is just for you. It does not even need to be your main religion, as some man in Wikipedia said, Maradonian church is the religion passed on his hearth, but his rational religion is Catholic. Apparently, the church has 100 thousand followers, that is like 100 thousand more than I have friends. These members follow 10 commandments which includes: love football above all else, declare unconditional love for Maradona, make Diego your middle name and name of your first son, in short, just the normal cult, I mean, religion stuff.

Maybe you are not crazy about football, then pray to Elvis Presley instead. The information about this one is scarce but imagine any other religion with one god and put Elvis in his place and you will get quite close to what the Preslyterian church is. Every day the devotees look towards Las Vegas and pray. They also have 31 Commandments which are the items Presley often kept around like hot dogs, cold medicine and cheap cigars, or as I like to call those: Je Joue party starterpack.

Do not really like Maradona or Presley? Well, let me suggest making our own religion within SSE, the church of Morten Hansen. It would coincide with building a statue in front of the school, and gifting a Bentley, and praying each time he starts a lecture‌ (And maybe abusing economics to make couple million of that green stuff) If other lecturers are reading this right now and feeling left out, do not worry, you can be demigods in our new religion, just do not lower my grade in the exams. :)

THE INSIDER / 9

An Imaginary University: Y1 in the times of C-word

What I expected, did not happen...

Gargantuan (the same-sized bow to Morten for the word) emotional strain following the overwhelming first times of entering and exiting the blue building in the middle of a magnificent historic quarter - my favourite of all the old Riga quarters. Even before I knew SSE existed - even after I learned SSE exists and was jealous of people who press the door handle of the exquisite blue building every working day. Oh I was so jealous.

Now I am supposed to be doing it. Why am I not doing it? I have exhausted myself anticipating the day when my jealousy will be by magic converted into glib smugness, which I surely am supposed to feel, having made it here.

Instead, I am spending autumn in my hometown - the first one in several years, actually, since I went abroad at the end of August quite often. I watched my friends go away and leaves fall down, but I stayed put. That’s how Belarus often is, really. Friends boarding buses to Poland, Lithuania, Russia, discussing visas, permits, cheap downtown accommodation options, packing, parent home nostalgia. Before, I always dreamed of September like this one - without the petty fuss, just smoothly run over into by the summer.

It started at a leisurely pace, almost.

I never experienced a simultaneous exposure to a motley, bursting with personality, disorienting bunch of 130 new faces, only to those few who were so confident in their photogenicity and turned Zoom cameras on. Very brave, laborious, admirable of them indeed (Me, I am always too lazy to style my hair acceptably...). It was never too demanding in terms of presence - at the 10 / THE INSIDER end of a Zoom session, I lapsed back

by Tatsiana Paulouskaya

into a very familiar kitchen where the ugly flower wallpaper was lit by a warm cooker hood bulb (I wish that would not be the background to my SA interviews, but it was, dah).

I was not made to keep the socially acceptable pose and face expression in front of bus passengers, passers-by, my dorm neighbours till the night; not made to attune to the September temperature plummets every morning. I was not even made to substitute my family-sized fridge for a humble rack in the common kitchen! Never in my life I was less swept off my feet at the beginning of something new.

Instead, my back adjusted to the shape of a blanket that adjusted to the shape of my chair.

It has been all fuzzy and comfortable.

Hometown, cheap café delivery paid in BYN, parents house as in the days of yore. But all too comfortable. Even my introvert half started to riot. I study at An Imaginary University. I saw some lucky people among you actually smuggling a piece of the Real one. On my end, the Lithuanian consulate hotline replied quite coldly: “Latvia? No, unlikely to let you through due to C-word” and the bus station information phone: “No, bus such and such is not currently operational due to C-word”. “No, the plane is getting delayed indefinitely due to C-word”...

People have such beautiful Instagram feeds. That’s nearly all I have if I, for some reason, want to see their faces once more. I had a different policy, but putting some more face pictures there now would not be such a bad idea... once I manage to style my hair, of course. I still retain a bit of an inclination to be social, and hope people could remember my face.

I often think how what we see behind lecturers’ backs when they stream from their flats should have some inherent meaning to be figured out.

And whatever random thumbnail is placed on Zoom recordings of lectures should predict something about our most immediate futures.

Recently, one of the TAs looked flustered seeing the incredible activity of Y1s on the Zoom chat.

Oh buddy, this is what our evolution looks like.

Our brains are seen in the process of embracing the condition of digitality.

People also talk in the WhatsApp chat. What proportion of them is up for spammy raids and trashy jokes, who talks more often about assignments, who only comes to ardently overexplain some very important official information - in case someone did not check the email, who tempts everybody else to parties, who is not seen interacting at all... It’s not networking - it is a freaky detective game. I read attentively.

Ah, I’m reminded once again about the Elections. I heard something about those among the lines of chat messages - the mysterious gleam in the eyes of current Chairs discernible via webcam (Don’t even try to imagine a chair with gleaming eyes).

I even soaked up some hype. We’d need to attach the prefix e- to this as well? Right? Are there any coaching books on e-elections? We’d need to sofa-campaign, bathroom-debate, we’d force our pets to be our PR-managers and in the end all of us would occupy chair positions in the most literal sense... Come to think of it, could people with no experience hypothetically theoretically thrive in the situation? Behold one of the honest schoolkids of Belarus where engagement in any political activity have been outright shameful as long as I lived but who is now ready to demarginalize and embrace the healthy social customs * an emoji with meeting fingers * ?... Nah, it’s no use. No one remembers my face.

Someone really solid should become the new head of the IT committee next round - it is on the road to be the most useful one in the SA. The rest of the two and a half years and two months ‘d better be normal... soon to become one month... Soon to become just two and a half years.

Do they (supply and demand) plan to hasten the VR affordability? The August joke of An Imaginary University is getting out of hand by November.

THE INSIDER / 11

Timothy Dexter carries coal to Newcastle The 18th century was an age of science and philosophy, of wars and revolutions, and an age of intercontinental trade too. Ships became larger, roots safer, the amount and variety of different goods demanded and consumed in both the Old World and the New allowed adventurous merchants to build fortunes in several successful voyages. However, there were still many risks. Pirates and privateers, storms, navigational mistakes – all these “accidents” could lead your ship straight to the Davy Jones’ locker. In addition, even if you stayed on the safe mainland, the money you have invested in the ship, its crew and cargo may be lost forever. Moreover, getting to the destination point was not enough. You departure from the New Orleans in August, ship’s hull filled with tobacco, spending a month in the high seas. You arrive in England, and find up, that the price for tobacco had dropped dramatically – another ship arrived a week ago, overflowing the market with tobacco. You could have not known that – nether radio, nor Internet are yet invented. As a result, you are selling your cargo for lower price you would have expected – and you still have to pay your crew, cover ship depreciation and reequip your vessel for the return voyage. Because of that, you may lose more than you may get.

Now, kind reader, you may be wondering, for what purpose did I bring up an introduction of such length? You see, of the all dangers, listed above, the hero of this story met absolutely none. Timothy Dexter was born in Malden, Massachusetts, around 1747. A descendant of Irish immigrants, Dexter spend most of his early life working on a farm and then as an apprentice of a tanner. After the end of apprenticeship, Timothy did his first step on a long road to riches – married a wealthy widow, Elizabeth Frothingham. Using her money and his skills of a leather worker he opened a shop and began selling gloves, leather trousers and other clothing, he manufactured. By 1780s, he had earned a significant amount of money. That was when things began to get bizarre. The year 1783 marked the end of American Revolutionary war and, thus, the recognition of the newly formed United States. During the war, 12 // THE THE INSIDER INSIDER 12

the Continental Congress, willing to end unrests in its underpaid armies, began to issue currency, which amount lead to a process well known to economics’ school student: inflation. Timothy Dexter spent all his savings to buy these almost worthless pieces of paper. At that moment, no one believed these bills were of any use, so they were happy to get rid of them for any price. Then, the government decided to step in and made good on its notes at one percent of its face value. One percent may be not much in terms of several notes, but Dexter amassed tens of thousands of such banknotes. It is still unknown, whether that was pure luck or he had an inside information, but I doubt the latter.

Dexter was never been reported to have any connections to the government – his humble origins, arrogance and ignorance prevented him from becoming a part of New England’s high circles.

Dexter’s operations allowed him to build two ships, which he sent to the Caribbean Islands, filled with bed warmers. A common bed warmer of that time resembled a frying pan with a long hand and an iron lid. It had to be filled up with smouldering coals and put on the bed to heat it up before the cold night. The only problem was that there was no demand for such kind of good in the West Indies.

Dexter stayed in Massachusetts, so it was the unknown captain, who had to decide the fate of the cargo and Timothy’s wealth. He opted not to return to the USA, but to try to sell the warmers at place… not as warmers though. Since the 17th century, sugar cane has been grown and harvested on plantations of the New World in mass. The main products of sugar – rum and molasses were manufactured there too. The locals were in a need of ladles for molasses production – they needed something to stir the hot liquid in the melting pots. Long-handed, pan-looking bed warmers happened to be right what they needed, and the captain sold them by a high price.

After return of his ships, Timothy Dexter decided to organize another trading expedition, perhaps one of the most irrationally rational voyages he sponsored.

Destination point - Caribbean Islands, cargo - stray cats. As crazy as this idea may have sounded, it actually had a point. Rats and mice, who travelled from harbour to harbour via ships or horse-drawn carriages, ravaged the warehouses, spoiling the precious goods.

It were not the solid stone walls or sophisticated mousetraps, that best battled the rodent invasion, but cats – natural-born predators.

Dexter could have learned about a dire need of feline in the Caribbean from members of crew he sent there before and considered this an opportunity. For several weeks, his men scoured the Boston and dragged all the cats they could find to Timothy’s ship. The townsfolk mocked him, considering him going mad, yet, to their surprise, the plan paid off with a great profit. Due to the fact, that his meowing cargo did not cost him a cent, Timothy only had to pay wages to the crew and to the cat-hunting teams, along with the ship maintenance and equipment costs. This voyage actually works against the later established image of a “rich lucky fool”. He was, no doubt, rude and arrogant, but he was also cunning… in his own way.

Nevertheless, the most unbelievable and the most famous of his deals was buying a cargo of coal and shipping it to the Newcastle, Great Britain. In the nowadays it is widely agreed, that Dexter took this decision being under the influence of his competitors, who intentionally were giving him wrong advice in order to get Dexter bankrupt and, at last, get rid of and irritating upstart merchant. It is also possible, that many of his previous deals had similar ori-

gins. By that time, Newcastle was world’s centre of coal industry, “carrying coal to Newcastle”, was a saying that defined a pointless action. Most probably, Timothy Dexter had never heard of this saying, because he had sails set immediately. When his ships arrived to British shores, it had turned out that the coal workers went on strike, paralysing the whole industry. Price for coal skyrocketed. No one in the United States could have seen this coming – about a month should have passed for news to travel from one coast of the Atlantics to another. By a pure miracle, a voyage, doomed from the very beginning, ended up a huge success.

So, was Dexter a perceptive operator, using every opportunity or just extremely lucky? For better understanding Dexter the trader, one should analyse actions of Dexter the man. According to the remarks of his contemporaries, Dexter was, at the very least, an extravagant man, willing to become accepted in the high society, yet his attempts led to the social ostracism. His family relations also were poor: tired of wife criticizing his business ideas, he began literally denying ever having a wife, referring to Elizabeth “as a ghost” even when she was present. Little known about his two children except for their names: Samuel and Nancy, and the fact that they both ended up heavy drunks.

Dexter brought huge mansions, one of which he had decorated with wooden statues of world’s greatest history figures – from Adam and Eve to John Hancock and George Washington. The greatest statue was the one of himself – with a proud inscription, “I am the first in the East, the first in the West, and the greatest philosopher in the Western World”.

By that time Lord Dexter – he be-

gan referring to himself as “Lord Dexter”, had actually written a twenty-four page book called “A Pickle for the Knowing Ones or Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress”. There he complained about the politicians, the clergy and his wife. The book, despite containing such “pearls” as “voise of the peopel”, “youhited States of A merica” or “Let it goue”, and having no punctuation marks, became a success. Firstly handed out free, later copies were put on sale. More than that, Dexter even listened to those criticising him for poor grammar and punctuation… by adding a page with 13 lines consisting of punctuation marks, allowing the readers to distribute them as they pleased.

One of the last deeds of self-proclaimed lord was his funeral – the fake one. Dexter wanted to know, how people would react.

The large crowd arrived to the cemetery, but at the very moment, the coffin began sliding into the grave, Timothy jumped out and began beating his own wife with a cane – for “not crying enough” (seems quite logical – you neglect someone, refer to one as a ghost and then await for compassion – author’s addition). This example is truly illustrative – it shows how desperately Dexter wanted to get public attention, which, according to his own calculations, would give him public acceptance. It did never happen. “Lord” Timothy Dexter died – this time for real - in 1806. His house was sold, storm destroyed the wooden statues and his book remained his only legacy – along with tales of his rise to fortune. “Though ignorant and illiterate, and doubtless somewhat indebted to luck for his good fortune, still it is evident the man was both shrewd and sagacious,” – that is how he was remembered.

INSIDER / 13

by BenjaminsTHEOguroks

The elections are already under way, hopefully it is going well. As you probably know all about the elections at this point, we have compiled some tips and funniest experiences from previous years participants to help you get through this nervous process.

sāra zdanovska

Tip: Be ready to be exposed but also do not be scared and be brave. If you truly desire the position you have applied for - it is worth it in the end. Do not apply just because you want to boost your ego or have a nice feature in your CV because you will really need a bigger inner motivation than that for the following year if you get elected, besides - everyone will see right through you too.

Tip: 1. Do not give up, even if you do not get elected in the first round - a lot of previous board members did not get in through the first round.

2. Be realistic, but ambitious - the students want to see new ideas.

3. If you have some mistakes in your past, be assured that the Roast committee will find them out. Acknowledge your mistakes and that you have learnt from them.

4. Before your presentation, play devil’s advocate with someone who knows about your presentation and whole campaign.

betija meļke

kristers melnis

14 / THE INSIDER

Funniest moment: I remember the exciting feeling of taking the stage in front of a full Soros and talking about my ideas. It might at first look intimidating however, when you get into the rhythm of it, it becomes a fun and learning abundant experience.

The funniest moment, although it did not seem so at the time were some of the questions in the presentation - I mean where else do you expect to be asked about you and your girlfriend like that?

Tip: 1) Be friends with your rivals. Do not play dirty!

2) Prepare as much as you can but remember that people evaluate your attitude and persistence just as much.

Tip: Everyone is going to try to have as much fun as possible during these elections, so it is important not to take yourself too seriously and try to have some fun with it as well!

Funniest moment: In the anonymous twitch chat, there was a comment that in the production process of my red jacket child labour was used... I still think about it sometimes... :D But to be serious, I really enjoyed baking cakes for everyone in university as well as visiting dorms, because people in dorms were super welcoming and sweet.

During the elections, I was more nervous about saying Kasparas name incorrectly than about the whole presentation.

Funniest moment: I was locked out of the Soros auditorium with another candidate as the third candidate was giving their presentation so we would not overhear the questions being asked so naturally we tried to eavesdrop and lip read what was said. It did not work, but it was quite funny.

Funniest moment: Seeing all the candidates strategizing and coming up with new ways to earn votes was very exciting, but participating myself allowed me to talk to many people from all the different years. I enjoyed the very friendly and sportsmanlike competition, which happens very rarely!

Tip: The key for candidates this year would be to find new and innovative socially responsible ways to campaign and persuade the students of SSE Riga that you are the best choice to vote for.

kasparas rutkauskas

Rihards Bajārs

Funniest moment: The most funny moment was probably looking at the memes made by the stream chat after the presentation to see how the people of SSE Riga see you and your friends and just to have a little laugh about yourself as well.

Tip: 1. Be open to the new online format! It is still useful to talk with the board members, but you must be ready to present yourself in front of a virtual crowd.

2. SSE Rigans usually vote for the most relatable, friendly and authentic candidates.

3. Think about how to introduce yourself to the student body and approach those student groups that you have not met yet (e.g. Y3).

Funniest moment: When Ričards called me a bad b***h during common interviews. :D The club event me and 2 other candidates organized for our campaign was attended by many SSE Rigans and that is the first time I got to experience the satisfaction after a successful event.

The striptease dance by sportscom candidates was probably the highlight of the elections last year.

Tip:

kristofers roberts jurjāns

Remember that it is your fellow peers that will vote in the elections, so make sure you are friendly and helpful to them as well as your upperclassmen.

Never act cocky and make sure you know your stuff. Talking to the current board members is a must and if you are going for presidential candidacy that list expands to just about anyone who does anything in the school.

Tip: 1. Do your research about the Student Association.

2. When it comes to the elections, do not be afraid of knowing too much.

3. Be creative and surprise the students.

Funniest moment: During the campaigning week it is all about finding creative ways to market yourself and beating your competitors to the punch to it. As for the presentations, it is a huge adrenaline rush. At that point it was one of the biggest crowds I had ever spoken in front of and considering the challenging questions of your peers as well as the roast committee, you never feel safe. It was still a great experience. The presentations were also the origin of what in my mind is the best ‘elevator pitch’ I have ever heard, quite literally pitching an elevator.

Funniest moment: You know it is all real when they call you on a stage at the Christmas Ball together with all the other Board Members. <3 Then, cleaning the biggest mess in the world, namely, the SA room, singing ‘’Aš bėgu’’

by Lauris Reiniks and getting to know the Board made me realize that cleaning can be fun at times as well. One thing I can say for sure, being a part of the team has been one of the most exciting things that has happened to me while studying at SSE Riga - not a single moment I have regretted it.

Now, there is an important announcement for everyone participating in the elections: One of the founding members of the Roast Committee said that “Elections have always been a type of sport close to my heart, despite never running for a position myself. Back in the days of being a Y1, together with two of my friends we created a video game, where one could choose the main hero based on their favourite candidate. And, as time went on, we decided that we should be more involved during the elections, for instance, giving a few good roasts to each of the candidates, and that is how the idea of the Roast Committee was born. We just wanted to

Madara buša

laura kamergrauze

express our opinions in a more unofficial, official way.”

SSER SA Elections is a magical event, in which everyone should take part in. We really hope that the idea of the Roast Committee will not scare away any potential candidates, but quite the opposite, will motivate the students to become the best representative of each committee. It is not like we go out of our way to find all and any dirt on each candidate that applies, or do we? Well, there is only one way to know for sure...

- Some very troubled public servants

We want to thank the concerned citizens for making a statement. To find more information about the elections, visit our Facebook page “SSE Riga SA Elections”!

INSIDER / 15 Do not be shy and ask if you have any questions! See you during the THE election!

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The Political Compass Test

by Amanda Zvaigzne

W

hether it’s for the meme or actual interest in the turnout, people have been taking the Political Compass test to see where they place in the spectrum of political ideologies. Sure, many have criticized the test to be as narrow as the “available for download” IQ tests you could find online, or to be ‘absolutely useless’. But, considering the polarized questions that the test overlooks, there is some, even if rather subjective, value in taking it.

To put it simple, there are technically four quadrants in which you can land, if we ignore the fact that landing close to the middle in either quadrant places you into being a ‘centrist’. One axis places you with regard to “How much money should the government redistribute?”, the other overseeing the aspect of how strict government control should be. It provides a spectrum in which you should technically see not only what ideology you most likely support, but also how radical your beliefs are. In a European context it’s a little different to look at ideologies like this, considering that this test was constructed with the US in mind as well.

In the US politics is often very radicalised, and being a centrist is said to make you as boring as a dry leaf. If you don’t go radical, are you even a part of a constituency? Do you even have a personality?

And this holds especially strong when it comes to identity politics, but that’s a topic of another day.

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In a way, the test is a good way to ease into thinking about politics. If you are a newcomer in reading the news (and you will see that if you study in SSE you will have to be updated) and Reuters, FT or CNN make virtually no sense to you or have nothing interesting, the test is a good way to see where you hypothetically stand as of now. And some of the questions just might pique your interest. Not just because they’re a little difficult to get into if you don’t have the time, but also because they ask polarized questions without you having the chance to explain yourself.

Not many people consciously think about such questions as: “Do I strongly agree that the main goal of the prison system is to punish and not rehabilitate?”

And that’s fair. If you stop and think, based on the answer of this question, comes the complementary question why. Why do I value this system for punishing?

Why do I believe in that prisons should punish?

What do I hope that achieves? And more importantly- does it even work? There are, of course, many more straightforward questions, such as about religious values and free markets, but some questions appear to stop the streak of agreeing and disagreeing. The more you read into the test, the more you have to ‘put your opinion in words’.

What do you believe is more important- controlling unemployment or controlling inflation? And what does it say about your values? Say the questions are narrow, but they do reflect something.

If something interests you, but reading academic articles overlooking the various experts’ opinions just doesn’t quite do it (I never tried it, but I don’t think I would have met a lot of success), political debates is where you go. The worst thing to do at that point is to watch Hillary Clinton say the infamous speech of “America is great, because America is good”. High-rank political speeches provide very little to people who might be getting into politics just now, and for the most part, don’t trigger any unique responses. Easy-to-watch types of videos are either free mics on college campuses or the “Change my mind” series. I’m not saying that everything you will get is worthy of being accepted.

Rather, I’m saying the opposite: sometimes what you’ll hear will sound morally “right”, but, when put up against facts and statistics, proves to be purely an idea with no real back-up. And in many cases, you’ll see that you will still chose to disagree, even when the proper facts are given, because morality is...something else. Often it will seem hypocritical to approve of one idea and disapprove another due to their technical similarities. Some things are easier to decide on if you’re radically for or against them.

MBTI or ‘Which One Direction member would be your perfect boyfriend?’, which help us categorise ourselves in groups. This just has at least some typical ‘psychology’ underneath it, so it means at least something.

Safe to say, I have done the test as well. The first time the placement was as expected, I already had a hunch. The second time I took the test, I’d had 2 months of actively watching US political debates and constantly looking for things that I should disagree with. The turnout was different, but it at the end of the day, a little change of quadrants still places you as a centrist.

P.S. If everyone in SSER would take the test, could we cover the entire compass? Would there be imperialists, fascists and communists among us that we’ve never even seen in such a light? Who knows.

I wouldn’t say the Political Compass test is in any way an excellent aggregate of personal values. But, even if the actual turnout doesn’t interest you, the memes are great. And watching any US political debate talking about how people representing certain ideologies are supposedly “ruining our society” is about two times as interesting. Suddenly the claims about the Liberal Left or The Authoritarian Right make sense. The test provides more insight than a typical test, at the same time still keeps it entertaining to a certain extent. We tend to have an eye on all kinds of tests, be it The Big Five, THE INSIDER / 23

One digital page per us all?

by Madara BuĹĄa

I remember one of the first lecturers we met in this school telling us to print out the cases, readings, even lecture slides and make notes right on the pages. Many of my coursemates quickly ran out of printing credits... This year we switched our Soros seats to the comfort of our own home, but this also meant even more online reading materials and for many- no access to a printer. So we have switched to a daily routine, which includes hours spent at the computer, reading textbooks and articles digitally.

In the following article, I will be discussing the impact digital reading has on students in this difficult time that we mostly spend online.

First, let's talk about the advantages of the digital medium. Because reading online often means just quickly going over the text without annotating or highlighting, it takes less time. If someone wants to read a book, journal or other printed form of text in a public place, others will be able to see the front page and possibly judge your preferences, but the online format provides some privacy. When was the last time when you manually searched for a reference from a printed source? Reading digitally allows you to cross-check references with only a click on a link.

One of the biggest myths associated with reading from a computer screen is the effect it has on one's eyesight. Although, computer vision syndrome (CVS) is indeed something that affects 5090% of computer users, the symptoms of it usually disappear once the person spends some time away from the device. In an article by TIME Newspaper, optometry doctors and specialists state that spend24 ing/ THE a lotINSIDER of time with your nose up a textbook can be

just as damaging for your eyesight if not more.

So the main difference between the two mediums is how much of the information read is comprehended. Many sources suggest that the attention span when reading online is shorter and there are more distractions present. Research by Dartmouth university professors in 2016 suggested that after reading digitally students can answer more concrete questions while reading the printed material results in better answers to abstract questions, that shows our way of thinking also being affected by the format of the reading.

Our school has tried introducing platforms such as Perusall that are designed to improve engagement in online readings. This allows a student to annotate the assigned readings. In some courses this year, these notes and interactions have been graded. When more notes added mean a higher grade, many students are not reading the articles to understand the given topic, but rather frantically searching for passages to comment on, often without a valuable meaning or contribution to the learning process.

What does it all mean for us? Although, many students agree that they understand the assigned readings better in a printed format, in this time a printer is a luxury only a few have at the safety of their home. So our school and others around the world have to still work on providing an environment to satisfy the preferences of their students â&#x20AC;&#x201C; whether that would be additional printing credits or digital solutions using the new online platforms introduced every day.

Try out The PYRAMID! Scan the code, follow the instructions and have fun playing this Quiz with your friends! Do you think you know a lot about terrorists, tennis, masks, movies or music? Well, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s see!

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Horrorscopes

by Amanda Zvaigzne

From crystals, moon water, and fire rituals to reading natal charts, tarot and listening to universal guides, I practice it all. Things regarding the occult have always been an interesting topic of discussion, but it’s not that often that you know someone who talks about it in the broad daylight. The associations most people have with the word ‘horoscopes’ are actually an extremely simplified version of the real thing. They are heavily reliant on stereotypes due to a very practical reason- each person’s chart is very unique, and getting into a deeper analysis would just take the horoscope from being something that’s just ‘fun to read’ to something that requires analysis. This surely is a question of belief, but the full zodiac system is more than pseudo-science.

Setting things straight: horoscopes and natal

You probably know your horoscope based on the date when you were born, and that’s where it stops. That is not, however, entirely what the person reading your birth chart will look at to determine who you are. The horoscope you know is actually just your Sun sign.

Based on the date, time and location of your birth, there are several placements which determine who you are as a person from various perspectives: Sun: your ego and identity Ascendant: what you appear like to other people Moon: your emotions, moods and feelings Mercury: your style of thinking, processing information and communication Venus: the way you love and process romantic emotions Mars: how you assert yourself, take action, process inner aggression There are 5 other planetary placements, as well as 12 houses which determine your attitude towards family, harmony, wealth and other more trivial and straight-forward things. Based on the date and place of your birth, everything except the Ascendant and 12 Houses can be determined- finding it out is as simple as finding you on Facebook, checking the date of your birth and where you’re from.

The analysis: why your Sun sign doesn’t have it all

In the table you see that the thing you call a ‘horoscope’ only talks about your ego. It’s the reason why often you hear people say their horoscope is inaccurate- because it reveals only 1/23 of the things you are based on your placements. It can serve as a proxy to your general attitude, but it doesn’t reflect you in motion, where people see how you feel, talk and act.

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A full edition on how occultists seem to know who you are An example: the birth chart of a fellow board member On the SA board as our Marketing committee chairperson we have Veronika Morozova. If you’ve (sadly) never had the chance to talk to her or get to know her, this is in short what her natal chart tells about her: Sun: Aquarius. She has strong social conscience and believes teamwork is a foundation of making the world a better place. She is humanitarian, and possesses genuine passion about improving the world and her surroundings, putting a lot of energy into social work. This may sometimes come off as impatience towards people who disagree with her or don’t trust her vision.

Ascendant: Cancer. She comes off as someone familiar, solid, approachable and very kind. She avoids making huge entrances and will pay a lot of attention to her external environment as it can be a factor of vulnerability to her.

Moon: Libra. Her emotions are grounded around peace and balance. She is diplomatic by nature, always looking at both sides of the argument, and, due to always weighing her options, she may come off as indecisive. She is sensitive to disharmony- she will take action and show initiative towards cooperation with others to restore peace. She leads with her head rather than her heart.

Mercury: Aquarius. She enjoys breaking the rules regarding self-expression. While she’s not over-thetop as a person, she enjoys stirring things up and enjoys revealing the biases of others. She is very observant and enjoys a good debate, staying very faithful to her agenda.

Venus: Capricorn. She radiates responsibility and control in her relationships. She impresses others with her intelligence, vision and wit. She has a laidback vibe an she isn’t particularly affectionate when it comes to romance. People with Capricorn in Venus tend to have their emotional side repressed in the name of responsibility of rationality.

Mars: Pisces. She likes to create the flow and go with it. She needs to be able to creatively express herself or else she might easily get frustrated and passive-aggressive. She likes to experiment when she doesn’t know what she wants. She is intellectually very capable, but may experience a lot indecisiveness with things regarding emotions.

Personal experience: from course mates to dates In most cases I like to have my experiences unbiased, especially when it comes to the first meetings with other people. But sometimes you can just feel that something isn’t right.

There was someone I knew in my year whose attitude had always come off as somewhat...strange.

After they made what I considered a critical misstep, I looked at their chart only to find out that their Sun sign and Moon sign shows a contradiction. The person works hard to come off strong, scheming and passionate, only to have their Moon ruled by emotional vulnerability and trying to protect themselves to make sure no one sees it. These were only 2 signs of the horrors that the chart showed, and, if you’d know them, this would make immediate sense to you.

I was asked out on a date during the time of my internship this summer. By someone whose father is a priest. Everything about the circumstances of the sit-

uation (an absolute mess) had set me off the wrong way, but I agreed due to being polite. I immediately called a friend of mine (who just so happens to be an occultist), and we met to find all of their placements.

As we set it up, no more than a second passed until we both burst out laughing. The chart was bad. It is not that they were a bad person, just possessing the absolute opposite of the qualities I enjoy in a person.

I had legitimate nightmares 3 days leading up to the ‘date’.

The ‘horoscope’ you know is a poor proxy, but it does say something. You just have to keep in mind that someone having their Sun in Cancer might have their Mars in Aries. Had the SA elections come sooner, I would’ve been able to provide an analysis of who the candidates are and not just what they want to show… But for now, consider yourselves informed that occultists like to know what they’re dealing with.

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