Baseball, biohacking, and reproductive health

April 1, 2024 (updated March 31, 2024)

At the end of the American Civil War, a new sport found its place in history. The fact that its history is surrounded with legend adds to the fantasy that is Major League Baseball (MLB). The first professional sport in U.S. history became a way for the states to heal while still providing them competition that spurred capitalism onward into the industrial age. Today, MLB is worth $2.4 billion [1] and is the only professional sport that does not have a salary cap on players salaries. When you add in the amount of money spent gambling [2] on baseball, in both legal and illegal markets, the question of why baseball is America’s past-time becomes abundantly clear. The sport that grew with the country through the reconstruction, integration, and world wars has adjusted to the changes of the world while still capturing the drama of ball players attempting to hack the system and their bodies to make themselves faster, stronger, and more agile each year.

The performative nature of the American capitalist system has created the need to continually maintain perfect health. As the separation of those with and without access to adequate healthcare systems continues to grow, perfect health becomes harder and harder to maintain. It is for this reason that a global movement in biohacking has begun. Biohacking looks at the sciences of biology, genetics, neuroscience, and nutrition as a way to improve, maintain, and even extend life. [3] Tech nerds everywhere are racing against time to achieve the impossible: eternal life. The ethics behind these attempts are ignored and seen as futile attempts of billionaires to maintain control of life. [4]

While longevity research is beneficial to understanding age-related conditions, the human race cannot get through a single day without trying to kill each other. From weapons created for total destruction of an enemy to populations starving, we do not need to live longer. We need to live kinder. We need to look at ways to heal the pains and chaos that have plagued humanity. Biohacking at a personal level with the intent of improving the quality of life of all people can be done in a manner that promotes equality, autonomy, and mental stability. This is where the Carelle Hive is attempting to enter into the biohacking conversation. For years, we have dealt with physical and mental pains of complex PTSD, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain.

Working along the amazing doctors at the Veterans Administration, we have slowly been able to understand the triggers, emotions, and changes that our bodies go through. The truth is that our bodies are constantly changing and evolving, and the ability understand these cycles help to determine when a real problem exists. By working with our doctors, we have been able to improve our quality of life; however, there are still underlying pains that we are working to heal. The next step comes at the end of April with a total hysterectomy.

As a mother, I’m very nervous about the removal of the organ that helped to create two life forms, but at this time the ability to make this choice for myself could be ripped away at any moment. As politicians continue to debate the abilities of women to make their own decisions, we will constantly be forced to weigh the consequences of waiting until it is too late, and we will always remember that billionaires trying to live forever have more rights than a mother trying to make the best decision for their family.

[1] Forbes, Major League Baseball Team Payroll Disparity Continues To Escalate (https://www.forbes.com/sites/berniepleskoff/2024/02/15/major-league-baseball-team-payroll-disparity-continues-to-escalate/)

[2] ESPN, A record $1 billion bet on MLB in 2016 (https://www.espn.com/sports-betting/story/_/id/18220934/mlb-record-1-billion-was-bet-major-league-baseball-nevada-2016)

[3] Forbes, Biohacking: What Is It And How Does It Work?(https://www.forbes.com/health/wellness/biohacking/#:~:text=Biohacking%20is%20the%20practice%20of,Lofton%2C%20a%20registered%20dietitian%20and)

[4] Business Insider, The tech billionaires trying to hack longevity and live forever (https://www.businessinsider.com/richest-wealthiest-entrepreneurs-ceo-billionaires-tech-searching-hacking-longevity?international=true&r=US&IR=T#tech-billionaire-peter-thiel-may-be-best-known-for-co-founding-companies-like-paypal-and-palantir-technologies-but-hes-also-funneled-millions-into-the-field-of-longevity-research-2)

Current Projects

HerStory: The American Womxn is the first step in an adventure of self discovery and setting the record straight. The Garden will be collecting true stories of U.S. women and building a safe, secure database of “HerStories” to capture the many things our mothers have done to keep the children safe. We hope to uncover all the untold stories of feminine strength that contributed to growth of society, despite the hate, violence, and wars waged by authoritarians.

The Activate project’s mission is to activate the critical communications infrastructure available to the residents of Anacostia and enable the unique sound and stories to send a message of hope and change to the world. The radio was created as a way to send out information and because of social disparities it is dominated by an overwhelming conservative viewpoint. We Act Radio is one of only 9% in the progressive network of voices speaking truth to power, and we plan to turn up the volume by establishing a locally owned and operated knowledge management system to secure the intellectual property of artists and cultural voices in Anacostia and renovate our community spaces into a fully self-sustaining ecosystem.

What is the Hive Social Garden?

The brain child of two queer, disabled and neuro-divergent Marines trying to learn how to love each other better and make the world a better place, the Hive Social Garden is a non-profit, member owned community using social engineering to help LGBTQ+ creatives, sex workers, and their allies to secure the intellectual property of vulnerable communities.

We believe that all people deserve access to Affordable Housing, Free Medical Care (to include gender affirming care, abortions care, and mental health services), Free Access to Educational Services including Public Access to Information with Self-censorship, and Affordable Nutrition.

We provide Disruption-as-a-Service with a new take on ethical social engineering.

DONATE TO HELP US GET STARTED!!

NETWORKING & MENTORSHIP
Femme in STEM is meant to bring the full feminine force of strength, love, and creativity to power technology towards improving social, environmental, and economical justice in the world.
TOTAL WELLNESS
Encouragement for your mind, body, and soul to help you understand the world through a heart of adventure and discovery.
AND MORE TO COME…
“You take the blue pill… the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill… you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” – Morpheus, The Matrix (1999)

Upcoming Events

An ethical social engineering capture the flag (CTF) to find the location of our monthly brunch

Do you have what it takes to change your form and allow yourself to question everything you thought you knew? Will you pass the test or be out smarted by a girl? Test your OSINT skills by finding out the date, time, and location of our monthly brunch, along with the secret password.

Learn more

The Hive Social Garden [EIN: 92-3805681]

Social Engineering World Peace

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Where We Are

Washington, DC 20020
United States

Cultivating Change with Digital Gardens

March 22, 2024 (updated March 21, 2024)

Today we deal in an abundance of information which comes with more threats and the question of who has the right to view that information.[1] In order to lay the foundation of what is to come, there is the need for clear boundaries for the digital world. Why not head back to basics with a garden? After all, a garden is one of nature’s greatest learning experiences, while also providing physical and psychological nourishment.  Gardens are spaces to explore the magic that fills the world and grow in confidence as one’s own person. They are secure learning environments where families can learn from their mistakes, understand their emotions, and confidentially communicate information to each other without fear of condemnation. Gardens have been used in every community as a place for families to meet and learn about the world around them. This is how we work towards tomorrow.

Digital gardens create that same sense of community and security to have autonomy and provide a world with limited consequences for future generations to learn. Governments need to re-evaluate security concerns regarding free access to information and what is required to maintain the safety of the communities while proving the people equity in the nations they helped to build. Equity transferred through each individual family would ensure every child has a garden that extends into the digital world by using federated, decentralized servers and blockchain technology. Each family would have the opportunity to establish its own decentralized server and share information via REST APIs to servers owned by their employers or any other organization the family works with directly. By using a federated system, individual families can invest in their own home server to protect their health and other identifying information, intellectual property, and family history from those choosing to do harm. It brings protection back to the homes of citizens to ensure that their freedoms are secured, and their family has equity in the nations they helped to build.

The truth is that we have been fighting the same battle for control for over two millennia,[2] and we are killing the planet in the process.[3] The tools that were built to be our assistants, help eliminate waste, and improve information loss are being used to replace workers rather than improve their work life balance.[4] World military powers continue to deal in weapons of mass destruction, while the parents are just trying to keep their families and communities surviving and thriving.[5] By breaking down the borders, while cultivating and growing digital gardens will create a world that remembers the past and looks to the future. There is much work to be done, but the path has been cleared and it’s time to stand up to help those around us.

[1] Harvard Business Review, The New Rules of Data Privacy (https://hbr.org/2022/02/the-new-rules-of-data-privacy)

[2] OurWorldinData, The decline of wars between ‘Great Powers’ (https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace#the-decline-of-wars-between-great-powers)

[3] NASA, Understanding our planet to benefit mankind (https://climate.nasa.gov/)

[4] Business Insider, ChatGPT may be coming for our jobs. Here are the 10 roles that AI is most likely to replace (https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-jobs-at-risk-replacement-artificial-intelligence-ai-labor-trends-2023-02?op=1)

[5] Gallup, How many children worldwide are single moms? (https://news.gallup.com/poll/286433/women-worldwide-single-moms.aspx)

The Sacred Rac by Pat Hughes

March 21, 2024 (updated March 21, 2024)

An Indian anthropologist, Chandra Thapar, made a study of foreign cultures which had customs similar to those of his native land. One culture in particular fascinated him because it reveres one animal as sacred, much as the people in India revere the cow.

The tribe Dr. Thapar studied is called the Asu and is found on the North American continent north of the Tarahumara of Mexico. Though it seems to be a highly developed society of its type, it has an overwhelming preoccupation with the care and feeding of the rac – an animal much like a bull in size, strength and temperament. In the Asu tribe, it is almost a social obligation to own at least one if not more racs. Anyone not possessing at least one is held in low esteem by the community because he is too poor to maintain one of the beasts properly. Some members of the tribe, to display their wealth and prestige, even own herds of racs.

Unfortunately the rac breed is not very healthy and usually does not live more than five to seven years. Each family invests large sums of money each year to keep its rac healthy and shod, for it has a tendency to throw its shoes often. There are rac specialists in each community, perhaps more than one if the community is particularly wealthy. These specialists, however due to the long period of ritual training they must undergo and to the difficulty of obtaining the right selection of charms to treat the rac, demand costly offerings whenever a tribesman must treat his ailing rac.

At the age of sixteen in many Asu communities, many youths undergo a puberty rite in which the rac figures prominently. The youth must petition a high priest in a grand temple. He is then initiated into the ceremonies that surround the care of the rac and is permitted to keep a rac.

Although the rac may be used as a beast of burden, it has many habits which would be considered by other cultures as detrimental to the life of the society. In the first place the rac breed is increasing at a very rapid rate and the Asu tribesmen have given no thought to curbing the rac population. As a consequence the Asu must build more and more paths for rac to travel on since its delicate health and its love of racing other racs at high speeds necessitates that special areas be set aside for its use. The cost of smoothing the earth is too costly for any one individual to undertake, so it has become a community project and each tribesman must pay an annual tax to build new paths and maintain the old. There are so many paths needed that some people move their homes because the rac paths must be as straight as possible to keep the animal from injuring itself. Dr. Thapar also notes that unlike the cow, which many people in his country hold sacred, the excrement of the rac cannot be used as either fuel or fertilizer. On the contrary, its excrement is exceptionally foul and totally useless. Worst of all, the rac is prone to rampages in which it runs down anything in its path, much like stampeding cattle. Estimates are that the rac kills thousands of the Asu in a year.

Despite the rac’s high cost of its upkeep, the damage it does to the land, and its habit of destructive rampages, the Asu still regard it as being essential to the survival of their culture.

(Source: https://www.drabruzzi.com/sacred_rac.html)

I first heard of the Asu tribe in my 6th grade Social Studies class. Mr. Shaw read the story aloud and then continued to ask questions about what we thought about the bizarre habits of the rac and the Asu tribe. After our group discussion, he told us to flip the spelling of the two words. “Does this change your answer?” he asked.

My answer then is the same as it is now. Humans create tools to be of help; however, very few individuals take into account the full price of the invention of a new tool. Every bit of advance technology has cost the lives of innumerable populations, and it is time to do better. It is time to calculate the total cost of a new technology before it costs us our world.

To Build a More Equitable World

March 20, 2024 (updated March 20, 2024)

The roads we have traveled to reach this place in history have been a long-fought battle for control. Every continent has seen its share of controversy, conspiracy, and counterattacks that breed discontent and fear and allow our imaginations to run wild. From the ancient kings and queens to the new empires rising from the ashes, the approach to conventional warfare is met with a similar gusto, as each leader sets out to prove their power and tighten the reins on their people. The repeated pattern of “You killed my father, prepare to die” becomes the world’s insanity, repeating the same thing over and over expecting something to change. The world is not as big as it once seemed, yet the known knowledge of the world grows every day. If countries would choose to take the lead by breaking down the borders and use technology as a creative tool to help families rather than a weapon, we could build a more equitable world.

The Borders of Church and State

As the world’s population has grown over the past millennia, populations have many shared and similar experiences. Warring tribes and factions, disease, and political strife can decimate countries and cause a geopolitical shift. Over time, oral histories became written histories and record keepers continued to add to the histories. Public knowledge was often limited and restricted, leaving very little room for mistakes. This unyielding way of life forced migrants and refugees to flee everything they knew to find a place where they could have autonomy to live life on their own terms. They have been called pirates, rebels, and traitors, but every revolution started with individuals willing to die for a chance at controlling their own lives.  

These days, many would argue that capitalism is the new way to fight for control. Governments want to limit the control of the people, industries want the people to think their product is needed, and the individuals left footing bill are the same ones doing all the work and getting none of the credit.[1] Adding fuel to the fire looming on the horizon, organizations are now dealing in individuals’ personal information and using it to gain access to government information that could lead to the potential harm of human life.[2] 

Dealing in Information

In 2022, the National Security Agency (NSA) released a cybersecurity advisory detailing how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) uses state-sponsored cyber exploitation to compromise network service providers through “publicly known vulnerabilities,”[3] but it begs the question of what it means to be publicly known. If something is public knowledge, it doesn’t mean that the information is truly known by every individual, rather the information is a matter of public record. The limit of possible vulnerabilities is subject to the skill and knowledge of the individual threat actor and whether they are on your side.

Social engineering, one of the most used attack vectors, takes the people’s trust further and uses social norms and known information to persuade an individual to perform a desired action. For those who make a living in processing information, this entails using open-source information to collaborate with human intelligence and intelligence derived from national security operations. Open-source information is used in every country to pass the latest information regarding many aspects of your life.

There are laws in place to protect the information entered online through more than one billion different websites,[4] but to a threat actor, these laws tend to be ignored. For lawful citizens, organizations are required to ensure the safety and lawfulness of their site. However, to do this, most organizations retain the rights to the content on their site. Every new app that is used to talk to your community is putting your information and content in the hands of corporations. If you do not trust the individuals who have access to your most vulnerable information, it leaves you vulnerable to targeted attacks. 

Technology was made to share information but has turned into a place to hide the most vulnerable parts of you. As the masses flood the digital world, they come face-to-face with the reality that humans are inherently flawed. It means that the use of information technology also requires the use of community safeguards, and each community is different.

We are at the cusp of where public knowledge has reached the same level of intelligence across the world. However, there are many governments who want to censor the information and only allow “good news” to reach their communities. They want to alter information to maintain control and tell stories to incite fear and doubt. These states create a narrative that the people need their leaders, but what the people need are facts. The best defense against mis-, dis-, and mal-information is to provide the facts.

Borders are built to keep communities safe, not to keep people out. Many borders around the world, particularly in Europe and Asia, were drawn while wounds were still healing and are continually under dispute. Before we can progress into a new age of technology, these issues must be addressed through cooperation and a willingness to forgive. Stop fighting the wars of our fathers and start learning from history to protect those most vulnerable.

[1] StrategEast State and IT Eurasian Forum. New Taxes for New Economy 2021 (https://forum.strategeast.org/new-taxes-for-new-economy-2021/)

[2] Politico, The mounting death toll of hospital cyberattacks (https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/28/cyberattacks-u-s-hospitals-00075638)

[3] National Security Agency, People’s Republic of China State-Sponsored Cyber Actors Exploit Network Providers and Devices (U/OO/160405-22, PP-22- 0825, JUN 2022 Ver 1.0). 

[4] Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) in the current version of the OJ L 119, 04.05.2016; cor. OJ L 127, 23.5.2018

Hello world!

March 19, 2024 (updated March 20, 2024)

“Can you hear me now? How about now? What about in the back? And over in the corner?” Setting the stage is always my favorite part of the show. To see the interworking of parts that it takes to create a masterpiece. These same parts that are never seen, but when they go wrong can make or break a show. The funny thing about the inter workings is when something starts to go wrong, it rarely comes out of know where and is usually because someone dropped a ball. Allow me to tell you the story of all the balls that have been dropped by the U.S. in an attempt to help an E.T. call their mom.

My family is in charge of knowledge management, so they think they are smart. The truth is that are just really good at record keeping, baby making, and getting into fights. Most of the time with each other, and that boys and girls is why the world is an absolute mess. They point blame, they shame, and are afraid to admit they are the problem.

Every fight starts the same. The insecurity builds up inside until it explodes with emotional word vomit that repercussions through the bodies creating momentary chaos. The power of the repercussion determined by the volume of the unified sound. Through the decades man has built a platform to elevate their voice above the masses. Teaching their children that the loudest person is the one you listen to causing an endless game of who can be the loudest and the world is tired of listening to the hate.

We are going to show you the power of a whisper, a secret, a silent prayer in the closet that reached the masses through the warm embrace of a hug. Our world is crazy, but if all my years of reading has taught me anything, that’s exactly when you should start stop, look, and listen… because something BIG is coming.

Get ready to learn the history of communications technology through the eyes of a non-binary, neuro-divergent drag artist, activist, and social engineer. They served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and Electronic Warfare (EW) Analyst, works at the number one provider of Artificial Intelligence solutions to the federal government, and very likely the cute white chick at the bar that one time.

We moved to DC in January 2020, and we finally know what it was that brought us here. Our family is the one that no one really knows, but at the same point it seems like everyone knows. It’s because we like to do projects and help others do projects, and then out of no where so many projects are being done and know one is listening to each other any more and then some of the projects are just insane. There is no telling what next malady is going to appear. So in an attempt to not lose track of what is important, we decided it made sense to start at home and make sure that we are all on the same page.

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