Thursday, July 23, 2020

Pressing Pause

Pressing Pause IAPIndependent Activities Periodis soon coming to a close! Spring semester begins Tuesday, and so will begin the class I’ve been diligently preparing for all IAP6.01, Intro to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. I’m glad I’ve learned so many things, and I’m glad MIT gave us all a nice, long break. Snowpocalypse 2015 also basically forced everything to shut down for two days, though my roommate and I determinedly went on an expedition around MIT and into Boston: Photo credits to Ayesha B. ‘18 (my fantastic roommate). I do not actually own a real camera or know anything about photography. However, my roommate’s photos are magnificent, so be assuredher work will frequently be featured on this blog! Coming from Colorado, the weather itself actually wasn’t that bad, but I’ve never been in a severe snowstorm in such a big city before, so it was cool to walk around and see everything eerily shut down and quiet. That’s why I like snow so muchit makes everything quiet and soft, and just forces you to shut up for a minute. I’ll sometimes just stare at all the flakes falling from the sky, and it will feel like magic, especially when flurries swirl around lamplights in the purple evening sky, which never gets quite dark enough in the winter time. The snow reflects all the light. I took a walk in the evening yesterday, and didn’t really think about anything, and just let the soft, windy silence be. As craziness season begins for you poor juniors in high school (subject tests and AP’s coming up OMG) I’d encourage you to all press pause for a weekend or a day or even just an hour, too. Just don’t think about work or THE FUTURE  for a moment, and take time to get back your energy, hold the reset button, drink tea, realign your chakra or your qi or whatever you want to call it (my super Asian mother has always placed a high value on both qi and tea, which I’ve inherited). For you second semester seniors, press pause and take in everything around you. Some of you have already gotten in places, some of you have plans for gap years or work or a year at community college, some of you will very soon begin to get into placesthe bottom line is, soon you will be leaving home. At the very least, you will be leaving home as you currently know it. Appreciate your home, and your general state of being right now. Many of you are excited to get out into the world, I know, but you might m iss home and this general state of being more than you think. This IAP I learned a lot, and putting craziness on pause for a while has allowed me to really think about what I want and who I am and who I will beboth academically and in the abstract. I’ve settled on and declared my major early, 2A-6 (Mechanical Engineering with Computer Science!). Sometimes, it’s nice to just sit meditatively with my cup of tea and stare at the CITGO sign across in Boston, which blinks red, white, and blue in a rhythmic fashion. It’s nice to just draw in my sketchbook for no particular reason, or listen to music and read. Another friend of mine lent me The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which I have added to my already long and growing “to read” listI’m going to start it right after I finish Two Towers and put Return of the King on hold. I feel that this last month I’ve been just productive enoughI can’t ever actually have nothing to do or I go crazy, so I had just the right amount of stuff, I feel. Although, just the right amount of stuff was still a lot6.149 (Intro to Python) basically taught us how to code in three weeks. The lab assistants, TAs, and lecturers were all fantabulous*, and I felt each of them really cared about our development as budding coders. I remember feeling by the end of it that this was a really, really well taught class. 6.117 (Intro to EE lab skills) was pretty cool too!               I’ve been doing lots of art and music. I’ve caught up with old friends from home and made really good bonds with new ones here at MIT, including my beloved and photography-talented roommate. I feel it was all so valuable. I’m just so grateful for everything. I really did want to come to MIT since I was 8 years old, and I actually really did start looking into what applying meant and what I needed when I was in 7th grade. My whole academic career built up to coming here. Even now, at random moments I think to myselfI actually did it. I came here, after at least seven years of channelled and concentrated effort. I did it. I really did do it. The moment I dreamed of is now, is here. Then, I usually smile to myself uncontrollably in the hallways like the cheesy goofball that I am and walk to class. *(fantabulous is not a real word) (but it could be) (if you all used it enough) (because linguistics)

Friday, May 22, 2020

Complementary vs. Complimentary How to Choose the Right Word

Like the nouns and verbs  complement and compliment, the derived adjectives complementary and complimentary are easily confused. These word pairs are homophones; in other words, they sound alike but have different meanings. One describes a perfect partnership, and one expresses appreciation or praise. How to Use Complementary The adjective complementary  (with an e in the second syllable) means serving to complete or supply mutual needs: two or more parts that come together to make a better whole. Complementary acute angles are those that, when added together, make a right angle or 90-degree angle. Complementary colors of light, when combined, produce colorless white light. Complementary goods are those that go together: pen and paper, needle and thread, horse and carriage, bow and arrow. Complementary is derived from the noun complement, which means that which fills up, completes, or makes better or perfect. How to Use Complimentary The adjective complimentary  (with an i in the second syllable) means flattering or favorable or given free as a courtesy. Derived from the noun compliment, complimentary can be used to describe a person or an action by that person (a complimentary performance review means a positive performance review) or an item or service that is provided without cost (complimentary tickets means free tickets, often abbreviated as comp tickets). Examples Complementary is used to describe separate elements that together equal perfection, make a whole, or are supplementary or reciprocal. This adjective can be used to refer to people, other animals, objects, or concepts: Ive never seen a better complementary working partnership than that of Jess and Laura; they are a true yin and yang in our workplace.This wine and cheese are perfectly complementary. Complimentary is used in reference to flattering or praising someone or giving something away for free: Sonia was quite complimentary about your friendliness and warmth to her when her spouse was ill.The casino offers a complimentary buffet to gamblers.Most sports organizations provide at least two complimentary tickets per game to players, coaches, administrators, and full-time staff members. How to Remember the Difference When you want to describe something that is complementary, two or more parts that work together well, think of the word complete: Complementary things complete one another, and both have an e in their second syllable. Complimentary, with an i, means containing a compliment, which is an expression of esteem, respect, affection, or admiration. Sources â€Å"Complementary.†Ã‚  Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster.Compliment. Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster.â€Å"Compliment, Complement.†Ã‚  The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., The University of Chicago Press, 2003, p. 207.Complimentary. Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster.Fogarty, Mignon. â€Å"Complement versus Compliment.† Grammar Girls 101 Misused Words Youll Never Confuse Again, St. Martins Griffin, 2011, p. 35.

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Alfred Adler, The Founding Father Of Individual Psychology...

Theories of personalities are theories that are part of analyzing personalities and are created to determine the different characteristics of behaviors within us all. Theories of personalities have been created in order to help us identify how we think, act or feel. Alfred Adler and Karen Horney are important individuals that have played major parts in studying various theories of personalities. Personality theories of which, that can apply to our daily life and that can help us to better understand our personalities. Alfred Adler was the founding father of individual psychology. Adler believed in the importance of social connections and childhood development. A few examples of Alfred Adler’s theories include the following: Style of life and unity of the individual, which was based on emotions, thinking and a person’s feelings, can be understood to the individual’s style of life, or a pattern that is consistent of dealing with life. This theory includes a personal goal, self-concept, attitude and empathy towards the world. Individuals express this through a way where it is a struggle to solve problems of neighbors, occupation or sex/love. Adler’s theories also include creative power, which is used for inner freedom that encourages each individual to create their own life style. This theory gives an individual control over their life and makes the individual accountable for their final goal. Overall, the theory plays a part of the development towards social interest. ItS how MoreRelatedThe Personality Theories Of Sigmund Freud And Alfred Adler999 Words   |  4 PagesThe content of this paper is to describe and critique the personality theories of Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. Within this paper, the background of the theorist will be discussed along with personality theories. 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Beginning from the time psychology first became separated from the philosophy and biology sciences, there has been controversy. The subject, most debated, was the explanation and description of human behavior as well as the human mind. It was the schools of thought in psychology that allowed for the major names in psychology that we study and read about on what seems to be a daily basis that put theoretical opinions and differencesRead MoreThe Theory Of Personality Psychology1 019 Words   |  5 Pagesand patterns of thought that truly define a person. Personality Psychology is the study of these different patterns among a group of people or culture. The studies of psychology started from Hippocrates’ theory that argues that personality traits are based on four different sections. This heavily influenced modern personality psychology. Three important psychologists helped shape the way humans define the term personality. Alfred Adler is one of these psychologists. Alder had a tendency to change hisRead MoreFreud, Adler and Jung: Founders of Psychoanalytic Research Essay1645 Words   |  7 PagesFreud, Adler and Jung: Founders of Psychoanalytic Research Elizabeth R. Blight PSY/250 1/23/2013 Michelle Willis Introduction: There are three well-known influential thinkers who are considered to be pioneers in the field of psychology. It could be argued that without †¦., the emergence of psychology as we know it might not have ever happened, at least in its present form. Freud is considered by his modern-day counterparts to be the founding father of analytic psychology, as he isRead MoreEssay on Theory Outline2011 Words   |  9 PagesTheory Outline Tiffany Woods PCN-500 August 8, 2012 Theory Outline 1. Theory: Psychoanalytical Theory a. Key Concepts i. There is a focus on unconscious psychodynamics. ii. Individuals pay attention to repressed information. iii. In therapy, the therapist and client work to build the ego to moderate ID and superego. iv. The client works on establishing transference. He/she will tell the counselor what has caused the difficulties and the therapistRead MoreAbraham Maslow s Hierarchy Of Needs Essay814 Words   |  4 Pageshis bachelor’s degree in psychology there. In 1935, Alfred Adler mentored him. He was an instructor at Brooklyn College he met Max Wertheimer and Ruth Benedict and they all did research together. He spent 1951- 1969 as a chairperson of the psychology department at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. While he was working he created his ideas of humanistic psychology. Humanist psychology became more popular during the 1950’s. Maslow is known as one of the founding fathers and the Humanist AssociationRead MoreNeo-Freudian Psychologists: Karen Horney1878 Words   |  8 Pagesquestioned some traditional Freudian views. This fact was very true of her theories of sexuality and of the instinct orientation of psychoanalysis. Horney is also credited with the fou nding of Feminist Psychology in response to Freud’s theory of penis envy. She disagreed with Freud about inherent differences in the psychology of men and women, and she traced such differences to society and culture rather than the specific biology of the men and women. Basically, she was stating that the psychologicalRead MoreMajor Theorist Paper: Sigmund Freud2200 Words   |  9 PagesMajor Theorist Paper: Sigmund Freud THE FOUNDATION What can I say about Sigmund Freud that has not been said before? Sigmund Freud is known as the â€Å"Founding Father of Psychoanalysis.† I have been reading a book about Sigmund Freud which seems quite interesting called, â€Å"Freud’s War with God† by Jack Wright, Jr., Ph.D. I will need to go over Sigmund Freud’s Life, the historical context, educational training, and review of major tenants of Sigmund Freud’s model. 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Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Summary Vaccine and Young Girls Free Essays

Rosario Y. Lopez Mrs. Walker ENG. We will write a custom essay sample on Summary: Vaccine and Young Girls or any similar topic only for you Order Now 1301 November 02, 2012 Summary #1: HPV Vaccine Texas Tyranny Mike Adams essay, â€Å"HPV Vaccine Texas Tyranny†, demonstrates that the order made by Rick Perry, bypassing all the legislatures, to mandate the vaccination of young girls with the HPV vaccine sold by Merck, one of his contributors in his campaign, is absolutely worthless and an outright fraud. (445-447) Adams assumes that reality of all this situation is the push of profits. Adams starts to support his argument by exposing the question â€Å"why don’t pledge to give all their vaccines free of charge? (446) and he answered it with the phrase â€Å"This is all about money, not public health. †(Adams 446) What is actually happening in Texas is the beginning a form of medical tyranny, declares Adams. If people let Texas get away of this problem, more states will follow it and Merck will convince other governors to do the same actions and calling it â€Å"public health†. (446) Also, Adams suggest us fight this tyranny by exposing it; and there is a lot of ways to do it, such as, posting the cartoon in our web sites, making t-shirts, linking the article with others friends, etc. He wants us to take action of the young girls care. Adams debate is not only about the vaccine and the medical tyranny: it is about our health freedom to a medical system. He defends his thinking with the studies of others industries. Adams explained us that the cervical cancer is prevented in a hundred other ways. â€Å"It is really just a grand moneymaking scheme that exploits the bodies of young girls, marked to look like compassionate health care†, (447) concludes Adams. Males, Mike. †HPV Vaccine Texas Tyranny. † Perspectives on Contemporary Issues: Readings Across the Disciplines. 2006. 6e. Ed. Katherine Anne Ackley. Boston: Wadsworth/ Cengage Learning, 2012. 446-448. Print. How to cite Summary: Vaccine and Young Girls, Essay examples

Monday, April 27, 2020

Today It Has Become A Truism To Say That The Mediu Essay Example For Students

Today It Has Become A Truism To Say That The Mediu Essay m Of Photography Is Light. ButToday it has become a truism to say that the medium of photography is light. But the skill required to capture that light in ways that celebrates its beauty and mystery has been mastered as fully by Ansel Adams as by almost any other twentieth-century photographer. And it seems highly appropriate that the name of the exhibition contains the words FIAT LUX: let there be light,As a case in point we may contemplate the beautiful fragment of Bristlecone Pine Wood at the White Mountain High Altitude Station. Here the stark light-dark-light contrasts reveal Adams at his best. While the sunsets light accentuates the shapes of the wood at its edges, so that it glows with luminescence, the darker tonalities remind us that this fragment is as much dead as it is alive, and thus reminds us of our own mortality. We will write a custom essay on Today It Has Become A Truism To Say That The Mediu specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now For me this image also suggests that we pay greater attention to the cultivation and preservation of nature, its delicate balances, which, when neglected, lead to devastation, as is occurring in the rain forests of Brazil. Even in juxtaposition with death, however, this lovely Adams image speaks of the glory of life. I dont know of a more spectacular view than the one from the top of the Berkeley hills across the San Francisco Bay toward the city, and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. The silent serenity of this photograph contrasts markedly with the devastation of recent events. As beautiful as this image is we also know that many areas of the greater area of the San Francisco Bay are polluted. In a photograph taken from the Lick Observatory the scientific facility is not visible, but we still, with the knowledge of the vantage point from which it was taken, sense the precarious balances of nature and technology, which so universally threaten the existence of both, including threats to outer space, reminding us to heed the ever-increasing warnings of pollution. The misty delicacy which characterizes this photograph of rolling hills, outlined with light, and trees, which are threatened by drought, makes us wonder how long these species will remain. Whether young or old, located in a city, or in more remote environs, whether researching the fruits of the earth or the mysteries of outer space, these never-before-exhibited images provide a wealth of visual information about the varieties and richnesses of our world.

Thursday, March 19, 2020

How Dustin Stout Rocks Social Media Scheduling with Social Templates

How Dustin Stout Rocks Social Media Scheduling with Social Templates So you created a blog post. Good for you! If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably spent close to eight hours writing that literary masterpiece. You’ve got the perfect headline crafted, you’ve got great visuals sprinkled throughout the post, and you’ve probably got some great quotable moments throughout it just dying to be tweeted out. There’s only one thing left to do–schedule out all your social media promotion. Even the most brilliant and savvy social media managers dread this task. Why? Because it’s a crap-ton of work. And the more savvy you are, the more work you know it is to schedule the right posts, at the right times, on the right networks. But, dear friends, you no longer need to dread this arduous and tedious task. Our good friends at have liberated us from the tyranny of mass social status scheduling. With this one, glorious feature, you and I can be 1,000% more productive (rough estimate) at scheduling our literary masterpieces to be promoted on the social interwebs. In this post, I’m going to show you a handful of ways my team and I are taking advantage of a feature called Social Templates in the most effective ways possible. Following these tips and strategies will help you and your team save dozens (dare I say, hundreds) of hours and make your social promotion more effective. Heres how to use Social Templates in @like @DustinWStout from @warfarepluginsBefore I go straight into how we build our social templates, there’s a few things I think everyone needs to understand about the thought process behind them. Understand This: Every Network is Different One of the first things I often teach when talking about social media marketing is that you must never have a shotgun mentality. Forget trying to â€Å"spray and pray† one message across all the networks- it simply won’t work. Your content will sink, and your followers will tune you out. Each social network has its own culture and you need to treat it accordingly. A message you share on Twitter will not have the same success on Facebook or Google+. And a post that does well on Pinterest will not do as well on Reddit. The platforms serve different audiences with different content expectations and intents. Social platforms serve different audiences with different content expectations and intents.Suffice to say, you need to understand what types of content expectations the audience on each network has and then craft your messages accordingly. Understand This: Timing is Crucial and Different for Every Network There are two types of ideas I want you to understand here: Network posting volume Network peak hours Network Posting Volume Firstly, let’s take a look at what I mean when I say â€Å"Network Posting Volume†. Basically, each social network has a different tolerance for how much content should be shared in a given day. This is also referred to as posting frequency. each social network has a different tolerance for how much content should be shared in a given day.Some social networks naturally have an expectation of lower posting frequency while others have a higher posting frequency. Twitter, for example, is probably the highest volume social network. You can post 15-20 times a day and still be considered a â€Å"low-volume† tweeter in some circles. So for the sake of simplicity, our team has decided to list out each network and its daily posting frequency (or volume). Now, the given here is, of course, how much can your specific audience tolerate? Always run all these types of generalizations through your own audience filter. But if you don’t know where to start, this is a good place to do so. Now, the important thing to understand here as well, is that in the long-term promotion sense, lower-volume means you need to spend more time between resharing the same things. We’ll keep this in mind when we get to building our social template. Recommended Reading: Using Social Templates to Promote Your Content Faster What Are Peak Hours? In addition to each network’s volume you need to know when your social audience is most active. This will vary depending on your audience, so I’m not going to give one of those â€Å"Perfect Time to Post† tips. Instead, I highly recommend you use tools like Buffer’s Optimal Scheduling tool  or s Best Time Scheduling feature. Or go through s own epic blog post about the subject. Now, having covered these considerations, it’s clear that the task of content promotion is not an easy one. When you publish an epic blog post and you want to maximize its reach with your social networks you need to think about: How to craft a message unique for each social channel What time(s) to post it on each network for optimal reach How many times you need to share it on each network and how frequently to reshare it In the old days (as in a few months ago) this process would add an extra hour or more to the production of every single blog post. Not anymore. Setting Up ’s Social Templates for Maximum Effectiveness When announced Social Templates, it was like the heavens opened. I instantly saw that we were now able to maximize our content promotion with efficiency. I’m going to show you how we’ve broken down our own social templates. And all the efficiency geeks said: On top of being efficient with your promotion, we also want to be as effective as we can, being sure to create templates that will change based on the type of content we are promoting. Step 1: Know Your Content Categories Before you create a template, it’s important to know what categories of content you’re creating. If you follow a strict set of categories for your blog posts, this should be easy. You will want to create a different social template for every Category you post to. For example, here’s what ours look like on the Warfare Plugins blog: New Blog Post: Social Media New Blog Post: Content Marketing New Blog Post: WordPress New Blog Post: Blogging The reason for this is because your social templates will likely include posting to Pinterest Boards, Facebook Groups, or other targeted social channels. Having a template for each category means you don’t have to go in and specify the Board or Group for those specific channels every time- it’s already in place. So, for example, our New Blog Post: Social Media template has only Social Media Pinterest boards and Facebook Groups that get posted to. This takes one more step out of the equation when we go to apply the template to a new blog post. Step 2: Set Your Helpers Helpers were a real game-changer for us as well. Being able to set up our templates with custom-built helpers means we only have to write the message one time and have it applied to all the corresponding social media posts. The helpers we use are consistent across pretty much all of our templates (which also makes possible the duplicating of templates mentioned previously). I’ve come up with an â€Å"anatomy† so to speak of social messages. This was adapted from my own Anatomy of a Perfect Google+ Post. Our text helpers are as follows: {title} the title of the blog post {lead} usually an introductory sentence/paragraph at the beginning of the post that draws the reader in {summary} a brief summary of the post and what someone will get out of reading it {question} a question that is answered by the blog post {quote} a good quote from the article {pin-desc} a description specifically crafted for Pinterest {tweet} a custom tweet for the post {hashtag-1} most relevant hashtag for the article {hashtag-2} second most relelvant hashtag for the article From these 9 text helpers we can now create an infinite amount of social messages. For our templates, this usually means 29 different messages sent out over the first 30 days. There are then also a handful of Image Helpers that are applied to each template: {feature-img} the featured or primary image {pinterest-img} a Pinterest-optimized image (7351102) {pinterest-alt} an alternate Pinterest-optimized image (so we’re not pinning the same exact thing every time {quote-img} an image that features the quote we’ll use in our {quote} text helper {question-img} an image that features the question from the {question} helper {utility-img} if a blog post has a tutorial, infographic or some sort of utlitiarian image included {gif} because every goog blog post should have at least one animated gif Now, you may not always have every single one of the above types of images for every blog post, and that’s okay. You can always just use the same image multiple times for different helpers. These serve more as a guide rather than absolute necessity. Here is a hypothetical example of what a blank social template looks like in . Step 3: Schedule the Messages This is the most time-consuming step, but ultimately will save you the most time. After you do this, you never have to worry about scheduling your promotion ever again. The way we did it is we took one social network at a time and scheduled all of those out over the first 30 days. Then we went back through and did the next network. I won’t spend time telling you what times work best or what volume you should post for each network. s Lance Hendrickson already did a fantastic job at putting together a Social Media Posting Schedule Kit that I, myself, actually used as a starting point. So if you don’t know where to start with your audience, use that. You can always edit the templates later if you want to refine it based on your own results with your audience. How Will You Use Social Templates? With ’s new social templates, our content marketing game has been revolutionized, and yours can too. Not only can you save literally hundreds of hours of scheduling and planning time, but you can be more effective at it. Spend the time you’ll be saving wisely. Use it to engage with your communities and learn how to better serve them. The better you serve them, the more everyone will thrive.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Successes and Failures of Détente in the Cold War

Successes and Failures of Dà ©tente in the Cold War From the late 1960s to the late 1970s, the Cold War  was highlighted by a period known as â€Å"dà ©tente† – a welcome easing of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. While the period of dà ©tente resulted in productive negotiations and treaties on nuclear arms control and improved diplomatic relations, events at the end of the decade would bring the superpowers back to the brink of war. Use of the term â€Å"detent†- French for â€Å"relaxation†- in reference to an easing of strained geopolitical relations dates back to the 1904 Entente Cordiale, an agreement between Great Britain and France that ended centuries of off-and-on war and left the nations strong allies in World War I and thereafter. In the context of the Cold War, U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford called dà ©tente a â€Å"thawing out† of U.S.-Soviet nuclear diplomacy essential to avoiding a nuclear confrontation. Dà ©tente, Cold War-Style While U.S.-Soviet relations had been strained since the end of World War II, fears of war between the two nuclear superpowers peaked with the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Coming so close to Armageddon motivated leaders of both nations to undertake some of the world’s first nuclear arms control pacts, including the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963. In reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis, a direct telephone line – the so-called red telephone – was installed between the U.S. White House and the Soviet Kremlin in Moscow allowing leaders of both nations to communicate instantly in order to reduce the risks nuclear war. Despite the peaceful precedents set by this early act of dà ©tente, rapid escalation of the Vietnam War during the mid-1960s increased Soviet-American tensions and made further nuclear arms talks all but impossible. By the late 1960s, however, both the Soviet and U.S. governments realized one big and unavoidable fact about the nuclear arms race: It was hugely expensive. The costs of diverting ever-larger portions of their budgets to military research left both nations facing domestic economic hardships. At the same time, the Sino-Soviet split – the rapid deterioration of relations between the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China – made becoming friendlier with the United States look like a better idea to the USSR. In the United States, the soaring costs and political fallout of the Vietnam War caused policymakers to see improved relations with the Soviet Union as a helpful step in avoiding similar wars in the future. With both sides willing to at least explore the idea of arms control, the late 1960s and early 1970s would see the most productive period of dà ©tente. The First  Treaties of Dà ©tente The first evidence of dà ©tente-era cooperation came in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968, a pact signed by several of the major nuclear and non-nuclear power nations pledging their cooperation in stemming the spread of nuclear technology. While the NPT did not ultimately prevent the proliferation of nuclear arms, it paved the way for the first round of Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT I) from November 1969 to May 1972. The SALT I talks yielded the Antiballistic Missile Treaty along with an interim agreement capping the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) each side could possess. In 1975, two years of negotiations by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe resulted in the Helsinki Final Act. Signed by 35 nations, the Act addressed a range of global issues with Cold War implications, including new opportunities for trade and cultural exchange, and policies promoting the universal protection of human rights. The Death  and Re-Birth  of Dà ©tente Unfortunately, not all, but most good things must end. By the end of the 1970s, the warm glow of U.S.-Soviet dà ©tente began to fade away. While diplomats of both nations agreed on a second SALT agreement (SALT II), neither government ratified it. Instead, both nations agreed to continue to adhere to the arms reduction provisions of the old SALT I pact pending future negotiations. As dà ©tente broke down, progress on nuclear arms control stalled completely. As their relationship continued to erode, it became clear that both the U.S. and the Soviet Union had overestimated the extent to which dà ©tente would contribute to an agreeable and peaceful end of the Cold War. Dà ©tente all but ended when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. President Jimmy Carter angered the Soviets by increasing U.S. defense spending and subsidizing the efforts of anti-Soviet Mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Afghanistan invasion also led the United States to boycott the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow. Later the same year, Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States after running on an anti-dà ©tente platform. In his first press conference as president, Reagan called dà ©tente a â€Å"one-way street that the Soviet Union has used to pursue its aims.† With the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Reagan’s election, the reversal of the dà ©tente policy that began during the Carter Administration took the fast track. Under what became known as the â€Å"Reagan Doctrine,† the United States undertook the largest military buildup since World War II and implemented new policies directly opposed to the Soviet Union. Reagan revived the B-1 Lancer long-range nuclear bomber program that had been cut by the Carter administration and ordered increased production of the highly mobile MX missile system. After the Soviets began to deploy their RSD-10 Pioneer medium range ICBMs, Reagan convinced NATO to deploy nuclear missiles in West Germany. Finally, Reagan abandoned all attempts to implement provisions of the SALT II nuclear arms agreement. Arms control talks would not resume until Mikhail Gorbachev, being the only candidate on the ballot, was elected president of the Soviet Union in 1990. With the United States developing President Reagan’s so-called â€Å"Star Wars† Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) ant-ballistic missile system, Gorbachev realized that the costs of countering U.S. advances in nuclear weapons systems, while still fighting a war in Afghanistan would eventually bankrupt his government. In the face of the mounting costs, Gorbachev agreed to new arms control talks with President Reagan. Their negotiation resulted in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties of 1991 and 1993. Under the two pacts known as START I and START II, both nations not only agreed to stop making new nuclear weapons but also to systematically reduce their existing weapons stockpiles. Since enactment of the START treaties, the number of nuclear weapons controlled by the two Cold War superpowers has been significantly reduced. In the United States, the number of nuclear devices dropped from a high of over 31,100 in 1965 to about 7,200 in 2014. The nuclear stockpile in Russia/the Soviet Union fell from about 37,000 in 1990 to 7,500 in 2014. The START treaties call for continued nuclear arms reductions through the year 2022, when stockpiles are to be cut to 3,620 in the United States and 3,350 in Russia.