#I will come back when and *if* I learn how to use this app recreationally instead of compulsively

[neononline]

Summer lesson vr to west

You can only do it for a certain amount of time because it is different, perceptually, than the real world. VR has always been about solving hard problems. It’s not something that you do for fun yet. That being said, I don’t use VR recreationally. I’ve dedicated my career to VR-I’ve done nothing but think about it during my work life since the late ’90s. Is that what we could see with the metaverse? And does that point to bigger consumer reluctance to use VR and AR? Google Glass went from a failed consumer product to more of a workplace apparatus. The CEO says that lives are saved because decisions are made faster because of the practice from employees who use VR. It’s one of the most incredible success stories of VR, as horrible as that day was.

And so they were prepared in a way that they wouldn’t have been had they not done that training. Many of the employees were working that had already trained with Strivr’s active shooter preparation tool. The CEO of Walmart has publicly discussed this. One of the most successful trainings for Strivr is active shooter training. What the metaverse is going to do is that, with all the Strivr training scenarios, we’re now going to be able to do it in teams. or they’re recorded people that we’re beaming in via video capture. Currently, we do lots of things where there are other people around, but those people are either controlled by A.I. In 2016, we pivoted to enterprise, and so the largest client remains Walmart. We began as a football training, training quarterbacks and other players, and then we went to other sports-US Olympic skiing, NBA free-throw shooting. What Strivr does is we put you in this incredibly immersive scene. Ultimately, what’s going to drive VR is that it’s really good for training. And you’re getting thousands of people per day going to places like AltspaceVR or VRChat, but not hundreds of thousands. It has been a killer app of VR since there’s been VR and that remains the case today. When you go through the history of VR, it’s all about training, starting with the Flight Simulator in 1929. You think work and enterprise are going to be huge parts of the metaverse. We have short bursts with 30- to 40-minute experiences. And I’m very strict-I don’t want to get anyone dizzy ever. If you’re looking at someone talking, you don’t need to be in VR, right? One reason why I want my smaller discussions to be in VR is that it preserves the spatial coherence of the conversation. Once a week, we do kind of a lecture where we talk about readings and we have guest lecturers come in and we do that over Zoom. More importantly, we’ve been developing a curriculum that leverages what the metaverse is good for. The lessons that we’ve learned ranged from what size group is the best for small-group discussion to how many avatars can you render in the same scene before the whole system crashes. When you combine the two classes, you’ve got 250 students-plus in VR with a group for 10 weeks in a row. Our class was a magnitude of order larger than anything anyone has ever tried. We’re learning a ton about how to teach and learn in VR. How does the metaverse change what’s possible for teaching? In the last six or seven months, the hardware has gotten good enough where I can do the class I’ve always dreamed of since the late ’90s. I don’t think the hardware was ready nine or ten months ago. We’re doing travel and meditation and medical classes. This fall, I’ve got 178 Stanford students and we are doing incredible things.

We spent about 60,000 shared minutes inside virtual reality and did all the things that Stephenson wrote about way back then. We talked and we learned and we experimented and we traveled. So in June 2021, 101 Stanford students all had their own headsets at home and we networked via avatars in the metaverse using a platform called Engage. I volunteered because I’ve been teaching a class since 2003 called Virtual People and I wanted to, given that we were remote anyway, try to do it in immersive VR in the metaverse. In March 2020, when covid-19 hit, Stanford asked professors to volunteer to move their normal teaching load to summer 2021. Imagine the internet skipped the 2D version and went right into VR. Stephenson defines the metaverse as basically the internet, but immersive. Will the WHO’s Covaxin approval answer questions about the vaccine’s trials?īailenson: The term “metaverse” comes from Neal Stephenson’s 1996 book Snow Crash. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Bailenson recently spoke with Quartz about what the metaverse is, the state of metaverse technology, and why the developers of the metaverse can be conscientious about their carbon footprint.

[gopuckurself]

Hello! I’ve just finished reading your fic up to this point and I love it! I’ll leave a comment on ao3 gushing about it. 💖💖I also went through the tumblr tag for it and maybe it’s just the tumblr mobil app, but I didn’t find an Enjolras pov ficlet of their first meeting. If you’re feeling up to it, I would totally love to read it😏😉

Hi!! Thank you for the request and the kind words! This one was surprisingly difficult. It may have gotten buried in the tag, but I’ve talked before about how I started writing this fic a few years ago, and the first meeting was the very first thing I wrote. It was strange to go back to it, when I feel I’ve grown so much as a person and a writer, but ultimately I really enjoyed it. I hope you do too!

It’s been a while since Enjolras has made an appearance at Threshold beyond teaching class, and frankly, he’s bored. Not because there are no new and interesting faces, there’s plenty of those, but he’s long since learned to avoid becoming too attached. The turnover at a fetish club is high. There are only a few handfuls of people who end up becoming regulars. He knows all of their faces, though not necessarily all of their names. New people, on the other hand, come and go. Enjolras will recognize them later if he recognizes them or if someone introduces them first.

At least Jehan is there to entertain him, informing him of the latest gossip and avoiding the drama with practiced skill. He leans to whisper in his ear in between all the people who want to talk to Ange to tell him they love his work and are so pleased to meet him. He smiles at each of them as he shakes their hands, but it doesn’t make for a very interesting night.

It would be much more interesting with a play partner, of course. He supposes there’s probably no shortage of people who would like to play with him, but…something keeps holding him back. He hasn’t played with anyone recreationally since he almost crashed and burned six months ago, when he had to force himself to take a couple of careful steps back from all of it—work, play, the club, almost entirely. He did what he had to do to keep his head above water, and he’s hesitant to jump back in.

But then someone new catches his eye, and that’s a wonder all on its own. His hair is dark and messy, and his nose and smile are both crooked, but it’s the way his shirt stretches across the back of his shoulders that draws Enjolras’s attention. He’s talking with one of the DMs, and it’s just at that moment that his gaze slides over to Enjolras’s.

Enjolras expects him to look away. Most people do. They’ve either heard who he is or they’re embarrassed to be caught looking, so they turn away quickly. Usually. This man, though, he doesn’t; he keeps looking back at Enjolras, and it makes him smile.

He’s lucky Jehan doesn’t catch him.

That is, he’s lucky until Jehan disappears without preamble and returns with the new visitor in tow.

“Look, I brought us a new friend.” Jehan says, with a cat-like smile. Perhaps Enjolras hadn’t been as discreet as he’d hoped.

“Have you?” Enjolras is careful to keep his eyes on the man’s face and not let it drag down the rest of him, even when he gives a little wave, but that turns out to be just as distracting as well. He’s wearing eyeliner. Enjolras hadn’t noticed from across the room, but now that he has, he can’t stop looking at it. His mouth remembers how to speak before his thoughts do. “Pleased to meet you, in that case. Does our new friend have a name?”

“R.” Jehan and R, apparently, say at the same time, and Enjolras cuts his gaze to Jehan, who is still smiling that damned grin that he knows always gets under Enjolras’s skin. R offers his hand to shake and Enjolras takes it automatically, though he’s mentally taking a tally of all the things he has yet to get back at Jehan for, most of them Threshold related.

“Hello, R. I’m Ange.”

R blinks for a few seconds. Enjolras braces himself for the moment that tends to follow after he shares his screen name, if someone recognizes it, and tries not to grimace. He feels the smile begin to slide off his face anyway. That moment, though, doesn’t come.

“Nice to meet you as well.” He says, instead. “I hear you’re the man to talk to about rope, is that true?”

Enjolras smiles so wide he can feel all his teeth showing. “Absolutely.”

more dtcfdp ficlets | ao3 | kofi 

[archie420dspnsr]

HOW TO BUY MARIJUANA IN A RECREATIONAL STATE

Your complete guide to what to expect when buying marijuana in a recreational nation.

If you live in a recreationally prison marijuana country or plan to visit one soon, you may be asking a very commonplace question: How do I buy marijuana?

In this smooth to follow guide, we prepare you to your first time shopping recreational marijuana and walk you through this relatively simple process.

In Which States Can I Buy Recreational Marijuana?

A state ID or driver’s license from any nation or a passport proving you're over 21 will get you access to felony dispensaries in six of the leisure marijuana states inside the U.S.:

Colorado

Washington

Oregon

Alaska

California

Nevada

Massachusetts

Illinois

Michigan

With fully installed leisure marijuana packages in these states, dispensaries had been licensed to distribute marijuana to every body of legal age.

Maine and Vermont have also legalized recreational marijuana. However, as of now, there are no prison dispensaries licensed in those markets, so consumers aren’t in a position to buy marijuana yet.

Recreational marijuana is likewise prison in Washington D.C., however there's no device in location to buy it. The best manner to legally buy marijuana proper now in D.C. Is with a scientific card, and it's far unlawful to convey marijuana in from out of nation, putting residents there in a sticky legal grey area.

Can Out-Of-State Residents Buy Recreational “Weed”?

If you are from a country wherein recreational marijuana isn't always legal (along with Alabama or Idaho) and you tour to a country in which recreational marijuana is prison (such as California or Massachusetts), are you allowed to purchase marijuana?

The answer is yes! Cannabis tourism is a growing industry in states around the country, as citizens of states with extra restrictive marijuana legal guidelines are flocking to states where leisure marijuana is prison, allowing them to use cannabis merchandise freely without the concern of crook charges, fines, or other penalties. There are even marijuana tours in a few states that can help you test all of the great dispensaries.

State marijuana legal guidelines will vary regarding what is wanted so as for humans from outdoor of the country to buy marijuana, however in general, all you want to do is discover a local leisure dispensary and show your ID. Once you do, you're allowed to freely buy numerous marijuana and hashish products.

Can Out-of-State Residents Buy Recreational “Weed” and Bring it Back to Their Home State?

The answer to the question “Can out-of-kingdom residents buy recreational weed?” is no, they legally cannot.

Anyone who does this is breaking the regulation and soliciting for trouble. While many states have made leisure Medical Marijuana for sales online legal, it's far still federally unlawful. Therefore, whilst you are crossing nation lines with marijuana, you are technically breaking federal regulation. Even if you obtain the marijuana legally for your state of origin, it's far a criminal offense to cross state lines with any marijuana on your person.

This additionally applies to those who are crossing from one state wherein leisure marijuana is criminal into every other country wherein it's miles felony, including driving from California to Oregon with marijuana for your person. Even though marijuana is legal in both California and Oregon, whilst you cross nation strains you are inside the jurisdiction of federal regulation enforcement and are subject to hefty fines and penalties. We recommend, irrespective of what, which you should in no way cross nation traces with marijuana.

Finding a Recreational Dispensary

Once you are in a criminal leisure marijuana kingdom, what's the easiest manner to discover the pleasant hashish dispensaries to buy marijuana? There are a few reliable methods to find nearby stores, including on line directories, neighborhood print media, or even traditional advertising efforts. These dispensaries is probably brick and mortar shops or delivery offerings.

You can find dispensaries listed by place from a number of directories on-line that maintain a database of cannabis dispensaries. Some of those online services also listing out a shop’s “menu” or the marijuana lines and merchandise the dispensary has in stock.

Recreational dispensaries frequently put it on the market either online, in a city’s free culture and nightlife magazines, or maybe on billboards in a few markets. Sign spinners are also a popular manner for dispensaries to get your attention.

States that have legalized cannabis every so often limit how marijuana groups can use traditional advertising channels, forcing dispensaries to get innovative with how they reach out to their capacity customers.

Unsure of which dispensary to choose? Online directories regularly permit customers to rate and review shops. Many markets also have websites dedicated to reviewing marijuana dispensaries and products to present you an idea of wherein to nice purchase your leisure hashish.

You can learn more about finding the excellent dispensary near you in our dispensary guide.

What Do I Need?

To buy recreational marijuana from a dispensary, like with purchasing alcohol, all this is wanted is proof that you are over 21. For this, you could use authorities issued files like a driver’s license, state photograph I.D., or passport. You do not need to be a resident of the state you are in to purchase felony leisure marijuana, commencing the door for cannabis tourism.

You’ll also want to make sure you have got sufficient cash on hand to cover your buy. It is uncommon for a marijuana dispensary to take credit score cards, although a few do. Most dispensaries which might be cash-handiest have an ATM on site, but prices for use can be high. Plan in advance, check the online menus for the dispensary, and bring sufficient money to cover your purchase.

Choosing Between a Shop, Pickup, or Delivery

While most new users have a mental picture of taking walks into a hashish keep when deciding to shop for marijuana for the first time, there are virtually a few alternatives in how you get your marijuana, including getting into brick and mortar stores, ordering your alternatives in advance of time for pickup, and having someone supply your order. Some stores even provide all 3 options. Other dispensaries might also exist simplest as a delivery service.

Physical shops are a popular manner for lots consumers to shop for their hashish products. Customers can see the range of merchandise for sale, take a look at out the packaging, odor the exceptional lines of hashish flower, and ask as many questions because it takes to find the satisfactory products.

Brick and mortar shops also offer benefits to those who are new to shopping for prison marijuana and are uncertain of what they need. These customers can benefit from having a knowledgeable “budtender” to help walk them via their many choices and help them go home with the proper product.

Some brick and mortar dispensaries also permit customers to call their marijuana order in advance after which come choose it up, letting them skip the frequently long strains at a few certified dispensaries. This is helpful in case you are in a rush and already understand what you need. As easy as grabbing a take-out order, choosing up your marijuana preorder gets you occurring your manner with out the wait.

Finally, some dispensaries provide transport for people who can’t or wish now not to visit a bodily store. Orders are called in and then introduced to your home, office, or inn by using a transport person. Some delivery customers are unable to journey to a brick and mortar dispensary, others are brief on time and like the convenience, and a few sincerely revel in the privateness that shipping gives over traveling a marijuana store.

It is even feasible to buy marijuana online or with smartphone apps. These apps and web sites let you easily region your marijuana order as you would any on line buy and some even allow you to agenda your shipping ahead of time for transport when it works fine for you.

While all of these methods have their own particular benefits, what is maximum convenient and snug for you'll in all likelihood be the excellent desire. Reference our dispensary guide to learn greater about finding a dispensary.

Visiting a Shop

Once you arrive at your dispensary, you’ll likely be met at the front door by a safety guard. They will likely want to wand you down with a steel detector. This isn’t an indication that a shop isn’t safe — it is without a doubt a precaution and a necessary truth in a marijuana enterprise that is essentially nonetheless cash-based.

Once you enter the keep, you’ll want to check in with the front desk. They will experiment your I.D. To confirm your age and then positioned you on a list to enter the sales floor. You will then be directed to wait in the waiting room. At any point in the course of your go to, you may revel in long traces. As you can imagine, legal cannabis is quite popular, and extended wait instances do happen. Try to schedule your go to for while you recognise you have got time.

Once you are called to the lower back room, you're equipped to begin your shopping experience.

Ordering Delivery

In some markets, it's also possible to reserve your leisure marijuana merchandise to be brought to your home. Buying marijuana thru shipping is a smart desire in case you aren’t capable of go away your home, there aren't any nearby brick and mortar stores, or in case you already know what you want and don’t have any questions.

Delivery services can be located in the identical methods as a physical store. Once you discover a delivery carrier you need to use, typically, you will want to name in to the delivery carrier to place an order. However, extra savvy services permit order by way of text. Some actually have their personal cellphone apps or assist you to order online thru their website.

Before you region your order, you’ll want to select your products from the shop’s menu. This can be observed on directory apps for cannabis businesses or now and again on a shop’s own website. Once your order has been placed, wait times can vary based totally on time of day, distance from business, etc.

When your order arrives, most drivers will convey the order for your door. In a few cases, they may ask you to come meet them at their car instead. Be sure to test your order to make sure it is correct before your motive force leaves.

What Products Can I Buy?

Marijuana dispensaries will provide a wide selection of manufacturers and product sorts to meet the needs in their many customers. Here are some of the goods you are probably to locate in dispensaries. If it's far your first time at the dispensary, take the time to browse the goods and ask questions till you find some thing that sounds right for you.

Flower: The flowering buds of the marijuana plant, marijuana flower may be smoked in a glass pipe, in a bong, or rolled right into a joint or blunt. It is also feasible to vaporize the active compounds in marijuana flowers with an appropriately ready vaporizer. Marijuana flower is to be had in an first-rate range of traces or genetic genotypes. This kind of traces is made feasible via cross-breeding one of a kind lines, growing new ones with the shared traits of their parents. Marijuana flower is commonly categorised as either an indica, sativa, or hybrid. You can find our list of the maximum famous marijuana lines here.

Extracts: Marijuana extracts encompass merchandise like kief, hash, oil, marijuana shatter, wax, and extra. These merchandise seek to concentrate the energetic compounds in marijuana like its cannabinoids and terpenes right into a consumable product. Marijuana concentrates may be dabbed, vaporized, infused into edibles, or delivered to marijuana flower to boom its potency.

Edibles and Beverages: Using a variety of techniques, companies have infused meals products ranging from brownies and sweets to frozen pizza and ice cream with cannabinoids like THC. Beverages like soda, coffee, and tea are also to be had infused with THC also are to be had. You can find more records about edibles in our marijuana edibles guide.

Topicals: The cannabinoids in cannabis also can be absorbed via the frame through the skin. For this reason, you could discover topically-applied products like balms, lotions, rub down oils, or even patches.

Which Marijuana Product Is Best for Your Needs?

When it comes time to buy marijuana at a recreational dispensary, the sheer amount of products available for buy may be overwhelming. Not best are you requested to pick between marijuana flower, extracts, edibles, and topicals, but there also are a apparently endless amount of lines and types to pick out from. So how do you realize which marijuana product is high-quality for your wishes?

The first step is to take it slow browsing available products. A leisure marijuana dispensary can be staggering in the beginning glance, so take a while to slowly look through all of the products offered. Marijuana merchandise frequently have facts on their labels that supply the user greater facts approximately the feasible consequences of use.

The next step is to invite any questions you need to your budtender earlier than you buy marijuana. Your budtender is a cannabis expert, and they could solution a wide range of questions regarding marijuana merchandise and expected effects. No rely how simple or complicated your question is, do not be afraid to ask! Your budtender assist you to find a product primarily based on your favored consequences, fitness issues, or other requirements. Asking your budtender a litany of questions will make it simpler to pick out among the many merchandise on the dispensary shelves.

If you need help finding the proper type of marijuana merchandise for you and would as an alternative walk into a recreational marijuana dispensary with a product in mind, we are happy to offer a guide to help you make your purchase decision. Visit our scientific marijuana product guide to learn extra.

How Much Marijuana Can I Purchase?

There are barriers to how tons marijuana and its derived products you may legally buy and possess at any given time. These quantities will alternate by state, so take a look at together with your budtender to discover how an awful lot marijuana you could buy at one time.

In most recreationally felony states, there's a cap of 1 ounce of dried marijuana flower. Similar caps exist on how lots marijuana listen or edibles you could buy or own. We break down the sizes marijuana flower is sold in and typical expenses in case you’re trying to learn more.

[lovemesomesurveys]

Let’s start with you. How are you? Struggling, but here we are. What motivates you to get up every day? My body wakes me up and I finally drag myself outta bed for coffee. Do you have a true best friend? My mom.  Do you see yourself as a sensitive person? Very.  Have you been upset recently? Mhm.

Do you still leave/receive voicemails? I hateeee leaving voicemails. I very rarely get voicemails anymore. Do you live in your hometown? Yeah. Are you a festive person? Do you enjoy holidays? I love the holidays. Did you/Will you attend college? I did. I graduated in 2015. How many alarm clocks do you use? I’ve been known to just turn it off and fall back asleep, so I have to set several. Do you consider yourself to be an open-minded person? Yeah. Do you eat fruit? I like some fruits, but I’ve never been a big fruit eater. I honestly haven’t had any fruits in at least 3 years, possibly 4. What is your favorite subject to learn about? Psychology.  How many meals a day do you typically eat? 2-3 on good days, sometimes just 1, sometimes none. Music, eh? Have you seen any live shows? Yeah, a few. Name three of your favorite bands/artists… I have many. How big of a role does music play in your life? I enjoy music, but I don’t listen to it as much as I used to.  Can you play any instruments? I used to play some piano, but it’s over 10 years now since I’ve played. You’re feeling down - do you listen to sad music or happy? I gravitate toward the sad stuff. Ya know, #relatable and all that. If you’ve ever been to a concert, how old were you and who did you see? I’ve been to a few. My first one was when I was 16. The others were when I was 18 and early 20s. Do you prefer music to be meaningful and deep, or purely for dancing/fun? I like both. Is there a song or artist that you secretly enjoy, but don’t want to enjoy? No. I like what I like, I don’t care. If you could only listen to music from one decade, which would you choose? That’s toughhh. I love my 90s, but I like variety of music from different decades and like to listen to a bit of everything, so it would be hard to choose just one.  Has your parents taste in music in any way affected what you like? Yeah. We like a lot of the same stuff, especially my mom and I. You’re looking for some new music - what’s your preferred way to discover? Spotify. Do you still own any CD’s/records/tapes? Nope. A few years ago I sold them to a record store. Do you download music for free or pay for it? I use Spotify. We have the premium subscription, so we pay for it. Well, my mom does :X It’s a group plan thing that we have. Do you ever hear a new song on tv that you like and find it? Yeah, there’s been many times I’ve heard a song in a commercial or TV show/movie and looked it up. Speaking of television… (look at that smooth transition!) Do you watch a lot of television? Whether that be shows, news, movies etc. My TV is always on, but it does serve as background noise a lot. I have my shows I watch and pay attention to, and then there’s times I have something on and I tune in and out.   Do you watch the news? I watch entertainment news more often, but yeah I watch the regular news like The Today Show or some of our local news sometimes. I get most of news online, though. What about the weather channel? No. I just use the app on my phone.  What’s your favorite holiday movie? I love Christmas movies, there’s too many to name. What hooks you to a television show? Drama, suspense, comedy etc. I like all that, just depends on the plot really. How do you feel about adult cartoons? Not really my thing.

Talk shows - boring or entertaining? I watch a few. Do you prefer cable, satellite or streaming? We have satellite and we have streaming services like Netflix and Hulu as well.  Have you come across any new shows you like this year? I have a list of shows I want to watch, but haven’t gotten around to, yet. I think the only new shows I’ve watched were The Hills: New Beginnings and I got into Whose Line is it Anyway?, both new and old seasons lol. I used to watch it during its original run, but I recently started watching again because this one channel airs it every weeknight. OH, The Act on Hulu was really good. That was the Gypsy Rose mini series. But yeah, there’s a lot of shows I need to get around to watching.  Do you still watch shows that you grew up watching? Yep, a few.  What about movies that you grew up with? Lion King and Toy Story are mine! Yep, many. Are you subscribed to any streaming services? Netflix and Hulu. Reality shows - entertaining or horrifying? I watch quite a few, ha. What is the first movie you ever saw in a cinema? I don’t know the very first, but the one that always comes to mind for some reason is Stuart Little. I know that’s not the very first, though. Let’s talk about what you don’t discuss at Sunday brunch… Do you identify with any organized religion? Christianity. If so - is it how you were raised, or have you found your own? My paternal grandparents are Christians and I went to church and Sunday school sometimes with them, but my parents weren’t/aren’t religious. They both believe in God, but they didn’t raise me with any religion. I was actually atheist and then agnostic for most of my life, up until 3 years ago. Do you think that marijuana should be legalized? Yes. If so, would that be for medical use only, or recreational? It has a lot of benefits so definitely for medical/health purposes, but I don’t care if people want to do it recreationally.  Pro-life or pro-choice? Have you ever protested or been on strike? No. Is gun control necessary or no? Yes of course.  Are you happy with the political state where you reside? Blahhh politics. Why do you feel that way? Have you read the book 13 Reasons Why or watched the show? Both. I read the book in high school or middle school, I don’t remember which and I’ve watched the show. The tv show brings teenage suicide to light in a graphic manner. Should shows like this be available to everyone or could it be a trigger? I mean, I think it’s something that needs to be talked about. It’s a real thing and we can’t act like it doesn’t exist. Mental illness is already so taboo and people don’t want to talk about, so it gets pushed under the rug and there’s stigma attached to it and people aren’t educated on it like they should be. I understand it can be triggering and difficult for people and that’s fine, they don’t have to watch it if they feel they can’t. I also want to note that there were warnings before each episode.  Okay, let’s simmer down. Back to happy things. Do you like animals? Yes. If so, do you have any pets? Yep, I have a doggo. (: What is your favorite day of the week and why? * I dont have a favorite day of the wk. They’re prtty much all the same to me <<< Same. Do you have a favorite season? Fall and winter. How do you enjoy nice scents? Candles, wax melts, incense, oils etc. I have a few candles actually, but I never light them lol. They smell great, though. We have a few wax warmers around the house, though, which are nice. I like those because I don’t have use fire. I also like to use some air fresheners, just nothing too strong. Do you live in a large city or small town? It’s medium sized I’d say. Are you happy with that or would you like to change it? I’d like to live in a smaller city, I think.  Do you have any children? Nooo. Are there any colors that you think compliment you? Black. Do you enjoy cleaning or find it to be a chore? I definitely don’t enjoy it. What is your absolute favorite food? For the past few months it’s been scrambled eggs with cheese and spinach by itself or wrapped in a tortilla, bologna sandwiches, Ramen, and pizza.  If you were any color, what would you be? Gray. Do you spend a lot of time on social networks? Yeah. Books or movies? I enjoy both.

[garden-of-succulents]

in love with the hurricane

Patater, 3k words, adult themes; discussion of suicide, homophobic language, violation of secrecy

(I wanted to fill my own prompt, but then realized I’d have to write out everything that I think happened the last time Tater shared insider information on Jack with Kent Parson. Which was… not good things, and affected their relationship a lot.)

Alexei’s reclining in bed after sex, one arm tucked up under his pillow and one around the man with his head on Alexei’s shoulder, feeling pretty good.  So of course that’s when Parson draws an experimental line down his pectoral and says, “I should swing by Samwell and see my man Zimms. His agent is leaving it pretty late, if he waits much longer to talk to management he’ll have to take whatever salary they give him.”

Kent Parson does this. Routinely, predictably, wind him up and watch him go; Alexei’s talked it over with his mother and come up with a very solid Rule of Parse. Any form of new or novel intimacy is going to make him lash out. Once he’s used to it he calms down; it’s when Alexei pushes somewhere he hasn’t gone before that Parson goes for the hurtful ammunition. Openly ogling or commenting on other men in front of him; flirting or getting handsy with women where Alexei can see; rubbing his hockey prestige in Alexei’s face; voicing his depression and self-hatred. The first time Alexei took his hand Parse had looked across the room and said, “Oh, he’s cute.”

Now Alexei’s brought Parse home, had sex with him in his own bed, and that’s rebounded back on him with the comment about Zimmermann. The reminder that this is the one Parse has been waiting for, the one Alexei’s known about since they first met; the one, presumably, he’d leave all his other lovers for.

It’s a bit more subtle than when a crazy-scared foster child gets moved in with a nice new family and wrecks their house, because they want to end the pain of suspense as soon as possible. I know you’re going to hate me eventually, so it might as well be now. More subtle because Parse isn’t a child anymore, and anyway Alexei hasn’t told him about this tell. If he tells, Parse might change or mask it.

It’s a behaviour that probably has chased a lot of people away. Of course it should; if Alexei weren’t cast-iron in a place that a lot of people are tender flesh, it would chase him away too, because Parse isn’t a child Alexei’s sworn to take care of, he’s an adult Alexei’s fucking recreationally. An adult who never wants someone to hate him before he’s given them reason, and therefore delights in giving reason. (“Delights” is the wrong word, but he’s not in the mood to be too deeply empathetic tonight.)

Alexei’s matured past the time when he would have loudly proclaimed, I’ll be the one who will love you no matter what you do. He’s learned not to swear that he’ll be the one who’ll never leave, no matter what. Kent Parson has a competitive nature; if Alexei threw a challenge like that in front of him, he would find a way to make Alexei abandon and betray him.

So with all this taken into consideration, he doesn’t rise to the bait. He counter-attacks.

“Aces management?” he rumbles, toying with Parse’s hair. “You think he is sign with Aces? I’m think he sign with us.”

“What, the Falconers? Lexi, I love you guys, but do you seriously—?”

“He is come to our morning skate on Tuesday,” Alexei says helpfully. “Laugh and joke with me, old guys. Well, we laugh. He smile. He is talk with Assistant General Manager, schedule meeting next week.”

Parse is very still for a minute, and then pushes himself up to look Alexei in the eye. He looks a little bloodless. “You’re serious." 

Alexei crosses his heart in reply.

"Shit,” Parse says, and pushes himself out of bed. His feet hit the floor with a thump and then he’s squinting around the bedroom floor for his clothes. Alexei turns on the bedside lamp to augment the moonlight coming in the sheers. “Fucking—god—”

A little clinically, Alexei thinks, He really did believe Zimmermann would come back to him. He’s wondered a little over the years whether Parson’s self-delusion really did go all the way down, or if it was just an act to push people away, get a rise out of them. It’s… well, it’s sad.

So he sits up and bed and watches as Parson struggles into his clothes, and then stands there, fully dressed, and meets Alexei’s eyes like he’s just realized that most people would be hurt or enraged or something by this response, by their immediate displacement in his priorities.

Alexei waves a hand. “I know when I tell you, you be upset, worry.” He pauses, then says, “I’m think you get different than what you want, from him.”

Parse shakes his head, and says faintly, “I have to try.” Then he licks his lip and says, “Look, I’m… I’m sorry. I know I’m being an asshole here.”

“You want apologize, you know my number,” Alexei says with magnanimous resignation, and Parson goes.

Parse doesn’t respond to his text a few days later, should I be wishing you congratulations? )) but he does call at the end of the week.

“Alexei,” he says warmly. “Thanks for picking up after what I did to you. That was an asshole move. I’m sorry.”

“I say I pick up,” Alexei says noncommittally, but Parse just rolls right on over him.

“Did I ever tell you what a great guy you were? You’re just so… tolerant. You’re so good to people that way. I’m so glad I met you, man. You’ve been a fuckin’ bright spot all these years.”

“Thank you,” Alexei says. “Party, I like you too.”

Parse laughs. “Party! I love that name. You do the best nicknames. It made me feel special, you know? I just… I want you to know how much you mean to me, Lexi.”

Alexei swallows an icicle, breathes deep, and says, “You want me to know, schedule next time I see you.  Maybe I take maintenance day when we play Stars in January?”

“Don’t, ah… let’s not schedule something yet, but I, ah. You gave me so many chances. More than I ever deserved. You know? You wasted so much time on a guy like me… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay that.”

“How did meeting with Zimmermann go?”

“Ah? Uh. Well. He’s got his own... stuff, you know, so I’m trying to take care of…”

“Parson,” he says, trying to make his voice gentle. “What is talk like this? Like you saying goodbye.” The silence on the line crackles, the sound of faraway breathing. The question on his tongue is an awkward one; he doesn’t know how to make it blunt enough without turning it ungainly, abrupt. But he asks. “What is plan here? You want to kill yourself?”

“Look, don’t worry about me,” Parson says. “You worry too much about everyone else, okay? It won’t, I’m not… I’m gonna fix things. Okay?”

“Because if you thinking suicide,” Alexei presses, “I can help, find ways to make you safe.”

“I don’t need your help,” Parse says harshly. “I’m fine. Leave it alone, okay? You’re not my mother. Or my boyfriend. Jesus.”

After he’s hung up, Alexei chews his lip for a couple of minutes, thinking.  He calls Parse’s friend Troy, gets his voicemail, leaves a text, and considers calling Vassily. He’s an Ace, so he might have a good perspective, except… Vassily is kind of an asshole, unsympathetic to Parse, and not smart about people.  No. Then he checks the time in Russia, and calls home to wake his mother up and run the conversation by her. 

“I would worry,” she replies. “A little because of what he said, more because he has tried before, and because this has been his reason not to for years.” And her judgment is the best he knows.

So he pours himself a glass of water, noting that when this is over he’ll have to take off his shirt and shower. He’s sweating with nerves. He calls Georgia Martin.

When he was sixteen, his friend Masha hanged herself in her closet with a length of rope, and it had been the end of the most helpless fight he’d ever had, because at the end of the day he couldn’t change what was in her head. Since then he’s learned a lot about his limits, about what he can’t do, about when he can only step back.

“‘Lo?” Georgia asked, gravelly with sleep.

“Georgia, is Tater,” he says. “I need the number of someone in Aces staff. Who works with players, every day. After hours, cell phone number. Is important. And urgent.”

She doesn’t say anything; he can hear her getting up, walking through the house, hear a computer booting up. As he waits he switches the phone to speaker so he can call up the notepad app.

“Andrew Waterhouse,” Georgia says, after some clicking and typing. “Assistant coach. Got a pen?”

“Yes,” he says, tersely, and types it out standing on the balls of his feet. He reads it back to her when she’s done, to make sure he’s got it right. “Thank you, George. I go call him now.”

“Welcome, Tater,” Georgia says, and as he hangs up he blesses her in his heart, but doesn’t stop. He just dials the next number.

“Mr Waterhouse,” he says, pacing up and down his kitchen when his call connects on the second attempt. “It’s Alexei Mashkov from the Falconers. I need to talk to you about Kent Parson.”

After a moment the man on the other end of the line says, “Okay?”

“Him and me, we have argument last week. He is in Providence. I say okay, you want to apologize, you call me.  Is normal. But also, I know he is expecting good news, thing he want very much for years.” He struggles to talk slowly, running his hand through his hair as he paces, wanting to get it all out as fast as possible but knowing he has to take time, marshal his English, make a case, be understandable. “Tonight he is call me. Not about argument, just, 'Oh, Lexi, you such good friend, appreciate what you do for me, want to say thank you for all these years’. Not grumpy like I expect. Is… elated? Calm? Peaceful? Mr. Waterhouse, my mother is suicide counsellor. I am knowing it is… he tell me before, he try sometimes, younger. Has not been for years because he is waiting for this good news. But I ask, did you get good news? And he says no, but…”

“Jesus Christ,” Andrew Waterhouse says. “You think he’s gonna kill himself.”

Alexei swallows and says, “Yes.”

“Do you know when?”

“No, sir.”

“Okay.” The man on the other end of the line takes in a deep breath. “Okay. I’m gonna act on this, okay? Right now. I appreciate you calling me.”

“Thank you,” Alexei says. “Please go fast.”

Waterhouse calls him back the next day to thank Alexei, to say Parse is “being taken care of”. Whatever it means, Parse is out for three games due to “undisclosed injury”.

So it’s with some trepidation that Alexei answers Parse’s call the day of the second scratch, and it’s quickly justified.

“You cocksucker,” Kent Parson spits. “I was fine. I know you’re the one who fucking told them. I should call your GM and get you locked in a fucking mental asylum.”

“Party,” Alexei says tentatively. “Good to hear you alive.”

“Don’t you fucking buddy me. You’re not my friend. A real friend wouldn’t have gone fucking over my head and—”

Alexei holds the phone away from his ear so he can think. He’s not a complete stranger to this form of ingratitude; Masha was an expert at it, and bullied him into keeping silence he regrets now. And the other thing is—he’ll put up with a lot from Parse, but this isn’t a little thing. This is a firehose of venom, and it’ll hurt both of them if he lets it continue.

He does the kind thing by removing Parse’s ability to hurt him in a way he’ll regret later. He hangs up.

I am sorry you are angry, he writes. For not believing you and breaking your secret. I understand if you need to be angry with me. But I am ok if you are alive to be angry. Hope one day you maybe forgive me.

“Mama,” he says later, when he’s told her the whole story, “I want to stop losing friends this way.”

“I know, little kitten,” she says, as warm as her fingers curling through his hair. “But you did good by him, all right?”

Alexei holds onto that. Sometimes he watches Aces games, once they get their star winger back, just to reassure himself that Parson is alive. He holds those things like compresses over the aching void of the man’s absence in his life.

They play the Aces again at the very end of the season, and Parse on the ice is a shitshow—so out-of-control and utterly heedless of his own safety that it terrifies Alexei, the way he’s been since he came back to the ice even though Andrew Waterhouse assures him the Aces are “on” his mental health issues. On the ice, he barely spares Alexei a glance.

The week beforehand, though, Parse had sent him a little funny email, just a macro of Alexei’s least-favourite ref and a joke to his disadvantage, and the note, “Found this on Twitter.” Tears had pricked Alexei’s eyes as he recognized it as the olive branch it was. He’d sent back pictures of his neighbour’s cat doing her morning patrol.

The night after the game Parse leaves the arena with his team, but he texts Alexei, Still want to meet up during the summer? I have some apologies to make.

For a minute Alexei just rests his phone against his lips in a silent prayer of gratitude. Then he summons back up the energy to reply, only if u r teaching me still to surf!!!!

[healthfitness04]

Everything You Need To Know To Start Cycling To Work

Nick Harris-Fry

28 Mar 2018

All the advice and gear required to get on your bike and start the day off on a natural high

According the National Travel Survey two-thirds of people in Great Britain aged over five never cycle or cycle less than once a year on average, and a European Commission survey found that only 4% of people in the UK cycle daily. These aren’t impressive numbers – in the EU, only Cyprus (2%) and Malta (1%) have a lower percentage of daily cyclists.

If the numbers increased to nearer the 43% of people in the Netherlands who cycle daily, the benefits would be incredible, both individually and for society as a whole – think reduced air pollution and a healthier population reducing the pressure on health services. And as more people start to cycle, the infrastructure will continue to improve, which in turn leads to more cyclists cycling in safer environments.

So ask yourself, why aren’t you cycling to work? And hopefully whatever reasons you come up with will be covered below. Unless the reason is you work at home. You’re off the hook.

Why should you cycle to work?

“Cycling to work is a great way to include exercise in your weekly routine, without the need for expensive gym memberships or personal trainers,” says Luke Harper, head of British Cycling partnership at HSBC UK. “You get to work feeling invigorated, endorphins are flowing around your body and you start the day off on a natural high.

“A bike is also cheap to buy compared with a car, particularly with sos many employers taking part in the Cycle to Work scheme, and it is much cheaper to run. In many UK cities there are also bike sharing schemes which make using a bike easy and affordable.

“There are numerous benefits to cycling but, perhaps most of all, cycling is fun. Most of us learned to cycle as a child when it was an activity which provided a sense of freedom.”

So you’ll get fitter, save money and have a blast. We’d also suggest that for most people in cities cycling to work will be at least as fast as taking public transport, even if you’re pootling along at an easy pace, because you can pick a more direct route and the only unexpected delay you might experience is a flat tyre.

Is cycling to work dangerous?

A common fear, especially in London, but the dangers of cycling are overplayed. Take it slow and your confidence will quickly build.

“Our perceptions of the dangers to cycling far outstrip reality. For many of us, these are mental barriers which prevent us from getting on two wheels,” says Harper.

“You don’t have to be a cyclist to ride a bike. If you’re nervous about riding to work, there are ways to build your confidence including doing practice runs during the weekends when there’s usually less traffic, which will help you to familiarise yourself with the route. We often think about cycling as a means of commuting but, in fact, riding a bike recreationally around your local park or on national cycling routes can help you re-learn the skills or techniques that may be rusty after not being on a bike for a while, and help to boost your confidence before using the roads.”

A few stats from Cycling UK drive home the point that cycling is safe. Only one cyclist is killed for every 29 million miles covered by bike on British roads, and mile for mile the risk of death is about the same as walking. Furthermore, cycling is so good for your health that statistically, the years of life gained outweigh the years lost through injuries by around 20:1.

Do cyclists need to worry about air pollution?

Only on extremely rare occasions. In London TfL will issue alerts when the air pollution is very high and it’s worth considering not cycling outdoors (you can sign up for text alerts or download an app via airText). However, in general the health benefits of cycling far, far outweigh the possible risks of air pollution. And the more people ride, the less risk there will be.

“Cycling can be a solution to many of the issues facing cities and towns across the UK, whether that is obesity, depression or pollution,” says Harper. “Ultimately, more people cycling can reduce the number of cars on the road, reducing pollution and helping towards a greener, fitter, healthier Britain.”

How fit do I need to be?

This depends on how far you live from your work and whether there are any massive hills en route, but we’ll let you into a little secret – not that fit at all. City cycling tends to involve short bursts of mild effort that are curtailed by traffic lights frequently enough that you don’t get all that out of breath. You can of course put the hammer down and up the intensity of your exercise while cycling, but if you’re looking to tick off your 30 minutes of daily moderate activity, cycling is ideal.

You also don’t have to cycle to work every day – if you get tired at first, do alternate days until your fitness and confidence increase and you feel like doing more. And if you live too far from your work to cycle the whole way a folding bike could be a nifty solution for part of the journey, and they’re easier to stash at home or at work than regular bikes.

Am I going to get sweaty?

Take it easy on your ride and you won’t need a shower when you arrive at work. And if you are getting sweaty, buying yourself a cycling top will help because lightweight, sweat-wicking materials really make a difference. You don’t have to go for Lycra all over – a top and a jacket for winter will see you right, and they’re usually odour-resistant so you can wear them all week without having to wash them. There is also plenty of stylish cycling gear available that has the technical details you need to stay cool and sweat-free while being fashionable enough to wear off the bike.

If you really don’t want to get sweaty on your commute, there’s always the option of an e-bike. Riding with a little assistance is still good exercise, but it’s only at the intensity of walking, so you won’t sweat. If e-bikes are entirely new to you, check out our e-bike buyer’s guide for all the info you need.

Do you need to wear a helmet?

There is no law saying you have to wear a helmet in the UK, and cycling campaign groups are very active in opposing any attempt to introduce such a law. The argument is simple – enforced helmet wearing leads to fewer people cycling and the best way to make cycling safer is to have more people doing it.

Regardless of the legal requirements you might well choose to wear a helmet – they can save your life in a certain type of accident, although you shouldn’t expect them to do a great deal if you’re hit by a motor vehicle. If you’re keen on lugging a helmet with you at the end of your ride, then a folding helmet you can slip into a bag might be what you need.

What lights do I need?

The minimum requirement under UK law is that you have one front light, one rear light, one rear reflector and reflectors on your pedals. The lights can be flashing, but have to flash between 60 and 240 times per minute. There are some more detailed regulations about the amount of light emitted, but in practice you don’t really need to worry about that. Just buy some lights, and put them on your bike from sunset to sunrise.

If you want to go above and beyond with your bike lights there are many great options. Lights that project laser images onto the ground several metres in front of your bike, wheel lights, reflective clothing and ankle bands are all things to try if you want to make absolutely certain that you’re visible on the road.

Do you need any special gear?

In short, no. Aside from bike lights and a bike, there is nothing essential you need to buy, though you probably will want a helmet and a cycling top too. Beyond that the next purchase you might consider is mudguards if your bike doesn’t come with them – if you cycle in your work clothes, you don’t want them splashed on the way in to the office. Also, the people cycling around you don’t want to be splashed either.

Once you get into the swing of commuting you might also want to buy a cycling rucksack. This will be lightweight and have some kind of airflow system to help avoid your back getting too sweaty while you ride. Or, if you want to have no such concerns, you can invest in panniers and stash all your gear by your wheels.

Other gear you might want to get is some kind of route planner. This could be a cycling app that plots the best routes – whether you want the fastest or quietest roads – or a full-on bike computer that attaches to your handlebars and tracks your ride as well as guiding you.

How much will I have to spend on a commuter bike?

The good news is that there’s something out there for every budget. Ollie Glover, adult bikes expert at Halfords, says, “generally, £300-£700 will get you something reliable, sturdy and hopefully less of a target for thieves if you’re locking it outside.”

When working out how much you want to spend, give some thought to how much you want to spend on repairs. “Simply put, the more you spend, the better the ride will be but the more expensive the repair work,” says Glover. “A £100-£200 bike will be fine for commuting one or two days a week, and repair work over a year won’t add up to any more than the cost of the bike. Bikes that cost upwards of £1,000 will be fast, light and designed perfectly for the terrain, but repair work will be costly and you may find them more of a target for thieves.”

How much maintenance does a bike need? What’s the absolute minimum someone can get away with?

“Keep the bike clean and lubricated and you will find that parts last longer,” says Glover. “As an absolute minimum, repair things when they break, but repairs are more costly when you are replacing parts rather than servicing them. If you commute approximately 30 miles a week, every six months (or when something doesn’t feel or sound right), get your bike checked out. Regular assessment of the bike can help spot a problem before it happens. The wheels and drivetrain can take a beating during the daily grind, and servicing or replacing parts before they break prevents further damage.

Won’t my bike get stolen?

A fair question. Ultimately there is no surefire way to ensure your bike never gets nicked, but you can massively reduce the chances. The most effective strategy is to make stealing your bike more hassle than it’s worth, or at least more hassle than the bike parked next to it. With almost 400,000 bikes stolen in the UK every year, it’s every cyclist for themselves out there.

Before you head out the door register your ride at bikeregister.com, record your frame number and any other key details like your bike make, colour and any unique identifiers. You can also attach a coded label to your bike to help identify it and deter thieves – the police often have events where they’ll do this for you for free. Try searching your local force’s website.

When it comes to your lock, don’t skimp. Locking a £1,000 bike with a £10 lock is not a savvy move. In an ideal world you’ll always have a secure indoor location to park your bike, at least at work and at home, but you also need at least one lock when you do have to store it outside.

Sold Secure, a not-for-profit company run by the Master Locksmiths Association, rates locks as gold, silver or bronze, with the standards relating to how long they will stop a thief for – gold is five minutes, silver three, and bronze one. It might sound depressing that even the best locks only buy you five minutes, but if you park in a well-lit, public spot five minutes of work will hopefully deter would-be thieves. Getting two gold-rated locks of different types – a chain and a D-lock – will give you the best level of security, because a thief will need different tools to tackle each.

Always make sure you’re locking your bike to something solid and fixed – and make sure it’s not a short pole that a thief can lift your bike, lock and all, over, and carry it away! Lock your frame as the first priority (it’s the most expensive part of your bike), then the back wheel (ideally the frame and back wheel can be locked in one go), then the front wheel. If you have quick-release wheels, a lock for each is needed, as thieves can pop off the wheel in a matter of seconds. The less space between the lock and your bike the better, because that means there is less room for thieves to manoeuvre against the lock.

I’m not sure I can still cycle

If you’ve ever ridden a bike, it will probably only take you a short ride to get back in the swing of it. If you are worried about it, don’t make your commute the first time you ride – head out on the trails of Sustrans’ National Cycle Network, such as the short rides recommended for people living in London, Manchester and Newcastle.

If you want some formal coaching, you may well be able to get it for free. Cycle Confident puts on sessions in most London boroughs – check its website or your local council’s for more information. Cycle Confident occasionally ventures outside London for sessions, so it’s worth checking your your local council’s website for opportunities to learn to cycle again with Cycle Confident, or indeed any other organisation.

from http://www.coachmag.co.uk/cycling/7427/cycling-to-work-guide

[triplejumprunway]

What I saw at ALTC 2017

I’ve been at ALTC , the Association for Learning Technology Conference 2017. To come, a harder piece to write where I make sense of it all – but for now I’m going to summarise each session I attended, mainly because I really enjoyed hearing from everyone else about what they went to. Incidentally, the keynotes and all of the sessions which took place in the largest room are available to watch on ALT’s YouTube (where there will hopefully be a playlist in due course).

Day 1

Bonnie Stewart, a keynote speaker from a non-traditional background, spoke about the exclusions which ensue from only planning for norms. Among many insights she shared was Ronald Heifetz’s about actively distinguishing between problems which technology can solve and problems which require humans to adapt their behaviour.

Helen Walmsley-Smith introduced eDAT, a tool for analysing the content of online learning activity design. The data  could then be analysed with feedback and retention data to allow a learning design to be evaluated, and successful types in different contexts to be identified. eDAT is freely available. There are early signs that interactivity is related to improved retention.

Emma Mayhew and Vicki Holmes from Reading described the shift from paper-based to digital assessment processes. Part of a major programme of EMA funding. With eight academic and student secondees, they aim to improve each part of cycle, from better awareness at the ‘Setting’ stage to better monitoring of progress at the ‘Reflection’ stage. They found that the idea of ‘consistency’ was problematic and might refer to satisfaction rather than practices. Their review of other institutions found that the most successful outcomes were in institutions which consulted carefully.

Peter Alston (Liverpool) discussed how ‘the academy’ does not mean the same thing when it discusses e-assessment. This highlighted the differences between professional services and academic perspectives. Adopting Whitchurch’s (2008) ‘third space’ approach, and the contestation, reconciliation and reconstruction (Whitchurch 2010) around practices, rules, regulations and language.

Why are the rates of e-submission and feedback at the University of Essex so high? Ben Steeples looked back at a decade of electronic submission and feedback on a platform built in-house, which designed out a number of problems affecting other platforms. Maintaining the in-house system costs £75k a year, but the integrations with e.g. calendar and student records are excellent and the service is very reliable. They expect to develop analytics. I love hearing from in-house developers making large strategically important institutional systems which work well.

Daniel Roberts and Tunde Varga-Atkins #1637 discussed the minimum standards (‘hygiene factors’) for Liverpool’s VLE, and the development of an evaluation model involving students which could be used with other initiatives. Students are a transient presence who can be hard to reach; different evaluation approaches to involving them included as auditors and in focus groups. Between staff and students at Liverpool there was little mutual recognition of the respective effort which goes into using the VLE.

One of the stand-out sessions for me, Simon Thomson and Lawrie Phipps summarised Jisc���s #Codesign16 consultation on needs for a next-generation digital learning environment. There was a sense that the tools drive the pedagogy, that they exist to control the academy, and that administration processes were de facto more important than education. Jisc found that students were using laptops and phones had almost equally (only 40% used a tablet). Students arrive at university networked, but the VLE currently stands alone without interfacing with those networks. At Leeds Beckett PULSE (Personalised User Learning and Social Environment) set out to address this by letting individuals connect spaces where they had existing relationships, allowing them to post once and selectively release to multiple places. The data within PULSE is entirely owned by students. When they leave, they can take it with them. Unsurprisingly, student’s expressed no strong desire to integrate personal tools with uni platforms – as ever, educators needs to design use of PULSE into the curriculum. However, the VLE vendor would not give access to the APIs to allow the kind of integration this would require.

Helen Beetham and Ellen Lessner introduced video accounts of learning digitally from 12 students not all of whom loved technology. The institutional technologies do not come out well in Jisc’s ‘Student digital experience tracker 2017’, but we have no idea whether that is to do with the task design, the support for new ways of learning, or the technologies themselves. Find resources at bit.ly/ALTC17digijourneys.

Carina Dolch asked whether students are getting used to learning technology. She described the massification and diversification of Germany’s higher education system, and how students’ media usage was changing over time. A survey of 3666 students confirmed that while there was an increase in time spent online since 2012. However – which is hard to explain – the frequency of text media use has been decreasing, as did the use of both general tools (search engines, Skype, etc) and e-learning tools and services (Moocs, lecture recordings, etc). Non-traditional students tend to use technologies functionally tied to their institution, whereas traditional students tended to use technologies more recreationally. Students expressed reluctance to be at the forefront of innovations, and there were more active decisions to be offline.

Day 2

I loved Sian Bayne’s keynote about anonymity. She used the demise of Yik Yak the anonymous hyperlocal networking app, to talk about campus networks and privacy. Yik Yak’s high point in the download chart was 2014. In 2016 they withdrew anonymity, which is reflected by a plunge in usage at Edinburgh. Yik Yak restored anonymity shortly before closing in 2017 to no particular regret in the media. It had not been able to use personal data to finance itself. Moral panics about anonymous social media served platform capitalism by demanding that everyone be reachable and accountable. Edinburgh students discussed student life (including mental health), sex and dating, with some academic and political issues. Most students found it a kind and supportive network. Anonymity studies notes the ‘psychic numbing’ which allows most social media users to join up their accounts in the interests of living an “effective life”, inuring them to the risks of surveillance capitalism. Some users resist surveillance by cloaking one’s identity – however this seems over-reliant on other users not cloaking theirs, otherwise the enterprise, relying as it does on personal data, inevitably folds. I can’t see any other way to escape platform capitalism than to organise sustainable resourcing for open platforms such as Mastodon and Diaspora.

Fotios Mispoulos took a University of Liverpool instructor’s perspective on the effectiveness of learner-to-learner interactions. Most of the research into learner-to-learner interactions happened in the 1990s and found improved satisfaction and outcomes, though there are some counter findings. As usual the particulars of the task design, year group etc were glossed so we may be trying to compare apples and bananas.

Vicki Holmes and Adam Bailey talked about introducing Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (which we have at UCL) for web meeting at Reading. I thought their approach was very good – to clarify purposes and promote commitment hey asked for formal expressions of interest, they then ran workshops with selected colleagues to build confidence and technical readiness (headphones, the right web browser). These refined designs for meetings around placement support, sessions between campuses, assessment support tutorials, and pre-session workshops, among other purposes. Participants from Politics, Finance, Careers observed positive outcomes. Recommendations include avoiding simply lecturing since students disengage quickly,  designing interactions carefully (rather than expecting them to happen), to develop the distinct presentation techniques, and to prepare students (again around technical readiness and role). 87% of students felt it was appropriate to their learning.

Beth Snowden and Bronwen Swinnerton presented on rethinking lectures in three redesigned tiered theatres at the University of Leeds. Each ‘pod’ has a mic, top-lighting, and a wired-in thinkpad device which can be used to send responses and also to present via the data projector. Lecturers observed how students who had chatted to each other were more likely to chat with him and to ask questions. Another doubted he could continue referring to the session as a ‘lecture’. Responses to the evaluation survey found that the average time listening to the lecturer was 49%, which was assumed to be less than in the other lecture theatres. Just over half of staff felt that the new lecture theatres created extra work, but more felt they were a positive development. Future evaluation will focus on educational uses.

[See YouTube University of Leeds “upgrade of teaching spaces”]

Catherine Naamani looked at the impact of space design on collaborative approaches at the University of South Wales. The flexible spaces had colour coded chairs round triangular tables with their own screen which students could present to using an app, and which the tutor could access. The more confident groups gained more tutor attention while the least engaged groups tended to be international students, so more group-to-group activity needed to be designed. Staff tended to identify training needs with the technology, but not developmental needs around educational approach using that technology.

Another stand-out session – as digital education strategists and academics at their respective institutions, Kyriaki Agnostopoulou, Don Passey, Neil Morris and Amber Thomas looked at the evidence bases and business cases for digital education. Amber noted academic, administrative and technical don’t speak to each other until the top of the organisation. How do digital education workers influence their organisations strategies? There are four distinct origins of evidence: technology affordances, uses, outcomes and impact. The former kinds of evidence can be provided through qualitative case studies while the latter through quantitative independent control group studies. Case studies are abundant, but far rarer are studies which show evidence of impact over time. Amber urged us to learn the language of ITIL and Prince 2 to “understand them as much as you want them to understand you”. Return on investment, laying out true costs (staff time, supply costs, simultaneous users), use cases (and edge cases), capital spend and recurrent spend) strategic alignment, gains (educational, efficiency and PR), options appraisals, sustainability and scalability, and risk analyses are a way to be ready for management critique of any idea. Neil Morris (Leeds) took the view that using evidence is the most powerful way of making change. Making the academic case first gets the idea talked about.

Online submission continues to outstrip e-marking at the University of Nottingham. Helen Whitehead introduced ‘Escape from paper mountain‘, an educational development escape game through which staff would understand how to use an online marking environment [see ALT Winter Conference]. The scenario is an assessor who has completed his marking but then disappeared; the mission is to find his marking and get it to the Exam Board in 60 minutes. The puzzles, to be solved in groups, are all localised, sometimes even at the subject-specific level. There are plenty of materials at yammer.com/escapehe.

Kamakshi Rajagopal from the Open University of The Netherland ran a workshop on practical measures to break out of online echo chambers aka filter bubbles – people from similar backgrounds and strata of societies in the context of an egocentric, personally and intentionally created personal learning network. One group came up with the idea of a ‘Challenge me’ or ‘Forget me’ button to be able to serve yourself different feeds

Day 3

(The amount of notes reflects the amount of sleep).

Peter Goodyear’s keynote was very good. He talked about the designing physical spaces for digital learning, which he called ‘multidimensional chess’. He introduced these as apprentice spaces where students learn to participate in valued practices. While STEM subjects require a lot of physical infrastructure, arts, humanities and social sciences require cognitive structures to learn to use knowledge and work with others. Designers reduce complexity by concentrating on what learners will do in the spaces. The activities themselves are not designable, but the guides and scaffolds are. Active learning risks cognitive overload due to the mechanics of the tasks – the instructions, navigating the task. The activity-centred activity design framework set out how to mitigate this.  Find the slides at petergoodyear.net.

John Traxler described initial thoughts about an Erasmus+ project to empower refugee learners  from Middle East and North Africa through digital literacy. Few Moocs are oriented to refugees, and those which are depend on the availabilities of volunteers. Engaging in a Mooc obviously depends on digital access and capabilities. Other challenges include language, expectations and cultural assumptions. Digital literacy can be interpreted as employability skills, or alternatively with a more liberal, individualistic definition to do with self-expression. The group is very hard to reach, so it is hard to carry out a valid needs assessment. The project is moonlite.

Lubna Alharbi talked about emotion analysis to investigate lecturer-student relationship in a fully online setting. Emotions which interfere with learning include isolation and loneliness arising from lack of interaction. To motivate students it is very important for the tutor to interpret and react to emotions. The International Survey on Emotional Antecedents and Reactions (ISEAR) dataset consists of sentences related to different emotions. Synesketch tool.

Another stand-out, Khaled Abuhlfaia asked how the usability of learning technologies affects learners. In usability research, usability is conceived as effectiveness, efficiency, learnability, memorability, error handling and satisfaction. The literature review was very well reported, and he found that there is far more evidence about the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction dimensions mostly questionnaires and interviews, while the other dimensions, while important, have been neglected.

Academic course leaders choose textbooks in a climate of acute student worries about living costs (not to mention the huge debts they graduate with). Viv Rolfe, David Kernohan and Martin Weller compared open textbook use in the UK and the US. In the US open textbook use has been driven by student debt – and in the UK nearly 50% of students graduating in 2015 had debt worries.

Ian McNicoll talked about the learning technologist role as a ‘fleshy interface’ between educators (who view LTs as techies), technies (who view LTs as quasi-academic), students (as helpdesk staff) and the institution (as strategic enablers).

John Tepper and Alaa Bafail discussed ways to calibrate designs for learning activities in STEM subjects. These are currently tied to outcomes statements, where outcomes are constructivist – teachers create a learning environment supportive of learning activities appropriate to the outcomes. Quality was operationalised as student satisfaction, which I thought might be problematic since it does not itself relate to outcomes. I also wondered about the role of context for each activity e.g. demographic differences, level which I missed in the talk. The presenters took a systems approach to evaluating quality, through which designs which elicited high student satisfaction were surfaced. Anyone interested in designing educational activities will probably be interested in Learning Designer, which was mentioned in the talk, is really good, and is still being maintained. It’s increasingly rare for software developers to talk at ALTC, so it was good to hear about this. I found this talk fascinating and baffling in equal measures, but fully intriguing.

Sam Ahern discussed learning analytics as a tool for supporting student wellbeing. One fifth of all adults surveyed by the NHS have a longterm common mental health problem, with variation between demographic groups. The numbers reporting mental health problems on entry has jumped 220% as students numbers have climbed. Poor mental health manifests as behaviour change around attendance, meeting deadlines, self-care and signs of frustration. Certain online behaviours can predict depressive episodes.

from Digital Education team blog https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/digital-education/2017/09/08/what-i-saw-at-altc-2017/ via IFTTT

[flowermandalas]

Three Ways to Mix Mindfulness into Your Life

Three Ways to Mix Mindfulness into Your Life

At the risk of stating the obvious, in order for Balancer to keep us balanced, it’s helpful to do activities that explicitly promote … balance.

Mindfulness-based activities are at the top of the list. The term mindfulness, the state of being focused on the present moment, without judgement, has become part of the zeitgeist in the past several years, and for good reason.

The benefits of mindfulness-based activities are physical, emotional, and psychological. Mindfulness has been demonstrated to:

Relax muscles and decrease blood pressure

Reduce rumination, stress, anxiety, and emotional reactivity

Promote empathy and self-compassion

Improve working memory, focus, self-insight, and intuition

Mindfulness works, in part, because of changes that occur in the body and the brain. But over time, mindfulness also reminds us that we don’t have to keep riding every mental train we find ourselves on. When we notice we’ve been kidnapped by a thought, worry, emotion, physical sensation, or distraction, we can get off that train and return to the station.

Three basic ways to develop mindfulness include:

Mindfulness-based activities. Imported from Eastern cultures, practices specifically developed to increase mindfulness include sitting and walking meditation, yoga, tai chi, and chi-gong.

Recreational activities with a mindfulness intention. When practiced with a mindful, in-the-moment intention, activities such as running, working out, gardening, bicycling, and even motorcycling can promote mindfulness.

Approaching mundane tasks with a mindfulness intention. Household chores such as washing the dishes, vacuuming, or folding laundry become a form of meditation when we allow ourselves to pay attention to the process of the task itself and our in-the-moment responses, rather than hurrying through it to get to the next thing.

Meditation is the easiest to describe fully in writing, but much of what I say here applies to other Eastern-based mindfulness practices, too

Many people think meditation is complicated or difficult, but it isn’t. It’s literally as simple as breathing, and a good place to begin meditating is with a three-breath meditation repeated throughout the day.

At a retreat I attended years ago, I was introduced to the concept of the Mindfulness Bell. At random times throughout each day, someone sounded a bell, and we all had to stop what we were doing and take three slow, abdominal breaths. (When you take an abdominal breath, your belly goes out when you inhale and in when you exhale, the opposite of how most of us breathe. The result is slower, deeper, more concentrated breathing.)

When the bell rang, we halted in mid-sentence, mid-stride, mid-chew, as if we were in a big game of freeze tag. At first this interruption annoyed me. I was in the midst of spiritual evolution, damn it! But by the time the retreat ended, I’d embraced these “interruptions.” Each time the bell sounded, I was able to stop what I was doing, saying, or thinking and reset. Did I need to be thinking or feeling what I was thinking and feeling? Did I want to do what I was about to do? Learning to be still in the midst of life, even briefly, helped me reevaluate these choices.

I have often recommended this three-breath meditation to clients, suggesting that they use any interrupting sound, such as a car horn or a phone’s ringing, as a substitute for the Mindfulness Bell.

The effects of this simple change can be revolutionary.

One client whose life was ruled by chaos found this practice to be more valuable than anything else we had done in therapy. At a street corner on the way to work, hearing the Mindfulness Bell of a car horn, she could think, “I don’t really want to waste my time partying tonight.” About to leave for a bar, pausing on the first ring of her cell phone, she could see how the evening would play out and decide, “Not this time.” Hearing a siren blare in the midst of pangs of guilt or shame, she could choose to forgive herself.

An anxious client found a Mindfulness Bell app for his smartphone and programmed it to ring randomly throughout the day. He was often on the road for his job, and while driving his mind inevitably went to worrying. When the bell rang, he took three breaths and allowed himself to return to a more centered place. Over time, not only did his anxiety lessen, but tuned in to his true desires and made major positive changes in his career and relationships.

I also continue this practice. When I step into my office and turn on my computer, I hear its Mindfulness Bell, pause for a moment, and imagine putting on an invisible jacket worn only by my best self. Brief meditations throughout the day help me shift gears between clients, return to center, and reinhabit that best self again and again.

Once you get the hang of the three-breath meditation, consider adding other forms of meditation to your day.

Sitting meditation is usually done with eyes closed, seated on a cushion or chair, in a quiet space. A breath-oriented meditation is one simple, time-honored approach. Focus on the intake and exhalation of each breath, imagining the air entering your body, expanding your lungs, and then leaving it as you exhale. If your attention drifts to something else, just gently bring it back to your breath. Sitting in the morning for 10-20 minutes helps to start the day in a more centered way, but if the mornings won’t work for you, any time of the day is okay.

Walking meditation is another way to reinforce mindfulness. Traditionally, it’s practiced by walking slowly back and forth or in a circle while focusing on the breath, the feeling of your feet touching and lifting from the ground, and the physical sensations you take in from your surroundings. However, if you have a regular walk you take recreationally, or even a short walk from the parking lot to your job, you can do these in the same mindful manner with the same centering effects.

Mindful recreation. Applying mindful attention to an activity like swimming or running can generate the same restorative and balance-enhancing effects as walking meditation. I recommend starting first with mindful walking, and then, when you feel comfortable with the cycle of losing attention and restoring it, experiment with translating this mindful approach to your chosen activity.

Mindful attitude. Another easy way to incorporate mindfulness into you life is to perform daily tasks with a mindful attitude. Taking a shower, brushing your teeth, and eating, if done without distraction and with a focus on your actual actions, can become a regular mindfulness practice. Even chores, done mindfully, can become centering meditations.

The “washing the dishes” meditation is often suggested by meditation teachers and is one I do myself. As a child, my brother Mike and I did most of the household chores, including washing dishes and putting them away, and as a result I’ve never much liked that task. So I’ve turned it into a meditation. I let the dishes pile up during the day and then wash them deliberately at night. I pay attention to the sound of the running water, the feel of the soap and sponge, the transformation of each dish from dirty to clean. The dish washing takes the same few minutes as it would if I were listening to music, thinking about what else I wanted to do that evening, or just pushing through an unpleasant chore. But instead of feeling slightly agitated during or afterward, as I once did, now I feel relaxed and refreshed.

Not long ago, I discovered that this specific meditation had potential side benefits. I was working with an anxious 12-year-old boy, the oldest of several siblings. His parents wanted me to teach him to meditate. So we tried sitting meditation, but he couldn’t sit still. We tried walking meditation, but he found it boring. Then I thought of dish-washing meditation. I gathered up the few cups and dishes in my office and put them in the sink, and I had him toss in a few of the washable toys. “Now,” I said, “squirt some dish soap on the sponge, and I’ll show you how to do dish-washing meditation.” I explained the process and for about five minutes he carefully and attentively washed the dishes and the toys. As he dried the last dish, he turned to me and said he felt much calmer. Then he added, gleefully, “And my mother will love this! I have a big family, and we have a lot of dirty dishes!”

Try turning any chore you regularly have to do, but don’t much care for, into a meditation and you may experience the same mini-transformation – and perhaps also the same glee!

What to do:

Mindfulness practices. Try an Eastern-based practice designed to enhance mindfulness such as sitting or walking meditation, yoga, tai chi, or chi-gong. These practices have been demonstrated to reduce stress and anxiety, improve focus, relax the body, and increase resilience. Consider starting with a simple three-breath meditation, as described above.

Mindful recreation. If you are already a runner, swimmer, walker, bicyclist, or participate in another recreational activity, approaching what you already do with a mindfulness attitude will generate many of the same beneficial effects as a mindfulness practice such as walking meditation. Pay attention to each moment and, if you find yourself drifting, bring your attention back to the present. Then rinse, lather, and repeat (as they used to say on shampoo bottles).

Mindful chores. Instead of just powering through daily tasks and chores, practice mindful dish washing, vacuuming, laundry folding, tooth brushing, and notice the subtle benefits, both in the moment and over time.

COMING NEXT: Keep Your Sanity with the Personal Craziness Index

Related Posts: The Under Toad and the UnBalancer The Balancer/ReBalancer Tag Team A Mini-Lesson on Mini Self-Care Gyroscopes and Personal Flywheels Hanging in the Balance Balancing the Books The Experiment How to Design an Experiment Build Your Resilience in 6 Steps How to Rebalance Your Brain in 3 Easy Steps How to Boost Connections and Support How to Handle Change with Ease Three Ways to Mix Mindfulness into Your Life

Books: From Paths to Wholeness: Fifty-Two Flower Mandalas DREAMS: “None of us has the nine lives of the proverbial cat, but we can fully exploit this one’s possibilities by remembering the dreams of our youth and using them as a beacon to show us who we really are and what we can look forward to becoming.”

Print: Amazon  –  BookBaby  –  B&N  – Books-a-Million eBook: Kindle  – Nook  – iTunes  – Kobo

NOTE: Paths to Wholeness is now available at the following Boston-area bookstores and libraries:

Cabot Street Books & Cards, 272 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA 01915 The Bookshop, 40 West Street, Beverly Farms, MA 01915 Boston Public Library (main branch) Brookline Public Library (main branch) NOBLE Public Libraries (Beverly Farms and Salem) MVLC Public Libraries (Hamilton-Wenham)

Please let me know if you find it in other locations!

Also available: 52 (more) Flower Mandalas: An Adult Coloring Book for Inspiration and Stress Relief 52 Flower Mandalas: An Adult Coloring Book for Inspiration and Stress Relief Paths to Wholeness: Selections (free eBook)

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