#THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IS JUST CONFORMING PROGRAMMING ANYWAY

[annoyangle]

Do you have an education?

SCHOOL OF LIFE, ANON. SCHOOL OF LIFE. I'M NOT A SUCKER: I DON'T NEED A BUNCH OF PIECES OF PAPER AND CRIPPLING POST-SCHOOL STUDENT LOAN DEBT TO PROVE I KNOW THINGS! ALSO YOU ARE TALKING TO THE ALL-SEEINGEST OF ALL-SEEING-EYES, YOU KNOW. BOY, THE THINGS I'VE ""LEARNED"" OBSERVING YOUR SPECIES FROM EVERY ANGLE AND FROM INSIDE YOUR HEADS AND SAUSAGE BODIES - WOOF!

[milevenxdepression]

✰ the sounds good feels good legacy challenge ✰

a while ago i started this challenge and never got around to finish it. but here it is! a sims legacy challenge inspired by my favourite album. hope you enjoy!

if you don't like any prompts feel free to change them, especially if you don't have certain packs. use as many mods or any lifespan you like!

use the hashtag #sgfglegacy, i would love to see your posts!

this challenge is inspired by dizzywhims’ sour and simlidge’s harry’s house legacy challenge. <3

rules and gens under the cut!

generation zero: money ✰

you’re 20, you’ve just graduated from a music program and are ready to start your life. your big dreams: become rich and famous, and everybody in the place should catch that feeling.

traits: music lover, outgoing, erratic

aspiration: fabulously wealthy

skills: guitar, singing, dj mixing

career: entertainer, musician branch

regularly perform for other sims

go on vacation every season when you reach the musician branch

date and elope with someone you've met when partying

generation one: she's kinda hot ✰

all the money your mom and dad have made you a bit spoiled, so you drop out of college and see sim after sim. when you realize all your partners only want you for your money, you decide to give it all away. you’re alright though.

traits: materialistic, self-absorbed, romantic

aspiration: serial romantic

skills: media production, acting, charisma

career: social media, internet personality branch

drop out of college after one term

every time you break up with someone they take 2k of your money

have a kid with one of your one night stands and donate all your money when they become a teen

generation two: hey everybody ✰

with your parent not leaving you any of their money, you decide it’s not the end of the world, because you don’t want it anyway. you just want to raise a happy family with as little money as possible, living in a dream suburban home.

traits: family oriented, cheerful, neat

aspiration: successful lineage

skills: research and debate, parenting, baking

career: education, professor branch

have a mini-job during high school and college to support yourself

move to the suburbs and own a white picket fence home with your partner

have at least three kids and quit your job once you reach level 10 to be a stay-at-home-parent

generation three: permanent vacation ✰

you’re sick of your parents’ and siblings‘ conformity and rebel your way through high school. in college you’re known for the campus-wide protests you hold. frustration and desperation with society lead you to wanting to change the system.

traits: self-assured, vegetarian, good

aspiration: neighbourhood confidante

skills: logic, charisma, video games

career: politician, politician branch

move out the moment you turn into a young adult

hold one protest a week, marry someone you met protesting

have kids, but then divorce your partner, taking all kids with you

generation four: jet black heart ✰

growing up in a very messy and loud household, writing is your only escape. as a young-adult you try to work over your depression, but it isn’t until you meet a certain someone that you burst back into colors, returning to life.

traits: gloomy, perfectionist, romantic

aspiration: bestselling author

skills: writing, painting, knitting

career: writer, journalist branch

stay in most days and rarely go out with friends until you meet your partner

meet said future partner by having to interview them for your work

write three bestsellers and earn 20k with paintings.

generation five: catch fire ✰

you’ve fallen in love for the first time and then they cheat on you. you’re devastated. you go through college never getting over them. but since survivor’s guilt can be so unkind, they come back to start a family with you.

traits: bro, loves outdoors, active

aspiration: bodybuilder

skills: fitness, charisma, snowboarding

career: athlete, professional athlete branch

get cheated on by your bf/gf when you’re in high school

distract yourself by pouring everything into sports

eventually marrry the sim who cheated on you in high school

generation six: safety pin ✰

you can tell that your parents' relationship is not what they make it out to be and them brushing over it, has always bothered you. but then a broken boy meets a broken girl and the two of you are unstoppable and in love like no one else.

traits: creative, art lover, cheerful

aspiration: party animal

skills: painting, piano, dancing

career: painter, patron of the arts branch

meet another broken sim and run away together with 500§ between the two of you

have paintings worth 50.000§ in your home

adopt at least one child and have one of your own

generation seven: waste the night ✰

growing up all you want to have is a love like your parents. you do experience it, but one faithful night ends it all. to get distracted you drown yourself in coursework, hoping not to make the same mistakes again.

traits: ambitious, overachiever, bookworm

aspiration: academic

skills: research and debate, programming, logic

career: law, judge branch

be in a romantic relationship, but be mean to them in an argument and break up

complete three uni degrees and don’t flirt with anyone

meet and marry someone new, but always keep a little distance

generation eight: vapor ✰

you didn’t think it would ever hit you like this, but you are addicted to your partner and you need to be around them all the time. even though they sometimes seem kind of distant and make it sound so sweet when they lie to you.

traits: loyal, generous, foodie

aspiration: mixologist

skills: mixology, gourmet cooking, parenting

career: critic, food critic branch

call your partner every morning and night

when you move in together woohoo every two days until your first kid

have your partner get pregnant from someone else/get someone else pregnant, but raise it as your own

generation nine: castaway ✰

you also go through a big break up in your 20s, except you also have a kid beside you, your partner having walked out, leaving you stranded. so you pack up your things and the two of you move to the countryside to start a peaceful new life.

traits: animal enthusiast, family-oriented, loves outdoors

aspiration: country caretaker

skills: gardening, flower arranging, wellness

career: gardener, botanist branch

have a kid with your partner and then have them leave you all of a sudden

move to the countryside and run a farm

never marry and raise your kid as a single parent

generation ten: the girl who cried wolf ✰

you are bored of the countryside and of your high school partner, who loves you a lot. you cheat on them during college and date around a bit. but no one can love you like your first and no matter how much you two fight, they’re not leaving.

traits: hot headed, non-committal, high maintenance

aspiration: villainous valentine

skills: entrepreneur, fitness, media production

career: social media, public relations branch

have a bf/gf in high school who adores you

cheat on them with someone from a different city and follow them there

date around in said city, but eventually marry your high school sweetheart

generation eleven: broken home ✰

your parents say they’re in love, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it. you’d hope, you’d pray, you were waiting it out, but you eventually grow to hate everyone around you. except for that one person who introduces you to a very, very bad world.

traits: kleptomaniac, evil, loner

aspiration: seeker of secrets

skills: mischief, programming, handiness

career: secret agent, villain branch

keep happy relationships until you become a teen, then lose all of them

meet someone who works as a criminal, have them be your only positive relationhip

never officially date them but have kids together

generation twelve: fly away ✰

you try to get away from your family as soon as possible, wanting to take your heart to the end of the world. you want to see everything and know everyone, which sometimes leads you to forget what - or who - is most important.

traits: adventurous, outgoing, creative

aspiration: friend of the world

skills: writing, painting, mixology

career: freelance writer or artist

skip college and move to a different world right out of high school

have lived in four different worlds throughout your life

marry someone from the second world you’ve moved to. have multiple kids, neglect one of them

generation thirteen: invisible ✰

neglected by your parents, you don’t know yourself, until you meet someone who does. together you raise a kid and scared for them to grow up the way you did, you maybe pay a little too much attention to them.

traits: paranoid, family oriented, jealous

aspiration: super parent

skills: parenting, cooking, pet training

career: culinary, chef branch

keep a close relationship with your siblings, but not with your parents

meet someone out on the street. reject them first, thinking you’re not good enough

helicopter-parent your kid

generation fourteen: airplanes ✰

you find shelter in your best friend with your parents always up your way. when you turn 18 you start to rebel against them and together with your best friend, now partner, you move to san myshuno with nothing to lose in this city.

traits: party animal, goofball, romantic

aspiration: city native

skills: photography, media production, comedy

career: style influencer, stylist branch

spend more time at your best friend’s house than your own as a teen

move into an apartment with your partner in san myshuno

get eloped on ‘a night out on the town’ day

generation fifteen: san francisco ✰

growing up the city is all you know, this is where you fell in love, never thinking it would end. but then they pass and you move to the mountains where you find a new life and new love, but never forgetting (with) who you originally were.

traits: perfectionist, good, loyal

aspiration: mt. komorebi sightseer

skills: logic, programming, skiing

career: salaryperson, expert branch

fall in love with someone from san myshuno. have them pass away

move to mt. komorebi and max your career before dating again

marry a mt. komorebi native and have kids. have pictures of your first love in your house

generation sixteen: os / co ✰

after 16 generations of love, loss and heartbreak, you are very scared of losing your partner, so you break up with them out of fear. but with the way the universe works you find your way back together and you let the good times roll.

traits: gloomy, romantic, loves outdoors

aspiration: inner peace

skills: wellness, gourmet cooking, piano

career: conservationist, marine biologist branch

break up with your partner when you reach a relationship level of 100

after some time get back together with your true love

have a long and peaceful life and never have kids. thank u for playing :)

[lj-writes]

Finn and Rey versus capitalism

Finn's and Rey's stories can be read as representing the different facets of capitalist exploitation of workers, and their striking back at the First Order was also the beginning of their liberation. They were being held back by the fight by the abusive and false beliefs that had been instilled into them, and it was only by their love and trust in each other that they started seeing through the lies and started on their paths as heroes.

Finn was at the elite end of the workforce, in a position where he was given no real choice but was relentlessly fed the propaganda that he was in an enviable position, indeed the only tenable position in a universe full of danger and darkness. He was never allowed to ask whether he wanted anything else out of life because all other possibilities were painted as unthinkable, as paths to death and destruction.

We know from Before the Awakening that Finn's life as a cadet was strictly regimented, his entire being carefully aimed toward the single end of furthering the First Order's dominance. The only metric of his worth was his accomplishment in areas that the FO had determined to be useful, such as his superb tactical abilities and marksmanship that Phasma openly praised. The cadets' very bodies were measured and policed, as seen with Finn's squadmate Nines being put on an extra exercise and diet regimen because he was deemed too heavy.

This kind of cultish propaganda and the endless pressure to achieve, produce, and conform are often associated with authoritarian communist regimes, but they are also emblematic of the way many experience capitalist systems. So many of us are told that ours is the only moral system, and all opposition equates support for dictatorship. We are encouraged to overlook the structures of incredible brutality that we rely upon. We are told we are worth nothing unless we produce output that is valuable for those in power, and unless we fit into acceptable social conventions.

And of course, none of this is actually for our benefit. For all that we are in a purported meritocracy and are supposed to find fulfillment in being better and achieving more, we at best gain the fleeting approval of people who care nothing about us. Indeed, even though Finn is considered the best of the best in the program, his experience there is defined by alienation and loneliness. He longs to find meaning in the great cause of the First Order, but we all know how that turned out.

Finn's story becomes even more visceral and relatable, I think, if you put it this way: A super-high-achieving student is told that his entire life's meaning is centered around being the best of the best, to uphold the only moral and humane system of governance in the world. He then realizes on his first brush with reality that, hey, he's actually working for the bad guys. He walks away from the only life he's ever known, into what he has been told since he was a child is not a real choice at all but a fall to depravity, instability, and very likely death. He does it anyway because he can't keep living this immoral lie anymore. Such is the strength of the propaganda that he is the only one to walk away and all his classmates stay. They were told that there is no life outside the First Order, but Finn decided to seek it out anyway. In a very real sense he threw his life away, and that is not a choice made easily.

Rey is on the other end of the material spectrum, without even the minimum stability of Stormtrooper life and living at subsistence level if that. The system of exploitation is much less genteel for her; no one bothered to shove perfumed bullshit at her because they don't need to. Her deal is simple: She produces or she starves, and by the way, she's just going to starve more slowly if she produces because there is a monopoly on buying (monopsony, to be more exact) and her buyer can set the price as his likes. She's going to be given the minimum that keeps her from dropping dead and keeps her scavenging. Yay for free markets and entrepreneurial spirit!

Rey, like Finn, is unusually accomplished, and unlike Finn had the advantage of learning what she herself found useful and interesting. The catch is that it doesn't make any difference: She can know ships inside out, train herself to be an accomplished engineer and pilot, and speak multiple languages, but she'll still live in a tent and go hungry.

The one way she could use her considerable skills to improve her circumstances was by leaving and seeking better employment, something Finn pointed out she could always do and something Han offered her in TFA. She could not, however, because Niima Outpost also offered her the only chance of an emotional attachment that she had been forcibly separated from. Unlike Finn she had no illusions about the justice of the system she lived under, but she was just as trapped because of her need to belong and be loved.

We see a lot of Reys in real life, and we may be her ourselves: An educated and skilled go-getter who works multiple jobs and whatever gigs come her way, but still lives in precarious poverty no matter how hard she works. She could seek something better if she wanted to, but is stuck by human connections, family, friends, or just the fear that she is unlovable and will never find acceptance elsewhere. Leaving is still unthinkable, though for different reasons than someone like Finn who was brainwashed into believing that he was living in a just and moral system.

For both Finn and Rey, their physical departures might have been abrupt but truly leaving behind the lies they were sold took more time. Finn was consumed by the thought that the First Order was all-powerful and all-encompassing. He might no longer be able to believe it was a force for good, but he still believed in its absoluteness. His was not a failure of morality or courage--we know he had more than enough of both--but of imagination. Learned helplessness prevented him from imagining anything but the Order's total victory. There could be no life outside the First Order because it would destroy everything that opposed it. The only solution was to flee from it because turning around to face it meant annihilation.

For Rey, leaving was not a choice but an emergency reaction, one that she tried to reverse once the danger was seemingly past. Like Finn she was still operating under a lie meant to keep her compliant, that she was not lovable and worthy as she was but rather had to wait and prove herself worthy to the only people who would love her. As she finds respect and friendship with Finn, then Han and Chewie, and when Maz gently tells her that her family are never coming back, she gradually comes to see the lie for what it is, but is not yet prepared to take the final leap.

It was only through solidarity and love that Finn and Rey could begin to see past the lies they'd been raised with and begin to fight back. When Finn saw Rey being taken away by Kylo Ren in a heart-shattering sequence, that was the moment he went from "I can't" to "I must." That was when the fight went from an impossible one to liberate the universe to a plausible, if still borderline suicidal, one to save one person. All his considerable passion and energy were turned to the purpose of going back to the very place he once wanted to flee to the end of the galaxy to avoid, and there was nothing he would not do--call in favors, ally with the Resistance, look Leia Organa and Han Solo in the face and lie... er, embellish the truth to them.

When Rey saw Finn in Starkiller Base, the heart of the nightmare he swore to her never to return to, that was when she went from "I'm nobody" to "I am everything." Finn showed her that she was worth everything including life and freedom. As was said in the script, this was all she ever wanted--for someone to come back for her. It was the same gift she had given to Finn earlier,  unknowingly: When he revealed himself to be a Stormtrooper, her reaction was not to recoil or lash out but to plead with him not to go. She didn't want a Resistance hero, she wanted Finn, the defected Stormtrooper. I love you just as you are, she told him, and he answered in suitably epic fashion, So do I.

It was on this basis that both Finn and Rey stood up to Kylo Ren, the narcissistic elitist who thought of both Finn and Rey as useful tools at best and as obstacles to be destroyed if they refused to be of use to him. And isn't that a neat little capitalist parable of itself, that for all the lip service to meritocracy the people who actually climb to the top are the douches with famous names, and the only route to the top with them is through their patronage and favor? ("You need a teacher!")

To hell with that, Finn and Rey tell him. To hell with your important family, your inborn power, your casual entitlement. You threaten what I hold  dearest in all the universe and for that I will fight you and never stop until one of us is dead. Finn, who had been raised all his life to unquestioning obedience, and Rey, who had been downtrodden all her life, fought back and refused to back down.

It's worth noting that both Finn and Rey's final acts in The Force Awakens are diametrically opposed to their initial starting places. Finn went from "I won't" to "I will." Where at first he refused to do evil and fled to avoid it, at the end he was actively fighting against evil to protect himself and the person he loved. Rey went from "life at all cost" to "love at all cost." Where she was a shrewd survivor at the start of the movie, she gave no more thought to her own life as she refused Kylo Ren's offer and later lay weeping on top of an unconscious Finn on a disintegrating planet.

Evil and exploitative systems rely above all on the passivity of the exploited. Finn was cowed by terror and Rey by the need to survive. Once Finn was no longer terrorized and Rey found something worth more than life itself, the spell of passivity was broken and they became warriors. The key for both of them was love, in seeing each other just as they were and linking hands in mutual compassion and devotion.

How much time do we spend thinking accomplishment and survival define our worth? How many opportunities and what rivers of potential do we waste because we need to fit in to a system of merit, because we have to make a living in a rigged economy? How long have we been told this is the only way and we have to take any amount of crap thrown at us because we have no choice? What would happen if more of us realize that no, we are worth more than this, and we can do and be so much better--together? What could stand in our way then? What kind of world might we mold from that realization?

We might not be there in the real world, but in small pockets, in our relationships and communities, many of us are struggling toward answers. We can seek answers in our imaginations, too, and these imaginary heroes showed us one possible picture of oppressed people standing against brutality, bound together and strengthened by love. It is a fitting dream for our age.

(Originally posted to my Pillowfort blog)

[teacherkmd]

Struggles of teaching in China

If you’re in a TESOL prep program, you’ve likely run across articles that talk about the challenges of teaching in China. Well, at the special request of a previous professor of mine, here’s my version.

There are some very good things about teaching in China. For example, it is literally culturally ingrained in the fabric of society that teachers will be and are respected. It means my word will not be questioned (even though sometimes maybe it should be?). What I say goes. Classroom management issues (at least at the collegiate level) do not exist. My students are highly motivated and disciplined. I do not have to worry about attendance; they will not skip. This being said, here are 10 very real struggles I’ve had to face in the classrooms here.

1. The classrooms do not belong to the teacher.

One of the biggest differences between China (and Taiwan) and the United States is that the classrooms do not belong to the teacher. In the US, we often think of the teacher as getting to design their own classrooms and buying materials and decorating it and being the perfect “pinterest” teacher. The students tend to rotate and switch classrooms when the bell rings. Here, that is literally impossible (which might actually be good since I’m poor, not artistic, and don’t have much free time). Teachers are the ones who rotate and the students stay in their classrooms. This set-up means I would have to buy or create duplicates of anything I wanted to hang on the walls. It is good in some ways (gives students ownership of their space, they have a space to study after school hours, they’re responsible for cleaning and maintaining it, etc) but it is also bad because I can’t take up all the wall space. I am sharing with all the other teachers in the department. If I want a vocabulary word wall, or want to put giant “I am thankful for...” turkey’s on the wall or display student work... I’d need to make sure it didn’t bother the other teachers first. If my vocabulary word list would be seen as cheating or distracting for another English class... well it can’t be there. It also means that if teacher’s aren’t cleaning up after themselves a lot of crap ends up laying around the podium. I remember walking in and being annoyed at all the random textbooks, pens, pencils, paper clips, scraps of paper, tea, and other junk in my teaching space. Oh, and don’t think about rearranging the desks... that doesn’t go over well. Not ideal at all. I’ve never taught in a place where I have gotten my own classroom to decorate and create the environment I want, so I guess I don’t really know what I’m missing. I can imagine all the cool things I could do if I did though. 

2. Poor study skills for Western educational expectations

Another issue I’ve come across is what I consider “lack of common sense” when it comes to studying and taking notes. I have to be VERY explicit about literally everything. Do my students need to bring paper to class? Then I better tell them ahead of time. Do I think they should have a place to take notes? Then I better tell them to buy a journal for my class. Do I think they should have a place to put handout? Then I better tell them to buy a folder. Do I think something is important and they should write it down? Better tell them to write it down. I’ve had to give pop quizzes on things I’ve said in class multiple times to prove to the students that they should be taking notes in class. I’ve had to tell them that maybe that random page in their textbook isn’t a good place to put notes. I’ve had to say so many things where I know in America students would be like “duh”. But, that's now how teaching and learning work here. They take notes by taking pictures of my PPT and that is about it.

3. Poor communication styles for Western educational systems

China kind of skipped over e-mail. They went straight from fax to WeChat (a social media platform this is kind of like What’s app and instagram all rolled into one). Therefore, when I tell my students they need to turn in their homework via email, a whole truck full of problems crash into my inbox. No subject line. No names. No attachments. No message. I have had to show them exactly what I want them to write in the email so I know who they are, what class they’re in, and how to formally address a teacher. I haven’t let them vary their emails yet, but if any of them plan to study abroad in America or to teach students who wish to go to the US for schooling, they really need to learn how to write emails. I just wish I had time to cover everything. 

4. Fear of speaking up

“My students are smart. They understand what I am saying. It isn’t my fault they aren’t answering.” -- I constantly have to remind myself of this. I can put them in groups and have them discuss a topic. If I walk around and listen, I hear them all on task, on topic, and answering and sharing opinions correctly in English. Then if I bring them back together as a whole class and ask what they talked about or for examples of what they discussed: dead silence, heads bowed, avoiding eye-contact. It is the most frustrating thing. I know they know the answers, I heard them talking about it, and I literally went around the room telling them good job while I was listening. The cultural expectation that the group is more important than the individual causes a standstill. Almost no students will volunteer an answer freely. They don’t want to be seen as immodest or like a know-it-all. They would lose face if they did so. But, if I call on them, it isn’t them choosing to answer, they will answer correctly and accurately. They’d lose face if they didn't answer a direct question. They can’t be the peg that needs to be struck back down. My classes are slowly getting better.. they know I will hold them over the end of class time if they aren’t responding to me. I’ve reminded them that there are no right or wrong answers. I’ve told them if they don’t know the answer then I need to know they don’t know. I can get group responses quite easily, but class discussions that include the teacher just aren’t happening. I’ve gotten them to speak up by asking them things and saying “I don’t know the answer, so I can’t tell you if you’re wrong. I just want to know what you think”. We had a pretty good discussion on cultural appropriation and halloween costumes. 

5. No concept of plagiarism 

“The right answer is the only answer” and “Imitation is the best way to learn” are common beliefs of my students. If you don’t know how to write or say something, say or write the exact same thing as someone else. Shared knowledge is better than individual knowledge. Nevertheless, 0s have been given out already this semester along with in-depth discussions about how I don’t want perfect work turned into me. If it is all perfect, I could go back home. 

6. Fear of failure to the point of not following instructions

The all important grade. It doesn’t matter if they feel more confident, or if I tell them I see significant improvement. They are only focused on one thing: their grade. They focus on it so much, that if I give them instructions like “don’t write down your conversation and read it for your homework recording”, they will completely ignore the instructions if they think their grade will be better. They were shocked when the recording that was perfect with good intonation, proper grammar, native like pronunciation, etc got a 0. When they asked why, I said they didn’t follow instructions. They wrote down their conversation. How could I tell? Not once did they hesitate, not once did they act interested or surprised by what their fellow classmates had said. It was all scripted. And they can’t understand me if I ask a question, so how would they understand their classmate without having to pause and think about it? hmm? I will say this issue has been very quickly solved. They’ve come to realize in my class that I want them at the level they’re at not at some superficial level they want me to think they’re at. 

7. Highly stressed students

My students have absolutely no free time. They take 18 hours of class a week. Some of them are in military training still. Some have other clubs. Every weekend there are at least 6 or 7 competitions for them to compete in. I assigned a speaking homework and all the responses were about how tired they are and how they can't sleep because they’re so stressed. It broke my heart. The following week, I asked them to take 30 minutes to draw minions in halloween costumes for homework to make relaxation mandatory. I sat outside with a group of them after an English Corner event for 3 hours and talked with them about their lives. They feel so much pressure to conform and meet expectations. Their other teachers yell at them and shame them for being wrong. The foreign teachers are the only ones who encourage them or try to get to know them. I recently boycotted the crappy computer labs they had me teaching in on the 6th floor. I taught in their classrooms on the third floor instead.  The other foreign teacher came in during break and said how nice it was to have me teaching across the hall from her because she could hear them laughing and sounding like they enjoyed learning. I hope my small amounts of encouragement help them. 

8. Poor teaching materials and environment

I know no textbook is perfect... but these are exceptionally bad. All the foreign teachers are from the United States, but the textbooks all teach British English which means there are lots of things in there that I disagree with. The topics aren’t interesting. They’re the same thing they’ve been learning since 3rd grade but with more complex, technical vocabulary that native speakers wouldn’t casually drop into a normal conversation anyway. It just bad. Trust me. The building is also falling apart. The computers don’t work half the time. The software isn’t up to date. The chalk boards are so old you can’t see what you write on them anymore. Just not good for learning. 

9. Poor teaching pedagogy

Another reason my students are stressed is because my teaching style is completely unknown to them. They’ve never been asked to analyze or explain how they know something. The other professors mainly expect them to memorize a passage and spit it out verbatim. They don’t have to understand what they’re reading or saying. They just have to be able to do it. There is an old quad on campus and in the courtyard, we call it the hive. Every student is out there whispering and reciting passages to themselves. The drone of their voices sounds exactly like bees. In my class, they can’t get by on memorization. I make it almost impossible to prepare for class. They have to be ready to use what they’ve learned and apply it in practical situations and discussions. This is naturally very stressful for them. They would do much better if I taught in an audio lingual style or grammar translation style like the other teachers. But, if the school wanted that they would have hired a Chinese national and asked for a foreign teacher. 

10. Class schedules that focus on quantity not quality  

I see my students once a week for 2 hours for 14 weeks. Think back to college.. you had class three times a week for 50 minutes, or twice a week for 75 minutes. Or grad school, I had class twice a week for 2 hours each time. The contact hours I have with my students are very limited. They want to get as many students in there taking as many classes as they can. They all get exposed to the foreign teachers and they cycle them in and out. There is no buy-in, no investment, and no way for me to get to know all of my students. I feel a lot of pressure to cram in as much as I can in the 28 hours of class time they get with me. It is hard to remember that they have 16 other hours of class a week, and that I’m not solely responsible for them learning English. It is just hard for me to imagine that they’re taking away anything from my class. If I didn't have these textbooks dictating the topics we could cover, I would cover much less and slow down and make sure each lesson was in-depth. Instead, I have to make judgement calls about how much time we can spend on each thing before  moving on. 

I don’t want you to see this list and think I am complaining. I am not. I enjoy my work greatly, and I feel very lucky to be working here at QuFu Normal University. My students are brilliant, and I appreciate them daily. However, these are the things I have to keep in mind when I am making lesson plans, working on curriculum, and deciding what to include in teacher training workshops. A lot of these difficulties stem from cultural differences and require me to adapt and change just as much as I am pushing my students to bend. I am becoming a more flexible, more capable, and more opinionated educator. I just hope my students are learning as much from me as I am learning from them and this teaching context. 

[fireflyskitters]

Chinese Milestone: 2000+ Characters!

Soooo I finally reached a milestone with Chinese last week: got through 2000+ characters! 

Whenever I see a new character (or a new vocabulary word that I can’t figure out), I add it to my deck of flashcards. It’s practically a memory hack because you get daily reviews based on spaced repetition–the app reviews me based on which cards I’m most likely to forget, and as the card becomes part of my long-term memory, the reviews are spaced further and further apart. For example, if you add a new word yesterday, you’ll review it again the next day, then a few days after that, then a week, then a few months, and so on... I legit have no idea how people survived through Chinese before as adult learners (at least with kids, you could coerce them into handwriting for hours!).

Anyway, here’s my deck for Chinese characters:

There’s a larger (and easier to remember) deck for words, which are combinations of characters:

While I’m just amazed that my natural fickle-mindedness hasn’t deterred me from Chinese yet (although I’ve asked myself several times why I’m insane enough to take this on), it’s still a long way to go. I’m already starting to understand lighthearted tweets and TV show subtitles, but to read a newspaper decently, you need at least 4000 characters. An educated Chinese person knows around 5000-8000 characters. And that’s not even counting the distinction between simplified and traditional... Mainland China and Singapore use simplified characters (which is the writing system I know about), while Taiwan and Hong Kong use traditional.

What really helped me with Chinese was finally figuring out my study style. I do better with mostly self-directed learning combined with a bit of one-on-one guidance and a lot of autonomy to decide on what to study. In the case of Chinese, I’m mostly going through textbooks (and their audio files) with weekly tutoring from a teacher in China (who, I’m proud to say, had made a lot of corrections with my tones since a year back and who now says my pronunciation is “pretty good”). The tutoring is essential because–aside from not messing up the pronunciation–it serves as an accountability system that pushes me to make progress.

I used to think that I was a terribly inconsistent person, but this whole Chinese learning project made me realize that I just don’t like doing things I don’t want to do (yes, that sounds bratty, but why not?). The problem with most classes and formal programs (typical university degrees specifically) is that they’re very generalized and you have to do a lot of unnecessary things that you’re not interested in just to conform to the curriculum. There was improv, which I enjoyed in small doses, but I disliked having to attend too many rehearsals and feeling socially obligated to stay late into the night just because nobody was leaving yet. Even with my philosophy classes back in college, I loved existentialism and Eastern philosophy and all of those topics that were all about how to live your life, but the moment that they strayed onto overly academic theory–dense readings of metaphysics and epistemology–I was already conking out. But then give me the freedom to design what I study and to find it meaningful, and I’m pretty good at sticking with it. The right word isn’t inconsistent, then–maybe it’s rebellious. 

It was actually affirming when I watched this Japanese series called Doctor X–about a freelance female surgeon who’s really good at her job but then who outrages everyone because she “hates groups and authority and constraints.” Of course it’s fiction, but I stared open-mouthed as she’d say a hard no to obligations–you can do that? was going through my head. It got me thinking that maybe I could be more honest about my own life, in the sense that I don’t have to force myself to jump through hoops when there’s really no need to.  

[smokeybrand]

The Fallacy of Education

I think elementary school is necessary to an extent but everything I've ever learned after probably the third grade, was during summer break at the library and then all of the time when my family got a computer. I never really learned anything “new” in a classroom setting, from probably the fourth grade and forward. Sure, it's dope to have someone bounce ideas off but you can do that with anyone. You can do that online. Hell, I DO that online now. SO what the f*ck is the merit of going through the tribulations of “school?” Capitalism. Capitalism is the “merit.” School is designed to break your spirit as a youth and train you to be a drone in the workforce. The structure of how education here in the US has been built, is designed to acclimate you to a forty hour work week early on. It's built to make you yearn for holidays and the weekends. It grooms you to raise your hands to ask questions and punishes those who deviate from the assigned tasks. Free thinkers are shunned and the arts are almost always removed in one form or another. Creativity is killed in service to conformity because capitalism needs that in order to function. The second it's removed, the second people questions the status quo, is the second they understand the terrible conditions in which they've been forced to exist. But, if you're not smart enough to ask the right questions, then there is no threat to the current class system.

When i got to fifth grade, i went to a substantially sh*ttier school than before. We move into a worse ghetto than the one I grew up in for he majority of my life and that was reflected in this school's curriculum. These kids were morons. That wasn't there fault, the system had failed them because it was assumed they weren't worth the investment. We'd all end up being thugs and criminals because that was what our zip code dictated. When I got there, I kind of f*cked all of that up. These kids were reading well under their grade, the “smart” one rad at a high school level if I remember but i could read at a college level. Indeed, I was well into checking out Shakespeare and Dante by this point. That was too much for my teacher. He graded on a curve because the kids were so stupid and, after that fist test where everyone failed but me because I got such a high mark, told me flat out that there was nothing he could teach me. I became kind of a TA in that class and never turned in another assignment for the entire year. He just gave me As on everything and apologized profusely for not being able to adequately challenge me. It was difficult to see because I would tell this dude loved teaching and he had an opportunity to rally flex his passion with me but the system in which he had to work wouldn't allow him to do any of that. Because the system, itself, isn't built to educate. Imagine being an educator trapped in that cage? Now imagine being a student trapped in there, too, oblivious to the handicap you've just been saddled with.

When i got to the seventh grade, i was put into remedial courses against my ill. We moved back to my old neighborhood ahead of my sixth grade year so I was able to return to my previous school where it was understood that myself and a handful of others were WAY too smart for our own good. They got us more advanced materials from the surrounding high schools and basically told us to teach ourselves. My then principal drove us over to a separate middle school because it was supposed to have better materials and more advanced courses than the neighborhood one. Our principal and the one in the middle school spoke, we all demonstrated our intelligence, and it was agreed we'd be placed in advanced courses in the coming year. When the new year started, I was not placed in those agreed upon courses. My zip code reflected the ghetto and not the bourgeois neighborhood this new school was in. They assumed i was an idiot, even though i was enrolled specifically for the more challenging curriculum, and dismissed my previous academic accomplishments without a word. My elementary school principal literally drove me over there and introduced me to that school's principal because she wanted to make sure the staff understood that i was wildly intelligent "for my age." Didn't matter. They saw a Meadowview zip and i was put into classes with a bunch of idiots. When i protested, they refused to change my schedule. It didn't take long for most of my teachers to realize I wouldn't be in such pedestrian classes but the administration refused to budge. I was ghetto trash and they didn't want to hear anything else, even if it was coming directly from the teachers in charge of me education. My science teacher literally had us coloring f*cking pictures as work assignments. I refused to do such ridiculous busy work, demanded that he teach me some sh*t and, instead, he suspended me from his class and threatened to fail me.

When i got to high school, i was wildly disillusioned by education and basically coasted my way through. I understood that i could learn more on my own and pushed to be home schooled. The way the that system works is you show up for in-class check-in on Monday and pick up a packet of schoolwork. You complete the school work through the week and turn it the following Monday. No classroom. No teachers. No fuss. All of my credits, and then some, and none of the the everyday baggage. I could excel at my own pace, which we have established far outstripped whatever the f*ck the curriculum is at any given time. Plus, I could return to proper coursework at any time. My plan was to knock out about three years worth of credits that first year and try to get into the off-campus internship with the State. It was called the Regional Occupation Program. I'd be paid to work for the State part time while accumulating proper work experience, and still have time to take some college courses at the local Community College. I'd still be able to come back and participate in all of the social sh*t like dances and games plus, I'd be able to walk the stage with my proper class. I'd be able to challenge myself, build toward my future, and still have that high school experience. But my mom refused. Everything i said here, I said to her, and she still refused. She's a slave to tradition and tradition dictated that i HAD to go to class everyday. The system HAD to be maintained. So i did and, as the years progressed, i went less and less. By senior year, i went just enough to keep the cops of her back and still graduated with a 3.8. I never one applied myself in high school and literally just showed up because cops, gym, and girls. Most days, i left early because f*cking why not? I wasn't learning anything. I wasn't being enriched in anyway. By my senior year, I had two Teacher's Assistant classes, two gym classes, Government and a creative writing course. I never went to that one because it was the last class of the day and Transformers came on halfway through it so I skipped it everyday. In order to pass, I just printed out a novel I wrote when I was in the eighth grade. He gave me an A, even though I was only there in person around thirty percent of the school year. I was writing high school level sh*t when I was thirteen. That's the story of my whole life and it didn't get any better when I got to college.

I thought it was going to get better when i got to college. It did not. I had toured a few campuses around my neighborhood and even sat in on a course or two. I went to a few College Fairs and even got accepted into a couple of HBCs. After a I graduated high school I opted to go to a community college that was near by. I' m poor so I couldn't afford a proper school and the scholarships available to me were all partial. I didn't want to have to split time between working and college so I figured if I got the core courses out of the way early, I could lighten the load and have an Associates to take into a part time gig or something later. I had actually gotten into Stanford and wanted to go but the cost of living was WAY too staunchy so this Community college plan was the best option. I lasted a semester. That sh*t was like going back to high school but i had to pay for it out of pocket. I had dreams of debate and lecture, of challenging a professor who could challenge me in return What I got was more of the uniform apathy that has dogged me my entire education career, only now it was driving me into f*cking debt. I love learning. I love reading. I love thinking. None of that I was even conducive to school here in the states. Often times, it was objectively frowned upon. From kindergarten to literally college, I was always under the gun in that sense. To this day, my curiosity is insatiable and I research everything. I want to know all of the things and the big sh*t like theoretical physics or the math necessary to infer the universe before the big bang, is absolutely tantalizing to me. I was frustrated with the stifling rigidity of school f*cking twenty years ago. I can't even imagine what it's like for kids nowadays.

The education system in the US is f*cking ridiculous. It's not meant to build intelligence or free thinking, it's an assembly line method designed to acclimate you to a forty hour work week. It's supposed to get you used to sacrificing the majority of your life in service to capitalism, busting ass just to get to the weekend or next holiday off, because that's how you'll live the rest of your adult life. They're not in the business of education or teaching life skills, they're in the business of manufacturing more cogs for the great machine that is the “economy.” Why the f*ck do I need to know Algebra 2 when I can't do my own taxes? Why the f*ck do we have to spend three weeks studying the Crucible when I don't know how compound interests works? Parents should play a part in this, for sure, but how difficult is that for them to do? They are victims of the same system and have to sacrifice their liberty in order to pay bills, after being bludgeoned with that same aggressive system necessary for them to abandon their hopes. A smart person is a difficult person to manipulate. When people understand, or even have the ability to comprehend, the scales fall from their eyes. We're seeing that now with the “Employment crisis” and how no one wants to go back to being underpaid and overworked after a the Pandemic showed the world for what it was. It's in capitalism's best interests to make sure the masses are smart enough to produce but dumb enough to never understand that they control the means of production. Why do you think everyone wants the kids to "get back into the classroom" when it's obviously easier to "teach" kids over zoom? When it's obvious that they learn more and understand better at home? When entire grade averages have increased considerably, over the entire country, since kids have been studying at home? Because that structure is more important than the learning. Every kid has a phone, computer, or tablet at this point. Internet is everywhere. There's no reason to have in-class learning, especially considering how many f*cking classrooms get shot up around these parts. Especially considering that there are more kids like me thanks to the ready-to-consume inf oration at our fingertips. This one got away from me but i really, really, hate the "education system" here. It's so boorish and archaic, f*cking obsolete, especially in the age of the information, so why go back to that broken system? Because capitalism needs drones not dreamers. It needs conformists, not thinkers. It needs ignorance not education.

[ariespark2-blog]

Which Sectors Are Growing In Ireland? 2020

Chartered Accountant

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Content

Just how To Compose An Audit Report

Industry Wise Chartered Accountant Salary In India Per Month 2020

Exactly How Adapting To Modification Can Raise Task Possibility

If You R Not Planned For Foreign In Future ??

Just how we feel concerning our incomes is essential to task contentment. While lots of elements contribute to whether we enjoy our jobs, exactly how we are rewarded will always play a vital duty. In terms of company size, companies with in between 1001 as well as 5000 staff members paid the highest possible average wage, at ₤ 73,609. Business with staff members, nonetheless, had the lowest typical salary, at ₤ 51,057.

Every Chinese teenager's life and also future depends on this examination due to the fact that, trainees need to stand for this to obtain admitted to undergraduate programs. Every secondary school trainee experiences a challenging stage throughout this test. Every this test chooses the fate of countless students throughout the country. The psychological stress that trainees go through has actually been subject of passions to numerous documentary makers around the world. With this exam Cisco Systems license the abilities of the ones chosen in the test of preparation, operating, fixing tough network centers.

Exactly how To Compose An Audit Report

Development is a crucial variable to think about in any occupation, and also the study demonstrated that people can benefit from great career development leads in book-keeping. Freshly certified male accounting professionals gained ₤ 39,790, compared with freshly qualified female accountants, who earned ₤ 36,019 annually.

This accreditation is taken into consideration the most respected certification in the whole networking market. Currently, qualifying for this evaluation is not an easy task in any way. According to Cisco, of all the designers standing for this examination, only 3% are chosen as well as accredited. The prospects have to go through a 2 action test, of which the first part is a written examination lasting for two hrs with 90 to 110 questions. One requires to pay $350 for registration of the first fifty percent and the good part about this half is that the results are immediately proclaimed whether a prospect has actually passed or not.

Sector Wise Chartered Accountant Wage In India Monthly 2020

What is the difference between assurance and consulting services?

In order of increasing level of rigor, accountants generally offer three types of assurance services: compilations, reviews and audits. What's appropriate for your company depends on the needs of creditors or investors, as well as the size, complexity and risk level of your organization.

Only 72 are chosen for AIIMS Delhi and 600 in other AIIMS all over India out of approx 2.5 lakh prospects. Is SAT not equally as tough as the number of entryway tests that made the 12 most tough examinations? It is in fact wonderful when both pupils and instructors comprehend that education and learning is not only regarding packing as well as tests. Being publication smart is great as well as some pupils can profit from their understanding in the future however today it takes a lot more to produce an effective job. Certainly studying should be focused on however pupils can get wonderful assist with academics below if they fall behind at school.

How Adjusting To Change Can Raise Task Chance

What are the steps to audit a company?

Where an audit firm carries out the statutory audit, the audit report shall be signed by at least the statutory auditor(s) carrying out the statutory audit on behalf of the audit firm.

To start with it's not discussing CA's it's speaking about auditing and coverage standards. As you stated, you ARE NOT a CA so for me to clarify the difference would be a little bit technological for you yet I'll provide it a try anyway.

Only clicking here that have passed the initial part after that pay an additional $1,500 for the 2nd component of the examination where pupils need to stand for the practical part in the lab lasting for 8 hrs. The results transformed when we asked if people thought their incomes were reasonable. On the whole, most of individuals reacted positively, believing their income to be reasonable, contrasted to 41% of individuals who differed.

Dealing with and also alongside a chartered accountant that recognizes and also understands your company will certainly provide you satisfaction and also the assurance that your economic matters as well as processes are being managed competently and also successfully.

Commonly people believe to utilize a Chartered Accountant for organisation funds, nonetheless, they can help you and also encourage you on your individual funds as well.

Our team believe in developing an understanding of our client's organisation, requires as well as goals and supply the individual services of a regional accountant, with the framework as well as experience of a large national accountancy technique.

They likewise supply possibilities for expert networking, profession as well as organisation growth.

When it come to accounting professionals in market, production was one of the most likely market, with 10% of participants working in this area. Interestingly, 11.6% of participants on the whole did not have any type of official accountancy credentials. The majority of these people made salaries at the lower end of the range, but there were six respondents without credentials being paid over ₤ 100,000 a year. Part-qualified accounting professionals who responded to our study make anywhere between ₤ 11,975 and ₤ 95,000 a year.

What is difference between assurance and audit?

An audit provides a reasonable level of assurance that your financial statements are free from material misstatement and conform with GAAP. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires public companies to have an annual audit.

The Audit Process

But when it concerns individual high qualities it might take years to establish them as well as you are your own educator. After that I will supply you with a web link to look for what CIMA's pass rates are from CIMA's web site CIMAGLOBAL. Complete their calculated degree exams including the CIMA Case Study examination which integrated have much less than a 15% pass rate.

It's got ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the high quality of CAs being produced in South Africa seeing that you don't also require to pass part 2 of the FQE if you wish to end up being a monetary CA (SA) that does not operate in auditing. Any abilities, Level, Details qualification is not essential for this, just keyboard keying and a great working as well as reliable net connection ... It's a terrifying sufficient process also when someone knows their subject, so we definitely do not covet the thousands of people that rest the globe's hardest test. It is the oldest and biggest highest possible INTELLIGENCE culture on the globe, a non earnings company where people who score 98 percentile in the standard IQ examinations are thought about to be reduced rankers.

We delved into the sex pay space at various levels of experience as well as located that the void broadened as the expert degree boosted. dublin auditor 's other monetary advantages totaled up to ₤ 10,273 usually while women's were ₤ 3,206 less a year at ₤ 7,067.

Various countries as well as nationwide groups have their very own treatments of examination and also Mensa also has its own application treatment where they judge individuals on the basis of the top quality of their skills. This examination in China is also called the National College Entryway Examination. Every trainee in the nation has to stand for this examination, as it is the major need to get into greater researches.

Part Qualified Accountants Wanted

The typical salary for men was ₤ 73,957 while an earned an average of ₤ 57,893. Market and also practice accounting were similar when it pertained to wage development. In both teams, most of the respondents felt their wages would expand by 1-5% in the next year. The equilibrium in between market and also technique accountants that replied to our study was rather equal. Market accounting professionals composed 54% of respondents and also practice made up 46%.

[guideyogabasics-blog]

Yoga Burn Review

In the event that you have been fruitlessly attempting to rehearse yoga and you likewise still could get the opportunity to feel benefits, it's an ideal opportunity to have a go at something novel: Yoga Burn. Some of the time we never acknowledge how much the planet contiguous influence us, you may not accept this but rather minor focuses may influence our body in a way you would not in any case envision and every one of the endeavors you put in stances are seen futile. Yoga appears a simple thing, however it's really not and you additionally truly need right guidelines to feel life getting updated genuine advantages, numerous Yoga Burn Reviews help come to this meaningful conclusion. Yoga is an exceptionally complete practice anyway you have to comprehend every little thing about it, you have to connect with your body framework and most of one's occasions this association comes up short since we don't know nearly everything that should do, yet we will use any standards without understanding the genuine significance, without observing if our body is expending it.

To feel invigorated, to feel assuage from worry, to build your metabolic rate, to change your body and tight raise muscles, you ought to consider your entire body messages, of unequivocally how it reacts to a business, of which your entire body very. In the event that correspondence between your body in addition to your psyche falls flat, at that point you surely aren't going to have the option to feel benefits. Yoga Burn fills in as an extraordinary yoga preparing guide which can help you upon the way toward improving your personal satisfaction with nitty gritty clarifications to enable you to achieve ideal passionate and physical wellbeing. You will at last get an ideal body change, the perfect yoga goods and tight level midsection you constantly needed through straightforward and complete systems. Zoe Bray-Cotton, the creator of a given Yoga Burn program, discusses this significant association and mindfulness in addition to uncovers 3 regularly and perilous slip-ups we make when attempting to learn yoga. On the off chance that you are serching to discover a way to reconnect in your body and thrive in advantages in every single bit of leeway of your prosperity, continue perusing this Yoga  Review to know how it functions.

GENERAL Assessment

Most Yoga Burn Reviews makes reference to how Zoe Bray-Cotton's Yoga Burn System has as of late assistance parts and loads of ladies to put on a lean and solid weight and psyche through an explicitly planned different yoga strategies and afterward in this Yoga Burn Review you absolutely will gain proficiency with the mystery of that achievement. She's an enormous change expert and a yoga educator. In the event that you are keen on a significant number more tips about the creator, you could generally visit Her Yoga Secrets, the official site. The Yoga Burn Program can be followed up by anybody as it is subject to a steady approach, so it begins off with yoga positions for learners after which it slowly builds force and multifaceted nature, this component makes this yoga practices distinctive to some other and gives perpetual advantages to its clients. This Program likewise incorporates normal mix-ups, traps and procedures which enables you to completely appreciate the learning of associating with your entire body while changing it. You could pursue the entire program due to the go to from the solace of your office or home, and that is simply precious. Since I said previously, Zoe makes reference to and cautions you no longer than three basic missteps we make when attempting to find yoga. Mix-up 1 is conventional yoga classes. Read more check out this guide via Yoga Basics

How often maybe you've attempted these sort of classes precisely where the educator scarcely knows you? Exactly how often did you attempt these sort of classes wherein you don't have any thought when you are advancing? These will in general be fundamental yoga exercises which get great for all intents and purposes for no one in this manner in the event that you truly need to get genuine outcomes, maintaining a strategic distance from swarmed and nonexclusive yoga classes is an unquestionable requirement. Mix-up 2 is getting yoga with no thought. It's an amazing unwinding device, however unwinding isn't really conceivable brought about by a different components that may adjust the entire yoga substance. The measure of time in regards to multi day, looking for an agreeable game, the man or lady along the edge of you, the lights, clamors starting with the outside, getting the chance to class by the due date, to give some examples. These small irritating thing are not constantly seen, however they are an adequate add up to deliver cortisol, making you feel uneasy and stress, and the minute that we are pressure, our body begin putting away fat. As needs be should you want a fit body in addition to a sound personality, the classes should unwind, else you won't see benefits. The past error is legitimately associated with the two past ones and it is a lack of movement. This is presence of mind. In the event that you don't see improvement, it is significant for you to change the technique. At the point when the teacher gets excessively essential, should you discover elements obstructing you to profit by the class you'll require a change. Quit doing in every case precisely the equivalent expecting various outcomes since that is entirely unquestionably going to occur. On the off chance that something isn't simply working, leave. I feel the way that Yoga Burn Review makes that unmistakable, changing is helpful, attempting various methodologies is more beneficial. I for one infer that there is nothing better that getting fit from the it couldn't be any progressively helpful after a specialist educator as Zoe, the maker of Yoga Burn. Continue perusing this survey to discover progressively about research!

Item DETAILS

Discover explicit subtleties with this Yoga Burn Review. You won't just fix your tummy in addition to your goods this specific yoga exercise, you will likewise reset the brain and feel in harmony with yourself. You will normally and positively support your digestion, calm your brain from pressure, fix your muscles, gain adaptability and increment your own wellbeing alongside your invulnerable framework when not in any case taking note. You will feel loaded with vitality and years more youthful picking up deliberate focus also. You will gain proficiency with all the basic yoga models for gauge misfortune that will assist you with having a marvelous body since this Yoga Burn framework was contrived to really be an effective yoga fat consuming exercise. Altogether, Yoga Burn keeps going 12 weeks and it will be named three distinct stages dependent on powerful sequencing. The underlying stage was made to make a strong base, it tends to be truly essential anyway it might be quite significant, when this postures are viewed as the center of bunches of different stances. The second phase of Yoga Burn actualizes body change methodologies, it's the longest stage and results might be seen immediately. The third and last stage will assist you with mastering each method, technique and deceive you have get the hang of empowering you to see positive results in the vivacity and generally speaking vitality levels and weight. Fat decrease yoga exercises is accessible in an outlined PDF organization and you ought to have free access to the instructional exercise Yoga Burn Videos alongside you. In the event that you or somebody you know is urgently attempting to locate a decent yoga for shedding pounds quick technique, you at that point should endeavor this entire and amazing extraordinary Yoga Burn framework planned the eminent fitness coach and yoga educator, Zoe Bray-Cotton. Underneath you will discover (extraordinary) favorable circumstances and detriments of using outstanding amongst other yoga for weight decrease program: Yoga Burn.

Stars

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- Countless Yoga Burn Reviews promptly accessible for that you unquestionably perused genuine tributes of other ladies

[jam2289]

How MACOS Could Have Been Better

Man: A Course of Study was an education program developed and implemented in the 1970s based on the work of psychologist Jerome Bruner. The idea was to study the complete lifespan of different animals in greater and greater complexity. An American politician was able to eventually kill the program because he didn't like the Inuit, or Eskimos, which were studied in the program.

There is a good documentary film on the political controversy called "Through These Eyes". I won't dive into that very much. Instead, I'm going to look at the merit of the program and how it could have been better. Here's the link to the documentary: https://www.nfb.ca/film/through_these_eyes/?fbclid=IwAR3jy-qwGxG_mXlgxGrKZqXdGHHWUCeD4a2TojmMJsb8z5i7LQQWNIZm8ws

The basic idea of the program was to study the whole life cycle of salmon, then herring gulls, then baboons, then the Netsilik Eskimos. Studying animal behavior is quite a bit different than studying science, technology, engineering, and math. That's why this program was made. To develop the thinking skills necessary to study human behavior and culture.

To a large extent I think the resistance to the program was dumb and came from a religious fundamentalist perspective. People were scared that their kids were being taught about the ways of "primitive" people in a way that wasn't demeaning to the Inuit. It seems kind of ridiculous. But, I think there is a flaw that was found in the program. I think it would have been best to work on making the program better rather than scraping it, but it's amazing what people will do when they're scared and uninformed.

It's almost impossible to study a culture when you're in that culture. It's like a fish trying to figure out that he's in water, it just never occurs to him that there's another way. But, if the fish were to study birds then he might question his own watery existence. That's not bad. But, if the fish then decides that it's ridiculous, all of these different things that creatures can live in, so he decides he's going to leave the water and try out air for awhile, well, then that won't work out that well.

That's somewhat similar to what could psychologically happen to some of the kids. They're looking at how the Inuit live and comparing it to their own lives. You have to compare it to your own life, it's the only solid reference point that you have, especially as a kid.

So, if the kid learns that the Netsilik Inuit believe that there is a Sea Woman goddess that lives at the bottom of the ocean, and there is a Moon Man, and that the wind power Sila is a baby whose parents died fighting giants, then they might compare this to their own beliefs. If the Inuit beliefs seem ridiculous and made up, then maybe the kids own cultural beliefs are just as ridiculous and made up. That's what the Inuit would think. It's a natural conclusion to come to.

It's then natural for the kids to think about rejecting all cultural beliefs and systems, rituals, and mythologies as silly superstitions. The problem with that is that humans are cultural creatures, without culture they cannot survive. You cannot have humans without rituals. If you try to eliminate these types of things then the whole society will fall apart. Not good. Look at the Communists in Russia when they tried to erase traditional Russian culture and religion, and implement a synthetic rationalist designed culture. It didn't go very well for humanity.

This doubt about culture is a logical conclusion that the intelligent kids will naturally come to. Just like the idea that humans are animals. (Many adults still don't realize that humans are animals to this day. It's usually a religious fundamentalist thing too. Something about God not being powerful enough to make intelligent animals, or God not being smart enough to invent evolution. This still astounds me every time I encounter it.)

The Inuit have magical religious amulets too. Kids in school wear crosses. What's the difference? It can be hard to tell. You can see why studying other cultures scares some people quite a bit. And, it's legitimate to be scared of the erosion of culture. Without a shared framework to help shape how we organize as a society and to help mold how we perceive and act in the world, humans are lost. It's a real issue. The key is to incorporate this discussion into the curriculum.

By seeing different rituals and mythologies the kids question which is better. They have some indecision and decide to just throw them all out. It's easy to use analogies from the material to show that this is probably the worst option.

Look at what the Inuit eat versus what you eat. They eat pure seal fat, raw fish eyeballs, etc. You eat hamburgers, fries, fried chicken, hot dogs, ice cream, etc. Which is better? This could be a great discussion. Think about how much depth there is here. First, better for what? Are we talking about nutrition? Are we talking about taste? Are we talking about storage and transportation? We realize that you need to know what is intended before you can determine what is better. You already need to have a value system in place to answer the question. Then, you realize that context is huge. That might be best explored by talking about clothes and housing, which we'll look at next. You realize that the heritage, the cultural history, is actually important and plays a huge role in what is appropriate and desirable. That it grows organically. That culture is a living, adapting, evolving thing which adjusts to the situation. You realize that if you couldn't decide between the Inuit diet and your normal diet and decided to reject all diets that you would starve to death. Food is necessary for life, just as ritual and shared beliefs are necessary for human culture, and culture is necessary for social organization, and social organization is necessary for life. We could even go deeper into the necessity of organizing behavioral patterns by transmitting them through narratives. These are all great discussions to have.

Clothing and housing is another great example. Which is better, your house or an igloo? Well, it's hard to build an igloo in most of the world, so that's not very desirable unless it's in a specific context. That's a huge lesson. Things don't make sense if you pull them out of context. Which is better, wearing seal skins or whatever clothes you wear? Same thing. Better for who? Better when? Better for what? These are the discussions that should be taking place around housing, and clothing, and food. But not just those things. These are the same types of discussions that should be taking place around religions, rituals, mythologie, stories and narratives, etc.

These are the things that are the foundations of human cultures. Why have some cultures developed advanced technology and others didn't? Why did some cultures develop writing and others didn't? Etc. These are huge and complex questions. But it's important to realize that different contexts play a role, and some of the parts of those contexts are the myths, stories, rituals, beliefs, etc. Some cultures emphasize expansion, some protectionism, some learning, some violence, some peace, some individualism, some conformity, some ambition, some submissiveness. All of these things have results. All of that is worthy of thought and discussion.

Anyway, you can see that I think the program was a huge missed opportunity. With some adjustments it could have significantly improved our struggling education system. But, instead, the baby was thrown out with the bathwater. Governments always control the education system for a reason.

Hopefully, in the future there is the possibility that someone somewhere will build a program that allows for these in-depth explorations of what human culture is, how it works, why it's necessary, and how it could be better.

________________________________________________

You can find more of what I'm doing at http://www.JeffreyAlexanderMartin.com

[laurelkrugerr]

Readability Algorithms Should Be Tools, Not Targets

About The Author

Frederick O’Brien is a freelance journalist who conforms to most British stereotypes. His interests include American literature, graphic design, sustainable … More about Frederick …

Readability programs may seem like a godsend, but the worst thing writers can do is write to please them above all others. Finding your voice is hard enough without also trying to sound like everyone else.

The web is awash with words. They’re everywhere. On websites, in emails, advertisements, tweets, pop-ups, you name it. More people are publishing more copy than at any point in history. That means a lot of information, and a lot of competition.

In recent years a slew of ‘readability’ programs have appeared to help us tidy up the things we write. (Grammarly, Readable, and Yoast are just a handful that come to mind.) Used everywhere from newsrooms to browser plugins, these systems offer automated feedback on how writing can be clearer, neater, and less contrived. Sounds good right? Well, up to a point.

As with most things, there’s an xkcd comic for this. (Large preview)

The concept of ‘readability’ is nothing new. For decades researchers have analyzed factors like sentence length, syllable count, and word complexity in order to ‘measure’ language. Indeed, many of today’s programs incorporate decades-old formulas into their scoring systems.

The Flesch-Kincaid system, for example, is a widely used measure. Created by Rudolf Flesch in 1975, it assigns writing a US grade level. The Gunning fog index serves a similar purpose, and there are plenty more where they came from. We sure do love converting things into metrics.

It’s no mystery why formulas like this are (quite rightly) popular. They help keep language simple. They catch silly mistakes, correct poor grammar, and do a serviceable job of ‘proofreading’ in a pinch. Using them isn’t a problem; unquestioning devotion to their scores, however, is.

No A-Coding For Bad Taste

I want to tread carefully here because I have a lot of time for readability algorithms and the qualities they tend to support — clarity, accessibility, and open communication. I use them myself. They should be used, just not unquestioningly. A good algorithm is a useful tool in the writer’s proverbial toolbox, but it’s not a magic wand. Relying on one too heavily can lead to clunkier writing, short-sightedness, and, worst of all, a total uniformity of online voices.

One of the beauties of the internet is how it melts national borders, creating a fluid space for different cultures and voices to interact in. Readability historically targets academic and professional writing. The Flesch-Kincaid test was originally developed for US Navy technical manuals, for example. Most developers can appreciate the value of clear documentation, but it’s worth remembering that in the world of writing not everything should sound like US Navy technical manuals. There are nuances to different topics, languages, and cultures that monosyllabic American English can’t always capture.

Deference to these algorithms can take writers to absurd lengths. Plain English is one thing, but unquestioning obedience is another. I’ve seen a good few sentences butchered into strings of words that tick readability boxes like ‘write in short sentences’ and ‘use monosyllabic words wherever possible’, but border on nonsensical to the human eye. It’s a near-impossible thing to quantify, but it has been a recurring phenomenon in my own work, and having spoken with other copywriters and journalists I know it’s not just my rampant paranoia at work.

Let’s look at the limitations of these tools. When faced with some of the greatest writers of all time — authors, journalists, copywriters, speech writers — what’s the verdict? How do the masters manage?

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The opening chapter receives a grade of E from Readable.

George Orwell’s essay ‘Politics and the English Language’, which bemoans how unclear language hides truth rather than expresses it. He gets a grade of D. Talk about having egg on your face!

The beginning of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway does tolerably well in the Hemingway Editor, though you’d have to edit a lot of it down to appease it completely.

A personal favorite that came up here was Ernie Pyle, one of the great war correspondents. His daily columns from the front lines during World War II were published in hundreds of newspapers nationwide. One column, ‘The Death of Captain Waskow’, is widely regarded as a high watermark of war reporting. It receives a grade of B from Readable, which notes the writing is a tad ‘impersonal.’ Have a read and decide for yourself.

Impersonal war correspondent Ernie Pyle. Credit: Indiana University. (Large preview)

Not all copywriting is literary of course, but enjoyable writing doesn’t always have to please readability algorithms. Shoehorning full stops into the middle of perfectly good sentences doesn’t make you Ernest Hemingway. I’m an expert in not being as good as Ernest Hemingway, so you can trust me on that.

Putting Readability Into Context

None of this is supposed to be a ‘gotcha’ for readability algorithms. They provide a quick, easy way to identify long or complex sentences. Sometimes those sentences need editing down and sometimes they’re just fine the way they are. That’s at the author’s discretion, but algorithms speed up the process.

Alternatively, if you’re trying to cut down on fluffy adverbs like ‘very’ you can do a lot worse than turning to the cold, hard feedback of a computer. Readability programs catch plenty of things we might miss, and there are plenty of examples of great writing that would receive suitably great scores when put through the systems listed above. They are useful tools; they’re just not infallible.

Algorithms can only understand topics within the confines of their system. They know what the rules are and how to follow them. Intuition, personal experience, and a healthy desire to break the rules remain human specialties. You can’t program those, not yet anyway. Things aren’t the done thing until they are, after all.

It’s a fine line between thinking your writing has to be clear, and thinking your readers are stupid. You stop seeing the woods for the trees. Every time I hear that the ‘ideal’ article length is X words regardless of the topic or audience, or that certain words should always be used because they improve CTR by 0.06%, I want to gauge my eyes out. Readability algorithms can make sloppy writing competent, but they can’t make good writing great.

Remember, when all is said and done, copy is written for people. From an SEO Company perspective, Google itself has made it clear in the past that readability should match your target audience. If you’re targeting a mass audience that needs information in layman’s terms, great, do that. If you produce specialized content for experts in a certain field then being more specialized is perfectly appropriate.

As Readable has itself explored, readability can be a kind of public good. Easy to read newspapers spread information better than obtuse ones do. Textbooks written for specific age groups teach better than highly technical ones do. In other words, understand the context you are writing in. Just remember:

“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

— Goodhart’s Law

Find Your Voice

I have no beef with readability algorithms. My problem is with the laziness they can enable, the thoughtlessness. Rushing out a draft and running it through a readability tool is not going to improve your writing. As with any skill worth developing you have to be willing to put the hours in. That means going a step or two beyond blindly appeasing algorithms.

Not everyone has a lUXury of a great editor, but when you work with one, make full use of the opportunity. Pay attention to their suggestions, ask yourself why they made them. Ask questions, identify recurring problems in your writing and work to address them.

Analyse how the algorithms themselves work. If you’re going to use readability systems they should be supplemental to a genuine search for your own voice. Know how the things calculate scores, what formulas they’re drawing from. Learn the rules yourself. By doing so you earn the knowledge required to break them.

In his aforementioned essay George Orwell offers up his own approach to rules:

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Never use a long word where a short one will do.

If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Never use the passive where you can use the active.

Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

These are founded on solid principles applicable to the web. Where did those principles come from? Not computers, that’s for sure.

Real editors and honest self-reflection do a lot more for your writing ability long term than obeying algorithms does. It all feeds back into your communication, which is an essential skill whether you’re a copywriter, a developer, or a manager. Empathy for other people’s work improves your own.

There is another essential thing good writers do: they read. No algorithm can paper over the cracks of an unengaged mind. Whatever your interests are I guarantee there are people out there writing about it beautifully. Find them and read their work, and find the bad writing too. That can be just as educational.

If you’re so inclined, you may even decide to get all meta about it and read about writing. If you’re not sure where to start, here are a handful of suggestions to get the ball rolling:

Also keep in mind that readability is not just a question of words. Design is also essential. Layout, visuals, and typography can have just as much impact on readability as the text itself. Think about how copy relates to the content around it or the device it’s being read on. Study advertising and newspapers and branding. On the other side of that sprawling jungle is your voice, and that’s the most valuable thing of all.

To reiterate one last time, readability algorithms are handy tools and I wholeheartedly support using them. However, if you’re serious about making your copy ‘compelling’, ‘informative’, or even (shudder) ‘convert’, then you’re going to have to do a lot more besides. The best writers are those algorithms are trying to imitate, not the other way around.

Whoever you are and whatever your discipline, your writing deserves attention. Whether it’s website copy, technical guides, or marketing agency material, developing your voice is the best way to communicate the things most important to you. By all means, use the tools at your disposal, but just don’t phone it in.

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/readability-algorithms-should-be-tools-not-targets/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/05/readability-algorithms-should-be-tools.html

[riichardwilson]

Readability Algorithms Should Be Tools, Not Targets

About The Author

Frederick O’Brien is a freelance journalist who conforms to most British stereotypes. His interests include American literature, graphic design, sustainable … More about Frederick …

Readability programs may seem like a godsend, but the worst thing writers can do is write to please them above all others. Finding your voice is hard enough without also trying to sound like everyone else.

The web is awash with words. They’re everywhere. On websites, in emails, advertisements, tweets, pop-ups, you name it. More people are publishing more copy than at any point in history. That means a lot of information, and a lot of competition.

In recent years a slew of ‘readability’ programs have appeared to help us tidy up the things we write. (Grammarly, Readable, and Yoast are just a handful that come to mind.) Used everywhere from newsrooms to browser plugins, these systems offer automated feedback on how writing can be clearer, neater, and less contrived. Sounds good right? Well, up to a point.

As with most things, there’s an xkcd comic for this. (Large preview)

The concept of ‘readability’ is nothing new. For decades researchers have analyzed factors like sentence length, syllable count, and word complexity in order to ‘measure’ language. Indeed, many of today’s programs incorporate decades-old formulas into their scoring systems.

The Flesch-Kincaid system, for example, is a widely used measure. Created by Rudolf Flesch in 1975, it assigns writing a US grade level. The Gunning fog index serves a similar purpose, and there are plenty more where they came from. We sure do love converting things into metrics.

It’s no mystery why formulas like this are (quite rightly) popular. They help keep language simple. They catch silly mistakes, correct poor grammar, and do a serviceable job of ‘proofreading’ in a pinch. Using them isn’t a problem; unquestioning devotion to their scores, however, is.

No A-Coding For Bad Taste

I want to tread carefully here because I have a lot of time for readability algorithms and the qualities they tend to support — clarity, accessibility, and open communication. I use them myself. They should be used, just not unquestioningly. A good algorithm is a useful tool in the writer’s proverbial toolbox, but it’s not a magic wand. Relying on one too heavily can lead to clunkier writing, short-sightedness, and, worst of all, a total uniformity of online voices.

One of the beauties of the internet is how it melts national borders, creating a fluid space for different cultures and voices to interact in. Readability historically targets academic and professional writing. The Flesch-Kincaid test was originally developed for US Navy technical manuals, for example. Most developers can appreciate the value of clear documentation, but it’s worth remembering that in the world of writing not everything should sound like US Navy technical manuals. There are nuances to different topics, languages, and cultures that monosyllabic American English can’t always capture.

Deference to these algorithms can take writers to absurd lengths. Plain English is one thing, but unquestioning obedience is another. I’ve seen a good few sentences butchered into strings of words that tick readability boxes like ‘write in short sentences’ and ‘use monosyllabic words wherever possible’, but border on nonsensical to the human eye. It’s a near-impossible thing to quantify, but it has been a recurring phenomenon in my own work, and having spoken with other copywriters and journalists I know it’s not just my rampant paranoia at work.

Let’s look at the limitations of these tools. When faced with some of the greatest writers of all time — authors, journalists, copywriters, speech writers — what’s the verdict? How do the masters manage?

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The opening chapter receives a grade of E from Readable.

George Orwell’s essay ‘Politics and the English Language’, which bemoans how unclear language hides truth rather than expresses it. He gets a grade of D. Talk about having egg on your face!

The beginning of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway does tolerably well in the Hemingway Editor, though you’d have to edit a lot of it down to appease it completely.

A personal favorite that came up here was Ernie Pyle, one of the great war correspondents. His daily columns from the front lines during World War II were published in hundreds of newspapers nationwide. One column, ‘The Death of Captain Waskow’, is widely regarded as a high watermark of war reporting. It receives a grade of B from Readable, which notes the writing is a tad ‘impersonal.’ Have a read and decide for yourself.

Impersonal war correspondent Ernie Pyle. Credit: Indiana University. (Large preview)

Not all copywriting is literary of course, but enjoyable writing doesn’t always have to please readability algorithms. Shoehorning full stops into the middle of perfectly good sentences doesn’t make you Ernest Hemingway. I’m an expert in not being as good as Ernest Hemingway, so you can trust me on that.

Putting Readability Into Context

None of this is supposed to be a ‘gotcha’ for readability algorithms. They provide a quick, easy way to identify long or complex sentences. Sometimes those sentences need editing down and sometimes they’re just fine the way they are. That’s at the author’s discretion, but algorithms speed up the process.

Alternatively, if you’re trying to cut down on fluffy adverbs like ‘very’ you can do a lot worse than turning to the cold, hard feedback of a computer. Readability programs catch plenty of things we might miss, and there are plenty of examples of great writing that would receive suitably great scores when put through the systems listed above. They are useful tools; they’re just not infallible.

Algorithms can only understand topics within the confines of their system. They know what the rules are and how to follow them. Intuition, personal experience, and a healthy desire to break the rules remain human specialties. You can’t program those, not yet anyway. Things aren’t the done thing until they are, after all.

It’s a fine line between thinking your writing has to be clear, and thinking your readers are stupid. You stop seeing the woods for the trees. Every time I hear that the ‘ideal’ article length is X words regardless of the topic or audience, or that certain words should always be used because they improve CTR by 0.06%, I want to gauge my eyes out. Readability algorithms can make sloppy writing competent, but they can’t make good writing great.

Remember, when all is said and done, copy is written for people. From an SEO Company perspective, Google itself has made it clear in the past that readability should match your target audience. If you’re targeting a mass audience that needs information in layman’s terms, great, do that. If you produce specialized content for experts in a certain field then being more specialized is perfectly appropriate.

As Readable has itself explored, readability can be a kind of public good. Easy to read newspapers spread information better than obtuse ones do. Textbooks written for specific age groups teach better than highly technical ones do. In other words, understand the context you are writing in. Just remember:

“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

— Goodhart’s Law

Find Your Voice

I have no beef with readability algorithms. My problem is with the laziness they can enable, the thoughtlessness. Rushing out a draft and running it through a readability tool is not going to improve your writing. As with any skill worth developing you have to be willing to put the hours in. That means going a step or two beyond blindly appeasing algorithms.

Not everyone has a lUXury of a great editor, but when you work with one, make full use of the opportunity. Pay attention to their suggestions, ask yourself why they made them. Ask questions, identify recurring problems in your writing and work to address them.

Analyse how the algorithms themselves work. If you’re going to use readability systems they should be supplemental to a genuine search for your own voice. Know how the things calculate scores, what formulas they’re drawing from. Learn the rules yourself. By doing so you earn the knowledge required to break them.

In his aforementioned essay George Orwell offers up his own approach to rules:

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Never use a long word where a short one will do.

If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Never use the passive where you can use the active.

Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

These are founded on solid principles applicable to the web. Where did those principles come from? Not computers, that’s for sure.

Real editors and honest self-reflection do a lot more for your writing ability long term than obeying algorithms does. It all feeds back into your communication, which is an essential skill whether you’re a copywriter, a developer, or a manager. Empathy for other people’s work improves your own.

There is another essential thing good writers do: they read. No algorithm can paper over the cracks of an unengaged mind. Whatever your interests are I guarantee there are people out there writing about it beautifully. Find them and read their work, and find the bad writing too. That can be just as educational.

If you’re so inclined, you may even decide to get all meta about it and read about writing. If you’re not sure where to start, here are a handful of suggestions to get the ball rolling:

Also keep in mind that readability is not just a question of words. Design is also essential. Layout, visuals, and typography can have just as much impact on readability as the text itself. Think about how copy relates to the content around it or the device it’s being read on. Study advertising and newspapers and branding. On the other side of that sprawling jungle is your voice, and that’s the most valuable thing of all.

To reiterate one last time, readability algorithms are handy tools and I wholeheartedly support using them. However, if you’re serious about making your copy ‘compelling’, ‘informative’, or even (shudder) ‘convert’, then you’re going to have to do a lot more besides. The best writers are those algorithms are trying to imitate, not the other way around.

Whoever you are and whatever your discipline, your writing deserves attention. Whether it’s website copy, technical guides, or marketing agency material, developing your voice is the best way to communicate the things most important to you. By all means, use the tools at your disposal, but just don’t phone it in.

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/readability-algorithms-should-be-tools-not-targets/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/616932296630632448

[scpie]

Readability Algorithms Should Be Tools, Not Targets

About The Author

Frederick O’Brien is a freelance journalist who conforms to most British stereotypes. His interests include American literature, graphic design, sustainable … More about Frederick …

Readability programs may seem like a godsend, but the worst thing writers can do is write to please them above all others. Finding your voice is hard enough without also trying to sound like everyone else.

The web is awash with words. They’re everywhere. On websites, in emails, advertisements, tweets, pop-ups, you name it. More people are publishing more copy than at any point in history. That means a lot of information, and a lot of competition.

In recent years a slew of ‘readability’ programs have appeared to help us tidy up the things we write. (Grammarly, Readable, and Yoast are just a handful that come to mind.) Used everywhere from newsrooms to browser plugins, these systems offer automated feedback on how writing can be clearer, neater, and less contrived. Sounds good right? Well, up to a point.

As with most things, there’s an xkcd comic for this. (Large preview)

The concept of ‘readability’ is nothing new. For decades researchers have analyzed factors like sentence length, syllable count, and word complexity in order to ‘measure’ language. Indeed, many of today’s programs incorporate decades-old formulas into their scoring systems.

The Flesch-Kincaid system, for example, is a widely used measure. Created by Rudolf Flesch in 1975, it assigns writing a US grade level. The Gunning fog index serves a similar purpose, and there are plenty more where they came from. We sure do love converting things into metrics.

It’s no mystery why formulas like this are (quite rightly) popular. They help keep language simple. They catch silly mistakes, correct poor grammar, and do a serviceable job of ‘proofreading’ in a pinch. Using them isn’t a problem; unquestioning devotion to their scores, however, is.

No A-Coding For Bad Taste

I want to tread carefully here because I have a lot of time for readability algorithms and the qualities they tend to support — clarity, accessibility, and open communication. I use them myself. They should be used, just not unquestioningly. A good algorithm is a useful tool in the writer’s proverbial toolbox, but it’s not a magic wand. Relying on one too heavily can lead to clunkier writing, short-sightedness, and, worst of all, a total uniformity of online voices.

One of the beauties of the internet is how it melts national borders, creating a fluid space for different cultures and voices to interact in. Readability historically targets academic and professional writing. The Flesch-Kincaid test was originally developed for US Navy technical manuals, for example. Most developers can appreciate the value of clear documentation, but it’s worth remembering that in the world of writing not everything should sound like US Navy technical manuals. There are nuances to different topics, languages, and cultures that monosyllabic American English can’t always capture.

Deference to these algorithms can take writers to absurd lengths. Plain English is one thing, but unquestioning obedience is another. I’ve seen a good few sentences butchered into strings of words that tick readability boxes like ‘write in short sentences’ and ‘use monosyllabic words wherever possible’, but border on nonsensical to the human eye. It’s a near-impossible thing to quantify, but it has been a recurring phenomenon in my own work, and having spoken with other copywriters and journalists I know it’s not just my rampant paranoia at work.

Let’s look at the limitations of these tools. When faced with some of the greatest writers of all time — authors, journalists, copywriters, speech writers — what’s the verdict? How do the masters manage?

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The opening chapter receives a grade of E from Readable.

George Orwell’s essay ‘Politics and the English Language’, which bemoans how unclear language hides truth rather than expresses it. He gets a grade of D. Talk about having egg on your face!

The beginning of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway does tolerably well in the Hemingway Editor, though you’d have to edit a lot of it down to appease it completely.

A personal favorite that came up here was Ernie Pyle, one of the great war correspondents. His daily columns from the front lines during World War II were published in hundreds of newspapers nationwide. One column, ‘The Death of Captain Waskow’, is widely regarded as a high watermark of war reporting. It receives a grade of B from Readable, which notes the writing is a tad ‘impersonal.’ Have a read and decide for yourself.

Impersonal war correspondent Ernie Pyle. Credit: Indiana University. (Large preview)

Not all copywriting is literary of course, but enjoyable writing doesn’t always have to please readability algorithms. Shoehorning full stops into the middle of perfectly good sentences doesn’t make you Ernest Hemingway. I’m an expert in not being as good as Ernest Hemingway, so you can trust me on that.

Putting Readability Into Context

None of this is supposed to be a ‘gotcha’ for readability algorithms. They provide a quick, easy way to identify long or complex sentences. Sometimes those sentences need editing down and sometimes they’re just fine the way they are. That’s at the author’s discretion, but algorithms speed up the process.

Alternatively, if you’re trying to cut down on fluffy adverbs like ‘very’ you can do a lot worse than turning to the cold, hard feedback of a computer. Readability programs catch plenty of things we might miss, and there are plenty of examples of great writing that would receive suitably great scores when put through the systems listed above. They are useful tools; they’re just not infallible.

Algorithms can only understand topics within the confines of their system. They know what the rules are and how to follow them. Intuition, personal experience, and a healthy desire to break the rules remain human specialties. You can’t program those, not yet anyway. Things aren’t the done thing until they are, after all.

It’s a fine line between thinking your writing has to be clear, and thinking your readers are stupid. You stop seeing the woods for the trees. Every time I hear that the ‘ideal’ article length is X words regardless of the topic or audience, or that certain words should always be used because they improve CTR by 0.06%, I want to gauge my eyes out. Readability algorithms can make sloppy writing competent, but they can’t make good writing great.

Remember, when all is said and done, copy is written for people. From an SEO Company perspective, Google itself has made it clear in the past that readability should match your target audience. If you’re targeting a mass audience that needs information in layman’s terms, great, do that. If you produce specialized content for experts in a certain field then being more specialized is perfectly appropriate.

As Readable has itself explored, readability can be a kind of public good. Easy to read newspapers spread information better than obtuse ones do. Textbooks written for specific age groups teach better than highly technical ones do. In other words, understand the context you are writing in. Just remember:

“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

— Goodhart’s Law

Find Your Voice

I have no beef with readability algorithms. My problem is with the laziness they can enable, the thoughtlessness. Rushing out a draft and running it through a readability tool is not going to improve your writing. As with any skill worth developing you have to be willing to put the hours in. That means going a step or two beyond blindly appeasing algorithms.

Not everyone has a lUXury of a great editor, but when you work with one, make full use of the opportunity. Pay attention to their suggestions, ask yourself why they made them. Ask questions, identify recurring problems in your writing and work to address them.

Analyse how the algorithms themselves work. If you’re going to use readability systems they should be supplemental to a genuine search for your own voice. Know how the things calculate scores, what formulas they’re drawing from. Learn the rules yourself. By doing so you earn the knowledge required to break them.

In his aforementioned essay George Orwell offers up his own approach to rules:

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Never use a long word where a short one will do.

If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Never use the passive where you can use the active.

Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

These are founded on solid principles applicable to the web. Where did those principles come from? Not computers, that’s for sure.

Real editors and honest self-reflection do a lot more for your writing ability long term than obeying algorithms does. It all feeds back into your communication, which is an essential skill whether you’re a copywriter, a developer, or a manager. Empathy for other people’s work improves your own.

There is another essential thing good writers do: they read. No algorithm can paper over the cracks of an unengaged mind. Whatever your interests are I guarantee there are people out there writing about it beautifully. Find them and read their work, and find the bad writing too. That can be just as educational.

If you’re so inclined, you may even decide to get all meta about it and read about writing. If you’re not sure where to start, here are a handful of suggestions to get the ball rolling:

Also keep in mind that readability is not just a question of words. Design is also essential. Layout, visuals, and typography can have just as much impact on readability as the text itself. Think about how copy relates to the content around it or the device it’s being read on. Study advertising and newspapers and branding. On the other side of that sprawling jungle is your voice, and that’s the most valuable thing of all.

To reiterate one last time, readability algorithms are handy tools and I wholeheartedly support using them. However, if you’re serious about making your copy ‘compelling’, ‘informative’, or even (shudder) ‘convert’, then you’re going to have to do a lot more besides. The best writers are those algorithms are trying to imitate, not the other way around.

Whoever you are and whatever your discipline, your writing deserves attention. Whether it’s website copy, technical guides, or marketing agency material, developing your voice is the best way to communicate the things most important to you. By all means, use the tools at your disposal, but just don’t phone it in.

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/readability-algorithms-should-be-tools-not-targets/

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[junker-town]

If you were Sam Ehlinger, you’d point out your value, too

Texas’ QB is living a dream. That doesn’t mean he’s not being exploited, or that he’s wrong for pointing it out.

Sam Ehlinger’s not the first and won’t be the last college athlete to point out the inherent unfairness in his sport’s economic system.

He’ll get more attention than most, though, because he’s the quarterback at Texas, which exemplifies college football’s reality a huge-money sport more than probably any other school. That’s part of why I have written the blog post you’re reading now.

Here’s what Ehlinger just said about the subject, to the extreme anger of a particular subset of sports fan on the internet.

He tweeted this analogy ...

Within this internship, you risk your short-term and long-term health on a daily basis. You endure this internship with less than a 2% chance to advance in your industry and obtain a full-time paid job.

— Sam Ehlinger (@sehlinger3) March 7, 2019

... and backed a congressional bill that, if passed and upheld, would require the NCAA to drop rules barring players from getting paid off their own names:

Don’t get me wrong, I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to get an incredible degree and play the sport I love at such a prestigious University. I am extremely blessed.

— Sam Ehlinger (@sehlinger3) March 8, 2019

There are fair debates to have about the logistics of paying college athletes.

Some examples of things that seem fair to ask, in my opinion: Who should do the paying? Do players in every sport get paid? Does every player on the team get paid the same amount? What competitive balance restrictions get put into place? How do you make sure player pay policies conform to Title IX and any other relevant laws?

But please do not say that the quarterback at the University of Texas is compensated fairly by a scholarship, room, board, and good coaching.

Here’s how one weirdly aggrieved person responded to Ehlinger’s tweets. I’m using this example because it tracks with the same arguments mad people make any time a player (or someone else) dares to advocate for a fairer system:

Education? Food? Lodging? Opportunity to promote yourself nationally?

The nerve of those bastards!

Scroll around the replies to Ehlinger’s tweets, and you’ll see lots of that theme. You’ll see the same any time someone with a big enough platform says something similar.

Being a college athlete, especially a Power 5 QB at a legacy program like Ehlinger is, obviously carries many great things. So do lots of other jobs. But that’s not the point, just like it’s not the point when some regular person likes their job but still feels exploited at it. Maybe you’ve felt like that before. I definitely have.

Anyway, here’s what Ehlinger and his teammates help generate for Texas every year:

Around $37 million from the Big 12, which gets that money from broadcast partners. Some of that comes from basketball, and a smidgen from other sports, but the bulk of any big conference’s media deal — especially the Big 12’s — is derived from football.

About another $15 million from ESPN for the right to run the Longhorn Network, a TV channel devoted just to Texas. Again, that’s not all football. Only one or two football games per year actually go on the channel. But the football program has driven Texas’ brand to the heights where it could get a cash cow like LHN in the first place.

Many millions more in ticket sales, direct expenditures to watch athletes play.

Bowl payouts in the seven figures, coming via the Big 12 (but Texas’ players add to that pot whenever they make a bowl, such as the Sugar after the 2018 season).

More in merchandise sales, concession sales at games, and miscellany.

In 2016-17, Texas reported more athletic revenue than any school in the country, more than $214 million. It will eternally stay near the top, and football will stay the biggest driver.

There’s a lot nobody can know for sure about Ehlinger’s place in that system.

Starting here: What’s Ehlinger’s real value to Texas?

It’s impossible to be precise. These deals were put in place before his time, and he has lots of teammates. But he’s the star of a highly expensive TV show 13 or 14 times a year, so let’s just say: a lot.

I don’t know what the true value of a Texas scholarship, room, and board is.

According to UT’s math, the cost is about $28,000 per year for an in-state student like Ehlinger, not counting summer, when athletes are often on campus anyway.

Of course, it doesn’t really cost a school that much to host a student. Ehlinger’s scholarship doesn’t really cost UT even the $11,000 or so it would cost him to pay for tuition for a year if he weren’t on scholarship. That’s unless the school’s literally out of space to host a paying student in his place, and there’s no evidence that’s the case.

I also don’t know what the true value of being coached by Tom Herman and his staff, given nice accommodations, and provided great trainers is.

It varies by player. There are some who develop a ton in college and then cash out big in the NFL. That’s not most of them, and Ehlinger’s a former four-star recruit who could’ve gotten relatively similar coaching at a lot of places.

And I don’t know how, exactly, that weighs against the medical risk football players face, or the likelihood they’ll never see NFL dollars.

Ehlinger alludes to both. Again, they vary by player.

But I don’t need to know any of these things to know if I were the one of the most important figures at the center of a multimillion-dollar entertainment business, and I did not get paid actual money for it, I’d be miffed too.

My guess is the people leaving Ehlinger confrontational replies would also be mad. But if anyone out there has ever been a central figure in a business that generates something like $50 million per year just in TV money and also not been paid for it, please email me or comment below. It would be wonderful to hear your story.

[arunbeniwal-blog]

Top Hospitals in Mumbai | Top Gynecologists in Mumbai | Elawoman

Hinduja Hospital Ivf Cost

The accomplishment of origination and pregnancy relies upon the patient's reason for infertility and age. Origination and pregnancy have likewise to be upheld by physical and immunological variables of the female. In any case, it is valuable to take note of that 40% infertility is caused because of male factor, 40% because of female variables, 10% because of both male and female components and 10% is because of unexplained causes.

In our Center, the rate of treatment with ART is 100% with 40% pregnancy having achieved with ICSI, for all intents and purposes finished ridding MF. 30% is the present rate of pregnancy in our Center with regular IVF-ET systems. There is obviously no particular age constrain for couples who might be considered for IVF in our institute.Infertility is characterized as the powerlessness of a couple practicing regular intercourse and not using contraception to neglect to imagine a youngster inside 1 year.

A thorough assessment of the fruitless couple frequently uncovers at least one foundations for inability to consider. Persuaded couples that conform to restorative guidelines can anticipate that a half will 60% possibility of origination. An unconstrained, treatment-autonomous total pregnancy rate of around 30% to 40% exists in couples in which no identifiable reason for the infertility can be resolved.

In the broadest of terms, 15% to 20% of the reasons for infertility are the aftereffect of ovulatory brokenness; 30% to 40% are caused by pelvic factors, for example, endometriosis, grips, or tubal malady; 30% to 40% are a direct result of male factors, for example, oligospermia, azoospermia, expanded semen consistency, diminished sperm motility, or diminished semen volume; under 5% are a result of strange sperm-cervical mucous infiltration or hostile to sperm antibodies.

In roughly 10% to 15% of couples no immediate reason for their infertility can be found, however on advance assessment and treatment, once in a while factors, for example, poor sperm infiltration, irregular appearingoocytes, and so on., are explained. This group is alluded to as unexplained infertility.For new exchanges at our middle, you will get refresh regarding oocyte treatment status from the clinicians. Enbryo exchanges are generally done on fourth day of Ovum get or fifth day for blastocyst exchanges.

This system is typically done under nearby anesthesia anyway in not very many cases general anesthesia might be required. Before transplant, videoscreening of incipient organisms is done and specialists illuminate about the nature of fetuses. Tolerant gets discharged after a concise recuperation period. A pregnancy test will be completed 19 days after the exchange, regardless of the event of any uterine bleeding.

Dr. Kusum Zaveri

Dr. Kusum Zaveri is an eminent Gynecologist in Mumbai, Mumbai. You can visit him at Inkus Ivf Center in Mumbai, Mumbai. Book an arrangement online with Dr. Kusum Zaveri has a magnificent network of Gynecologists in India. You will discover Gynecologists with over 44 long periods of experienceYou can discover Gynecologists online in Mumbai and from crosswise over India. View the profile of restorative pros and their surveys from different patients to make an educated decision.Medically, a couple is thought to be fruitless in the event that they can't imagine even after coordinated and-half long stretches of unprotected sex. A female factor is the essential driver in roughly 40% of these couples and another 30-40% is unadulterated male factor. A blend of male and female components represents the remaining 20% to 30% of cases.

The investigation for infertility regularly begins and closures with assessment of the female alone. Along these lines, a lady is frequently subjected to an assortment of tests and methodology just to be told, toward the finish, all things considered, that everything is typical. But she can't consider.

At Hinduja IVF Center, the issue on infertility is addressed as a "couple issue".Both the mum and father-to-be are comprehensively assessed to give the most serviceable treatment arrangements, in accordance with the most recent therapeutic progressions.

With the ability of Dr. Indira Hinduja and Dr. Kusum Zaveri in charge, considered as legends in the field of Infertility medicines and the confirmation of the best of practices medications that comes related with P. D. Hinduja Hospital, you are in the most legitimate and caring of hands.

IVF Spring Fertility Center

IVF Spring Fertility Center in Mumbai pros in diagnosing and treating the reasons for male and female infertility. Our therapeutic and logical advisors all have broad experience and specialists in regenerative pharmaceutical and are dependably at the bleeding edge of leading headway in their separate fields, we have huge involvement in helping people and couples to conquer their origination challenges.

We offer customized and redid administrations in light of the necessity of the patients inside a situation that is favorable for best results.We are additionally a leading hospital that diagnoses and treat a wide number of conditions identified with ladies wellbeing.

Which incorporates issues related with monthly cycle and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and others.At IVF Spring Fertility focus we have a set procedure which helps in understanding your worries. Our group of pros, medical attendants and specialists mix polished methodology with sympathy and comprehend the issues that you are facing identified with gynecological and infertility. We have faith in supporting our patients at each progression of their agony. Subsequently we give a customized treatment program that will assist them with the best results.

Our achievement rate represents us, our pregnancy rates are similar to the Top IVF Clinics in Mumbai. As we take after systems that conveyed ideal outcomes to patients who have had past fizzled IVF.We welcome individuals from different strolls of life and help in providing programs for people and couples, who have issues conceiving because of genetic issues, past surgeries, medicinal history, optional infertility or notwithstanding when the reason is obscure.

We work nearly in planning your treatment; we give data that is straightforward so you can settle on an all around educated choice. All the treatment and methods are given inside the clinic, which is furnished with the best in class technology where we take after the most recent techniques.

We are a professionally managed and organized infertility clinic and have set different quality management framework, we guarantee that your points of interest are kept private and don't impart it to anyone without your consent.IVF Spring fertility focus gives moderate infertility treatment. Get in touch with us for more data or to make an underlying arrangement.

Spandan Clinic

Set up in the year 2008, Spandan Clinic in South City 2, Delhi is a best player in the category Ophthalmologists in the Delhi. This notable foundation goes about as a one-stop goal servicing clients both nearby and from different parts of Delhi. Through the span of its excursion, this business has set up a firm toehold in it's industry.

The conviction that consumer loyalty is as critical as their items and administrations, have helped this foundation garner an immense base of clients, which keeps on growing continuously. This business utilizes people that are devoted towards their individual parts and put in a ton of push to accomplish the normal vision and larger goals of the organization.

Soon, this business means to grow its line of items and administrations and take into account a larger customer base. In Delhi, this foundation involves a conspicuous area in South City 2. It is an easy errand in commuting to this foundation as there are different methods of transport promptly accessible. It is at Sohna Road, Near Parag Hospital, which makes it simple for first-time guests in locating this foundation. The notoriety of this business is apparent from the 100+ audits it has gotten from Justdial clients.

It is known to give top administration in the following categories: Ophthalmologists, General Physician Doctors, Dentists, Cardiologists, Blood Testing Centers, Eye Clinics, Diabetologist Doctors, Diabetic Centres.Spandan is a clinic in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad. The clinic is visited by specialists like Dr. Sanjai. Tap on 'outline' discover bearings to achieve Spandan.

Dr. Veena G. Shinde

Dr. Veena G. Shinde is an Obstetrician and Gynecologist and has an ordeal of 25 years in this field and is right now appended to Surya Mother and Child Hospital in Santacruz, Mumbai Dr.Veena Shinde is a Clinic in Andheri West, Mumbai. The clinic is visited by gynecologist like Dr. Veena G. Shinde . The timings of Dr.Veena Shinde are: Mon-Sun: 19:00-21:00. A portion of the administrations given by the Clinic are: Fertility Treatment,Obstetrics and Gynaecology,Maternal Care/Checkup,Hysterectomy (Abdominal/Vaginal) and Maternal Fetal Medicine etc.Dr. Veena G. Shinde is a very much famous gynecologist residing in Andheri West, Mumbai. She has an affair of 27 years in the field of gynecology. She got a great deal of honors, for example, PG in Assisted Reproductive Technology, MD in gynecology &obstetrics, and has confirmed DGO and MBBS degrees.

Dr. Veena G. Shinde spends significant time in treating issue, for example, pre-carcinogenic sicknesses, urinary incontinence, menorrhea, dysmenorrhea and infertility. She has exceeded expectations in the field of obstetrics and gynecology by performing activities which includes various intricacies.

Dr. Veena G. Shinde has involvement in treating basic issue of the conceptive framework, for example, growth of the cervix, pelvic disarranges, urinary tract contamination, hormonal issues and bosom issues Dr. Veena G. Shinde is as of now situated in Surya Mother and Child Hospital in Santacruz, Mumbai.

Bavishi Fertility Institute

IVF is a procedure by which egg cells are treated by sperm outside the womb or we can state that IVF is the essential helped proliferation system, in which preparation happens in vitro (actually, in glass). IVF process is utilized to conquer infertility. IVF is a treatment alternative for couples with different kinds of infertility.

For IVF to be effective it might be less demanding to state that it requires solid ova, sperm that can treat, and an uterus that can keep up a pregnancy. IVF Treatment cycles are commonly begun on the third day of monthly cycle and comprise of a regimen of fertility meds to fortify the advancement of various follicles of the ovaries.

In many patients injectable gonadotropins are utilized under close monitoring. Such monitoring often checks the estradiol level and, by methods for gynecologic ultrasonography, follicular growth. Regularly around 10 long stretches of infusions will be fundamental.

Unconstrained ovulation during the cycle is regularly anticipated by the utilization of GnRH agonists or GnRH antagonists, which hinder the common surge of luteinising hormoneSemen examination : Each semen parameter – check, motility and so on are deliberately analyzed according to global norms.

Sperm morphology contemplate is finished by strict global criteria Personalized conventions According to Age, span of infertility, clinical findings, spending limit, patients wants, etc.Anything which happens outside the body is brought in vitro and when treatment of egg with sperm happens outside the body it is called "IN VITRO FERTILIZATION". The first In Vitro preparation was done in the test tube and that is the reason it is famously known as TESTTUBE BABY.

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[weclustr-blog]

I grew up in a small village in the mountains and always felt it was too small for me. However, I remain extremely attached to my roots and can never really define my identity without them. I have always searched for more, more knowledge, more answers, more myself, more solutions to my existential interrogatives and more human connection. That’s probably why I choose to study Philosophy and achieved my bachelor degree in it, and then my master degree in Philosophy, Sustainability and Environmental Studies. I used to love spending time in the garden with my grandparents, watching chickens and the nature around, and getting inspired by them and my uncle building tools and craft with their hands.

People around me couldn’t understand. They’d ask: what is your future plan? Are you going to just lie down under a tree, thinking to the useless problems of the universe and smoking pot? Initially, I wanted to become a teacher. I loved education, art and philosophy, but I was too rebelling against the status quo and the current school system. I believe there is too much too change in the public school system to make it a place where teachers can realize themselves.

When I chose my academic subjects, I was very aware of the dim job prospect. With years of high unemployment rate in Italy, unless you become a doctor, an engineer, a programmer…or you’d be financially screwed. So, people compromise. My brother, for example, studied economics just because it seemed practical, notwithstanding what he truly loved was history… But I decided to go for it anyway. I just love these “useless” humanities subjects. I also love nature and have always been worried and active about the future environmental challenges that we will have to face. After graduation, I spent months looking for something, but there was nothing out there for me defined as a job I could identify with. It was as if the labor market did not know what to do with me and all those minds that choose to express or understand the human being and his creativity, rather than conforming to the market and finance rules. We are so unprofitable! I realized that a precise job for me just didn’t exist, and that I couldn’t fit in the categories that society prepares for our future. My skills, my knowledge, my mind and my creativity had no place to be valued. Therefore there was no existing path for me, I had to carve it out on my own. I now understand that I can’t even fit in one-only-type-of job, because I have too many interests and skills to develop in different roles and sectors, and a boring full-time 9-to-5 job would probably dry out all my vitality.

At the moment I am doing several projects in parallel. My bulk income comes from providing training programs for organisations, delivering environmental education workshops in primary schools and waste minimisation programme at local events. To this busy and varied schedule I add my freelancing works. I started my workshops only a few months ago, although I’ve been doing it by and for myself for years. I just enjoy recycling waste in creative ways. The workshop allows me to combine my creativity with my passion for nature, education, as well as my belief that living in harmony with nature should be an essential condition for every living being.

The problem for me is that…I am ambitious: I expect the best out of me; I want to realize my potential as much as possible. But I am also very sensitive: I cannot spend time doing things that I do not feel in tune with.

I think we all have a seed inside of us when we are a child. If you manage to discover the one that is for you, you water it, take care of it, it will flourish; and the flower would be so unique that it wouldn’t look the same as everyone else’s. If you stay true to it, no matter how it turns out, no matter what mistakes you made along the way, at the end of the day, you could say, it was my life and I lived it. Now that I am building up my own path, I take whatever I can find along the way, simply considering whether it is something that allows me to develop further. Money is always secondary. This can be problematic especially when living in a city like London, but I’m happy to live with very little.