A British climber has scaled a 3,000ft rockface considered to be one of the most dangerous in the world - despite being blind.
Steve Bate, 35, has become the first registered blind person to conquer the El Capitan monolith in California.
The former climbing instructor spent six days hauling himself up the granite slab in Yosemite National Park and spent the nights sleeping in a hanging hammock.
Mr Bate was diagnosed two years ago with degenerative eye condition retinitis pigmentosa and is legally registered blind.
He said: 'It was really tough and when I finished I couldn't really understand where all my strength had come from.
Mr Bate, from Moray, Scotland, lugged more than 100kg of equipment with him on his ascent and experienced a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the expedition.
At one point he almost threw in the towel after hearing a climber friend's girlfriend had been hit by a car.
He said: 'Spending so much time on my own, going through the motions over and over, had me making more mistakes than I would usually make because my guard was down.
Mr Bate's incurable eye disease is slowly destroying his sight from the outside inwards, a condition known as 'tunnel vision'. He has been told by specialists that he will be completely blind within three years.
'My eyesight hasn't been completely right for up to 10 years but I was only diagnosed two years ago,' he said. 'Now I have completely lost my peripheral vision, so it's like looking down a tunnel.
'I had to make a lot of changes to my lifestyle. For example, my driving licence got taken away and I couldn't go mountain biking anymore because it was too dangerous.
'But climbing is something I really love, so I hope I never have to give it up. I'm certainly going to make the most of it, while I still can.
The bike charity project manager is the first blind person to conquer the granite monolith solo along the challenging 'Zodiac' route, in a bid to raise money for sight charity North East Sensory Services.
Mr Bate, who is married to Caroline, said: 'I'm not sure I will ever realise what I have done, being a climber it's just another great climb.
Well done Steve......what an achievement.


This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatization_in_Iran 00:02:09 1 The Iranian constitution 00:03:47 2 Background 00:03:56 2.1 Iranian Revolution and Iran–Iraq War (1979–88) 00:05:24 2.2 Rafsanjani government (1989–97) 00:06:14 2.3 Khatami government (1997–2005) 00:07:48 2.4 Ahmadinejad government (2005–2013) 00:10:03 2.5 Rouhani government (2013–) 00:11:36 3 "Justice shares" plan 00:12:30 3.1 Implementation 00:13:14 3.2 Distribution 00:14:57 4 Criticism 00:15:40 5 Shares for workers 00:16:16 6 Iranian expatriates role 00:17:29 6.1 Investments 00:18:16 6.2 Expatriate fund 00:18:56 7 Foreign investment 00:19:23 7.1 Offshore fund 00:20:11 8 Top 100 Iranian companies 00:22:38 8.1 Valuation 00:23:21 9 Major companies listed for privatization 00:23:52 9.1 Banking and insurance 00:25:32 9.2 Industry 00:26:17 9.3 Utilities 00:27:27 9.4 Mines & metals 00:28:03 9.5 Transport 00:28:57 9.6 Telecommunication 00:31:07 9.7 Oil, gas and petrochemicals 00:35:20 10 See also Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago. Learning by listening is a great way to: - increases imagination and understanding - improves your listening skills - improves your own spoken accent - learn while on the move - reduce eye strain Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone. Listen on Google Assistant through Extra Audio: https://assistant.google.com/services/invoke/uid/0000001a130b3f91 Other Wikipedia audio articles at: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wikipedia+tts Upload your own Wikipedia articles through: https://github.com/nodef/wikipedia-tts Speaking Rate: 0.9774191965767909 Voice name: en-US-Wavenet-C "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." - Socrates SUMMARY ======= According to the Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2005–2010), the Privatization Organization of Iran affiliated with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance is in charge of setting prices and ceding shares to the general public and on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The privatization effort is primarily backed by reformist members of the Iranian government and society who hope that privatization can bring about economic and social change. In 2007, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei requested that government officials speed up implementation of the policies outlined in the amendment of Article 44, and move towards economic privatization. Khamenei also suggested that ownership rights should be protected in courts set up by the Justice Ministry; the hope was that this new protection would give an additional measure of security and encourage private investment. Despite these statements, true official backing for privatization remains very slow due to political reasons. Some 80 percent of the companies subject to Article 44 of the Constitution would be transferred to public ownership, 40 percent of which will be conducted through the "Justice Shares" Scheme and the rest through the Bourse Organization. The government will keep the title of the remaining 20 percent.It is widely believed that if current governmental organizations are privatized they will need to become more efficient. At present many are not profitable due to large numbers of unnecessary employees hired by the government to reduce unemployment. Furthermore, many of these companies are subsidized by oil revenues. True privatization will inevitably lead to many unpopular job cuts and large scale lay offs.The current privatization effort calls for an initial public offering (IPO) of five percent of the firms being privatized. Once the five percent is public, it will establish a market price that further offerings can be based on. According to a study conducted by the IMF in 18 countries, privatization adds 2 percent to the government's GDP per annum.


Texas mystery: 'Defective coyote' or chupacabra?
(CNN) -- The owner of a taxidermy school in Blanco, Texas, says he's been receiving more phone calls and attention than he'd like over the identity of a dead roughly 30-pound, mostly hairless coyote-like creature.
This strange creature has sparked a media frenzy in Blanco, Texas.
"I don't know what it is. ... I do know that I have an odd animal," Jerry Ayer said Thursday.
He said word spread quickly that he was in possession of an unknown animal -- often speculated in his region to be chupacabras, or mythical creatures, he said. Soon, the local, national and even international media picked up on what he said could be a "genetically defective coyote."
"I don't believe in the chupacabra," Ayer said, adding that he's been in the midst of a "media blitz" -- receiving 50 phone calls from media outlets and citizens, as well as death threats late at night -- since word got out about the strange beast.
"It's been rough on me," he said. "I'm almost at the point where I'm going to take my sign down and hide under a rock somewhere."
He said he received the body from a former student whose cousin owns the barn where the creature succumbed to poison left for rodents.
Before he knew it, he said, word spread that he had a chupacabra.
Ayers, who doesn't hunt and regards himself as a wildlife artist, said he intends to stuff and mount the animal.
He said Texas A&M University has taken tissue samples to determine exactly what it is, and other universities have also reached out to him.
"It'll probably end up in a museum," he said.
He's hopeful the attention will soon die down.
"There's no way I could teach with this," he said, explaining that his school, Blanco Taxidermy School, generally gives one-on-one instruction in the town of about 1,500 people about 50 miles west of Austin.
"I'm unable to do any of that right now just because of the media frenzy," he said.


How derivatives are used to find whether the function is Increasing or Decreasing Function?
What are intervals of increase and decrease?
Increasing and Decreasing function is one of the applications of derivatives. Derivatives are used to identify that the function is increasing or decreasing in a particular interval.
Generally, we know that if something is increasing, it is going upward and if something is decreasing it is going downwards. Hence if we talk graphically, if the graph of function is going upward then it is an increasing function and if the graph is going downward then it is a decreasing function.
A function is said to be an increasing function if the value of y increases with the increase in x. As we can see from the above figure that at the right of the origin, the curve is going upward as we are going to the right so it is called Increasing Function.
A function is said to be a decreasing function if the value of y decreases with the increase in x. As above, in the left of the origin, the curve is going downward if we are moving from left to right.
This is the definition of a function which is increasing on an interval.
There is a difference of symbol in both the above increasing functions.
There is a difference of symbol in both the above decreasing functions.
Let x0 be a point on the curve of a real valued function f. Then f is said to be increasing, strictly increasing, decreasing or strictly decreasing at x0, if there exists an open interval I containing x0 such that f is increasing, strictly increasing, decreasing or strictly decreasing, respectively in I.
We can use the first derivative test to check whether the function is increasing or decreasing.
This can be proved with the help of mean value theorem.
Hence, f is an increasing function.
Hence, f is a decreasing function.
Hence, f is a constant function.
Constant function is a horizontal line.
As we know that the derivative is zero and y is always 4 in the above figure. This is the graph of line with one variable.
If we talk about curve, the function will be constant if its fꞌ(c) = 0.
Here in the above figure, at green points the curve is neither increasing nor decreasing. The slope of the curve is zero at these points. It could be the highest or the lowest point of the curve in its neighborhood.
The Critical Numbers for a function f are those numbers c in the domain of f for which fꞌ(c) = 0 or does not exists.
A critical point is a point whose x coordinate is the critical number c and the y coordinate is the f(c).
Interval is basically all the numbers between given two numbers.
If we talk about curve, we can say the portion of curve which is coming in between the two given numbers on the x-axis is the required interval.
First of all, we have to differentiate the given function.
Then solve the first derivative as equation to find the value of x.
The first derivative: f'(x) = 0.
Form open intervals with the values of the x which we got after solving the first derivative and the points of discontinuity.
Take a value from every interval and find the sign they have in the first derivative.
If f'(x) > 0 is increasing.
If f'(x) < 0 is decreasing.
Find the intervals of increase and decrease of the function f(x) = x3 − 3x + 2.
f(x) = x3 − 3x + 2.
Now we have to check the sign of first derivative in every interval to find the function is increasing or decreasing.
A function is strictly increasing or decreasing on an open interval where its derivative is positive or negative.


Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1440 is currently uncontained and its location is unknown since its last containment breach. Due to the nature of SCP-1440, the Foundation may not have the means to contain it without risking an unacceptable loss of resources and personnel. Until suitable containment procedures can be found, focus should be given to the location and surveillance of SCP-1440 and to minimizing civilian exposure to it through the identification of its travel pattern.
Description: SCP-1440 is a man of unknown ethnicity and age. When questioned about its name, place or time of birth, SCP-1440 will refuse to answer, although it is unclear if this is due to the subject being unwilling to share this information or not possessing it. Though the subject's appearance is that of an octogenarian, it has not shown any signs of aging in the fifty (50) years since first coming to the attention of the Foundation. SCP-1440's anomalous nature becomes apparent once it comes into contact with human population or man-made objects and remains in contact with them for longer than a few days; SCP-1440 has an acute adverse effect on everything connected to humanity. Prolonged exposure of any man-made object or person to it will cause increasingly destructive events to occur in SCP-1440's vicinity, until the destruction or death of said human element. The only exceptions to this are SCP-1440 itself and its belongings (its clothes, a sack made of unidentified material, a pack of worn playing cards, and a small glass cup).
SCP-1440 appears to be aware of its effect on human populations, and will attempt to avoid coming into contact with them whenever possible. Despite these intentions, SCP-1440 is compelled to travel in what seems to be a highly complex pattern, which invariably leads it into contact with human population. The exact nature of this pattern has not yet been successfully analyzed, and SCP-1440 has not been able to provide any information concerning it. The subject is not actively hostile and will not resist attempts to contain it, though all such attempts have failed and led to a considerable loss of personnel and resources due to the aforementioned anomalous properties.
SCP-1440 was first brought to the Foundation's attention when it approached Dr. ██████, a researcher at Site-██, on her commute to work. SCP-1440 showed unexplained knowledge of Dr. ██████'s work for the Foundation and requested her assistance. When Dr. ██████ inquired about the nature of the assistance the subject required, it responded that it hoped the Foundation would be able to "destroy [him]". SCP-1440 was brought to Site-██ for questioning, which led to the destruction of the site, the deaths of ███ personnel and the destruction of six (6) Safe and Euclid-level SCP objects. All other attempts at containing SCP-1440 have resulted in similar occurrences.
Addendum SCP-1440-A: The following is an interview conducted with SCP-1440 during the fourth attempt to contain it, on Area-142. The log was being stored on a remote server, hence its survival.
Foreword: Following the arrival of SCP-1440 to Area-142, personnel began complaining about severe headaches and nausea. In the next two days, three of the four on-site water purification filters broke down, Area-142's hangar collapsed, causing the deaths of multiple airmen and Dr. ███ — previously in perfect physical condition — suffered a complete collapse of both kidneys and both lungs simultaneously.
Dr. ████: Good afternoon, SCP-1440.
SCP-1440: And to you, Doctor.
Dr. ████: Do you know why we brought you here?
SCP-1440: Of course I do, and applaud you for still attempting to contain me, but since your last three attempts I came to realize you cannot help me. It would be best if you let me go, for your own good. The First Brother is already standing behind you, Doctor, you would best hurry.
Dr. ████: You mentioned these brothers before, three if I recall correctly.
SCP-1440: Three, Aye. Different, but one and the same. All cruel, all vengeful, all capable of holding a grudge for a long time. They are the cause of my misfortune, and therefore the cause of yours. [Subject appears to notice something behind Dr. ████, though video and audio feed reveal nothing unusual.] The Second Brother joins the First, time is running short. Release me, or I cannot vouch for your safety. It might already be too late.
Dr. ████: I'm afraid I can't do that. Besides, you mentioned three brothers; if the third isn't here yet, we must have some time left.
SCP-1440: [Shakes head.] The Third never appears. In that, he is crueler than both his brothers, for he knows his appearance is the only thing that will set me free. I have spent time untold searching for him, trying to return his prize and those I won from his brothers, but to no avail. [Subject looks behind Dr. ████ again, sighs] The Second has his hands on your shoulders, it is too late now. Doom is never far behind the Second. Before you perish, my poor child, allow me to give you a word of advice.
SCP-1440: Should you choose to challenge Death to a game of cards for your life, there is one thing you must never do.
Dr. ████: And what is that?
Closing statement: At that moment, the on-site nuclear device stored in Area-142 detonated, despite multiple failsafes. Area-142 was destroyed and all on-site personnel were killed. SCP-1440 was spotted more than three thousand (3,000) kilometers away from Area-142's location a week following its destruction, suffering no apparent harm. After three additional containment breaches, attempts to contain SCP-1440 have been suspended indefinitely.
Addendum SCP-1440-B: Due to the growing size of human population and its rapid expansion into previously empty areas, SCP-1440 attested during its fifth containment that it is becoming increasingly difficult for it to avoid contact with humanity while still adhering to its compulsion. Analysis of the subject's traveling pattern is continuing, as are efforts to find a permanent containment procedure.


What does it mean to waive extradition in Colorado criminal cases?
What does it mean to waive extradition in Colorado?
Waiving extradition in Colorado is when fugitive who is arrested in Colorado for allegedly committing a crime in another state agrees to be transported to the charging state without putting up a legal fight.
Extradition from Colorado is a lengthy legal process where fugitives can fight the government's right to transport him/her to the charging state (also called the demanding state). People who waive extradition give up this right to fight being transported.
There are six basic steps for extradition from Colorado to the charging state.
The fugitive gets extradited from Colorado to the charging state.
have executed a written waiver of extradition (meaning, they agreed not to fight being transported).
they just want to "get it over with" and speed up the process of going back to the demanding state.
One downside of waiving extradition is that fugitives are no longer eligible to be released on bail while awaiting transportation to the demanding state. And in some cases, fugitives spend several weeks in jail until they get transported.
Law enforcement arrested the wrong person. It is not unheard of for police to apprehend an innocent person who has the same name as the fugitive or who looks similar to the fugitive. If the defendant can show that there was a mix-up, he/she should not be extradited.
Law enforcement violated extradition procedures. As with any legal process, extradition has several rules that law enforcement is obligated to comply with. If police cut corners, skipped paperwork, or made mistakes, the extradition may be invalidated under the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act.
The fugitive files a writ of habeas corpus to argue that his/her detention in illegal.
Also learn about extradition to Colorado, when someone who allegedly committed a crime in Colorado is arrested out-of-state and transported back.


Should we measure the average or the minimum execution time of a function?
I am interested in is comparing the speed of two different functions, using same input data (BMP) for both functions.
When we measure the execution time of a function (using always same input) we don't get the same result (time) even if we should because the program runs in a multitasking environment. Even if we run our program as 'high priority' some interference from other programs will slow down our program (to simplify let consider a single core computer).
So, most people will time the function multiple times and make an average. My question is why don't we log the smallest execution time instead of average? Min exec time should be much closer to the real thing than the average execution time.
You should always aim to time the minimum time.
Because if you do you are sure you're only timing your own code and nothing else.
If your code has only a single execution path then you should always take the minimum time (out of many many repetitions) as the actual time taken.
This way you can get timings accurate to within one or two CPU cycles. Just to be clear, you run the code snippet for millions of runs and take the lowest sample of that run as the timing.
The other loop resets the context which sometimes helps. This matters e.g. if the JIT compiler kicks in late. The outer loop gives it a change to reset.
You can also your timings in the outer loop and then divide by a million if the code snippet is especially fast. In that case you'll run an extra empty timing loop and subtract the time taken by the empty loop from the time taken in the busy loop.
You'll have to get clever though to prevent code optimization from eliminating the empty loop :-).
If your code has multiple possible paths, then you can't really time its execution time. Running just a simple loop with fixed input, because that will only give you a partial time of just one code path. This is probably not representative of real world performance.
Always try and fix the code so there is only one path the code can take.
Or try and set up the test so all possible paths are taken in succession and then time the minimum time taken for everything and divide by the number of code paths tested.
If that's not possible you'll have to take the average, but note that in that case you're not really timing just your code anymore, you're also taking system overhead, HDD interruptions, and background processes into account.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged java c++ profiling execution timing or ask your own question.


Why is BareVM interesting? Python is a powerful programming language - sometimes too powerful. In particular, when implementing a virtual machine, Python makes the task relatively easy. Its powerful object system with duck typing, reflection capabilities and built-in garbage collection is something most Python programmers take for granted.
And yet, most real-world VMs are implemented in C or C++, since a VM is one of those programs which are never fast enough. Compared to Python, these are low-level languages requiring much more of the implementation to be explicit. BareVM was created as an exercise in VM implementation in a low-level language. As such, it has some interesting features that the Python implementation lacks. For example, since Scheme is a garbage-collected language, BareVM implements a mark & sweep GC for Scheme objects. The Python implementation doesn't need this implementation detail since it can rely on the underlying Python interpreter to perform GC.


In my downtime as a currently unemployed person, I've been taking the opportunity to catch up on some leisurely reading. One of the books I'm reading now is "David and Goliath" by journalist Malcolm Gladwell. It raises some interesting points about how people who we would normally view as "disadvantaged" can become successful because of their perceived disadvantage. Take the old Biblical story about David and Goliath. Even if you're not a Christian or a religious person in general you're probably still familiar with the story of how the small underdog (David) was able to kill the huge and powerful warrior (Goliath) with a single stone from his sling shot. However, Gladwell posits that upon closer inspection we shouldn't be so surprised that little David won the fight. In fact, when you look at how the battle went down, David should have won. Consider the following: Goliath was a huge infantryman wearing heavy armor and armed with weapons (sword, javelin, etc.) that were designed for close combat. He expected that the battle between himself and whoever the Israelites put up against him would be fought hand-to-hand up close. In that day and age, that the prevailing view on how armies could settle their battles was two-fold: either (A) the entire army could fight against the other entire army; or (B) each camp could chose their best warrior to do up close and personal hand-to-hand combat with the warrior from the other camp. But that's not exactly what Goliath got. David did not think like Goliath. In fact, David, an Israelite, did not even think like his own fellow Israelites; they offered to give David the same armor and weapons that Goliath had, but he turned them down because he was too small to be weighed by all of it. David was a small shepherd boy who could sling small stones from far distances, so that is how he approached this challenge. Any other approach to him would have seemed foreign. But because the Philistines and Israelites were used to seeing two big guys slug it out, everybody viewed David's size, lack of hand-to-hand weapons and lack of armor as major disadvantages. As it turns out, however, those three things were actually advantages in this scenario.
Advantage #1: Because David was small, he fought from a distance -- not up close where Goliath was expecting.
Advantage #2: Because David was not relying on a sword, he used the sling shot which allowed him to hit Goliath in the head from a safe distance.
Advantage #3: Because David was not carrying any heavy armor, he was able to run quickly after knocking Goliath down, pick up Goliath's sword and chop of his head all before Goliath had a chance to figure out what the heck just happened.
In other words, a "disadvantage" or an "advantage" really depends on your perspective. Moreover, sometimes when life throws us a disadvantage, that disadvantage causes us to take different paths towards our goals that most other people don't have to take which, interestingly enough, can cause us to become more successful than most other people. Stated differently, when you are forced to do things the hard way then you tend to become even better at what you do than the rest of the people around you who were able to do things the easy way. In support of this proposition, Gladwell offers the fact that over a third of the most successful Fortune 500 CEO's and start-up entrepreneurs out there have dyslexia. Dyslexia is, of course, a reading disorder that makes it more difficult for people to read and write. However, what Gladwell found was that because people with dyslexia have to try even harder at every day life than those of us who don't have dsylexia, it causes them to become very successful in other critical areas that can lead to business/financial success such as listening, memorizing and thinking quickly on your feet.
I'd be interested to hear what folks think about this concept.
Can you recall achieving a milestone in your life that is usually difficult for others but that came easier for you because of a disadvantage that you have been forced to deal with?


How do I mass add or delete programs or locations from Memberships?
Each Membership has Programs attached to them. There are times when a gym starts or ends a Program that they want to add to or subtract from existing Memberships. Wodify has a mass add/remove feature to make administration of this task easy.
There are also some instances in which some gyms have multiple locations within their Wodify environment. With the Location access feature, Admins have the ability to limit access to specific locations based on the athletes' memberships. For this reason, Wodify has a mass add/remove locations feature to make the administration of this task easy as well.


Save the date — Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are getting hitched on May 19.
Kensington Palace announced the date for the royal wedding Friday, after having earlier revealed the spring nuptials will take place in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
The prince and Markle announced their engagement on Nov. 27 after an 18-month romance.
The 33-year-old prince, who is fifth in line to the British throne, and the 36-year-old American actress met through a mutual friend in 2016 and managed to keep their relationship secret from the media for several months.
The wedding date presents a potential conflict for Prince William, however.
William is president of the English Football Association, and May 19 is the date of the FA Cup final, one of the biggest English soccer games of the year. William attended this year's match and presented a trophy to the winner, Arsenal.
Harry's communications secretary, Jason Knauf, said last month that the wedding "will be a moment of fun and joy that will reflect the characters of the bride and groom."
The image-conscious royals also made clear in a statement that the royal family, not British taxpayers, will foot the bill for what is expected to be a grand extravaganza. The family will pay for the church service, the music, the flowers, the decorations and the reception that follows.
Harry's press team is keeping some details private for the moment.
It's not clear who will be Harry's best man, though older brother William would seem to be a strong contender.
Knauf also would not say whether Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will preside over the service. And as for what titles will be given to Harry and Markle, that will be decided by the queen and revealed at a later date.
The palace also earlier said that 36-year-old Markle will comply with all immigration requirements and will become a British citizen, a process that may take several years, and will retain her U.S. citizenship throughout the process.
Asked about her religion, Knauf said Markle is a Protestant who will be baptized in the Church of England, which is headed by the queen in a largely ceremonial role.
Markle's personal belongings are being shipped from Canada, where she has lived for seven years while performing in the TV legal drama "Suits," to Nottingham Cottage, where she and Harry will live. The cottage is located on the grounds of Kensington Palace in central London.
She has already brought one of her two rescue pups, Guy, but the other — Bogart — is being left behind and will reside permanently with "good friends," Knauf said.
The union of the 33-year-old prince and Markle, an accomplished TV actress in her own right, represents a blending of Hollywood and royalty that is expected to draw an international audience — officials said it is a safe assumption that the service will be televised.
Markle's divorced status would once have barred her from marrying the prince in church. Harry's father Prince Charles, who is heir to the British throne, married his wife Camilla in a low-key civil ceremony in 2005 because both bride and groom were divorced.
Camilla has said she is "delighted" her stepson is marrying the U.S. actress.
In another break from tradition, Harry's fiancee is set to join the royal family for Christmas at Sandringham, a sprawling estate in Norfolk, 110 miles north of London.
The royals usually exchange gifts on Christmas Eve and attend a church service at St. Mary Magadalene Church on Christmas Day before enjoying a gala lunch and, sometimes, a walk in the woods.
Kate Middleton was not invited to the estate during her engagement to Prince William.


After examining a brief article about survival adaptations, readers identify the main idea of the passage and list two supporting details.
In this writing worksheet, students discover the importance of the setting of a story. Students read 3 passages which tell story settings and complete 4 questions about them.
In this vocabulary test activity, students respond to 25 multiple choice and matching questions regarding the vocabulary used The Diary of Anne Frank.
Students dicsuss importance of neatness in cursive writing. They work with a partner practicing cursive writing. They write and answer questions using cursive writing skills.
In this online interactive Superfudge worksheet, learners respond to 13 multiple choice reading comprehension questions regarding the Judy Blume book.


What is it they say about history repeating as farce? CNN reports a Utah Republican Party convention today denied Mitt Romney the coronation he wanted and so he's going to have to run for the Senate in a primary in June against a guy named Kennedy, only this is Utah we're talking about, so we doubt the Mittster's going to run as the best friend the gays could ever want.
Oh, Mitt, what are we going to do with you?
AP reports Romney's thinking about running for president again.
Sometimes, Boston's cab drivers are telling the truth; the credit card machines don't work - and it's not their fault.
According to (Boston's own) Charles Pierce of Esquire, the Romney for President campaign shut off staffers' credit cards in the middle of the night on Tuesday, leaving the Boston crew scrambling for money.
During the final presidential debate, Romney boasted that MA is a leader in education and number one in the country.
MR. ROMNEY: — just about education, because I’m — I’m so proud of the state that I had the chance to be governor of. We have, every two years, tests that look at how well our kids are doing. Fourth graders and eighth graders are tested in English and math. While I was governor, I was proud that our fourth graders came out number one of all 50 states in English and then also in math, and our eighth graders number one in English and also in math — first time one state had been number one in all four measures."
It is true that MA is the birthplace of public education, something Romney would gladly claim if he could. Our schools also receive one of the highest rates of funding from the federal government and spends more per student than other states. As such, our schools were number one before Mitt and after. One of the main reasons for MA’s success was its investment in early chilhood education, which Romney cut as soon as he became Governor.
In addition, something that Mitt did not claim but happened on his watch was the Unz initiative, which made bilingual education illegal and widened the opportunity Gap.
When Romney got his binder full of women (and why he had nothing to do with it).
Want Governor Romney back? We didn't think so.
Voters in Massachusetts know better than anyone else what a Romney presidency would look like—and we need to let the rest of the country know how terrible it would be.
That's why we're joining with other Massachusetts progressive groups TODAY for a rally to show that Romney was a failure as governor and we certainly don't want him in charge of the country.
Can you join us THIS MORNING at 11:15 on the steps of the State House on Beacon Street to stand up and say that Mitt Romney was wrong for Massachusetts and he is wrong for America?
Mitt v. Mitt, The story of two men trapped in one body.
As Mitt Romney has taken to the national public stage as a contender for the Republican presidential nomination, Deval Patrick's administration has been asked many times to provide e-mails from Romney's time as governor. The catch: they can't find any to hand out.
Romney's enforcers took no guff this morning.
Then a 14 year old teenager, Lisa Allen came forward Wednesday to tell her side of the story when Republican candidate for US Congress former police officer Sgt Jeff Perry, failed to protect Ms. Allen from Officer Scott Flanagan who performed an illegal strip-search of her. Police officers are entrusted to, and take an oath to, serve and protect. Ms. Allen said Officer Perry protected Officer Flanagan but not her. Ms Allen went further and said Perry "should not be in a position of power."
Guy who's supposedly a rap star (Ed. note: What the hell do I know?) reveals he was the guy in the tete-a-Mitt on that plane, and says Romney grabbed him first.
Guy objected to Mitt telling him to put his seat upright for takeoff. In economy. No, it wasn't Kevin Smith.
No, not Bill Weld, silly. Mitt Romney, who, you may recall, sold his Belmont house awhile back.
... [T]he next time Mitt Romney runs for president, he should be asked over and over again from Keene to Laconia why he wanted to impose a Massachusetts sales tax on New Hampshire businesses.


The recent stabbing to death of Jamal Mahmoud, a prisoner at HMP Pentonville, shone a light into a dark world.
At our annual prison governors’ conference in Derby earlier this month, we took the unprecedented step of voting unanimously for an independent public inquiry into the extraordinary rise in violence and deaths in prisons since 2012, the year the Ministry of Justice cut budgets by 15.6%. This call was tragically prophetic because six days later, Mahmoud was killed.
Our condolences go to Mahmoud’s family and friends, but our thoughts are also with the staff involved. Most people do not appreciate how dedicated and professional most prison workers are, or what a devastating impact this incident will have on their morale.
For many prison governors involved in these types of incidents, it is the start of a long process of external scrutiny that will put them under intense, personal pressure over many months, if not years.
Should we have seen this coming? In short: yes.
In October 2015, I wrote that plans from the then justice secretary Michael Gove for rehabilitating prisoners through education was not a panacea while prisons continued to be starved of resources. Prisoners are not likely to focus on education if they are more concerned about being mugged on the way to the classroom.
This May, I wrote in response to Gove’s address to prison governors, where he stated just how terrible the figures for deaths in custody and violence are, (for example, there were 100 self-inflicted deaths in custody, up from 79 the year before) and said that only when prisons are places of calm stability would we be able to make the difference we need to. Our association would agree, but every key indicator tells us that prisons are anything but calm places and the future looks very bleak.
In July, Mahmoud was sentenced to six-and-a-half years for his part in hiding a loaded machine gun and ammunition in a garden in north London and was already serving a five-and-a-half year term for robbery.
If, as Gove stated, the principal purpose of prison is rehabilitation, Mahmoud was an example of someone we desperately needed to rehabilitate. But that cannot be achieved when violence and intimidation are a normal part of prison life.
In May, Gove called for prison governors to lead with “moral purpose not manuals and rulebooks”. While recognising the economic climate, we in the Prison Governors Association (PGA) urge the government to do the same. Investing in prisons will mean fewer victims of violence, as well as long-term economic savings.
Liz Truss, the current justice secretary, told the PGA that safety is at the top of her agenda and we believe her. However, this needs to be backed up with more than the £14m she promised earlier this month, which will only pay for 400 extra officers in just 10 prisons.
Eoin McLennan-Murray, a former president of the PGA, said in February 2014 that staff shortages and increasing numbers of incidents were creating a “perfect storm” that would destabilise prisons.
That storm has arrived. It’s about time the government listened to the concerns that prison governors have raised. Ministers cannot declare that governors should be empowered to lead our prisons but then fail to respond when they identify significant flaws. If there is still a reluctance to listen to the plethora of warnings governors are giving, then ministers must take notice of the hard statistics.


Sure, it would be nice to not have to chase down a cart, especially for store employees. But these self-driving carts could hold so much more power. Consider this: if shopping carts drove themselves, could they also control the pace of entire experience? Would they be able to force shoppers to peruse for just one more second, potentially enough time to inspire an impulse purchase and get one more item in the basket? Could it be integrated into a retailer app where the cart could see a shopping list and determine the most efficient way around the store, leaving the shopper to simply follow and pull brands from the shelf?
The potential for a technological innovation that does enhance the shopper experience is there. However, many shoppers may be concerned about self-driving carts as it takes one more thing out of their control.


Why do people do such dumb things? In today's dumb thing, these kids decide to use the wheel of a gasoline-powered scooter to spin up a small merry-go-round at a park. Oh, don't worry, they have helmets on so everything should be fine. NO. Everything is NOT fine. This is why we can't have nice things.
Of course, these people aren't the first (or sadly the last) to try this stunt. It rarely ends well.
Yes, the "m" is the mass of the object and the "a" is the acceleration. But what about the arrows over the F and the a? The arrow means that those quantities are vectors. Both acceleration and force have directions as well as magnitude. Pushing with a force of 1 Newton (the unit of force) to the left is different from pushing with 1 N to the right. But if the object is accelerating (also a vector), there must be a force.
You know I like to include some type of demonstration to support physics stuff. In this case, I want to show the difference in circular forces for the case where a person is farther from the center of rotation. I have this spinning platform (it's very useful). On the platform I have two masses that are attached with rubber bands—one close to the center and one farther away. For a rubber band, the greater the force the more it stretches. So, the mass that stretches more has a greater force.
Here's what that looks like (I have a top-mounted camera that rotates with the platform).
In case it's not clear that the outer mass has a greater stretch, I measured it for you. The inner rubber band is 8 cm long (stretched) and the outer one is 13 cm.
So, what about this silly merry-go-round? How difficult would it be to hold onto this thing and not fly off? I'll start with some estimations. Let's say the human has a mass of 75 kilograms and starts at a distance of 15 centimeters from the center of the merry-go-round.
You might think I could just use this to calculate the acceleration and then calculate the force. Yes, I can and indeed I will do just that. However, there is a problem—humans take up space. That means that this dude is not moving in a circle with a radius of 15 cm. Well, PART of him is doing that but other parts of his body have a smaller radius of motion. So, for calculating the acceleration which radius should I use? It's a complicated question (one that I will answer in the future), but as a rough approximation I will just use the 15 cm.
The acceleration of this dude would be 9.1 m/s2 requiring a force of 684 Newtons. This is a significant force—especially if you compare it to the dude's weight of 735 Newtons. It's like he is hanging from a pole in order to stay close to the center of the circle. But if he falters, just a little bit, bad things will happen. If his radius increases by just 5 cm, the required force jumps up to 912 Newtons. Next thing you know, he is flying off the merry-go-round and he's not so merry.


What do Illinois governor candidates say about legalizing pot?
(AP) — Illinois may have a new medical marijuana law on the books, and two other states may have approved the drug's recreational use, but the candidates for Illinois governor this year don't support legalizing it outright in their state.
Their positions on whether Illinois should extend its four-year medical cannabis pilot project are not so clear-cut, however, according to the candidates' answers to a campaign questionnaire sent to them by The Associated Press. Most Republicans said it was too early to decide, but a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor who suffers from multiple sclerosis said it should continue, as did a Democratic challenger to Gov. Pat Quinn.
The question of further legalization could arise on the 2014 campaign trail as sick Illinois patients start getting access to marijuana. Political experts say medical marijuana hasn't been a strictly partisan issue and there are other signs that Illinois could be willing to address full legalization, including Chicago loosening its punishment for those caught with pot.
"This is going to be a one-step-at-a-time issue," said Alan Gitelson, a Loyola University political science professor.
Quinn, who's seeking re-election, signed a law in August legalizing the use of medical marijuana on a trial basis for severely ill people. State officials must issue regulations before anyone can sign up, though.
Quinn, who didn't respond to the candidate questionnaire, explained at the signing that he liked the law's tight regulations and was moved to support it by testimony from a sick veteran. When asked about the issue Friday, he said only that the rule-making process will take time.
"I have a whole team looking at our law," he told AP after an event in Chicago. "It's going to take a little bit of time."
Quinn's office said Friday that he doesn't support legalization of marijuana for recreational use.
All other candidates for governor and lieutenant governor told AP that legalized recreational use of marijuana shouldn't be allowed.
Bruce Rauner and state Treasurer Dan Rutherford, both Republicans, simply wrote "No" when asked, "Should marijuana be legalized generally?"
Republican state Sens. Bill Brady and Kirk Dillard, who both voted against the medical marijuana legislation, explained themselves a little more. Dillard said he listens to law enforcement on the issue; a sheriff's association opposed the medical marijuana bill over concerns of motorists driving under the influence of marijuana.
Brady said the medical marijuana bill opens the door to legalization of recreational use.
"I am opposed to the general legalization of marijuana or any other controlled substances, which are currently subject to regulation and governance by the federal government," Brady said.
Rauner, a suburban venture capitalist, said he wouldn't push extending the four-year pilot program. But his candidate for lieutenant governor, Evelyn Sanguinetti, disagreed.
The Wheaton City Council member suffers from multiple sclerosis, an illness that she said she manages with daily medication.
"While marijuana does not provide a cure for those dealing with debilitating and terminal conditions, it has been known to provide relief to those dealing with the painful symptoms," Sanguinetti wrote in her questionnaire. "I'm okay with allowing them to continue to do so within the existing restrictions."
Rutherford said it's premature to consider an extension.
"We must remain cognizant of the fact that marijuana is illegal at the federal level, and this law was implemented over the objections of much of Illinois law enforcement," he said. "Illinois businesses will also be attempting to reconcile their drug policies with medical marijuana legalization."
Quinn's lone Democratic primary challenger, suburban Chicago activist Tio Hardiman, said he was also opposed to fully legalizing marijuana but approved of extending the pilot program.
In 2012, Chicago's City Council approved an ordinance allowing police to ticket people found with small amounts of marijuana instead of arresting them. Roughly a year later, the new medical marijuana measure was signed into law. It says only patients with serious illnesses or diseases will be allowed to obtain medical marijuana. The bill lists dozens of illnesses, such as cancer, muscular dystrophy and lupus. The patients must have established relationships with a doctor and will be limited to 2.5 ounces every two weeks.
Currently, 20 states and Washington, D.C., allow medical marijuana. Colorado and Washington state recently approved recreational marijuana use, the first two to do so.


LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Todd Pletcher told the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's stewards on Thursday that Stanford has been withdrawn from Saturday's Kentucky Derby, a Churchill Downs spokesman said. Pletcher said the colt will await the Peter Pan Stakes on May 9 at Belmont Park or the Preakness Stakes on May 16.
The scratch allows long shot Frammento, trained by two-time Derby winner Nick Zito, to draw into the field. Frammento will start from post 20, and each horse that was drawn outside of Stanford (post 11) will move one spot closer to the rail.
What's in a name? In horse racing, usually some creativity. Here are the back stories behind the names of some of Saturday's Derby runners.
Ahmed Zayat, a native of Egypt, bred and owns American Pharoah, sired by Pioneerof the Nile. Zayat also owns El Kabeir ("the boss") and Mr. Z, named for himself.
Soccer fan Kaleem Shah owns Dortmund, named for a team in Germany's Bundesliga.
WinStar Farm co-owns Carpe Diem, Latin for "Seize the day." CEO Elliott Walden said WinStar "reserved the name waiting to give it to a good horse. We paid $1.6 million for him, so we hoped he'd be one."
Philip Birsh, publisher of the theater program Playbill, owns Tencendur. The son of Warrior's Reward is named for King Charlemagne's war horse in "The Song of Roland," an 11th-century French epic poem.
War Story's mother is Belle Watling, a character in the Civil War novel "Gone With the Wind."
Long shot El Kabeir is the second Derby entry for Syosset native and resident John Terranova II, who finished 19th in 2013 with Falling Sky. The trainer has a long connection with Bob Baffert, who often boards his horses in Terranova's barn when they ship from California to New York.
Baffert returned the favor this week, putting up El Kabeir in his Barn 33, also home of favorite American Pharoah and second choice Dortmund. The excitement and crowds surrounding Baffert's stars is new to El Kabeir, but he's familiar with Churchill Downs, where he won a stakes last fall under three-time Derby winner Calvin Borel.
"I don't think he's going to worry about any of the stuff going on," Terranova said. "He's gotten over the track, so there are no concerns there."Borel is back on El Kabeir after C.C. Lopez won two stakes on him at Aqueduct. Lopez picked up the mount before the Jan. 3 Jerome Stakes because Borel was attending his sister-in-law's funeral. Lopez never has ridden in the Derby, so after El Kabeir ran third in the Wood Memorial, Zayat and Terranova went back to Borel.
"You come to Churchill, you think 'Calvin Borel,'" Terranova said. "C.C. did a wonderful job this winter. We felt given Calvin's success and history at this racetrack, we'd go back to where we started."


Are there any yarn shops along the camino frances in which to buy yarn and needles?
In Saint Jean Pied de Port at 9 rue de l'Eglise is the shop Au Fil de Laure which has sewing and kniting supplies, ie notions in English ( la mercerie, in French).
For similar shops in Spain Google the term la merceria with the town name of each stop. For example Pamplona merceria.
Happy stitching and Buen camino!
I'd looked up and written myself a list of likely yarn shops through Burgos and then in Madrid. That I forgot at home...Got fooled at least 3 times when stores were using yarn as decorations in their store windows and they didn't sell anything that had to do with fiber arts.
Also got fooled in Madrid when a store's window display was a bunch of the most beautiful artist's paint brushes (spied it while on my city walking tour and marked on my map where it was). When I got back to it last minute before heading out to my airport hotel, instead of being a high quality art supply store it ended up being, well, a big disappointment - mostly craft supplies and kid's stuff.
wow, they wouldn't sell the Katia yarn! I want to knit along my trek, but want to carry on my bag...so can't pack knitting needles...perhaps a crochet hook?
I've knit on planes for years and years using both wood and stainless steel circular needles and have never been challenged (before or after the advent of TSA). I pack nail clippers instead of scissors. On my camino I limited myself to knitting socks since it was just 100gr of sock yarn and the needles.
I've had no problems travelling by air with knitting needles in my carry-on - both DPNs and Round. Round needles are very handy because you can tuck them in your pocket (yarn and all) when necessary.
I travel between Spain and the UK very regularly, almost always with knitting needles in my carry on, and have never had a problem. I have never been inclined to bring them on Camino though - I suppose I am usually too busy writing my blog.
I found sock yarn and bamboo dpns in Tiger shop in Burgos so got cracking in some socks! I am now in SdC and on Rua Nova there are two yarn shops! I spied some women lacemaking in one of them last night!
I just love it that there are kindred spirits on every possible subject on this blog. Hubby suggested I might want to buy a special yarn on our trek from May-June as a special way to remember our Camino...great idea, but how do I find one? Here on Ivar's site, of course. Thanks everyone!
I could have written that very comment!!
I've bought yarn in Santiago and Madrid and made a blanket to remember each of our caminos. I'll upload pictures when I can use the computer.
If I purchased enough yarn for a blanket, it might displace my sleeping bag! I am thinking more like a lacy shawl, but not certain yet. I did have my needles confiscated once- on a short flight from London to Rome several years ago, but only the one time.
Would love to see pix of your Camino projects.
Wow, I am not that good but I agree my knitting calms me and seems to invite smiles and conversations with strangers.
Nothing more relaxing than a Yarn shop.
This blanket celebrated our 1,500km of walking ups and downs - each set of three stripes was based on a photo we had taken along the way. When I purchased the cotton in Santiago they gave me a voucher to get 30 euros off my next purchase. So we returned the next day and one of my daughters chose colours she loved and I made her a little flower lap blanket - finished it just before we touched down in NZ!
I'm not a bright colours person, so these have been a real departure from my preferred palette, but at the same time they have been a lot of fun to design and make. I'd like to do a coastal camino to have an excuse to do blue ripples! And another Portuguese to do blue and white motifs. I still have to do an autumnal blanket for our first September camino, but I just can't bring myself to play with brown and orange yet!
Oh my, those are indeed huge projects! Much more yarn than I could ever carry in my backpack. I don't crochet, just knitting for me, but I was thinking more along the lines of knitting a little each day, so would have to be smaller, perhaps lacy. I guess when I think of Spain I think of mantilla's, so a lacy shawl or wrap of some sort, to remember my walk and where I knit it.
I suspect many towns will have specific knitting shops. Attached is a photo of one in Arzua. "China" stores will have an entire section of knitting supplies. They have become ubiquitous.
Oh my, those are indeed huge projects! Much more yarn than I could ever carry in my backpack.
But I did manage to squish all that wool into our carry-on backpacks to get it home.


❶The tone of academic writing can also vary significantly depending on the subject-area and the academic discipline you are writing for.
In written text, however, the intended meaning is quite often not evident to the reader, because there are e. It is a good idea to read over anything you write, searching for this sort of word. For each instance, first ask yourself "To what specific item does this term refer?
For such a reference to make sense, the object, person, or concept must have been explicitly mentioned just prior to your reference. Often you will find that "it" or "they" refers to something vague that was not even discussed explicitly in your paper, in which case you should reword your text entirely.
Even if the item to which you refer is explicitly mentioned in your paper, ask yourself whether there is any chance that the reader might not know to which of several items you might be referring. If so then state the actual name of each; "he" would be ambiguous. Often an ambiguous "this" or "these" can be disambiguated by adding a noun that specifies precisely the type of object or concept to which you are referring.
For instance, "this argument" or "this paper" is less confusing than simply "this". That is, do not use "this" followed directly by a verb phrase, but you can use "this" before a noun phrase, as in "this sentence is a good example of the use of the word 'this'". Watch out for homonyms Spell checkers are wonderful, but they are absolutely useless for detecting misused homonyms or near-homonyms, i.
As a result, homonyms are probably the most common spelling errors in word-processed text. Even if you are lazy and let the spell checker fix all of your other words, make certain that you know the differences between words like: Yet because the spell checker takes care of all the other words you may misspell, learning to use these few words correctly is surely not much of a burden, and is crucial for convincing your readers that you are competent and trustworthy.
Avoid "comprise" Apparently the word " comprise " has now been used incorrectly so many times to mean " compose " that this usage is now becoming acceptable. But it is much safer simply to avoid "comprise" altogether, as anyone who does know what it started out meaning will be annoyed when you use it to mean "compose". If you take a grammatically correct sentence containing "but" and replace it with "however", or vice versa, the result will almost always be incorrect, mainly because of comma punctuation.
However, I do not like tangerines. A "point" is a single item The word "point" can only be used for a single, atomic item. Thus it is not appropriate to discuss a "sub-point", "part of a point", the "first half" of a point, etc. Instead use "topic" or "section", etc. Use "a study" or just "research", never "a research". Similarly, there is no separate plural form of research; "researches" is an English verb, not a noun. Avoid capitalization When in doubt, use lower case.
Capitalization is appropriate only for specific, named, individual items or people. For example, capitalize school subjects only when you are referring to a specific course at a specific school: Department of Computer Sciences vs.
When in doubt, use lower case. Avoid contractions Contractions are appropriate only for conversational use and for informal writing, never for technical or formal writing. Hyphenate phrases only when otherwise ambiguous In English phrases groups of several words forming a unit , hyphens are used to group pairs of words when the meaning might otherwise be ambiguous.
That is, they act like the parentheses in a mathematical expression. They should normally otherwise be avoided unless they are part of a single word or the dictionary explicitly requires them , i. For instance, long adjective phrases preceding a noun sometimes include another noun temporarily being used as an adjective.
Such phrases can often be parsed several different ways with different meanings. For example, the phrase "English language learners" as written means "language learners from England", because, by default, "language" modifies "learners", and "English" modifies "language learners". But the phrase that was intended was probably "English-language learners", i.
Note that there would never be a hyphen if the same phrase were used after the noun it modifies, because in that case there would be absolutely no chance of ambiguity: Note that hyphens are used only in adjective phrases; they are not needed after an adverb and are therefore incorrect. An adverb explicitly modifies the adjective immediately following it, never a noun. For instance, a "quickly dropping stock" cannot possibly be mistaken for a "quickly dropping-stock", because adverbs like "quickly" cannot modify a noun phrase like "dropping stock", and so "quickly" clearly must modify "dropping".
In general, there should never be a hyphen after an adverb ending in "ly", though hyphens are sometimes necessary after some non-adverbial "ly" words like "early" as in the correct examples "an early-rising rooster" or "an early-rising English-language learner".
You may want to search through your finished document for "ly-"; nearly all examples of those three characters in a row will be mistakes. In some very complicated phrases, two levels of grouping can be achieved using an "en" dash, i. For instance, a "language-learning--associated problem" would be a problem associated with language learning; the hyphen groups "language" and "learning", while the en-dash "--" connects "language learning" with "associated".
Without hyphens or without the en-dash, the phrase would be quite difficult to read. But in such cases it is often clearer just to reword the sentence to avoid the ambiguity, as in "a problem associated with language learning". In cases where the word grouping is quite obvious because the pair of words are so often used together, the hyphen can be omitted even when it would strictly be required to avoid ambiguity.
For instance "chocolate chip cookies" is unlikely to be misread as "chocolate chip-cookies", despite that being the literal interpretation, and so the hyphen can usually be omitted from "chocolate-chip cookies". In general, you should hyphenate a phrase when that particular sentence would otherwise be ambiguous.
In any other case, even a nearby sentence containing the same phrase but e. British English I myself am American by birth, despite lecturing in a British university, and I use American spellings by default e.
Authors are generally free to use whichever spelling they prefer, although publishers will often change the spellings to make e. Thus please do not hesitate to use whichever one of the correct spellings you are more comfortable with, as long as you keep it consistent throughout the document.
Additional guidelines specific to academic writing Academic writing includes texts like original research papers, research proposals, and literature reviews, whether published or not. Formatting and grammar rules When in doubt about grammar or page format, researchers in psychology and computer science generally follow the APA style guide ; biological fields use similar standards.
Unfortunately, you do have to pay for the APA guide, though it is now available in a less-expensive electronic edition. Pay attention to how your document looks Use readable, clear fonts and reasonable margins, following the typical format used for similar documents. If your word processor cannot make the spacing regular between words e. Poor spacing makes the page look jumbled and seem incoherent, even if the writing is not. Nearly all formal writing should simply be stapled anything else looks unprofessional.
For instance, using a fancy cover and binding for a short paper or report is distracting and makes it difficult to photocopy the paper; such binding is necessary only for long papers that a staple would have trouble keeping together. At the opposite extreme, it should be obvious that folding one corner is not an acceptable substitute for a staple.
Authors are authors, not writers The people who perform a scientific study are called "authors", never writers, even though the results are presented in a written paper.
Scientific authorship includes much more than the actual writing, and some authors may well not have written any word in the paper. Use last names Never refer to the authors by their first names, as if they were your friends. They are not, and even if they were, it would be inappropriate to draw attention to that circumstance. Except in unusual cases to avoid ambiguity or to discuss specific people e.
Author names are keys -- spell them properly In academic writing, an author's last name is like the key in a database lookup -- if the name is misspelled e. Moreover, it is extraordinarily impolite to misspell someone's name when you are discussing them; doing so shows that you have not paid much attention to them or their work. So you should make a special effort to spell author names correctly, double and triple checking them against the original source, and ensuring that you spell them the same way each time.
Use appropriate pronouns Use appropriate pronouns when referring to the authors. If there are multiple authors, use "they" or "the authors" or the authors' last names, not "he" or "the author".
If there is only one author and you can determine the gender with great confidence, you may use "he" or "she"; otherwise use "the author" or the author's last name. Referring to other texts Use double quotes around the title of an article when you refer to it in the text. Italics are reserved for books or other works of similar length. Avoid underlining altogether underlining is just a way of indicating that handwritten or typewritten text should be typeset in italics, and is thus inappropriate when italics are available as they are on any modern word processor.
Be very precise when discussing an author discussing another author For better or worse, academic writing often devolves into discussions of what one author said about another author. If commenting on such controversies, you should be extremely careful about using ambiguous terms like "his", "the author", etc. Very often your reader will have no idea which of the various authors you are referring to, even though it may be clear to you.
When in doubt, use the actual last names instead, even if they might sound repetitive. Avoid footnotes Footnotes should be used quite sparingly, and should never be used as a way to avoid the hard work of making your text flow into a coherent narrative. Only when something genuinely cannot be made to fit into the main flow of the text, yet is somehow still so important that it must be mentioned, does it go into a footnote.
Avoid direct quotes In scientific as opposed to literary or historical writing, direct quotes should be used only when the precise wording of the original sentences is important, e. In nearly every other case, paraphrasing is more appropriate, because it lets you formulate the idea in the terms suitable for your particular paper, focusing on the underlying issue rather than the way one author expressed it.
Be careful with arguments about grammar If you are going to criticize the grammar or spelling of an author in writing, you should be extraordinarily careful to verify that you are correct. Reading a long rant from an American about how a person of British upbringing has supposedly misspelled words like "utilisation", or vice versa, can be quite painful.
There is no need to mention explicitly reading the paper A lot of students use phrases like "while reading this paper, I Try to avoid this redundancy.
If you use the word "author" you need not also use "paper", and vice versa. Similarly, it is clear that whatever you discovered about the paper, you discovered while reading the paper; we do not need to be reminded of this. Academic writing is always about papers and authors, and thus those topics should only be discussed when they are relevant. Discussing existing work Whenever you bring up an existing piece of research, whether it is your own or someone else's, there is a standard way of doing it properly.
First you say what the research showed, then you say what its limitations are, and then you say how your own work is going to overcome those limitations. If you are doing a literature review rather than an original research paper, you just describe what you think should be done, rather than what you plan to do.
Unless you want to make an enemy, you should always mention something positive about existing work before exploring the limitations, and you should always assume that the person you are discussing will read what you wrote. Of course, sometimes there is a good reason to make an enemy, e. Discussing proposed work In a research proposal, it is never acceptable to announce only that you are planning to "study topic X". In the context of research, studying is a vague and unbounded task, with no criterion for success and no way to tell if you are getting anywhere.
Studying is something you do in a course, where someone can tell you what to focus on and can test you to see if you got the right answer; research is not like that.
In research, you need to spell out the specific questions you are going to try to answer, the specific phenomena that need explanations, and so on -- it's up to you to define the question and the methods, and until you've done so, it's not research, just idle speculation.
The reader is more likely to assume that you have been sloppy about your literature review than to assume you knew about the work but believed it not to be relevant.
Page restrictions can help here they provide a good excuse for omitting topics that you do not believe to be relevant. In a longer article or thesis without page limits you have no choice but to address the issue and explicitly state why the topic is not relevant despite the common belief that it is. Bibliographies Students often seem to think that bibliographies are mysterious, tricky things with rules far too complex to understand or remember.
Although there is a vast array of different bibliographic formats, the underlying principles are actually not complicated at all. Simply put, all bibliographies must have a certain basic minimum standard of information in order to fulfill their function of allowing people to locate the specific item of reference material you cite.
In particular, every bibliography entry needs an author, date, and title, every journal article absolutely must have a volume and page numbers, and every conference paper must have the title of the conference proceedings, the page numbers, and some indication of who published it. Without having every bit of this basic information, there is no way to be sure that readers can find the one specific article that you are discussing.
Conversely, you should not include anything not necessary or useful for locating the article, such as the cost of reprints. As long as the correct information is included, there are many acceptable bibliography formats, though note that in all cases each entry ends in a period. Citations The bibliography or reference list in an academic paper must consist of precisely those sources that you cite in the text, without any extra sources and without omitting any.
Each citation must provide enough information for the reader to find the correct source in the bibliography; beyond that, any number of citation formats will do unless there is some specific standard you are told to follow. One common approach is to use author-date citations like " Smith, Wu, and Tong ", but other approaches such as numbering the bibliography entries and then using bracketed or superscript numbers are also fine.
If using numeric citations with brackets, note that there must always be a space before the first bracket, as in " If using author-date citations, you must remember that any item in parentheses does not exist , as far as the grammar of the sentence is concerned, and thus it cannot be used as part of the sentence.
Thus the rule is simply to put the parentheses around the part that would be acceptable to omit when reading aloud, as in "Carlin showed that It is usually best to have only a single level of parentheses, because multiple parentheses start to distract from the main text.
Thus I would prefer "has been established but for a counterexample see Johnson, " to "has been established but for a counterexample see Johnson ". Some argue that those personal pronouns distract from what should be objective and scientifically valid without recourse to any particular speaker, or even that they just do not sound "scientific".
Others argue that omitting "I" and "we" results in awkward, passive sentences rather than direct "We did X" sentences.
Personally, I believe that academic writing should use personal pronouns whenever what is being reported was an arbitrary and specific choice made by a human being, or for opinions or personal judgment, precisely because these pronouns emphasize that a human was involved in the work.
When reporting universal scientific facts or observations, I would not use personal pronouns, because any reasonable observer would have reported similar results and thus there is no need to emphasize the role of the authors. Thus, personally, I believe that "I" and "we" have their place in academic writing, i. My personal quirks Please note that I happen to disagree with a few of the rules commonly accepted for English text, and in the text on this page I happily use my own rules instead.
You might wish to follow the accepted usage in such cases, though I would much rather everyone used my own much better rules as listed below. If you do agree to join my one-man campaign to fix the English language, I cannot accept any responsibility for points deducted by less enlightened folks.
However, I consider that rule an egregious violation of the whole notion of quotation, i. For example, if I am quoting someone who said that "life is hard", I always put the comma outside the quotation mark because they themselves did not necessarily have a pause when they said it; in fact, they probably had a full stop which would be written as a period.
Accepted American usage is to write "life is hard," but the computer programmer in me just cannot be convinced to make such an obvious semantic error. Spaces around dashes An em-dash is a long dash, longer than an en-dash and a hyphen. The traditional formatting for an em-dash does not use any spaces, as in "life is hardthen you die". Writing is a skill that is required in many contexts throughout life. However, academic writing has many of the things that personal writing does not have: Some kind of structure is required, such as a beginning, middle, and end.
This simple structure is typical of an essay format , as well as other assignment writing tasks, which may not have a clearly articulated structure. Typical university assignments follow a formal structure, which is often more formal than in personal writing.
A significant difference between academic writing and other writing genres is based on the citation and referencing of published authors. Like all varieties of writing, academic writing has its own tone, which dictates the choice of words and phrasing.
The tone of academic writing can also vary significantly depending on the subject-area and the academic discipline you are writing for. The readings, textbook, and study guide of your course show you what tone is expected in the paper, so study their style carefully. It is important to remember who you are writing for. Being conscious of academic tone suggests that you are aware of your audience and respect the formality normally associated with academic writing.
You should assume that your readers will be intelligent thinking people, but they may not be specifically informed of your topic. Do not presume that your reader knows all the terms and concepts associated with your work. In academic writing you should always follow rules of punctuation and grammar , especially as the end-user or consumer of your writing, unlike a friend, is likely to be very different from you and will not always know to what you are referring.
Hence, it is vital that you are clear. Punctuation and the conventions of grammar are universally known systems within English speaking cultures that maintain clarity and avoid ambiguity in expression.
RULES AND CONVENTIONS OF ACADEMIC WRITING The details in this hand-out are based on material first developed by Hazel Hall at .
It is commonly misconceived that academic writing is simply about presenting the topic-related data. It is important to understand that academic writing is different from non academic or commercial writing and has its own set of rules.
In academic writing, an author delivers a message, which is an argument based on the facts, to a reader. At the same time, the audience is clearly identified by the author. This type of assignment. Download the Writing Roundabout eBook to understand the challenges involved in planning, drafting, revising, and editing your academic writing. Citations As an academic writer, you must document all of the sources of information that you include in your papers, presentations, and any other projects.
General Rules of Academic Writing “The most common DRP mistakes” Grammar Do not use expletives in your DRP. Expletive examples include: "there is," "th. Persuasive writing is quite a high level of academic writing. It has much in common with analytical writing, but, at the same time, it has one significant difference. This is the appearance of your own ideas.


International Elections: Fijian elections-a lesson in poor ballot design?
Fijian elections-a lesson in poor ballot design?
Fiji's elections happened yesterday, and at the moment, the party of current leader Frank Bainimarama (I hope that's correct) is leading by a wide margin, with 60% of the vote.
These elections are historic for Fiji. They are the first elections where all Fijians will be voting in the same constituency, with no racially-divided electoral boundaries. They are also the first elections of any sort since 2006; Fiji has been ruled by a military dictatorship since that year.
In order to hold a race-blind election, a new electoral system was introduced for Fiji's 50 member House of Representatives. The system is open-list proportional representation with the D'Hondt method and a 5% threshold.
Under the open-list system, voters vote for a party and for a candidate within that party. This creates problems with ballot design, especially in systems with high magnitude, as a large amount of candidates must be listed on the ballot.
Different countries have different ways of solving this problem. In Belgium and the Netherlands, all candidates of all parties are listed on the ballot, which is easy to understand for voters, but also leads to large ballot papers. In Italy, voters must write the name of a candidate in a box next to the party that they are voting for, and in Latvia and Sweden voters choose a ballot (one for each party), mark or write a candidate on it, and place it in an envelope and in the ballot box.
Fiji has gone for a different approach, and it is one that is used by some other countries. In this system, each candidate is assigned a number. To vote for a candidate, you mark the box with that candidate's number in it.
Colombia and Finland use this system. However, Colombia's ballot paper shows party logos, and gives voters the right to cast a party vote. This means that voters who know none of the candidates can cast a 'party vote'.
Finland's system is similar to Fiji's, in that voters must write the registration number of a candidate in a circle, and candidate names are printed on posters. However, the Finnish have more experience both with voting and with voting with that particular system, while it is the first time for the Fijians in the latter respect.
Below, I have a photograph of the ballot paper for Fiji's last election in 2006.
The voting system used for this election was the Single Transferable Vote in single-member electorates. Voting for a party (placing a tick in a box) in the top section would count as a vote for that party's ticket, while voters voting in the bottom section had to number every box.
This ballot paper is much easier to understand. Parties would be able to use symbols to campaign, and elderly and first-time voters would have no trouble voting.
The new open-list ballot paper is much more confusing. Voters cannot see the candidate or party names on the ballot, meaning that they may vote for the wrong candidate. The small boxes may confuse elderly voters, or voters with poor eyesight.
The design does not appear to be done to benefit one party. Unless one particular group gets significant support from old voters, the ballot design flaws appear to be a product of an over-complicated electoral system and a lack of resources for the electoral authorities.


Deepika Padukone Turns Down Aamir Khan's Mahabharata?
Deepika Padukone, who will soon kick-start the shoot of her upcoming film, helmed by Meghna Gulzar has reportedly turned down Aamir Khan's offer to play the character of 'Draupadi' in Mahabharata. However, Deepika hasn't made any comment on Mahabharata yet.
On a related note, the scriptwriter Anjum Rajabali, who was looking forward to work with Aamir Khan for his next Salute, had revealed that the superstar was so 'consumed' by his mammoth project 'Mahabharata' that he could not do the film anymore.
Salute, which is reportedly now titled Saare Jaha Se Achcha, was earlier offered to Aamir but owing to his involvement in Mahabharata, he backed out! Salute, a biopic on astronaut Rakesh Sharma, will now feature Shahrukh Khan.
"I have been very excited about the project. Like Aamir, I have been a big fan of Rakesh and now he is a good friend also. Frankly speaking, I was very keen that Aamir do it and he, at that moment, had liked it," Anjum had told reporters.
"We had discussed it a lot. We had a lot of hopes for it but unfortunately (there was) the larger project of 'Mahabharata', which he was consumed by," he added.
Aamir, who was sitting right next to the writer was left startled with the revelation and he exclaimed, "Oh my god!" as the actor had previously remained mum about his exit from the project.
According to reports, Aamir will soon begin work on Mahabharata, being developed as a seven-part long web series. The actor will be flying to the USA to work on the script and other technicalities of the big budget epic.