Question: Explain how Lyft's carbon offset program works and how it is beneficial to the environment.

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 Explain how Lyft's carbon offset program works and how it is beneficial to the environment.

The company has committed to buying carbon offsets and RECs to create an entirely carbon-neutral rideshare service.
Lyft, the ride-hailing industry’s second-leading company announced last week an extension on the company’s carbon offset program that now makes their platform entirely carbon-neutral, soon to be entirely powered through renewable energy.
While Lyft already had a plan in place for the emissions of their vehicle fleet, the company is more than just cars, a sentiment that is shared in the latest step in it’s Green Cities Initiative. The company has now begun purchasing renewable energy directly from local power producers in San Fransisco, as well as purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) from locations across the country for areas where direct energy purchase isn’t yet available.
In a blog post, the company outlines that this move is to offset the power used by their offices, driver hubs and battery charging of Lyft drivers with electric vehicles. While the company has not set a timetable to when it will become 100% renewable-powered, it did reveal that they’ve been purchasing their RECs from wind, biomass and dairy digestion facilities in Maine, Colorado, Michigan and Georgia. As a California-based company, it’s likely that Lyft will add solar REC purchases to its renewable arsenal. However, the company has stated that their main goal is to purchase renewable energy directly from suppliers, rather than through RECs.
The expansion of the company’s carbon offset program makes Lyft one of the top-10 purchasers of carbon offsets in the world. What this means is that since the program’s inception this spring, over a million metric tons of carbon have been offset, enough to guarantee that every ride taken through to company is carbon-neutral.
A common argument against carbon offset programs is that they’re commonly used as a PR move by companies to get good press for environmental efforts, while not reducing overall carbon emissions. Addressing this criticism, Lyft is also establishing a bike and scooter sharing program, as well as expansion into large-scale ride-sharing by partnering with public transportation agencies.


Question: What did Antonio Latini do?

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 What did Antonio Latini do?

Antonio Latini (1642–1692) was a steward of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, cardinal-nephew of Pope Urban VIII in Rome and subsequently to Don Stefano Carillo Salcedo, first minister to the Spanish viceroy of Naples. Born in Collamato, now a "frazione" of the town of Fabriano, in the province of Ancona, his cookbook, "Lo scalco alla moderna" "the Modern Steward", (Naples, vol. I 1692, vol. II 1694), contains in its first volume the (surprisingly late) earliest surviving recipes for tomato sauce, though he did not suggest serving it over pasta. One of his tomato recipes is for sauce "alla spagnuola", "in the Spanish style". In his second volume Latini gives early recipes for "sorbetti".


Question: Name one type of business that an executive search firm might provide assistance to.

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 Name one type of business that an executive search firm might provide assistance to.

This is a list of executive search firms.


Question: What is the Khanate of Khalkhal?

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 What is the Khanate of Khalkhal?

Khalkhal Khanate was an 18th-19th century khanate based in Khalkhal. The khanate is known as one of the Khanates of the Caucasus. Khanate of Khalkhal was one of the khanates, located in historic Azerbaijan which became for more than hundred years semi-independent from the Iranian mothercountry.


Question: What steps should I take to apply for a job at The Cougar?

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 What steps should I take to apply for a job at The Cougar?

The application for editorial positions on The Cougar — writers, reporters, editors, photographers, bloggers and cartoonists – is accessed throughout our Get Involved page. Be sure to login through your AccessUH account and then search “The Cougar”. The application is found under the “Forms” tab on the top of the page.
All hiring decisions are made by the editor in chief or a section editor. For questions about working for The Cougar, call (713) 743-5360 or visit the newsroom in Rm. 221, Student Center North.
For information about job openings for advertising sales, business office and production/graphic design, please visit the Center for Student Media’s site at uh.edu/csm. These positions will be posted on the University Career Services JobBank website as needed.


Question: What is Kanamardi?

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 What is Kanamardi?

Kanamardi is a village in Lääneranna Parish, Pärnu County, in southwestern Estonia and has only 7 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2011).


Question: Can you explain what IT Baseline Protection is?

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 Can you explain what IT Baseline Protection is?

The IT Baseline Protection Catalogs, or IT-Grundschutz-Kataloge, ("IT Baseline Protection Manual" before 2005) are a collection of documents from the German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (BSI) that provide useful information for detecting weaknesses and combating attacks in the information technology (IT) environment (IT cluster). The collection encompasses over 3000 pages, including the introduction and catalogs. It serves as the basis for the IT baseline protection certification of an enterprise.
IT baseline protection (protection) encompasses standard security measures for typical IT systems, with normal protection needs.


Question: What was Southwood Camp? Respond in 10 words.

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 What was Southwood Camp? Respond in 10 words.

Southwood Camp was a military installation at Southwood in Hampshire.


Question: "Describe the case between Andrezj Sapkowski and CD Projekt Red."

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 "Describe the case between Andrezj Sapkowski and CD Projekt Red."

February 5, 2019 Witcher author Andrezj Sapkowski has reportedly settled with CD Projekt Red over a request for extra royalties.
According to Gamestar.de, Polish news site Puls Biznesu (full article behind a paywall) reported that the author has settled with the developer, but not for the full 60 million Zloty sum that was initially requested. We’ve reached out to CD Projekt Red to confirm these reports, and we’ll update this article when we have more information.
Sapkowski’s initial request was made in October. Last year, CD Projekt Red issued a statement saying that it had “received an official demand for payment filed by plenipotentiaries of Mr Andrezj Sapkowski.” The author expects royalties in addition to the deal he made to sell the rights to his novel series – he published eight books between 1992 and 2013 – to the developer in the early 2000s.
An English translation of a letter from Sapkowski’s lawyers claims that “the compensation remitted to the author is too low given the benefits obtained in association with the use of that author’s work.” Assuming a typical royalty rate of “approximately 5-15% of the profits generated”, Sapkowski’s lawyers are asking for 6% “of the profits obtained” from CDPR’s use of The Witcher. Based on a report from CDPR, Sapkowski’s lawyers estimate these profits are at least one billion Polish Zlotys, thus arriving at that 60,000,000 Zloty figure.
The legal basis for this rests largely on Article 44 of Poland’s Act on Copyright and Related Rights, which occurs in the event of gross discrepancy between an author’s remuneration and the benefits accrued by the licensee. Sapkowski’s lawyers say that’s what’s happened with The Witcher: “one might even say – egregiously so”, in their words. It would be for a judge to determine whether this applies, but it’s important to note that Sapkowski isn’t suing for breach of contract or anything similar.
This appears to cast aspersions on whether CDPR ever actually acquired copyright to the Witcher IP, and suggests that if it did so, it applies only to the first game, which came out in 2007. That would mean that both 2011’s The Witcher 2 and 2015’s The Witcher 3 (as well as the latter’s expansions) were “simply speaking, unlawful”.
Sapkowski admitted in a Eurogamer interview last year that he did agree that CD Projekt Red could make a Witcher game, and that the company offered him “a big bag of money,” to allow them to work with the IP. He says that he was initially offered royalties, but opted for a higher fee because he didn’t believe in, and couldn’t foresee, the games’ success.
In a statement issued in response, CDPR says that “in the Company’s opinion the demands expressed in the notice are groundless with regard to their merit as well as the stipulated amount.” The developer claims that it “had legitmately and legally acquired copyright” to multiple games within Sapkowski’s IP, that “all liabilities payable by the Company therewith have been properly discharged,” and that the series is the company’s own creation. You can read an English translation of CD Projekt Red’s statement here (including a translation of the letter from Sapkowski’s lawyers).
Given that CDPR isn’t budging, the case might now proceed to the courts, where it’s likely a judge will rule on Article 44. We’ve reached out to CD Projekt Red for further comment on this story, and will update as and when we learn more.


Question: Please provide instructions for making a vegan holiday tart.

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 Please provide instructions for making a vegan holiday tart.

This Mushroom-Sage-Hazelnut-Chickpea Tart is your vegan main dish for your holiday season dinner. Christmas-approved recipe. The number one question I have been getting lately is "Kathy! I really want an amazing vegan main dish for Christmas dinner, any ideas for me?" My usual answer is to refer you guys to my entrees section of my recipe index, or this holiday menu, or the holiday section of FindingVegan.com or other amazing recipes online. But this year, I have to suggest this recipe, I made it last week and after one bite I was swooning. With green veggies and red pepper on top, this Christmas-y recipe is your vegan main dish solution to holiday feasting!..
Holiday Tarts. I adore pot pies and tarts for main dish entrees. They are elegant, easy to serve and make-ahead approved! You can easily slice them like pies and serve to guests in an elegant way. I have long loved Dreena Burton's famous holiday chickpea tart. I send that link to friends and family all the time. So I decided I wanted to make my own amazing vegan tart-style main dish for the holidays. And boom, a new menu tradition was born.
The Flavors. Mushrooms. Sage. Rosemary. Citrus. Medjool dates. Chickpeas. Hazelnuts. Parsley and kale. Peppers. And savory nooch! This tart is ah-mazing. An overflow of flavor in each bite! Dive in this Christmas..
This festive and super-delicious vegan tart is perfect as a Christmas, Thanksgiving or any day main dish. Festive flavors of sage, rosemary, mushrooms, hazelnuts, dates and red peppers. Easy and amazing! Flavorful entree for everyone.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Pre-cook pie crust in 9" pie dish for about ten minutes in a 425 degree oven. Remove lightly browned pie crust from oven and set aside.
Start on your tart filling. Warm a skillet over high heat, add 2 tsp olive oil.
To the skillet, add mushrooms, onion, sage and rosemary. Saute until browned, about 3-5 minutes over high heat. Onions and mushrooms shoul lightly brown and reduce in size, greatly.
Fold the salt, black pepper, cayenne, nutritional yeast and parsley into the mushroom mixture. Turn off heat and set skillet aside.
Lightly toast the hazelnuts in a hot skillet for 2 minutes. Then, in a food processor or Vitamix, process the hazelnuts until they are coarsely chopped - pulse for about 5-10 seconds. Pour into a large mixing bowl. In the same blender, process the chickpeas until coarsely chopped - pulse about 5-7 seconds, you want a nutty and slightly "soft" texture. Pour beans into the same large mixing bowl with the hazelnuts.
Add the orange juice, veggie broth, dates, kale and corn meal to the large mixing bowl and fold the ingredients together. Add the mushroom skillet mixture to the chickpea-hazelnut mixture and fold everything together. Stir for about a minute.
Pour this filling into the pie crust and pat down to smooth tart. Add the red pepper over top. Optional: Drizzle some EVOO over top before placing in oven for extra rich tart! You can also grate some more orange zest right over top the tart.
Bake tart at 425 degrees for 22 minutes. This is for a moist texture. For a drier texture, bake for another 5-10 minutes. Allow tart to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving, it can cool for up to a half hour. Make Ahead: You can even make this tart ahead of time! Bake as above and store covered in fridge until needed - simply warm in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes to reheat. Or serve chilled.


Question: What is the latest information about the GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card?

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 What is the latest information about the GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card?

The GeForce RTX 2080 is a high-end graphics card from NVIDIA based on the Turing architecture and 12nm process technology set for release in 2018.
I’d be remiss if I did not mention that some of this information is preliminary and subject to change as more information is revealed and/or existing information is confirmed or debunked. This page will be kept up to date with the latest information available at any given time.
According to the latest leaks, rumors and information provided to wccftech the GeForce RTX 2080 is powered by a 104 class GPU, codenamed GT104. The GPU measures around ~400mm², features 3072 CUDA cores, a 256-bit GDDR6 memory interface and 8 to 16 gigabytes of 14Gbps GDDR6 memory. The graphics card is expected to have a core clock of around ~1.8GHz and a boost clock of around ~2GHz. The TDP of this graphics card is unconfirmed to date, but is expected to be somewhere between 170-200W.
Peak FP32 compute performance is expected to be around 12.2 TFLOPS, depending on how high of a clock speed the graphics card will be able to hit and how often. This puts in the same league of the existing GeForce GTX Titan Xp and GTX 1080 Ti. So you can expect around GTX Titan Xp performance or slightly better, but at significantly lower power consumption.
Pricing and the release date are the most fluid parts of a product launch, so this could definitely change. But, you can expect the GeForce RTX 2080 to be released in the summer. Current leaks and rumors point to a debut around the month of August.
[updated] Latest leaks & rumors indicate a launch date at Gamescom in late August, between the 21st and the 25th.
In terms of pricing, whispers say that NVIDIA is looking to charge more for the RTX 2080 as compared to the GTX 1080, with some sources quoted as saying to expect a price tag of around $699.


Question: Respond in 2 sentences. What can you tell me about antique woodworking tools?

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 Respond in 2 sentences. What can you tell me about antique woodworking tools?

Antique Woodworking Tools: Their Craftsmanship from Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century is David Russell's account of the history of woodworking tools illustrated profusely with items from his extensive collection of British, continental European and North American hand tools.
Planes are given special attention and British makers, among them Holtzapffel, Norris, Mathieson and Spiers, are discussed in depth.


Question: Describe Rama Navami.

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 Describe Rama Navami.

On Chaitra sukla navami the ninth day of the month of Chaitra according to Hindu calendar Rama who is seventh Avatar of Lord Vishnu. Years later Rama married to Sita on the same day. Lord Rama is the son of Dasharatha Maharaj and Queen Kausalya of Ayodhya. Lord Rama belonged to Suryavamsa or Raghuvamsa. It is believed that Lord Rama was born in Treta Yuga.
It is also celebrated for nine days from and ends up on the navami day as Rama Navami. This navratri is called as Vasanth Navratri. Rama is known as ‘Maryada Purushottam’ which means an ideal, righteous and a great or a perfect human being, being the best son, brother, husband and father.
In south India, devotees celebrate Rama Navami to by clean the house and decorate the pooja area with flowera, Prepare neivedhyam (Prasad), Offering Poojas and Chant Rama Mantra, also some recite the holy book Ramayana which tells about Lord Rama and his Life. In temples, people perform Kalyanotsavam (marriage celebration) of Lord Ram and Sita. Lot of devotees goes to temple to see the wedding of Rama Sita and to get blessings from Lord Rama on this auspicious day.
On the day of Ramanavami, People decorate their Pooja room with Lord Rama, His consort Goddess Sita, His brother Lakshmana and Hanuman statue or Pictures and performing pooja for Lord Rama. And they are offering fruits and flowers to Lord Rama. People are chanting Mantras of Rama and fasting on the entire day.
Rama Navami is the auspicious day of Lord Rama, Offering pooja on this day with full devotion, love towards Rama bestows his devotees with large-hearted, pure in spirit, good-natured, power and knowledge. Rama Navami fasting can destroy one’s sins and also shows the path to attain salvation.
Rama Navami Vrat (Fasting) starts from the previous nights of Navami and continues till navami day. After Puja and Homam performed for Lord Rama, one can complete is fasting by eating Prasad. There are different kinds of fasting, they are, Fasting until noon, fasting until midnight. Fasting for once during the noon, fasting for all the nine days starting from the chithra first. In that day thousands of devotees take a dip in Sarayu River and worship to Lord Rama.
Rama Homam is recommended to be performed on the auspicious day Rama Navami.
Nice Image. Very informative writing. Thanks to share it.


Question: Who was John Abramovic?

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 Who was John Abramovic?

John "Brooms" Abramovic Jr. (February 9, 1919 – June 9, 2000) was an American professional basketball player of Croatian origin who played in the Basketball Association of America (BAA).


Question: What are the best Halloween events in South Seattle?

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 What are the best Halloween events in South Seattle?

It’s here! Your ghoulish guide to celebrating the fall harvest and Halloween season right here in Seattle’s most vibrant community. From pumpkin carvings to haunted houses, tricks and treats to ghostly events and much more, this is how we get our thrills and chills in South Seattle!
It’s Board Game Night with a festive twist! Bring your Halloween costume and let the battles begin. Feel free to bring your favorite game(s), or play one of ours. Bonus points for board game related costumes. Hosted by the one and only Dre Anderson on Thur., Oct. 12. Beer, wine, our new Pumpkin Spice Mead, and food available for purchase!
Lakewood Seward Park Neighborhood Association is hosting Movie Night on Fri., Oct. 27, at the community club (4916 S Angeline) with “Harry Potter, Sorcerer’s Stone.” Doors open at 6:30 pm. Bring your refresments, we supply the popcorn. Costumes welcome!
Jefferson Community Center (3801 Beacon Ave S) will host its Halloween Carnival & Haunted House on Fri., Oct. 27, from 6-7:30 pm, with five game tickets for $1 and haunted house admission for $2.
4. Freaky Friday Rainbow Bingo!
Come join us as we get into the Halloween spirit! We will have costume contests with prizes, cookie decorating, arts and crafts, Toddler Gym, pumpkin painting, and more. Ages 1-5. Rainier Community Center (4600 38th Ave S); Sat., Oct. 28, 10 am to noon. FREE.
Join Mount Baker Cooperative Preschool and Friends of Bradner Gardens Park for a family fun Halloween Party and apple press on Sun., Oct. 29, from 2 to 4 pm. Come in costume and enjoy trinket trick or treating. Bring washed, tart apples to feed the apple press and a clean container to take home some juice. In addition to fresh juice and mini doughnuts, there will be a Dia de los Muertos display, photo booth, crafts and games for kids, and a bake sale by donation. Chinook books will be also be available for sale. All proceeds benefit the Mount Baker Preschool scholarship fund.
Earn your candy at the eighth annual Run Scared 5K, a Halloween fun run with proceeds benefiting The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Held at Seward Park on Sun., Oct. 29, at 9 am. Prizes for best costumes, top runners and tons of random door prizes. Walkers welcome, no time limit. Dogs on short leashes and strollers also welcome. Candy corn tasting bar and pumpkin bread at the finish line. Maybe even a few spooky surprises along the way!
Let the kids preview their Halloween Costumes by joining in the costume parade at Lakewood Seward Park Community Club’s Annual Ice Cream Social (4916 S Angeline St.) on Sun., Oct. 29, from 4 to 5:30 pm. Enjoy a scoop of Full Tilt Ice Cream (including a vegan option), scary music and a little too much candy. Party favors for the kids and lot’s of space to run around. Free for LSPCC Members and nominal donation requested for non-members.
Since the mid nineties, the Fright has been expanding by popular demand. It now consists of a backyard maze with live actors, props, attractions, tricks, treats, and the unexpected. Admission is free; donations welcome. All ages are welcome but parental supervision is recommended. Presenting Haunted Holidays on Tues., Oct. 31.
Ghosts, witches, and bats take to the skies at the Museum of Flight’s annual Halloween celebration on Sun., Oct. 29, from 10 am to 3 pm (9404 E. Marginal Way S.). Make your very own ghostly creature that floats through the air and have lots of spooky fun in the Museum’s galleries. Plus, get festive with ghost stories, monster bowling and spooky flight simulator rides. Cost: $5 to $10 (under 17 in costume free).
The biggest free Halloween event in the entire City of Seattle, Boo Bash at the Beach is a fun, safe Halloween Party and Trick-or-Treat event held in the well-lit, flat parking lot of Rainier Beach Safeway (9262 Rainier Ave. S.) with entertainment, magic, Thriller Dancing, and storytelling by award-winning local children’s author JL Cheatam. Open to all kids, and kids-at-heart! Tues., Oct. 31, from 4 to 7 pm; FREE.
Tues., Oct. 31, 4 to 6 pm. The kids crawl will take place along Rainier’s historic corridor. Look for orange and black balloons in front of participating businesses.
Join El Centro de la Raza’s 13th Annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Celebration on Thur., Nov. 2 (2524 16th Ave S.), featuring a free altar/ofrenda exhibit, community dinner and children’s activities from 5 pm to 8:30 pm. Free admission, dinner & limited street parking.
Check out our Facebook Events page for the most up-to-date list of events. Happy South Seattle Halloween!
Does your South Seattle business or organization have a fun Halloween event you’d like to share with the community? Add all the pertinent details to the comment section below and we just might add to our official guide!


Question: Describe XHJD-FM 98.9 MHz in Monterrey, Nuevo León. Respond in 5 sentences.

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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 Describe XHJD-FM 98.9 MHz in Monterrey, Nuevo León. Respond in 5 sentences.

XHJD-FM 98.9 MHz (known as D99) is a CHR radio station in Monterrey, Nuevo León. The station plays songs and some promotions in English with commercials in Spanish. It is also available through the second audio program of Multimedios Televisión over its Mexican/American cable feed, and locally on XHAW-TDT (though its American-acquired syndicated programming is excluded).
XHJD has always been part of Multimedios, receiving its concession in 1974 and named for Jesús D. González, founder of Multimedios. This station was known as "Energy 99" in the 1980s.


Question: Describe strategies for code review when unfamiliar with the code.

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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 Describe strategies for code review when unfamiliar with the code.

Code reviews are an important part of bringing people’s minds together to build working software. Not only do they allow one person’s experience and perspective to augment another’s blind spots, but they also aide in sharing information and building a more robust web of institutional knowledge.
Because of their importance and the difficulty in getting them right, much has been said about best practices for conducting code reviews. Some common advice is to take your time, not get caught up on style distinctions, ask lots of questions, break code into digestible chunks, and be empathetic to the author of the code being reviewed.
This advice (as well as following the example set by my peers) has helped me out a lot! Most of the time I feel pretty good about giving and receiving code review. However, there’s still a situation that comes up frequently enough that it causes me a good amount of doubt and stress - reviewing code that I don’t understand.
On one level, there are obvious answers to this problem. Code reviews are the perfect opportunity to ask questions, do deep dives into surrounding code, look at documentation, and work towards understand confusing code. And if you’re in a situation where taking the time to do this well isn’t worthwhile for your own knowledge or for the benefits to the reviewee, then there might be someone else who would be a better fit to provide the review.
Sometimes the reality of the situation is a bit messier than that. Perhaps the code being touched is an obscure corner of the codebase only maintained by a small group of people. The behavior in question might involve subtle distinctions and edge cases which require an understanding of the system you don’t have. Maybe you have a lot of trust of the author’s understanding, and it’s a fix that needs to go out as soon as possible. In an ideal world, it would be valuable to learn enough to confidently review the code on even footing, but it may not be the best use of your time in every situation.
This situation has been daunting to me in the past, but there are a few strategies that I try to use now to help me provide useful and timely review in situations where I don’t exactly know what’s going on.
Think about the scope of the diff, and hone in on the places that pose the highest risk to the wellbeing of your application and codebase. You may not be able to grok the entire changeset, but if you focus on the places that mutate important data, touch a critical path, or have had tricky bugs in the past, you may be able to use your energy more efficiently to double-check logic and help ship code that works, or at least breaks non-destructively. Code reviews are also a great place to discuss deployment plans and possible fallbacks.
Tests can be a great entry point to understanding a confusing changeset. They give you basic context for the assumptions of author, and if you think that the breadth and behavior of the tests is good, that can be enough to give you confidence in the code when you don’t understand every intermediary step.
If you’re not sure what direct questions to ask to understand the code better, try leaving comments as you work through the diff, expressing your tentative understanding of what’s going on. It’s helpful for your own comprehension, and if you’re wrong about an assumption in the system, that could be the key piece of information an author can provide you with to speed things along. These comments also help the author see the code from the perspective someone reading it in the future, which could lead to a different approach or to better variable names, comments, and documentation. Remember to also leave comments about the parts you weren’t able to parse! Being honest about what you don’t understand is a useful signal in itself.
Perhaps the implementation is over your head. You’re still able to manually verify the behavior in your development environment, and it feels good and matches your expectations as a user. This isn’t the same as providing feedback on the architecture or identifying subtle bugs, but it does help a lot more than a rubber stamp. Or maybe, the desired behavior is mysterious and domain-specific, but you can still read the code for its own intrinsic properties, and look for “classic” bugs. Complicated break conditions? Accidental mutations? Tricky standard library functions? Off by one errors? Null checking? String parsing with loosely defined inputs? … String parsing in general? All of these things can provide value, even when you’re reviewing code that does some kind of Gregorian space math you’ve never heard of.
Let’s talk about this more!
These approaches have helped me to both feel better about reviewing code I can’t wrap my head around, and to provide more helpful feedback than a rubber stamp and a division of guilt to my team-members. It’s still a skill that I’m working on, and I would love to hear other people’s perspectives and approaches to the situation, because I think that it’s a pretty common dilemma!
Thanks to Thais Laney and Veit Heller for suggestions and edits.


Question: Describe Waldzell. Respond briefly.

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 Describe Waldzell. Respond briefly.

Waldzell is a municipality in the district of Ried im Innkreis in the Austrian state of Upper Austria.


Question: Describe the game play and mechanics of Mega Man Zero 4.

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 Describe the game play and mechanics of Mega Man Zero 4.

The Mega Man series is one that has remained largely consistent. Even after splitting into the classic games and the X set of games, the basic mechanics had remained the same. You play as Mega Man/X, take on eight evil robots and steal their powers, and then take on the big bad. The differences were largely down to systems and themes. Until, of course, Mega Man Zero. Focusing on the Mega Man X supporting character Zero, it took place even further into the future of the Mega Man universe with an amnesiac Zero leading a resistance against the tyrannical Neo Arcadia. Unlike its predecessors, the Zero sub-series had a continuing arc that ran through the games, and one that was front and center. Starting with Zero on a quest for answers to his lost memories, and running through the third game which ended with Zero taking X’s place as the world’s protector and resolving the series arcs. However, money can be a powerful motivating factor. Capcom requested a fourth iteration of the series, leading to a strange situation where the story was essentially over, but the show must continue anyway.
Mega Man Zero 4 is, in most respects, similar to its predecessors. It’s still an intense side-scrolling game. Where both Mega Man Classic and Mega Man X are run-and-gun platformers, Zero is more oriented towards close quarters hack and slash combat with ranged combat running secondary. However, where the previous three Zero games had Zero carrying an arsenal of weapons, Zero 4 opts for something different entirely. While you start out with the Z-Saber and Buster Shot as in previous games, you’re also given the Z-Knuckle. The Z-Knuckle allows Zero to grip onto certain types of surfaces, but more importantly it allows Zero to duplicate weapons based on the type of (common) enemies destroyed with the Z-Knuckle. While the idea is interesting in theory, in execution it deadens the variety of the game. The main reason for this, is that the the Z-Knuckle’s stolen weapons tend to be limited use, and (quite frankly) they’re just not that interesting. With this series, it’s much more helpful to have one weapon you can rely on, as opposed to one that becomes a random set. It’s something with so much potential, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired — especially given the fast pace of the game.
Still, the other choices made by Inti Creates for the game are largely consistent with the rest of the series. The game retains most of the franchise’s previous hallmarks, like the EX Skills that Zero can acquire. However, the developers also changed other mechanics such as how armor parts are acquired. This time, our hero found recipes for the armor parts, as opposed to acquiring them by fighting enemies. This also applies to the Cyber-Elf system. Where in previous games the player would be able to acquire multiple Cyber-Elves, now you have one that fulfills the functions of those multiple Cyber-Elves (i.e. healing, attack power, avoiding traps, etc). For the most part it does streamline the mechanics of the game. And while the armor recipe is a neat way of asking you to do more beyond simply beating up bosses, the Cyber-Elf collectibles helped to make the Zero games interesting. It’s also just somewhat strange to make so late in the life of the series.
It’s also worth noting that while the Zero series did largely reuse assets between installments like any other Mega Man game, this was the game that had the best soundtrack. While most of the series did have a considerably strong soundtrack (especially for the standards of the GBA), this title in particular hits the ground running with strong themes. In a game like this, music really helps to sell Mega Man Zero 4‘s world. With a platformer like this, that’s especially important with boss music, and this game comes packing with some of my favorite boss themes in any game. It helps the series to go out on a high note (no pun intended).
Mega Man Zero 4 is by no means a bad game. The Zero games are remarkable, even by the standards of the Mega Man series proper. However, it’s hard not to get the feeling that the game was bolted on. While it’s good, it still feels somewhat tacked on to the series proper, and the experimentation (while appreciated) feels like a divergence from a series that up until then had a clear idea of what it was. While it’s good setup for the following series of games (I’m looking at you, Mega Man ZX), it doesn’t quite do justice to the Mega Man Zero series at its peak. That being said, a not-quite-there Mega Man Zero is still better than a good chunk of the GBA library.


Question: "Write an article discussing pinhole photography apps and how they have changed over the past year."

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 "Write an article discussing pinhole photography apps and how they have changed over the past year."

About this time last year we put together a piece showcasing a handful of the many apps that are available for pinholers with smartphones. So as things tend to go in cycles, we thought a year was a good time to look back and see how things may have changed.
One quick note before we discuss apps individually. The most common question regarding light meter apps I get is “Do they actually work?” After a few years of using apps for my own pinhole photography, I can confidently say “mostly, if used right…” First, they do work in general, and it makes sense that they would, as they’re just reading the exposure value that the device’s camera reads and converting it into an exposure value that would work for pinhole. Light, conveniently obeying physics, should have universal values. Where pinhole meter apps fall down is in tricky lighting situations, such as backlit translucent materials, or direct light reflections.
This brings me to my second point, about using light meter apps “correctly” – learn how to use the spot meter function correctly and always use it. The problem with apps as light meters is the pesky variable brightness of a smartphone screen. Without the spot meter function, you will invariably run into situations where an exposure on the app only looks right because of the auto brightening feature of the phone, but your exposure will come back dark. I’ve had entire rolls turn out thin because of this. Use the spot meter and measure an area in the scene that you want to come through as a middle value and expose for that. Or take it one step further and learn the zone system and use the app to grab your III and VII values (it can be done, I do it regularly).
If you’d like to really dive down the rabbit hole, I recommend this article by Ryan Walters – he uses the Pocket Light Meter app mentioned below, but the same principles apply to all smartphone meters. To get the most out of any light meter, smartphone or not, I recommend learning the Zone System. A quick Google will give you more links on it than you could read in a year – find the one that makes sense to you and check it out. Note that I said to “learn the Zone System” – while I personally apply the Zone System regularly, I think what’s more important than using it is understanding it because of what it teaches you about how light meters, exposure, and film latitude all play together.
Pinhole Master is the new kid on the block, having just made it’s V1 debut in the last few weeks. Like other light meter apps, the camera view dominates the app interface. Tap once on the screen and you get a spot meter, tap again to move it to another place in the view. The app includes heads up info on EI, EV, compensation, aperture, and film.
It’s not till you use Pinhole Master that it becomes clear what makes this app different – it’s strengths are in the experience. Instead of an aperture value and film speed, the app displays the camera and film name. If you have a repertoire of cameras and films that you cycle through, this is a nice double check while in the field. Additionally, EV readings are in tenths of a value, which is very useful when shadow values count. The timer is a nice big wheel, easier to read than count downs, and the log includes map and geotagging info. Film entry is a double edged sword: on the one hand there are no preconfigured reciprocity curves (but they might be coming soon), but on the other hand, reciprocity entry is done in an easy to understand way. Another very important feature is the ability to set sensor boundaries in the app settings. This is important so that if something wonky is happening with your camera, or the reading, the app tells you, rather than leading you astray. Finally, the app natively supports the Lumu incident light meter tool, which I haven’t tried personally, but have seen some very promising data on.
We reviewed Pinhole Assist (available on the app store) last year as the clear frontrunner in the dedicated pinhole app category. V4 of the app was just released earlier this month, and includes some very important updates. To me, an important update is the breakup of EV values into thirds – like we see in Pinhole Master, this important detailed info helps determine some borderline exposures. Pinhole Assist V4 now provides easy access to a number of predefined cameras in addition to it’s existing set of films and reciprocity curves. It’s a solid update to the heavyweight contender in the pinhole app marketplace.
Pocket Light Meter, while a solid app for the simple feature set it delivers, has not been updated since before last year’s article. It is available for both iOS (app store) and Android (Google Play). But it’s lack of updating isn’t a knock – Pocket Light Meter is there in absolute simplicity, ideally suited for those pinhole photographers that stick to one camera and one film.
Reciprocity Timer also has not been updated since before last year’s article, though I’m told by the developer that they hope to make an update in the near future. Reciprocity Timer’s strength is in it’s extensibility – from the films covered to built in filter compensation, it covers everything from the film side and is worth a look.
Massive Dev Chart (iOS, Android) made one small update this year since my article last year to add some more film and developer combinations. If you’re a film fanatic and want to develop your own film, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better app.


Question: Describe the increase in electric bike accidents in the Netherlands. Respond in 8 sentences.

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</answer>
 Describe the increase in electric bike accidents in the Netherlands. Respond in 8 sentences.

There has been a sharp rise in the number of accidents involving electric bikes in the first five months of this year, the AD said on Wednesday.
In total, people on e-bikes were involved in 341 accidents in the first part of 2018, a 26% rise on 2017, the paper said, quoting police and insurance company figures.
Since 2014, 102 e-bike users have died in traffic accidents, 23 of whom have died since the end of last September.
Last year more people were killed in bike accidents in the Netherlands than in accidents involving cars. Of the 613 people killed on the Dutch roads, 206 were on a bike and 201 in a car. A quarter of the dead cyclists were using an e-bike.
E-bike users are particularly prone to head, arm and leg injuries and their injuries are twice as likely to be serious than ordinary bike users, surgeon Jeroen Poos told the paper.
Sales of e-bikes have soared by 75% over the past seven years and one-third of all new bicycles are now powered by a battery.


Question: "What are the benefits of the BIKE DESK?"

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 "What are the benefits of the BIKE DESK?"

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Question: Analyze the themes in the article "Wendell Berry: A Yeoman Farmer and Voice for Rural America" by Anna Keating.

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 Analyze the themes in the article "Wendell Berry: A Yeoman Farmer and Voice for Rural America" by Anna Keating.

Still image from the film "Look and See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry".
We have largely forgotten a way of life in which Americans defined themselves by community, family, craft and religion. Few of us have known a poor man who owned his own tools for his trade or a working-class woman who ate from her own garden. We have forgotten what a craftsmanship of risk looks like. And yet as recently as my grandparents’ generation, half of Americans owned small businesses or lived off the land.
I was reminded of this watching Laura Dunn’s documentary, “Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry,” which brings its viewers into the landscape, both interior and exterior, of the author, farmer and environmental activist. One of Berry’s poems, “Sabbaths III (Santa Clara Valley),” had been the inspiration for Dunn’s 2007 film “Unforeseen,” and Berry appears twice in the film narrating his poem.
Berry is an advocate of small farms, rural communities and Judeo-Christian values like kindness.
Tanya Berry defends the everyday acts of handiwork that help us live as humans, rather than as machines. She describes a life well lived as itself a work of art. “Making biscuits can be art,” she says.
Though Berry is a Protestant, he embodies Catholic social teaching on economics. He is an advocate of well-distributed productive private property and believes that the small farmer who knows and loves his or her land will take the best care of it.
The film does not, however, vilify the hardworking farmers caught up in the agribusiness model. If anything, the viewer empathizes with them as they describe not being able to sleep at night, up to their ears in debt. What American cannot relate? Caught in a vicious cycle, they describe having to work longer and longer hours and lease more and more land to pay for their massive machines and industrial fertilizers, even as they watch their profit margins shrink and come to feel more like managers than farmers.
Though Berry is a Protestant, he embodies Catholic social teaching on economics.
And yet the film is hopeful, too, as it affirms that words and ideas matter and that it is possible to live a different way. One farmer who switched from growing tobacco for Philip Morris USA to growing organic row crops and running a community-supported agriculture farm ended up making more money in the end because of all the customers who were fans of Wendell Berry, an author the farmer had previously never heard of.
My husband and I own a small business, so I have a particular interest in Catholic social teaching and in distributist writers like G. K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day. Distributism is essentially the belief that productive private property should be well distributed rather than concentrated in a few hands or owned collectively. As Chesterton writes, the problem is not too many capitalists but too few. Societies are healthier when more people, so to speak, have skin in the game and when economics serve human relationships, not the other way around.
For Catholics, the family is the building block of society, and only if the cells are healthy will the organism flourish; thus the emphasis on family businesses and on working and living side by side. If we think of the work we spend the majority of our lives doing as merely a means to a wage, then we miss out on an important dimension of a fully human life: the need to make, to tend, to create, to foster relationships.
Distributist thinking seeks to unite what has been separated, labor and capital, through the ownership of small businesses and farms or through the ownership of tools and a trade or through participation in a guild, so that wealth is not consolidated in the hands of a few wealthy individuals (capitalism) or in the hands of the state (socialism). The life Berry has created and the views he espouses both are in line with this vision and can prove helpful to Catholics, serving as an antidote to the many ills of our time.
From a Catholic point of view, maximizing one’s profits can never be the only goal.
Despite his many awards and more than 40 published works, Wendell Berry is an author people either love or have never heard of. One of his primary subjects, the decimation (both social and environmental) of rural America, is not interesting, perhaps, to those who consider rural America “flyover country.” But now more than ever we need his prophetic voice to help us find our way back home.
Dear Ms. Keating, Thank you for your insightful and timely article on Wendell Berry. Among other things it brings to mind what the late Fr. Walter J. Ong had to say about the root meaning of the word "Catholic." It does not, as in modern popular usage, mean "universal." The Latin "universal" means "turning-as-one," and it implies something uniform and closed in on itself like a circle. The Greek rooted "catholic" is process oriented. It means "throughout-the-whole," like the leavening that results from kneading yeast into many kinds of dough. It implies growth, inclusiveness and particularity. As Andrew Greeley (and others) have pointed out, the Catholic imagination is not "either-or" but "both-and." The "and" suggests that there is "more" available to choose from than just "this" or "that." Your contrast between Berry's approach (not his uniquely) and the drive for the homogeneity of big industrial capitalism and big totalistic statism invites us to contemplate alternatives for breaking the political and social deadlocks that are characteristic of our times. Beautifully done!
This article also appeared in print, under the headline "Wendell Berry: a yeoman farmer and voice for rural America ," in the October 16, 2017 issue.
Anna Keating co-owns and lives above Keating Woodworks, a handmade furniture studio. She is a chaplain at Colorado College and the co-author of The Catholic Catalogue: A Field Guide to the Daily Acts that Make Up a Catholic Life (Penguin Random House).


Question: Explain the historical significance of détournement.

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 Explain the historical significance of détournement.

Détournement has a peculiar power which obviously stems from the double meaning, from the enrichment of most of the terms by the coexistence within them of their old and new senses. And it is very practical because it’s so easy to use and because of its inexhaustible potential for reuse. Concerning the negligible effort required for détournement, we have already noted that the cheapness of its products is the heavy artillery that breaks through all the Chinese walls of understanding (A Users Guide to Détournement, May 1956). But these points would not by themselves justify recourse to this method, which the same text describes as clashing head-on against all social and legal conventions. Détournement has a historical significance. What is it?
Thus the signature of the situationist movement, the sign of its presence and contestation within contemporary cultural reality (since we cannot represent any common style whatsoever), is first of all the use of détournement. Examples of our use of detourned expression include Jorns altered paintings; Debord and Jorns book Mémoires, composed entirely of prefabricated elements, in which the writing on each page runs in all directions and the reciprocal relations of the phrases are invariably uncompleted; Constants projects for detourned sculptures; and Debords detourned documentary film, On the Passage of a Few Persons Through a Rather Brief Unity of Time. At the stage of what the Users Guide calls ultra-détournement, that is, the tendencies for détournement to operate in everyday social life (e.g. passwords or the wearing of disguises, belonging to the sphere of play), we might mention, at different levels, Gallizios industrial painting; Wyckaerts orchestral project for assembly-line painting with a division of labor based on color; and numerous détournements of buildings that were at the origin of unitary urbanism. But we should also mention in this context the SIs very forms of organization and propaganda.
Le détournement comme négation et comme prélude originally appeared in Internationale Situationniste #3 (Paris, December 1959). This translation by Ken Knabb is from the Situationist International Anthology (Revised and Expanded Edition, 2006). No copyright.


Question: What was the 2003 tornado outbreak sequence?

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 What was the 2003 tornado outbreak sequence?

The Tornado outbreak sequence of May 2003 in the United States and Canada (Ontario) was a series of tornado outbreaks that occurred from May 3 to May 11, 2003. Tornadoes began occurring over the affected area on April 30, but the most prolific continuous period was the seven-day period of May 4–10. There were 401 tornado reports in 19 states and 1 Canadian province, 1,587 reports of large hail, and 740 reports of wind damage. More severe weather broke out this week alone than any other week in U.S. history. The old record for most tornado reports in one week was 171 during the week of the May 1995 tornado outbreak sequence (May 12 to May 18, 1995).


Question: What do you think of the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination?

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 What do you think of the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination?

Supreme Court–nominee Brett Kavanaugh repeatedly refused to answer basic questions from Senator Kamala Harris on whether the landmark Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, legalizing marriage equality throughout the United States, was decided correctly.
If you’re not sure how to feel about Kavanaugh, HRC released a comprehensive report on the threats he poses to LGBTQ people. This was followed by the release of videos featuring Lillian, a young transgender woman in Alaska, and Laura, a resident of Maine and mother of a transgender son, Jack; both videos focus on the threats to the safety and dignity of LGBTQ people by this nomination. HRC has also mobilized more than 20,000 calls to the Senate demanding Kavanaugh be held accountable on views regarding LGBTQ people.


Question: How can I get better at pull-ups?

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 How can I get better at pull-ups?

If you don’t have pull-ups yet, they can seem like the bane of your existence at the gym. Whenever pull-ups are part of the WOD at your local box, it can be disconcerting to have to go to the bands for assistance, especially when the person next to you seems to pump them out effortlessly.
Although there’s certainly no shame in using the bands to complete your workout, banded pull-ups are actually one of the LEAST effective methods to getting an unassisted pull-up.
Serious about getting those unassisted pull-ups? The first step is to ditch the bands. While it may be possible to progress to unassisted pull-ups just through band work, gradually switching them out for lesser resistance, it takes a long time and is the least effective method. The hardest part of a pull-up is at the bottom where bands give their helpful oomph to reach the top, and this means that your muscles are not being trained properly to meet your goal. Ditching the band doesn’t mean you’ll just be dangling from the bar during the next WOD. Ring rows will be your new go-to move during pull-up WODs until you’ve mastered the pull-up (we’ll get to ring rows in a moment but first there are some skill moves that help build grip and lat strength).
Okay, this one does have you dangling from the bar …but it’s on purpose and meant for building grip strength (not as part of a WOD). Incorporate a dead hang to part of your daily routine. The dead hang, or just gripping the bar and holding your body’s weight without making a single move (other than lifting your feet off the ground) is an often overlooked tool in improving grip strength. You see, pull-ups aren’t all about your back and arms; if you don’t have sufficient grip, you’ll be at a huge disadvantage not just in pull-ups but in tons of barbell, dumbbell, or kettle bell exercises as well.
Scapular pull-ups are a progression to the dead hang listed above. Scapular pull-ups will strengthen your grip but will also strengthen and activate your lats. Start by hanging from the bar, keeping your arms straight throughout the movement. Pull your shoulder blades down your back (again, arms should remain straight). This is an excellent way to learn how to initiate a strict pull-up with your lats and increase overall back strength.
The Negative Pullup is another great way to build the strength you need to perform strict unassisted pull-ups. Use a box (or chair/stool if at home) to help you get into the top position of a regular pull-up, lift your feet, and hold yourself there for as long as possible, then lower yourself down as slowly as you can. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t hold your body up long when you first start.
Eccentric work such as negative pull-ups can be very taxing on your muscles leaving you extra sore, so start this exercise slowly. Don’t combine eccentric pulling work with WODs involving similar movements. Also, experiment with different grips. Your negatives may not be pretty with your palms facing out like in a standard pull-up, but try negative chin-up (palms facing inwards) or a parallel (palms facing each other) grip as well.
Ring rows build strength in the back muscles and can be directly substituted for pull-ups during a WOD. While resistance can be easily varied changing your foot positioning, ring rows work your muscles through the full range of motion (unlike banded pull-ups, it’s not easier at the bottom of a ring row). Start with a foot position where you can perform 10 ring rows without stopping. Then, as you become stronger begin to move your body closer to parallel with the floor.
Once you have begun incorporating these skill movements into your routine, try to get one or more strict pull-ups at the end of each week. It may take several weeks depending on your strength level but as long as you are consistently performing the movements above you can rest assured that you are building the strength necessary to master the strict pull-up.
a.) The first and most obvious reason is that kipping is best taught in person by your certified coaches. There are many “moving parts” in a kipping pull-up and having someone there to critique your form is essential.
b.) Also, without first building up the strength necessary to perform at least one (but ideally five or more) strict pull-ups, kipping “can” put you at a higher risk for shoulder injury. Kipping involves momentum generated by an explosive hip extension. Strength developed by mastering the strict pull-up will not only make kipping easier, it will also make it safer by allowing you to control the motion and momentum generated by your hips.
So, let’s work on those strict pull-ups! Try the techniques above and see how many unbroken, strict pull-ups you can do after 6 weeks.


Question: What's the latest on the PBE?

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 What's the latest on the PBE?

Surrender at 20: 4/20 PBE Update: New Anivia Icons, OfA Testing, and more!
4/20 PBE Update: New Anivia Icons, OfA Testing, and more!
The PBE has been updated! Following the MASSIVE 4/19 update, today's update includes new icons for Anivia, One for All: SR returning for rotating game mode testing, additional balance changes, and more!
In addition to the other sets in the 4/19 update, we also have a new set of Anivia ability icons!
"Getting in to a rhythm with these game modes now. :) Next up for PBE testing is One For All: SR!
Here's a short video showing off Zyra's gameplay updates in-game now that her skins have been fixed and everything is available for testing on the PBE. See this post for more details.
Miasma (W) cloud duration increased to 5 seconds from 4 seconds.
[Augment] REMOVED No longer reduces explosion damage by 60% against targets damaged by Death Ray.
Rite of the Arcane (R) now zooms out slightly while firing.


Question: This answer could be the response to an instruction to explain the causes behind why boys are having difficulty in school.

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 This answer could be the response to an instruction to explain the causes behind why boys are having difficulty in school.

"Men seem to be becoming less male," Tucker Carlson said. "Something ominous is happening[.] ... Men are taught there is something wrong with them. We took a close look at the numbers, and we found them so shocking that we're devoting the month of March to a special series on men in America."
Carlson concluded, "You'll be stunned by the scope of the crisis. We were. It's a largely ignored disaster. It affects every person in America."
He noted, for example: "Men account for 77 percent of the nation's suicides, they are more than twice as likely to become alcoholics, they are more likely to die of an overdose than women, and 90 percent of inmates are men."
So what are the causes? Eighteen years ago, Christina Hoff Sommers published The War on Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men. Sommers concluded, "It's a bad time to be a boy in America. Boys are less likely than girls to go to college or do their homework. They're more likely to cheat on tests, wind up in detention, or drop out[.]" In short, Sommers found the causes in feminist theory and, more surprisingly, inside the nation's classrooms.
The dirty big secret here is that our public schools don't announce social engineering; they simply do it, especially with regard to altering how children view themselves. Public schools suppress boys and uplift girls in many furtive ways. This manipulation has been hugely successful: 57% of college students are female; 43% are male. More women stay in college and earn advanced degree. Women wear business suits, and men drive pickup trucks. Culturally similar men and women who used to marry each other are now separated by class differences!
The question still haunts us: how exactly are America's social engineers able to win this war for females?
[A] host of cross-cultural studies show that females ... are more apt to plan ahead, set academic goals, and put effort into achieving those goals. They also are more likely than boys to feel intrinsically satisfied with the whole enterprise of organizing their work, and more invested in impressing themselves and their teachers with their efforts[.] ... On the whole, boys approach schoolwork differently. They are more performance-oriented. Studying for and taking tests taps into their competitive instincts. For many boys, tests are quests that get their hearts pounding.
David Sortino, a teacher, argues on his blog: "[G]irls work best when sitting in a circle facing each other and find it more comfortable to learn in a group setting. Instead, boys often excel in a traditional class structure with desks lined in rows, which could support their more competitive energies and attention getting behaviors.
"Girls respond to stress as a threat, which drives blood to the gut rather than to the brain, placing them in a fight or flight persona. However, for boys, it's the opposite. They love to take risks and almost always overestimate their abilities."
QED: There are big, very real differences. We should wonder if these differences are artificially induced and then exaggerated. Oh, so that's why some schools have all students sitting around tables – because it's good for girls...?
"First," according to the OECD study, "girls read more than boys. Reading proficiency is the basis upon which all other learning is built. When boys don't do well at reading, their performance in other school subjects suffers too."
One statistical site states that "[w]omen are more likely to develop solid reading skills. Around 38% of men report reading at the lowest proficiency levels, compared to 33% for women."
Girls, as noted, feel more comfortable in a group setting. They want the whole group to move along harmoniously; they want their teacher to be successful. The result is that they are more patient and long-suffering with dumb curricula and wrongly trained teachers. Boys, on the other hand, are not so patient. If there is a skill or a task, boys want to do well quickly. Fair enough. But what if the curriculum is inherently stupid and impossible to master? Boys at some point will declare, I can't do this. I don't want to do this. I'm walking away.
But the paradigm of stupid instruction remains Whole Word. That's where the student has to memorize the English language one word at a time. The famous Dr. Samuel Orton, a neurologist, did a study in 1926-28 and declared that this method doesn't work...and, in addition, it will damage every child it touches. He was exactly correct, and the Education Establishment knows it. What do we see in the schools of America? Millions of semi-literate children with messed up minds.
StatisticBrain claims that 32 million Americans "can't read." Tens of millions more read marginally. This is a vast national tragedy. Ask yourself, why is this tolerated? Perhaps because it makes the population easier to control. Perhaps because it enables the stratification of the sexes.
You want to fix it? Fix reading. I think the smarter people understand this. But the Education Establishment won't let go because this particular stupid curriculum is the foundation for making women more successful and making men less successful.
But what if today's classroom and curriculum structure catered (however unintentionally) to one gender more than the other? Many researchers say this is now the case, with boys facing an upward struggle from primary school on. For many boys, co-educational public schools can be uncomfortable, unfriendly, unproductive places. Teaching styles and disciplinary habits are often not suited to the average boy[.] ... In learning environments biased against their strengths, boys may become turned off or frustrated and may attempt to have their needs met by seeking negative attention. This rebellion completes the circle of failure ... with many boys labelled as troublemakers or diagnosed with hyperactivity.
Bruce Deitrick Price's new book is Saving K-12. He deconstructs educational theories and methods on Improve-Education.org. Support his work on Patreon.