# article

date: 24 Oct 2019
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  1. A no-deal Brexit will harm UK.

  ANSWER

  1. F

text:
  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks towards a voting station during the Brexit referendum in Britain, June 23, 2016. (Photo: EPA-EFE)

  LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday he will likely ask Parliament to approve an election as part of an effort to break a Brexit deadlock.

  It is not clear if the vote, which Johnson wants to hold on Dec. 12, will take place as opposition lawmakers must also back the move.

  They are expected to vote on the measure on Monday. 

  Johnson's announcement comes ahead of an expected decision Friday from the European Union over whether to delay Britain's exit from the bloc for three months. 

  Britain's leader has been steadfastly opposed to any extension to the nation's scheduled Oct. 31 departure date from the EU, although in a letter to the leader of the opposition Labour Party this week he said he would accept a short technical postponement, "say to 15 or 30 November," to allow lawmakers to implement an EU withdrawal bill. 

  Johnson's decision to offer to call an election follows lawmakers' rejection of his plan to rush through an EU exit bill that runs to hundreds of pages in just three days. They want more time to scrutinize the legislation and to make sure it does not leave the door open to a possible "no-deal" Brexit during future exit negotiations with the EU that will run through next year. A "no-deal" Brexit could dramatically harm Britain's economy. 

  The prime minister was forced to ask for an extension to Britain's EU departure date after Britain's Parliament passed a law to ward off the threat of a "no-deal" Brexit.

  Johnson has repeatedly pledged to finalize the first stage, a transition deal, of Britain's EU divorce battle by Oct. 31. A second stage will involve negotiating its future relationship with the EU on trade, security and other salient issues.

source:
  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/10/24/brexit-boris-johnson-eu-extension-withdrawal-deal/4084970002/


source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-cabinet-meeting-15/
date: 21 Oct 2019
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  1. Who did Trump ask to do the honors?

text:
  Thank you very much.  We have a Cabinet meeting.  We’ll have a few questions after grace.  And, if you would, Ben, please do the honors.

  THE PRESIDENT:  All right, thank you, Ben.  That was a great job.  Appreciate it.

  The economy is doing fantastically well.  It’s getting very close to another record.  We’ve had many records since we won office.  We’re getting very close to another record.  I don’t know if anybody saw it: The household median income for eight years of President Bush, it rose $400.  For eight years of President Obama, it rose $975.  And for two and half years of President Trump — they have it down as two and a half years — it rose $5,000, not including $2,000 for taxes.  So it rose, let’s say, $7,000.  So in two and a half years, we’re up $7,000, compared to $1,000, compared to $400.  And that’s for eight years and eight years.

  That’s a number that just came out, but that’s a number that I don’t know how there could be any dispute or any — I’ve never heard a number like that, meaning the economy is doing fantastically well.

  We need — for our farmers, our manufacturers, for, frankly, unions and non-unions, we need USMCA to be voted on.  If it’s voted on, it’ll pass.  It’s up to Nancy Pelosi to put it up.  If she puts it up, it’s going to pass.  It’s going to be very bipartisan.  It’s something that’s very much needed.  It’ll be hundreds of thousands of jobs.


date: 21 Oct 2019
level: 3
question:
  ANSWER

  1. Washington D.C.

text:
  And to all the extraordinary leaders and innovators gathered here from all across America and all around the world — men and women who are share — who share our vision for human exploration, for American and worldwide innovation, carrying us back to the vast expanse of space: It is my great honor to welcome all of you to this incredible gathering, celebrating the power of the past and the promise of the future, the Opening Ceremony of the 70th International Astronautical Congress.  Welcome to Washington, D.C.  (Applause.)

source:
  https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-vice-president-pence-2019-international-astronautical-congress-opening-ceremony/


source: Liana Mahoney
date: 27 Oct 2019
level: 2
text:
  Hitchhikers in the Bathroom

  Imagine this. You step up to the sink, wet your toothbrush, and
  begin cleaning your pearly whites. Out of the corner of your eye,
  you see something moving on the wall.  Suddenly, you realize
  you’re not alone in the bathroom. Your heart pounding, you turn
  toward the tiny intruder to get a better look.

  You’re horrified to see that it has eight legs, and a pair of
  oversized pincers on its front end. Is it some kind of miniature
  octopus, or a bizarre crab? Is it going to sting you?

  Actually, it’s a bug, and it’s no more harmful to you than a
  housefly. This tiny bathroom bug is called a
  pseudoscorpion (SOO-doh- SCOR-pee-uhn). But don’t be fooled by
  its name. It’s not really a scorpion; it’s just a relative. The
  pseudoscorpion is a kind of arachnid (uh-RAK-nid), which means it
  is closely related to spiders, scorpions, and mites. Like
  scorpions, pseudoscorpions have a segmented body and two enormous
  pincers. But pseudoscorpions lack the curved stinger that all
  true scorpions have.

  Pseudoscorpions usually live outside in mulch, under tree bark,
  and in leaf litter.  So how do they end up in the bathroom?  They
  use those pincer- like claws to hitch a ride on other bugs, such
  as flies and beetles. When these insects come in, so do the
  pseudoscorpions - attached to their legs!

  These tiny arachnids prefer moist places.  Since the bathroom
  tends to be humid after bathing and showering, it’s a likely
  place to find them. But they are easily overlooked.  Most
  pseudoscorpions are only about two to eight millimeters long.

  Pseudoscorpions don’t bite or sting humans, and they can even be
  helpful. These bugs feed on common household pests, such as
  carpet beetle larvae, ants, mites, and small flies. Welcoming
  this hitchhiker into your home may mean there are fewer household
  pests to “bug” you!

question:
  QUESTION

  1. If you wanted to find a  pseudoscorpion outdoors, where would you look?

  2. How can pseudoscorpions be helpful to humans?

  ANSWER

  None provided.


source: https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/25/pentagon-microsoft-cloud-trump-058083
date: 27 Oct 2019
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  ANSWER

text:
  Pentagon taps Microsoft for $10B cloud contract after Trump's slams on Amazon

  The Pentagon on Friday chose Microsoft over Amazon to provide
  cloud computing services potentially worth $10 billion after
  President Donald Trump and members of Congress complained the
  competition was stacked in Amazon's favor.

  The decision on the lucrative contract — which is likely to
  remain a flash point if the loser protests the decision with the
  government or considers mounting a legal battle — comes just days
  after Defense Secretary Mark Esper recused himself from the
  decision-making process because his son works for one of the
  previous competitors.

  "The acquisition process was conducted in accordance with
  applicable laws and regulations. The process cleared reviews by
  the GAO and Court of Federal Claims," the Pentagon said in a
  statement Friday night announcing the award. "All offerors were
  treated fairly and evaluated consistently with the solicitation's
  stated evaluation criteria. Prior to the award, the department
  conferred with the DOD Inspector General, which informed the
  decision to proceed."

  Amazon said it was "surprised" by the decision, but declined to
  say if it would be filing a protest.

  "[Amazon Web Services] is the clear leader in cloud computing,
  and a detailed assessment purely on the comparative offerings
  clearly lead to a different conclusion," a spokesperson for the
  company said in a statement. "We remain deeply committed to
  continuing to innovate for the new digital battlefield where
  security, efficiency, resiliency, and scalability of resources
  can be the difference between success and failure.”

  Microsoft did not immediately have a statement to provide.

  It's unclear what impact President Donald Trump's criticism of
  Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos had on the final contract
  decision. Trump allegedly told former Defense Secretary Jim
  Mattis that he wanted to "screw" Amazon by denying them the
  contract, according to a book by former Mattis aide Guy Snodgrass
  that is set to be released next week.

  Whether Amazon protests will depend on what the company hears
  when it receives a briefing from the Pentagon on the agency's
  decision making on why it selected Microsoft, according to Andrew
  Hunter, a former Defense Department acquisition aide and current
  senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International
  Studies.

  "If it wasn’t close, then Amazon may not protest. If it was
  close, I think they are pretty likely to protest given all the
  unusual activity on this procurement," Hunter told POLITICO. "My
  guess is that this competition came down to price."

  The winner-take-all project is intended to establish a common
  computing and data storage system that will allow the military to
  achieve some of its most advanced technology objectives,
  including integrating onto the battlefield more artificial
  intelligence capabilities, which require massive amounts of
  processing power and storage that are provided by a sophisticated
  cloud. The program will also allow for secure information sharing
  across the Defense Department, so warfighting intelligence can be
  seamless shared among different platforms like drones, aircraft
  or ships.

  The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure program, better known
  as JEDI, could be extended for 10 years and be worth up to $10
  billion if all contract options are exercised.

  But it is almost certain that Microsoft's selection will not be
  the final word for a program that has been politically fraught
  and the target of a series of court challenges and other formal
  protests.

  “There is really no downside to protesting, except perhaps the
  ill will it might generate by causing additional delay,” said Tom
  Spoehr, the director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for
  National Defense. “Given all the effort that the companies have
  put into their bids, a protest would not be surprising.”

  The competition went through several phases before Amazon and
  Microsoft emerged as finalists over Oracle and IBM Corp., which
  were among the initial bidders.

  Oracle took the Pentagon to court in December after it was cut
  from the competition, alleging that the Defense Department
  unfairly limited competition by tailoring the JEDI requirements
  to Amazon's proposed solution.

  Oracle also claimed in its lawsuit that Deap Ubhi, a former
  Pentagon employee who worked for Amazon, unfairly influenced the
  competition. In July, however, a federal judge ruled in favor of
  the Pentagon and also concluded that Oracle's initial proposal
  did not meet the contract requirements. Oracle announced in
  August that it would appeal that ruling to the U.S. Court of
  Appeals for the Federal Circuit, but has not yet formally filed
  the appeal.

  Oracle separately filed a protest in August 2018 with the
  Government Accountability Office, which also concluded that the
  Pentagon’s procurement process was fair.

  While Oracle has been the most vocal critic of the program, IBM
  Corp. also filed a protest with the Government Accountability
  Office in October 2018 arguing that the Pentagon should select
  multiple winners instead of structuring the competition as
  winner-takes-all.

  "IBM has long raised serious concerns about the structure of the
  JEDI procurement," IBM spokesperson Adam Pratt said in July. "We
  continue to believe that the Department of Defense and our men
  and women in uniform would be best served by a multicloud
  strategy."

  President Trump, who has been engaged in a public spat with
  Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, accusing the billionaire of using his
  ownership of The Washington Post to attack him, took a personal
  interest in the JEDI competition ahead of the contract being
  awarded.

  In July he asked officials to review the contracting process
  after both members of Congress and companies themselves
  complained to the president that the bidding process was not open
  and competitive.

  “I’m getting tremendous complaints about the contract with the
  Pentagon and with Amazon,” Trump said on July 18. “Some of the
  greatest companies in the world are complaining about it, having
  to do with Amazon and the Department of Defense, and I will be
  asking them to look at it very closely to see what’s going on.”


  The public spat between Trump and Bezos extends beyond this
  defense procurement. Trump has attacked the billionaire on
  Twitter for paying too little in taxes and ripping off the
  U.S. Postal Service.

  Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle also urged the president to
  get involved to ensure the competition was fair and the Pentagon
  would be getting the best deal possible. For example, about a
  dozen members of the House GOP caucus, who are not members of the
  House Armed Services Committee, sent a letter in July asking the
  president to delay the program until the Pentagon had finished
  investigating the fairness of the competition.

  Those who serve on the committees that oversee the military,
  however, tend to disagree. Two Democrats — Sen. Mark
  Warner (D-Va.) and Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member
  Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) — wrote a similar letter to the Pentagon
  in August asking Defense Secretary Mark Esper to protect the
  program from political pressure and keep it moving forward. Four
  Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee,
  including ranking member Mac Thornberry, also sent a letter to
  Trump in July asking the president to allow the program to
  continue without interference.

  “While it is understandable that some of the companies competing
  for the contract are disappointed at not being selected as one of
  the finalists, further unnecessary delays will only damage our
  security and increase the cost of the contract,” the GOP
  lawmakers wrote in the letter.

  In response, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced shortly after
  taking over the Pentagon’s top job that he was personally
  reviewing the program, saying that he wanted to get up to speed
  on the major procurement through a series of learning sessions
  with Defense officials. During a series of listening sessions,
  Esper realized how contentious the program truly was and removed
  himself from the decision-making process because his son worked
  for IBM. Instead, he delegated the authority to Deputy Defense
  Secretary David Norquist.

  For good measure, the Pentagon's inspector general also conducted
  its own review, which began in August. The Pentagon said it had
  consulted with the inspector general before issuing the award and
  was told it could move forward.


source: https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-surprise-winner-dollar10b-pentagon-contract/
date: 27 Oct 2019
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  ANSWER

text:
  Microsoft Is the Surprise Winner of a $10B Pentagon Contract

  Amazon had long been considered the favorite for JEDI, a project to use cloud computing to modernize warfare.


source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191017141052.htm
date: 27 Oct 2019
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  ANSWER

text:
  Ancient stars shed light on Earth's similarities to other planets
  New method used to study planets' geochemistry implies that Earth is not unique

  Date:
      October 17, 2019
  Source:
      University of California - Los Angeles
  Summary:
      Earth-like planets may be common in the universe, a new study implies. The team of astrophysicists and geochemists presents new evidence that the Earth is not unique.


  Earth-like planets may be common in the universe, a new UCLA study implies. The team of astrophysicists and geochemists presents new evidence that the Earth is not unique. The study was published in the journal Science on Oct. 18.

  "We have just raised the probability that many rocky planets are like the Earth, and there's a very large number of rocky planets in the universe," said co-author Edward Young, UCLA professor of geochemistry and cosmochemistry.

  The scientists, led by Alexandra Doyle, a UCLA graduate student of geochemistry and astrochemistry, developed a new method to analyze in detail the geochemistry of planets outside of our solar system. Doyle did so by analyzing the elements in rocks from asteroids or rocky planet fragments that orbited six white dwarf stars.

  "We're studying geochemistry in rocks from other stars, which is almost unheard of," Young said.

  "Learning the composition of planets outside our solar system is very difficult," said co-author Hilke Schlichting, UCLA associate professor of astrophysics and planetary science. "We used the only method possible -- a method we pioneered -- to determine the geochemistry of rocks outside of the solar system."

  White dwarf stars are dense, burned-out remnants of normal stars. Their strong gravitational pull causes heavy elements like carbon, oxygen and nitrogen to sink rapidly into their interiors, where the heavy elements cannot be detected by telescopes. The closest white dwarf star Doyle studied is about 200 light-years from Earth and the farthest is 665 light-years away.

  "By observing these white dwarfs and the elements present in their atmosphere, we are observing the elements that are in the body that orbited the white dwarf," Doyle said. The white dwarf's large gravitational pull shreds the asteroid or planet fragment that is orbiting it, and the material falls onto the white dwarf, she said. "Observing a white dwarf is like doing an autopsy on the contents of what it has gobbled in its solar system."

  The data Doyle analyzed were collected by telescopes, mostly from the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, that space scientists had previously collected for other scientific purposes.

  "If I were to just look at a white dwarf star, I would expect to see hydrogen and helium," Doyle said. "But in these data, I also see other materials, such as silicon, magnesium, carbon and oxygen -- material that accreted onto the white dwarfs from bodies that were orbiting them."

  When iron is oxidized, it shares its electrons with oxygen, forming a chemical bond between them, Young said. "This is called oxidation, and you can see it when metal turns into rust," he said. "Oxygen steals electrons from iron, producing iron oxide rather than iron metal. We measured the amount of iron that got oxidized in these rocks that hit the white dwarf. We studied how much the metal rusts."

  Rocks from the Earth, Mars and elsewhere in our solar system are similar in their chemical composition and contain a surprisingly high level of oxidized iron, Young said. "We measured the amount of iron that got oxidized in these rocks that hit the white dwarf," he said.

  The sun is made mostly of hydrogen, which does the opposite of oxidizing -- hydrogen adds electrons.

  The researchers said the oxidation of a rocky planet has a significant effect on its atmosphere, its core and the kind of rocks it makes on its surface. "All the chemistry that happens on the surface of the Earth can ultimately be traced back to the oxidation state of the planet," Young said. "The fact that we have oceans and all the ingredients necessary for life can be traced back to the planet being oxidized as it is. The rocks control the chemistry."

  Until now, scientists have not known in any detail whether the chemistry of rocky exoplanets is similar to or very different from that of the Earth.

  How similar are the rocks the UCLA team analyzed to rocks from the Earth and Mars?

  "Very similar," Doyle said. "They are Earth-like and Mars-like in terms of their oxidized iron. We're finding that rocks are rocks everywhere, with very similar geophysics and geochemistry."

  "It's always been a mystery why the rocks in our solar system are so oxidized," Young said. "It's not what you expect. A question was whether this would also be true around other stars. Our study says yes. That bodes really well for looking for Earth-like planets in the universe."

  White dwarf stars are a rare environment for scientists to analyze.

  The researchers studied the six most common elements in rock: iron, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, calcium and aluminum. They used mathematical calculations and formulas because scientists are unable to study actual rocks from white dwarfs. "We can determine the geochemistry of these rocks mathematically and compare these calculations with rocks that we do have from Earth and Mars," said Doyle, whose background is in geology and mathematics. "Understanding the rocks is crucial because they reveal the geochemistry and geophysics of the planet."

  "If extraterrestrial rocks have a similar quantity of oxidation as the Earth has, then you can conclude the planet has similar plate tectonics and similar potential for magnetic fields as the Earth, which are widely believed to be key ingredients for life," Schlichting said. "This study is a leap forward in being able to make these inferences for bodies outside our own solar system and indicates it's very likely there are truly Earth analogs."

  Young said his department has both astrophysicists and geochemists working together.

  "The result," he said, "is we are doing real geochemistry on rocks from outside our solar system. Most astrophysicists wouldn't think to do this, and most geochemists wouldn't think to ever apply this to a white dwarf."

  The research was funded by NASA.


source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191021111826.htm
date: 27 Oct 2019
level: 2
question: QUESTION
text:
  'Artificial leaf' successfully produces clean gas

  Date:
      October 21, 2019
  Source:
      University of Cambridge
  Summary:
      A widely-used gas that is currently produced from fossil fuels can instead be made by an 'artificial leaf' that uses only sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, and which could eventually be used to develop a sustainable liquid fuel alternative to gasoline. 


source: Source: product package
date: 29 Oct 2019
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  1. What product is the above description for?

  ANSWER

  1. Coffee

text:
  VALVE PACKED FOR FRESHNESS

  TESCO
  /////

  ITALIAN
  FRESH GROUND COFFEE

  RAINFOREST ALLIANCE
  CERTIFIED
  Minimum 30% Certified Coffee

  This coffee has been blended and roasted to produce a rich, full
  bodied Italian style coffee, for thoese for like a stronger after
  dinner coffee.

  4
  Medium/Strong


  Our promise

  We are happy to refund or replace any Tesco product which falls below
  the high standard you expect.  Just ask any member of staff.  This
  does not affect your statutory rights.

  We are here to help:
  Freephone 0800 50 55 55.
  Mon-Sat, 9am-6pm.
  Shop on-line at www.tesco.com

  FRED VERBOOM HAS WORKED AS A COFFEE CONSULTANT FOR TESTCO SINCE 2003.
  HAVING SPENT ALL OF HIS WORKING LIFE IN THE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE
  INDUSTRY AS TASTER AND BLENDER, FRED'S EXPERTISE AND KNOWLEDGE IS
  INVALUABLE TO ENSURING TESCO CAN OFFER THE BEST POSSIBLE COFFEES.

  <0303 3401>


  About Rainforest Alliance Certification:

  The Rainforest Alliance Certified^TM seal guarantees that famers
  follow sound agricultural practices that protect forests, rivers,
  soils and wildlife, while being good community neighbours.  Rainforest
  Alliance Certification also ensures that workers have just wages,
  dignified living conditions and access to education and health care.

  The Rainforest Alliance engages business and consumers to conserve
  biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming
  land-use practices, business practices and consumer behaviour.


  A blend of quality beans expertly roasted to produce a full bodied,
  stronger coffee.  Ideal as an after dinner coffee.  Suitable for
  cafetieres, filter machines, moka pots and percolators.

  Preparation guidelines
  How to make the perfect cup of coffee:


  Cafetiere:
  [Omitted]

  Filter machine:
  [Omitted]

  Moka pot:

  * Fill the bottom part of the unit with freshly drawn cold water.
  * Insert the filter basket, fill with coffee and level the surface (do
    not overfill and/or tap down the coffee).
  * Assemble unit and brew on a medium heat for approximately 5 minutes.
  * Pour and enjoy! (Suitable for all types of moka pots and filter
    machines. Always follow manufacturer's guidelines.)


  Roast and ground coffee.
  ------------------------
  Storage
  * The flavour and aroma of coffee deteriorates once in contact with air.
  * This pack has a one way valve which allows the coffee to be packed immediately after roasting and grinding to maintain freshness.
  * Once opened, reseal the pack by rolling down the top of the bag and secure with the tab.
  * Store in a freezer, refrigerator or cool place.
  * Use within 2 weeks of opening.

  Additional information

  * Packaged in a protective atmosphere.

  DISPOSAL

  BAG-MIXED
  MATERIAL
  Not currently recycled

  227g e

  Produce of more than one country.
  Packed in the U.K. for Tesco Stores Ltd., Cheshunt EN8 9SL, U.K.
  Copyright Tesco 2012. SC211282.

  Best before end:

  May 2018

  7142 2
  07:24


source: Source: product package
date: 29 Oct 2019
level: 2
question:
  QUESTION

  1. What product is the above description for?

  ANSWER

  1. Biscuit.

text:
  BORDER

  family Biscuitiers

  SINCE 1984

  2x

  CLASSIC RECIPES

  COLDEN OAT GRUMBLES

  30g



  Ingredients: Wheat ...
  Suitable for Vegetarians
  Store in a cool, dry place and away from direct sunlight.
  We are happy to declare that the palm oil contained within the ingredients we buy is certified as sustainable.


  [Bar Code]


  For best before information, see side of pack

  BEST BEFORE
  28 JUN 2019
  8221 18:56

  Please tell us if you loved these biscuits...
  or not.  Email sales@borderbiscuits.co.uk
  or write to the address below.
  Baked in Scotland by our skilled Biscuitiers
  at:
  Border Biscuits Ltd, South Faulds Road, Lanark, Lanarkshire, SCOTLAND, ML11 7SR.
  www.borderbiscuits.co.uk

  [Facebook] [Tweet]

  Nutritional Information/UK&EU    per 100g    per biscuit
  --------------------------------------------------------
  Energy
  Fat
  Of which saturates
  Carbohydrate
  of which sugars
  Protein
  Salt


source: Charles Darwin
date: 29 Oct 2019
level: 4
text:
  It must have struck most naturalists as a strange anomaly that, in the case of both animals and plants, species of the same family and even of the same genus, though agreeing closely with each other in almost their whole organisation, yet are not rarely, some of them hermaphrodites, and some of them unisexual. But if, in fact, all hermaphrodites do occasionally intercross with other individuals, the difference between hermaphrodites and unisexual species, as far as function is concerned, becomes very small. 

question:
  QUESTION

  1. What scientific field does the above passage most likely belong to?

  A. Biology
  B. Physics
  C. Chemistry
  D. Quantum mechanics

  ANSWER

  1. A


source: reprints.longform.org/playboy-interview-steve-jobs
date: 29 Oct 2019
level: 3
text:
  Playboy: Maybe we should pause and get your definition of what a computer is. How do they work?

  Jobs: Computers are actually pretty simple. We’re sitting here on a bench in this café [for this part of the Interview]. Let’s assume that you understood only the most rudimentary of directions and you asked how to find the rest room. I would have to describe it to you in very specific and precise instructions. I might say, “Scoot sideways two meters off the bench. Stand erect. Lift left foot. Bend left knee until it is horizontal. Extend left foot and shift weight 300 centimeters forward…” and on and on. If you could interpret all those instructions 100 times faster than any other person in this café, you would appear to be a magician: You could run over and grab a milk shake and bring it back and set it on the table and snap your fingers, and I’d think you made the milk shake appear, because it was so fast relative to my perception. That’s exactly what a computer does. It takes these very, very simple-minded instructions—“Go fetch a number, add it to this number, put the result there, perceive if it’s greater than this other number”—but executes them at a rate of, let’s say, 1,000,000 per second. At 1,000,000 per second, the results appear to be magic.

  That’s a simple explanation, and the point is that people really don’t have to understand how computers work. Most people have no concept of how an automatic transmission works, yet they know how to drive a car. You don’t have to study physics to understand the laws of motion to drive a car. You don’t have to understand any of this stuff to use Macintosh—but you asked. [laughs]

question:
  QUESTION

  1.   Steve Jobs used "grabbing milk shake" as an analogy for what?

  ANSWER

  1.  For explaining how computers work.


date: 22 Jan 2020
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  SARS is a type of coronaviruse. Is this statement true?

  ANSWER

  True.

text:
  Infectious Disease Expert Discusses What We Know about the New Chinese Virus

  Federal disease agency director Anthony Fauci discusses the novel pathogen that has, so far, sickened hundreds in Asia and one person in the U.S.

  By Tanya Lewis on January 22, 2020

  Infectious Disease Expert Discusses What We Know about the New Chinese Virus

  The first confirmed U.S. case of a traveler infected with the virus behind China’s continuing pneumonia outbreak has health authorities on alert to prevent it from spreading. The patient—a man in his 30s—returned from the country’s city of Wuhan (where the virus appears to have originated) to his home in Snohomish County in Washington State on January 15. He developed symptoms and sought treatment from his doctor on January 19, and a day later, a real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) test confirmed he had the virus. The patient appears to be doing well and was being treated this week at a hospital in Everett, Wash., and placed in isolation out of an abundance of caution, said a spokesperson for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a news briefing on Tuesday afternoon.

  The virus, called 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), is known to have infected hundreds of people so far, and Chinese authorities have now reported at least 17 deaths. It was first identified in Wuhan late last year and is believed to have jumped from animals to humans at a local seafood market that also sold other wild animal meat. Authorities have since confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission. The pathogen is a coronavirus, a member of a family of viruses that include severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), which caused major outbreaks in 2003 and 2012, respectively.

  Cases of 2019-nCoV have been confirmed in several other countries, including Thailand, Japan and South Korea. Three U.S. airports—in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City—began screening travelers from Wuhan last week. Such measures have now been expanded to two more airports—in Atlanta and Chicago—and passengers traveling to the U.S. from Wuhan will be funneled to those five locations. The risk to the U.S. public is low at this time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the agency says it is working closely with other health organizations to contain the virus’s spread.
  Advertisement

  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci has been been closely following developments related to the new virus. Scientific American spoke with Fauci about 2019-nCoV’s likely mode of transmission, its similarity to other coronaviruses and the question of whether a vaccine is on the horizon.

  [An edited transcript of the conversation follows.]

  Do we know how the U.S. patient contracted the virus?

  He was not in any market where there may have been an animal reservoir, and he does not recall coming into contact with someone who was ill. That’s not surprising: often people contract respiratory infections without knowing the definite exposure source. But he was in Wuhan.

  Is the most likely source of this virus an animal market in Wuhan?
  Advertisement

  It almost certainly came from an animal—almost certainly.

  Do you suspect the virus is transmitted via a respiratory route?

  A respiratory infection is almost certainly transmitted through droplets. Respiratory spread is a very good guess. We have not definitively proved that the virus entered through the respiratory tract, but it is highly likely. When you have symptoms of fever, cough, infiltrates in the lung, and respiratory symptoms, historically, respiratory is the route.
  newsletter promo

  How similar or different is the virus from other coronaviruses such as SARS or MERS?

  First of all, it’s a coronavirus, the same family as SARS. It has some of the same molecular homology as SARS. It’s closer to SARS than it is to MERS. But it isn’t overwhelmingly close.
  Advertisement

  Do we know the mortality rate of the new virus?

  It’s a moving target. It’s a rough estimate. If you look at the number of cases, it’s around 300. There have been six deaths so far. [Editor’s Note: On Wednesday, several outlets reported that Chinese authorities had announced 17 deaths, and some had cited more than 540 cases.] We’re only seeing the ones who are hospitalized. If there are asymptomatic infections, the mortality rate would be much less. Among symptomatic people, the mortality rate is around 2 percent. It was 10 percent with SARS, and 30 to 35 percent with MERS. It may be less virulent than those two or it may evolve. It’s too early to know.

  Aren’t the symptoms of this viral infection similar to many other types of respiratory infection? How can you tell them apart?

  It’s a syndromic and epidemiological association. If somebody comes into an emergency room in Washington State with a respiratory illness, and they haven’t been to China, they probably have the flu or some other virus. But if they came from Wuhan, it’s likely to be the new coronavirus. The symptoms are very common to a number of viruses, though, so [the association] is based on epidemiology [and is confirmed by the rRT-PCR test].

  How are the patients with this virus being treated?

  It’s mostly symptomatic treatment. There are experimental antivirals that have been used in vitro and in vivo. If the patients need antibiotics for complicating bacterial infections, you give them antibiotics. If they need to be put on a respirator, they’re put on a respirator. Most patients in China are doing well. But a proportion of them are very ill and are on respirators.

  How long will it be before we have a vaccine for this virus?

  We’ve already started to develop a vaccine. We got the [genetic] sequence from the Chinese. We’re partnering with a company called Moderna to develop a messenger RNA–based platform for a vaccine. We will likely have a candidate in early phase I trials for safety in about three months. That doesn’t mean we will have a vaccine ready for use in three months; even in an emergency, that would take a year or more. But we’re already on it.

  How common are coronaviruses, and how often do they jump from animals to humans?

  Coronaviruses represent 10 to 30 percent of common colds. Over the past 18 years we’ve had three coronaviruses from animal reservoirs: SARS, MERS and now this. There could be several intermediary hosts, but at least with SARS and MERS, the primary host is thought to be a bat. We don’t know what the primary host is for this virus yet.


  ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
  Tanya Lewis

  Tanya Lewis is an associate editor at Scientific American who covers health and medicine.



  All Rights Reserved.

source:
  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/infectious-disease-expert-discusses-what-we-know-about-the-new-chinese-virus/


source: Harvard Business Review
date: 27 Jan 2020
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  What is consequence of multi-tasking?


  ANSWER

  Overwhelmed.

text:
  The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time

  By Tony Schwartz

  (Tony Schwartz is the president and CEO of The Energy Project and the author of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working. Become a fan of The Energy Project on Facebook and connect with Tony at Twitter.com/TonySchwartz and Twitter.com/Energy_Project.)

  Why is it that between 25% and 50% of people report feeling overwhelmed or burned out at work?

  It’s not just the number of hours we’re working, but also the fact that we spend too many continuous hours juggling too many things at the same time.

  What we’ve lost, above all, are stopping points, finish lines and boundaries. Technology has blurred them beyond recognition. Wherever we go, our work follows us, on our digital devices, ever insistent and intrusive. It’s like an itch we can’t resist scratching, even though scratching invariably makes it worse.

  Tell the truth: Do you answer email during conference calls (and sometimes even during calls with one other person)? Do you bring your laptop to meetings and then pretend you’re taking notes while you surf the net? Do you eat lunch at your desk? Do you make calls while you’re driving, and even send the occasional text, even though you know you shouldn’t?

  The biggest cost — assuming you don’t crash — is to your productivity. In part, that’s a simple consequence of splitting your attention, so that you’re partially engaged in multiple activities but rarely fully engaged in any one. In part, it’s because when you switch away from a primary task to do something else, you’re increasing the time it takes to finish that task by an average of 25 per cent.

  But most insidiously, it’s because if you’re always doing something, you’re relentlessly burning down your available reservoir of energy over the course of every day, so you have less available with every passing hour.

  I know this from my own experience. I get two to three times as much writing accomplished when I focus without interruption for a designated period of time and then take a real break, away from my desk. The best way for an organization to fuel higher productivity and more innovative thinking is to strongly encourage finite periods of absorbed focus, as well as shorter periods of real renewal.

  If you’re a manager, here are three policies worth promoting:

  1. Maintain meeting discipline. Schedule meetings for 45 minutes, rather than an hour or longer, so participants can stay focused, take time afterward to reflect on what’s been discussed, and recover before the next obligation. Start all meetings at a precise time, end at a precise time, and insist that all digital devices be turned off throughout the meeting.

  2. Stop demanding or expecting instant responsiveness at every moment of the day. It forces your people into reactive mode, fractures their attention, and makes it difficult for them to sustain attention on their priorities. Let them turn off their email at certain times. If it’s urgent, you can call them — but that won’t happen very often.

  3. Encourage renewal. Create at least one time during the day when you encourage your people to stop working and take a break. Offer a midafternoon class in yoga, or meditation, organize a group walk or workout, or consider creating a renewal room where people can relax, or take a nap.

  It’s also up to individuals to set their own boundaries. Consider these three behaviors for yourself:

  1. Do the most important thing first in the morning, preferably without interruption, for 60 to 90 minutes, with a clear start and stop time. If possible, work in a private space during this period, or with sound-reducing earphones. Finally, resist every impulse to distraction, knowing that you have a designated stopping point. The more absorbed you can get, the more productive you’ll be. When you’re done, take at least a few minutes to renew.

  2. Establish regular, scheduled times to think more long term, creatively, or strategically. If you don’t, you’ll constantly succumb to the tyranny of the urgent. Also, find a different environment in which to do this activity — preferably one that’s relaxed and conducive to open-ended thinking.

  3. Take real and regular vacations. Real means that when you’re off, you’re truly disconnecting from work. Regular means several times a year if possible, even if some are only two or three days added to a weekend. The research strongly suggests that you’ll be far healthier if you take all of your vacation time, and more productive overall.

  A single principle lies at the heart of all these suggestions. When you’re engaged at work, fully engage, for defined periods of time. When you’re renewing, truly renew. Make waves. Stop living your life in the gray zone.


source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1026/1026-h/1026-h.htm
date: 26 Jun 2020
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  Why did the author buy three chops?


  ANSWER

  Because there were three people.

text:
  A dreadful day

  by George Grossmith

  June 7.—A dreadful annoyance.  Met Mr. Franching, who lives at Peckham, and who is a great swell in his way.  I ventured to ask him to come home to meat-tea, and take pot-luck.  I did not think he would accept such a humble invitation; but he did, saying, in a most friendly way, he would rather “peck” with us than by himself.  I said: “We had better get into this blue ’bus.”  He replied: “No blue-bussing for me.  I have had enough of the blues lately.  I lost a cool ‘thou’ over the Copper Scare.  Step in here.”

  We drove up home in style, in a hansom-cab, and I knocked three times at the front door without getting an answer.  I saw Carrie, through the panels of ground-glass (with stars), rushing upstairs.  I told Mr. Franching to wait at the door while I went round to the side.  There I saw the grocer’s boy actually picking off the paint on the door, which had formed into blisters.  No time to reprove him; so went round and effected an entrance through the kitchen window.  I let in Mr. Franching, and showed him into the drawing-room.  I went upstairs to Carrie, who was changing her dress, and told her I had persuaded Mr. Franching to come home.  She replied: “How can you do such a thing?  You know it’s Sarah’s holiday, and there’s not a thing in the house, the cold mutton having turned with the hot weather.”

  Eventually Carrie, like a good creature as she is, slipped down, washed up the teacups, and laid the cloth, and I gave Franching our views of Japan to look at while I ran round to the butcher’s to get three chops.


source: https://www.overstuffedlife.com/2015/02/why-everyone-should-use-paper-planner.html
date: 12 Jul 2020
level: 2
question:
  QUESTION

  Which type of calendar does the author prefer, digital or paper?

  ANSWER

  Paper.

text:
  Why Everyone Should Use a Paper Planner

  Okay, so maybe not exactly everyone should use a paper planner. If you are one of those people who loves your Google calendar and phone alerts then maybe paper isn't for you. Maybe I'm just tired of all the people that tell me paper planners are obsolete and I should definitely go digital, because I'm here to tell you that digital is not where it is at for me in calendars and planners.

  I would never show up anywhere. Believe me, I've tried the digital thing. Google calendar and me are not friends. At work, I try to use it, sort of. At least, I get alerts to go teach my class (set up by the department secretary), and my students will sometimes send me their calendars for scheduling. But mine hasn't been updated for several years.


source: https://lifehacker.com/why-you-learn-more-effectively-by-writing-than-by-typin-5738093
date: 12 Jul 2020
level: 3
text:
  Why Writing Works Better Than Typing

  Melanie Pinola

  There may also be a scientific basis for the pen’s superiority over the keyboard when it comes to writing development and cognitive functions. Dr. Virginia Berniger, who studies reading and writing systems and their relationship to learning processes, found that children’s writing ability was consistently better (they wrote more, faster, and more complete sentences) when they used a pen rather than a keyboard; these are, of course, subjects without a penchant for using either tool. We also previously covered the WSJ article that connected handwriting and cognitive abilities; in one of the studies cited, adults learned new symbols and graphic shapes better when they reproduced them with pen-and-paper instead of typing them.

  The difference, Berniger notes, may lie in the fact that with writing, you use your hand to form the letters (and connect them), thereby more actively engaging the brain in the process. Typing, on the other hand, involves just selecting letters by pressing identical-looking keys.

  Of course, whether the pen or the keyboard is better for you depends on your personal experience and comfort with these tools. As a compromise, perhaps we should all get stylus-friendly tablet PCs or digital pens.

question:
  QUESTION

  Pen always works better than keyboard in terms of writing ability development.  Is this statement true or false?

  ANSWER

  False.


source: https://doi.org/10.1038/441574c
date: 13 Jul 2020
level: 3
text:
  Can the Internet save us from epidemics?



  David M. Eagleman 

  Nature

  Published: 31 May 2006


  Sir


  Kathleen Morrison, in News & Views (“Failure and how to avoid it” Nature 440, 752–754; 2006), notes that societies have often prevented collapse by adopting new technological strategies. In today's world, where one of the most-talked about prospects for collapse is an epidemic of infectious disease, it is worth remembering that perhaps we already have the technological strategy to avoid it — the Internet.

  Remote working, made possible by the Internet (‘telepresence’), is already a key component of national and business pandemic plans. Telepresence can inhibit viral transmission by reducing human-to-human contact. Prepared organizations can leverage telepresence to allow continued productivity and functioning of supply chains during an outbreak.

  Past societies often reacted to epidemics by bunching together, increasing density and transmission rates. In medieval Europe, for example, warring religious factions demonstrated solidarity in the face of a plague by marching together in the streets. And Native Americans expressed goodwill by gathering in the teepees of those infected with smallpox. But if we are well-prepared when an epidemic arrives, we can fluidly shift into a self-quarantined, telepresent society in which microbes fail by dint of host sparseness.

  Whatever the social ills of increased isolation in our computer age, they may bode worse for the microbes than for us.

question:
  QUESTION

  What is the tool mentioned by the author for avoiding society collpase due to epidemic?

  ANSWER

  The Internet.


source: https://cn.bing.com/search?q=rugen+island+germany&form=HPVSBS&filters=HpDate%3a%2220200806_0700%22
date: 12 Aug 2020
level: 3
text:
  Space-age style by the sea  -- Rugen Island Germany

  Featured on Bing

  August 6, 2020


  This pod-like structure near the seaside resort of Binz, on the Pomeranian coast of northeast Germany, provides a snapshot into a different era, delivered by the architect Ulrich Müther. Originally a lifeguard tower, it was constructed in 1968 in a style known as shell architecture using an innovative thin, poured-concrete material. Müther designed and built roughly 70 buildings in this manner, many of them here on the island of Rügen, where he lived. His work is regarded as some of the most outstanding examples of architecture in the region.

question:
  QUESTION

  Who is the architect of the pod-like structure on the Pomeranian coast in Germany?

  ANSWER

  Ulrich Müther.


source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-08/13/c_139287340.htm
date: 13 Aug 2020
level: 3
text:
  Interview: China "locomotive" for post-pandemic global recovery, says economist

  GENEVA, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- China is expected to play the role of a "locomotive" for powering global recovery in the post-pandemic era, a Swiss economist has said.

  "The Chinese market has become an important growth driver because of its size and its continuing expansion," Rudolf Minsch, chief economist at Swiss national business federation Economiesuisse, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

  Moreover, it is "absolutely crucial that China is opposing any tendency to reverse globalization," Minsch said, adding China has been keeping up the effort to "establish a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment."

  "The most important part of Chinese economic policy today, in my view, is the commitment of the government to widening the door to the world, despite the difficulty arising from the coronavirus crisis," Minsch said.

  "Open markets are key to the long-term growth of China and are so to the rest of the world," he added.

  This year marks the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Switzerland and China. Since 2010, China has been Switzerland's biggest trading partner in Asia and its third largest globally after the European Union and the United States. A free trade agreement between the two countries was signed in 2013 and entered into force on July 1, 2014.

  "There are so many Swiss companies in China, collaborating with Chinese firms as customers, as suppliers or as research and development partners," Minsch noted.

  While those companies face "tough competition" in the Chinese market, they also have huge opportunities "to benefit from the very efficient and speedy way of Chinese enterprises to develop new products and services," he said.

  "In most cases, the products and services of the two countries are complementary. In parallel with the higher income of the Chinese population, the demand for Swiss products and services will rise," he added.

question:
  QUESTION

  In which year was the free trade agreement between China and Switzerland signed?

  ANSWER

  2013.


source: https://github.com/digitalocean/engineering-code-of-conduct/blob/master/introduction.md
date: 14 Aug 2020
level: 3
text:
  Introducing DigitalOcean's Engineering Code of Conduct

  A code of conduct is designed to be a framework and a guide to, as the Recurse Center eloquently phrased it, "help all of us build a pleasant, productive, and fearless community." The purpose of a code of conduct is not to burden an organization with a bunch of needless rules, or to provide a punishment mechanism for people being bad, or even to correct things that have been wrong in the past. The engineering team at DigitalOcean agreed that having a code of conduct would be a positive improvement because we strive to make our team a great group of people to work with, especially for those people who have faced more adverse working environments in the past or are member of groups that often have a harder time in the workplace.

question:
  QUESTION

  The main purpose of having a code of conduct is to punish people who violated it.  Is this statement true or false?

  ANSWER

  False.


source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-08/14/c_139290711.htm
date: 15 Aug 2020
level: 4
text:
  Politicizing Confucius Institute program detrimental to long-term China-U.S. ties

  BEIJING, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. administration's requirement of the Confucius Institute U.S. Center to register as a foreign mission is nothing short of sheer politicization of educational exchanges between the two countries.

  The move came after some Chinese media organizations in the United States had been designated as foreign missions earlier. Driven by a Cold-War mentality, such a detrimental step will further undermine the mutual trust and cooperation between China and the United States.

  Inaugurated in 2013, the Confucius Institute U.S. Center is a nonprofit educational institution that supports the teaching and learning of Chinese language and culture in the United States for deeper cross-cultural understanding and language development.

  All Confucius Institutes in the United States are based on voluntary participation by U.S. universities and jointly established in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, friendly consultation, equality and mutual benefit of Chinese and U.S. universities. The daily operation and management of these Confucius Institutes observe local laws and are transparent.

  In disregard of the organization's role in promoting mutual understanding between the two peoples, the U.S. administration has demonized and stigmatized the normal functioning of the Confucius Institute program and has been attempting to create an atmosphere of fear in the field of educational exchanges, only to serve U.S. strategic agenda of containing China.

  The U.S. administration has ramped up its attack on Chinese high-tech companies and trade businesses, and now it is stoking ideological confrontation in the educational and cultural sector, another perilous move to decouple the two countries.

  Narrowing the opportunities for cultural understanding and mutual learning between the two peoples will lead to the destruction of long-term bilateral relations.

  Such hysteria is a warning sign that calls for caution, as selfish and narrow-minded politicians are stealing the future of the China-U.S. relationship.

question:
  QUESTION

  Confucius Institutes are established in China universities.
  Is this statement true?

  ANSWER

  No.  It is false.  They are established in the US universities.


date: 15 Aug 2020
level: 3
text:
  Don't be afraid of mistakes and false starts.  They are part of the learning and assimilation experience.

source:
  Boehm, B. W. (1983). Seven basic principles of software engineering. Journal of Systems and Software, 3(1), 3–24.

question:
  QUESTION

  Choose a word that is closest in meaning to assimilation.

  A. Forgetting
  B. Digesting
  C. Understanding
  D. Killing


  ANSWER

  C.


source: https://www.diyphotography.net/delete-sht-trash-photos/
date: 16 Aug 2020
level: 3
text:
  DELETE YOUR SH!T: WHY YOU SHOULD TRASH MOST OF YOUR PHOTOS


  April 21, 2016 by JP Danko


  Lets start with a universal truth.

  99% of the photos that I take, that you take or that any other
  photographer takes are junk that nobody will ever see, or ever want to see.

  So in this article I am going to encourage you to trash everything except your best work – after hitting delete you’ll feel better, I promise.

  There are obviously many reasons to save your photography and I am sure that the “save everything forever” camp will explain everything in the comments.

  However, be honest with yourself – most of the reasons for permanently archiving every photo that comes off of our camera(s) are just little white lies we like to tell ourselves.

  For example:

  “I might want to re-process this shoot another way in the future.”

  “Storage is cheap so its actually easier to keep everything.”

  “I will re-process this timelapse to 4k once I get a better computer.”

  “I like all of the 299 photos I took of my kid blowing out their birthday candles on continuous high speed.”

  “I’m only going to do a quick edit now, I’ll fix the rest later.”

  “I only created one HDR from this series of 10,000 photos I took of the same thing – I will process the rest later.”

  “Clients actually prefer to receive 5000 images.”

  “I can’t fix this photo yet – but the software of the future will be able to do it.”

  “I don’t like it now, but I might like it better in a few years.”

  “I need 1000 photos to tell the story.”

  Lies, each and every one!

question:
  QUESTION

  The author believes that 99% of photos he has taken are shit and should be deleted.  Is this statement true?


  ANSWER

  True.


source: Yamaura, Tsuneo. (1998). Why Johnny Can't Test. IEEE Computer Society Press.
date: 18 Aug 2020
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  In which country do programmers tend to underreport their bugs?


  ANSWER

  The US.

text:
  Definition of Success

  The Japanese value project team success far more than individual accomplishment. Thus programmers honestly report the bugs they produced during all phases of software development.  Such defect data serves to create and validate software quality assurance theories, which are intrinsically statics-based and empirical.

  On the other hand, US culture values personal achievement over team success.  Since reporting "I caused this many bugs" automatically implies "I am this stupid", a programmer will likely fudge his bug statistics when submitting them to a manager.  Needless to say, this makes the application of QA theory difficult, and virtually guarantees that US companies will produce flawed software.


source: Yamaura, Tsuneo. (1998). Why Johnny Can't Test. IEEE Computer Society Press.
date: 18 Aug 2020
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  A person can have only one characteristic.
  Is this statement true?


  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Human Characteristics

  According to Shepard, a person's characteristics can span two or more types.  He called someone both A and P characteristics the Genius type because that person can come up with a great idea and be persistent enough to prove it loigcally.  Einstein epitomizes this A-P type. A type C-F person is a born manager who knows how to effectively use carrots and sticks.


source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-08/17/c_139297443.htm
date: 18 Aug 2020
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  Name a bottling partner of Coca-Cola China.


  ANSWER

  Swire Coca-Cola.

text:
  Coca-Cola continues to expand investment in China supply chain

  Source: Xinhua| 2020-08-17 22:11:14

  SHANGHAI, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Coca-Cola China and its bottling partners will continue to expand investment in local supply chains to improve efficiency, ensure supply, and serve domestic consumers' demand.

  The beverage giant achieved good second-quarter results in the Chinese market, despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, and continues to set up new factories and production lines in China to meet evolving consumer needs.

  In the second half of 2020, Swire Coca-Cola, a bottler of Coca-Cola, plans to put six new production lines into operation, with a total investment of 250 million yuan (about 36 million U.S. dollars) and an additional annual output value exceeding 1.7 billion yuan.

  Swire Coca-Cola also plans to add a plastic bottle production line to its plant in central China's Hubei Province, which is expected to go operational in May 2021.


date: 20 Aug 2020
level: 3
text:
  What Makes A Great Software Engineer?

  Good software engineers are essential to the creation of good software. However, most of what we know about software-engineering expertise are vague stereotypes, such as ‘excellent communicators’ and ‘great teammates’. The lack of specificity in our understanding hinders researchers from reasoning about them, employers from identifying them, and young engineers from becoming them. Our understanding also lacks breadth: what are all the distinguishing attributes of great engineers (technical
  expertise and beyond)? We took a first step in addressing these gaps by interviewing 59 experienced engineers across 13 divisions at Microsoft, uncovering 53 attributes of great engineers. We explain the attributes and examine how the most salient of these impact projects and teams. We discuss implications of this knowledge on research and the hiring and training of engineers.

source:
  Li, P. L., Ko, A. J., & Zhu, J. (2015). What makes a great software engineer. In 2015 IEEE/ACM 37th IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (Vol. 1, pp. 700–710).

  https://faculty.washington.edu/ajko/papers/Li2015GreatEngineers.pdf

question:
  QUESTION

  How did the authors get the distinguishing attributes  of great engineers at Microsoft?


  ANSWER

  By interviewing.


source: https://nealwhittengroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/You-Desire-Success.pdf
date: 23 Aug 2020
level: 3
text:
  Number One Reason Why Projects Fail

  By Neal Whitten

  This is a good time to share with you what I believe may be a profound
  assertion. We have all seen lists touting the top 10 reasons why
  projects fail. The usual suspects include weak requirements, scope
  creep, lack of user involvement, unreliable estimates, incomplete
  staffing, poor communications, weak senior stakeholder support and
  others.  However, from my experience, these lists miss the biggest
  reason — the number one reason — why projects fail: Because the
  project manager does not manage to his or her top three priorities on
  a daily basis.

  This is so important that I’m going to repeat it. The number one
  reason why projects fail is that the project manager does not manage
  to his or her top three priorities on a daily basis.  You might be
  wondering how come I’m so smart to get this while it appears that
  others haven’t?  Well, I’m not that smart, but I am an old guy who has
  been around a long time.  Longevity and persistence helps me pick up
  things. For example, over the years I have performed reviews on
  hundreds of projects in trouble.  When I do, I always conclude with
  identifying the top three problems — the top three priorities — that
  the project manager needs to address immediately.  When I examine
  these top three lists, the ah-ha moment presents itself.  The top
  items on the lists almost always should have been resolved not days
  earlier but weeks or months earlier — sometimes years depending on the
  duration of the project.

  The lists show that the project managers were not effectively focusing
  on their top three priorities on a daily basis; otherwise, these
  problems would have been resolved or under control. So, again, the
  number one reason why projects fail is that the project manager does
  not manage to his or her top three priorities on a daily basis. This
  is a fundamental fact that knowing and adjusting your behavior to can
  significantly increase the success of your projects — and your career.
  By the way, the article might have appeared to focus on Project
  Managers, not Business Analysts. Everything said here also applies to
  Business Analysts.

  The number one reason why Business Analysts fail is that the Business
  Analyst does not manage to his or her top three priorities on a daily
  basis.  

question:
  QUESTION

  What is the number one reason that project fail, according to the author?


  ANSWER

  The project manager does not manage to his top three priorities on a daily basis.


source: Leishman and Cook. "Requirements Risks Can Drown Software Projects." Computer (November 2001).
date: 24 Aug 2020
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  What material does JoAnna want for her closet?


  ANSWER

  Cedar.

text:
  Overboard

  A few years ago the movie “Overboard” was released. This is a movie about a rich woman (JoAnna) who was accustomed to having everything her own way. The movie begins with JoAnna hiring an uncouth carpenter (Dean) to remodel the closet of her luxurious yacht. Following several unpleasant encounters between the two during the remodeling project, a major confrontation occurs as the carpenter has completed work, and the yacht is preparing to leave port.

  While the carpenter is demonstrating the features of his work, the rich, arrogant, JoAnna asks what the closet is made of. In response, Dean indicates that the closet is made of oak. His response pushes JoAnna over the edge. She says that she wanted the closet to be made of cedar. The carpenter responds that if she wanted the closet to be made out of cedar, she should have asked for cedar. He tells her that he would be glad to make the closet out of cedar, but that his estimate would be more than double because he would have to redo the whole project. To which she responded, “the whole civilized world knows that closets are made of cedar!” She further indicates that she is not going to pay for “his” mistake! The confrontation escalates to the point that she pushes Dean overboard. 


date: 25 Aug 2020
level: 4
text:
  Chiding Children


  As children should very seldom be corrected by blows; so, I think, frequent, and especially, passionate chiding, of almost as ill consequence. It lessons the authority of the parents, and the respect of the child: for I bid you still remember, they distinguish early betwixt passion and reason: and as they cannot but have a reverence for what comes from the latter, so they quickly grow into a contempt of the former; or if it causes a present terrour, yet it soon wears off; and natural inclination will easily learn to slight such scare-crows, which make a noise, but are not animated by reason. Children being to be restrained by the parents only in vicious (which, in their tender years, are only a few) things, a look or nod only ought to correct them, when they do amiss: or, if words are sometimes to be used, they ought to be grave, kind, and sober, representing the ill, or unbecomingness of the faults, rather than a hasty rating of the child for it, which makes him not sufficiently distinguish whether your dislike be not more directed to him than his fault. Passionate chiding usually carries rough and ill language with it, which has this further ill effect, that it teaches and justifies it in children; and the names that their parents or preceptors give them they will not be ashamed or backward to bestow on others, having so good authority for the use of them.

source:
  The Works of John Locke in Nine Volumes, (London: Rivington, 1824 12th ed.). Vol. 8.  The Online Library of Liberty.

question:
  QUESTION

  Children cannot tell the difference between passion and reason.  Is this statement true?


  ANSWER

  False.


source: https://www.macrumors.com/2020/08/17/apple-terminate-epic-developer-accounts-august-28/
date: 25 Aug 2020
level: 4
text:
  Apple Threatens to Terminate Epic Games' Developer Accounts on August 28

  Monday August 17, 2020 12:02 pm PDT by Juli Clover

  Apple is planning to terminate Epic Games' entire access to its App Store and app development tools, Epic Games said today. Apple told Epic that by August 28, all access will be ended.

  That includes Epic's access to the development tools necessary to create software for the Unreal Engine that Epic offers to third-party developers for their games. In response, Epic has filed a court order asking a Northern California court to stop Apple from removing Epic's ‌App Store‌ access. 

  From the filing:"
  It told Epic that by August 28, Apple will cut off Epic's access to all development tools necessary to create software for Apple's platforms--including for the Unreal Engine Epic offers to third-party developers, which Apple has never claimed violated any Apple policy."

  Cutting off Epic's access to Mac and iOS developer tools could have a significant impact on all of the apps and games that use Epic's Unreal Engine. Apple in its letter to Epic Games letting it know about the upcoming account closures says that Epic can avoid having its access revoked by following Apple's ‌App Store‌ guidelines.

question:
  QUESTION

  Which company sued which company in the Northern California court?


  ANSWER

  Epic Games sued Apple.


date: 26 Aug 2020
level: 4
text:
  “Sometimes ... that’s just arduous. You really just need to grind through.” - Software Development Engineer Level 2, Server & Tools

source:
  Li, P. L., Ko, A. J., & Zhu, J. (2015). What makes a great software engineer. In 2015 IEEE/ACM 37th IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (Vol. 1, pp. 700–710).

question:
  QUESTION

  Which one of the following words best describes the content of the above passage?

  A. Passionate

  B. Systamic

  C. Curious

  D. Hardworking

  ANSWER

  D.


date: 28 Aug 2020
level: 4
text:
  Section 80 -- Some Thoughts Concerning Education

  But since the occasions of punishment, especially beating, are as much to be avoided as may be, I think it should not be often brought to this point. If the awe I spoke of be once got, a look will be sufficient in most cases. Nor indeed should the same carriage, seriousness, or application be expected from young children, as from those of riper growth. They must be permitted, as I said, the foolish and childish actions, suitable to their years, without taking notice of them; inadvertency, carelessness, and gaiety, is the character of that age. I think the severity I spoke of, is not to extend itself to such unseasonable restraints; nor is that hastily to be interpreted obstinacy or wilfulness, which is the natural product of their age or temper. In such miscarriages they are to be assisted, and helped towards an amendment, as weak people under a natural infirmity; which, though they are warned of, yet every relapse must not be counted a perfect neglect, and they presently treated as obstinate. Faults of frailty, as they should never be neglected, or let pass without minding; so, unless the will mix with them, they should never be exaggerated, or very sharply reproved; but with a gentle hand set right, as time and age permit. By this means, children will come to see what is in any miscarriage, that is chiefly offensive, and so learn to avoid it. This will encourage them to keep their wills right, [69] which is the great business; when they find, that it preserves them from any great displeasure; and that in all their other failings they meet with the kind concern and help, rather than the anger and passionate reproaches of their tutor and parents.

source:
  https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/locke-the-works-vol-8-some-thoughts-concerning-education-posthumous-works-familiar-letters

question:
  QUESTION

  Parents must beat children for their foolish and childish actions.  Is this statement true?


  ANSWER

  False.


date: 29 Aug 2020
level: 4
text:
  Section 81 -- Some Thoughts Concerning Education


  It will perhaps be wondered, that I mention reasoning with children: and yet I cannot but think that the true way of dealing with them. They understand it as early as they do language; and, if I mis-observe not, they love to be treated as rational creatures, sooner than is imagined. It is a pride should be cherished in them, and, as much as can be, made the greatest instrument to turn them by.

source:
  https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/locke-the-works-vol-8-some-thoughts-concerning-education-posthumous-works-familiar-letters

question:
  QUESTION

  Children do not like to be treated as rational creatures.
  Is this statement true?


  ANSWER

  False.


source: https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/another-china-fab-project-stalled-2020-08/
date: 29 Aug 2020
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Where is the location of HSMC?


  ANSWER

  Dongxihu.

text:
  Another China fab project stalled

  By David Manners

  28th August 2020


  Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (HSMC) has been building a $20 billion semiconductor production site in Dongxihu for two years but the local government has said that construction has been halted because the money has run out.

  HSMC intended to build a 14 nanometer logic processor production line with a  capacity of 30000 wpm and a 7nm logic process production line with a capacity of 30000 pieces per month and  a wafer level advanced packaging production line.

  The halt in construction at HSMC follows abandoned fab plans at the jv between Globalfoundries and the City of Chengdu, the discontinued DRAM fab site of Fujian JinHua and the bankruptcy of  Tacoma Nanjing Semiconductor Technology which was building a $3 billion fab backed by the government.


  There are reports of  HSMC’s contractors not being paid including one from clean-room specialist L&K Engineering which said in its half year report that it had stopped work because of delayed payments.

   When asked for a comment on the situation by the South China Morning Post, HSMC’s chairman Chiang Shang-yi – formerly of TSMC and SMIC – said he was not aware of the company’s financial problems.

  Dr Chiang was head of R&D at TSMC.


source: Source: https://ben.balter.com/2020/08/14/tools-of-the-trade/
date: 30 Aug 2020
level: 3
text:
  How you work is as important as what you work on

  The tools you choose matter. Tools are more than mere convenience. Tools force teams into particular workflows, workflows that constrain not just how software is produced, but what software is possible. It’s no coincidence then that the open source community, in order to produce the type of software it produces, adopts vastly different tools than most enterprise developers have available to them at their office.

question:
  QUESTION

  Which developers use more tools, open source developers or enterprise developers?


  ANSWER

  Open source developers.


source: Source: https://www.gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/things-go-tougher-for-huawei/articleshow/77654934.cms
date: 31 Aug 2020
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  Why is Huawei losing its market share outside China?


  ANSWER

  U.S. sanctions.

text:
  Things go tougher for Huawei

  AP | Aug 20, 2020, 05:19PM

  Now, Huawei Technologies Ltd. is suffering in earnest as Washington intensifies a campaign to slam the door on access to foreign markets and components in its escalating feud with Beijing over technology and security.

  European and other phone carriers that bought Huawei gear despite U.S. pressure are removing it from their networks. Huawei got a flicker of good news when it passed rivals Samsung and Apple as the No. 1 smartphone brand in the quarter ending in June thanks to sales in China, but demand abroad is plunging.

  ``Huawei is losing market share quite dramatically outside China,'' said industry analyst Paul Budde. ``Their international position is most likely going to get worse rather than better.''

  In the latest blow, the Commerce Department this week confirmed rules announced in May that will bar non-American companies from using U.S. technology to make processor chips and other components for Huawei without a government license.

  The president of Huawei's consumer business, Richard Yu, says it is running out of chips for smartphones. Yu said as of Sept. 15, contractors will be forced to stop making Kirin chips designed by Huawei's engineers and used in its most advanced handsets.

  ``This is a very big loss for us,'' Yu said Aug. 8 at an industry conference, China Info 100.


date: 2 Sep 2020
level: 4
text:
  Beating


  John Locke

  beating is the worst, and therefore the last, means to be used in the correction of children; and that only in cases of extremity, after all gentler ways have been tried, and proved unsuccessful: which, if well observed, there will be very seldom any need of blows. For, it not being to be imagined that a child will often, if ever, dispute his father’s present command in any particular instance; and the father not interposing his absolute authority, in peremptory rules, concerning either childish or indifferent actions, wherein his son is to have his liberty; or concerning his learning or improvement, wherein there is no compulsion to be used; there remains only the prohibition of some vicious actions, wherein a child is capable of obstinacy, and consequently can deserve beating: and so there will be but very few occasions of that discipline to be used by any one, who considers well, and orders his child’s education as it should be. 

  For the first seven years, what vices can a child be guilty of, but lying, or some ill-natured tricks; the repeated commission whereof, after his father’s direct command against it, shall bring him into the condemnation of obstinacy, and the chastisement of the rod? If any vicious inclination in him be, in the first appearance and instances of it, treated as it should be, first, with your wonder; and then, if returning again a second time, discountenanced with the severe brow of the father, tutor, and all about him, and a treatment suitable to the state of discredit before mentioned; and this continued till he be made sensible and ashamed of his fault; I imagine there will be no need of any other correction, nor ever any occasion to come to blows. 

  The necessity of such chastisement is usually the consequence only of former indulgences or neglects. If vicious inclinations were watched from the beginning, and the first irregularities which they caused, corrected by those gentler ways, we should seldom have to do with more than one disorder at once; which would be easily set right without any stir or noise, and not require so harsh a discipline as beating. Thus, one by one, as they appeared, they might all be weeded out, without any signs or memory that ever they had been there. But we letting their faults (by indulging and humouring our little ones) grow up, till they are sturdy and numerous, and the deformity of them makes us ashamed and uneasy; we are fain to come to the plough and the harrow; the spade and the pick-ax must go deep to come at the roots, and all the force, skill, and diligence we can use, is scarce enough to cleanse the vitiated seed-plat, overgrown with weeds, and restore us the hopes of fruits to reward our pains in its season.

source:
  Source: https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/locke-the-works-vol-8-some-thoughts-concerning-education-posthumous-works-familiar-letters

question:
  QUESTION

  Beating is the most effective method of correcting children.
  Is this statement true?


  ANSWER

  False.


date: 6 Sep 2020
level: 3
text:
  Tutor

  If a tutor can be got, that, thinking himself in his father’s place, charged with his care, and relishing these things, will at the beginning apply himself to put them in practice, he will afterwards find his work very easy: and you will, I guess, have your son in a little time a greater proficient in both learning and breeding, than perhaps you imagine. But let him by no means beat him, at any time, without your consent and direction: at least till you have experience of his discretion and temper. But yet, to keep up his authority with his pupil, besides concealing that he has not the power of the rod, you must be sure to use him with great respect yourself, and cause all your family to do so too. For you cannot expect your son should have any regard for one, whom he sees you, or his mother, or others slight. If you think him worthy of contempt, you have chosen amiss; and if you show any contempt of him, he will hardly escape it from your son: and whenever that happens, whatever worth he may have in himself, and abilities for this employment, they are all lost to your child, and can afterwards never be made useful to him.

source:
  Source: https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/locke-the-works-vol-8-some-thoughts-concerning-education-posthumous-works-familiar-letters

question:
  QUESTION

  To establish a tutor's authority while educating a child, only the father in the family needs to show great respect to the tutor.  Is this statement true?


  ANSWER

  False.


date: 14 Sep 2020
level: 4
text:
  Oxbotica’s pioneering deepfake technology brings Universal Autonomy within sight

  25th June 2020


  Oxbotica has developed and deployed a “deepfake” technology that is capable of generating thousands of photo-realistic images in minutes; helping to expose its autonomous vehicles to the near infinite variations of the same situation – without real-world testing of a location having ever taken place.

  Deepfaking, which first shot to fame when it was used to create viral internet videos, employs deep learning artificial intelligence (AI) to generate fake photo-realistic images.

  The AV software firm believes that the pioneering technology will make the vehicles of tomorrow smarter and safer, and immediately accelerate the race to autonomy.

  Sophisticated deepfake algorithms allow the autonomous vehicle software firm to reproduce the same scene in poor weather or adverse conditions, and subject its vehicles to rare occurrences.

  The technology is so advanced that it can reverse road signage or “class switch”, where one object (e.g. a tree) is replaced with another (e.g. a building). It can change the lighting of an image, to show a particular frame at a different time of the day or season of the year, all while ensuring shadows or reflections appear exactly as they should. It then uses these synthetic images to teach its software, producing thousands of accurately-labelled, true-to-life experiences and rehearsals which are not real but generated; even down to the rain drops on lenses.

source:
  Source: https://www.oxbotica.com/insight/oxboticas-pioneering-deepfake-technology-brings-universal-autonomy-within-sight/

question:
  QUESTION

  Deepfake images are not original images.  They are computer generated.  Is this statement true?


  ANSWER

  True.


date: 15 Sep 2020
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  In which city did the driverless car operate?


  ANSWER

  London.

text:
  DRIVEN project demonstrates how driverless cars can operate safely in London


  The DRIVEN consortium celebrates today a key milestone in this 30-month government-supported project by unveiling the capabilities of a fleet of self-driving vehicles in London’s challenging and complex urban environment.
  Published on 30 September 2019

source:
  Source: https://trl.co.uk/news/news/driven-project-demonstrates-how-driverless-cars-can-operate-safely-london


source: Source: https://www.codesimplicity.com/post/how-to-learn-to-program
date: 5 Oct 2020
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  What is an algorithm?


  ANSWER

  A series of steps for accomplishing some task.

text:
  How to Learn to Program

  October 9, 2018


  One question that people ask me all the time is, “How do I become a programmer?” Or, “How do I learn to program?” There are a lot of possible answers to this, depending on the person and how you want to go about it. I figured that since people ask me this so often, I had better finally write an article about it.


  University
  The most commonly-taught subject that’s related to programming in universities is called “computer science.” I say that it’s related to programming because very little of what people learn in most computer science courses will actually end up being useful in their day-to-day lives as a professional, working programmer. That’s not always true—there are some fields where computer science comes very much in handy. But in general, the field we call “software engineering” or “development” is different than what universities cover as “computer science.”

  Usually, the basics of computer science that universities cover are very useful. I went to university and studied computer science, and my first two years of study were very useful to me, especially the first few classes. I got a great grounding in some of the basic concepts of software development.

  What I didn’t realize at the time, though, is that computer science is only partly a study of programming. The other part is a study of algorithms. (For those who are reading this and don’t know, an algorithm is a series of steps for accomplishing some task. That’s really all it means. Even a shopping list is a sort of algorithm.) The study of algorithms usually involves learning the most efficient way to do something. That is, figuring out how to accomplish a task like sorting a list of integers using the fewest number of steps or using the least amount of memory. There are some problems that can’t be solved by computers at all unless you know the right algorithm, and once in a while you run into a problem in programming that requires this knowledge. So it does have some use. But solving these problems of algorithms is not what you will be spending most of your time doing.

  Even for those universities that offer courses in “software engineering,” they are rarely a full experience of what the real world will be like. The reason is that most courses only take a few months at most, and make you collaborate with only a few people at best, on a codebase of a few thousand lines of code. In the real world, you will be working with a large number of people on a codebase that will last for years that is at least tens of thousands of lines of code. However, these software engineering courses are still far better than nothing.

  All this said, there are a few universities that do turn out excellent programmers, whether that be by computer science courses or software engineering courses. And there is always some value in learning to program by taking classes at a university. At the very least, being at a university provides a structure and discipline that encourages you to get through the class.


date: 20 Nov 2020
level: 4
text:
  McConnell backs Trump legal fight in election results

  10 November 2020

  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell backed the Trump campaign’s legal challenge of voting results in several battleground states on Monday in his first public comments on the floor since Election Day.

  In his remarks, McConnell, R-Ky., said, “no states have yet certified their election results” and that recounts are already expected to occur in “at least one or two states.” The longtime senator argued that President Trump is “100 percent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options.”

  Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr on Monday gave federal prosecutors the green light to pursue "substantial allegations" of voting irregularities before the 2020 presidential election is certified next month, even though little evidence of fraud has been put forth.

source:
  Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/live-updates-mcconnell-backs-trump-legal-fight-in-election-results

question:
  QUESTION

  The election results are official at the time of writing this news.  Is this statement true?


  ANSWER

  False.


source: Source: https://nealwhittengroup.com/articles/meet-minimum-requirements-anything-more-is-too-much/
date: 20 Nov 2020
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Meeting the minimum requirements is not exciting.
  Is this statement true?

  ANSWER

  False

text:
  Meet Minimum Requirements: Anything More is Too Much

  September 1, 1998

  Commit to a project plan that only includes essential function, with a “closet plan” for nonessential function.

  by Neal Whitten, PMP, Contributing Editor

  Does this conversation between a project manager and a project outsider sound familiar? It’s a Y2K project, but it could be any project.

  Outsider: “Will your project complete on time?”
  PM: “We have no choice.”
  Outsider: “I didn’t ask if you had a choice. I asked will you complete on time?”
  PM: “This is an important project. There’s a lot riding on the success of this project. We must complete on time.”

  (Translation: “No, we won’t complete on time. Anybody with any project experience knows this.”)

  Is this a Y2K-unique problem? No—it’s common on most projects. The primary reason it’s so common on Y2K projects is that most of the project managers and other project leaders on these projects were trained on pre-Y2K projects. Let me explain.

  One of the most common problems with projects is taking on too much work—attempting to exceed requirements rather than meet minimum requirements. This contributes to a plethora of ill effects, including late deliveries, budget overruns, low morale and poor quality. Attempting to cram the proverbial 10 pounds into a 5-pound sack is a common occurrence.

  One solution is to build products that meet minimum requirements. You may be thinking that such a product would have low appeal to your client or customers, but it’s not what you think.

  “Meet minimum requirements” means give the client what he or she needs to be successful; but don’t provide unessential function. Additional function is what future releases and future business opportunities are all about. It is important to earn the reputation for being reliable in meeting customer commitments and then be trusted to continue to upgrade on a routine, predictable basis. This is good business.

  You say you always only provide essential function? For most of us, most times, that’s not true. Have you ever faced slipped delivery dates and chosen to remove some of the function originally planned? When the project began, everyone swore that all the planned function was essential. Yet, as the project progressed—and got further behind schedule—some of that essential function no longer looked so essential.

  We’ll use a Y2K project as an example, because Y2K projects are at a heightened focus these days—and, interestingly enough, the No. 2 problem with Y2K projects is that they are taking on too much work (the No. 1 problem is that too many projects are starting too late). Here’s what should occur.
  Let’s say you’ve identified 100 functions (enhancements or changes) that need to be made in your company’s programs. You know that all 100 functions are desirable, but you recognize that your limited resources won’t allow all the functions to be ready by the hoped-for date. You find that 40 functions fall within the high-priority category, 30 as medium and 30 as low. You build a project plan to implement only the 40 high priorities. Why? Because you don’t want to jeopardize the timely completion of these 40 by building a plan to include the other 60 functions—all of lesser importance and, for purposes of illustration, deemed nonessential.

  You might be thinking that you should build a plan with all 100 functions and later, if (actually, when) the project gets into trouble, you can always back out of lesser-priority function. Don’t go there! This foolish plan requires spending valuable time, dollars and resources working on other-than-the-most-important functions. Moreover, when you back out, it costs again. What needs to be done is to build a plan that significantly reduces rework. This means the original plan must be only essential function.

  What about the other 60? You carefully look these over and put work-arounds in place that, although not optimal, can get you through until more substantial actions can occur.

  But there is something else you do. You decide on the most important of the 60 functions—maybe it’s all of the 30 medium functions or some subset thereof—and you create multiple, independent small projects with any and all resources you can muster. I call these small projects collectively a “closet plan.” These small projects are managed with the same care and attention to quality as the primary project. If any of these small projects can complete by a predetermined date (e.g., system test) and the risk to the primary project is judged to be acceptable, then the completed small projects are merged in with the primary project. There are many advantages to this technique: from reducing risk to the primary project, to motivating the members of the small projects to complete by a predetermined date, to setting customer expectations that are most likely to be met or exceeded.

  Most of us have been conditioned to believe that “meets minimum requirements” is unexciting and noncompetitive. I believe it to be the opposite. Deliberately practicing meeting minimum requirements helps an organization or company to be first-to-market, earn increasing credibility from their client(s), and strongly posture their enterprise for taking on new business opportunities. Adopting the concept of meeting minimum requirements can set your organization up for exceptional performance.


date: 20 Nov 2020
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Who wrote the above text?

  ANSWER

  Trump.

text:
  Text of a statement from President Donald Trump on the election result

  Nov 7, 2020 12:48 PM EST


  “We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed. The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor. In Pennsylvania, for example, our legal observers were not permitted meaningful access to watch the counting process. Legal votes decide who is president, not the news media.

  “Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated. The American People are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots. This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our election. It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters. Only a party engaged in wrongdoing would unlawfully keep observers out of the count room – and then fight in court to block their access.

  “So what is Biden hiding? I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.”

  The statement was issued while Trump was golfing at his club in Virginia.

source:
  Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-president-donald-trumps-full-statement-on-the-election-results-vowing-to-head-to-the-courts


source: Source: https://daverupert.com/2021/01/my-typical-day/
date: 28 Apr 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  When does the author get up in his typical day?

  ANSWER

  6:30am.

text:
  My typical day

  January 12, 2021

  Dave Rupert

  6:30am — My cat headbutts me awake asking for food. I get up and feed the cat. He has a bad thyroid and meows obnoxiously throughout the whole process, but it gets done. I push a button to start my first cup of coffee on our Jura and start browsing headlines.
  6:50am — Kids wake up, get them watching a Netflix while I make breakfast.
  7:45am — Get son logged onto Zoom School. Occasionally I’ll write or play Barbie with my daughter during this time.
  8:45am — Wife and son take daughter to preschool. I shower and get ready for work.
  9:00am — Begin work. Work is broken up by numerous coffee breaks, bathroom breaks, and meetings throughout the day. I tend to hit a productivity stride starting around 2pm, so mornings are spent catching up on projects, blogs, and emails while reserving the afternoon for more focused deep work.
  ??:?? — I regularly forget to eat lunch. This is a bad habit. Whenever I do eat lunch, it’s usually at my desk while watching some YouTubes. Look, I ain’t proud of this, but it’s what we got going on.
  5:15pm — Leave work, walk twelve steps to the kitchen.
  5:30pm — Eat dinner at the dining table with kids. They peel off mid-meal.
  6:00pm — Walk the dog, listen to audiobooks.
  6:40pm — Get kids bath’d and ready for bed.
  8:15pm — Wash dishes, listen to audiobooks, minimal tidying.
  9:30pm — Leisure time. Most nights I’ll hop onto Discord with friends and play video games. Currently it’s a mix of Overwatch and Call of Duty: Warzone. When not playing video games, it’s a mix of reading, writing, DnD, recording Aside Quest, or watching Star Trek with my wife.
  12:00am — Read until I fall asleep.


source: Source: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/5-a-day-what-counts/
date: 16 Jul 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  What is this article about?

  A. Healthy food
  B. Fire safety


  ANSWER

  A.

text:
  5 A Day: what counts?
  -Eat well



  Almost all fruit and vegetables count towards your 5 A Day, so it may be easier than you think to get your recommended daily amount.

  At a glance: what counts?
  --------------------------
   
  - 80g of fresh, canned or frozen fruit and vegetables counts as 1 portion of your 5 A Day. Opt for tinned or canned fruit and vegetables in natural juice or water, with no added sugar or salt.

  - 30g of dried fruit (this is equivalent to around 80g of fresh fruit) counts as 1 portion of your 5 A Day. Dried fruit should be eaten at mealtimes, not as a between-meal snack, to reduce the risk of tooth decay.

  Some portions only count once in a day:

  - 150ml of fruit juice, vegetable juice or smoothie. Limit the amount you drink to a combined total of 150ml a day. Crushing fruit and vegetables into juice and smoothies releases the sugars they contain, which can damage teeth. Juices and smoothies should be consumed at mealtimes, not as a between-meal snack, to reduce the risk of tooth decay.

  - 80g of beans and pulses. These only count once as part of your 5 A Day, no matter how many you eat. This is because although they're a good source of fibre, they contain fewer nutrients than other fruits and vegetables.


  Different types of fruit and veg
  --------------------------------

  Fruit and vegetables don't have to be fresh to count as a portion. Nor do they have to be eaten on their own: they also count if they're part of a meal or dish.

  These all also count towards your 5 A Day:

  Frozen fruit and vegetables.

  Tinned or canned fruit and vegetables. Buy ones tinned in natural juice or water, with no added sugar or salt.
  Fruit and vegetables cooked in dishes such as soups, stews or pasta.
  A 30g portion of dried fruit, such as currants, dates, sultanas and figs, counts as 1 of your 5 A Day, but should be eaten at mealtimes, not as a between-meal snack, to reduce the impact on teeth.
  Fruit and vegetables in convenience foods, such as ready meals and shop-bought pasta sauces, soups and puddings.
  Some ready-made foods are high in salt, sugar and fat, so only have them occasionally or in small amounts.

  You can find the salt, sugar and fat content of ready-made foods on the label.


  Drinks and 5 A Day
  ------------------

  Keep an eye on the amount of fruit juice and smoothies you drink. The current advice is to limit consumption of fruit or vegetable juices and smoothies to a combined total of 150ml a day (1 portion). Crushing fruit into juice releases the sugars they contain, which can damage teeth. Even unsweetened fruit juice and smoothies are sugary, so limit these to a combined total of 150ml a day.
  Diluting 150ml of fruit juice with water (still or sparkling) can make it go further.
  Remember to keep fruit juice and smoothies to mealtimes to reduce the impact on teeth.


  Do potatoes count towards my 5 A Day?
  --------------------------------------

  No. Potatoes are a starchy food and a great source of energy, fibre, B vitamins and potassium. 

  In the UK, we get a lot of our vitamin C from potatoes. Although they typically only contain around 11 to 16mg of vitamin C per 100g of potatoes, we generally eat a lot of them.

  When eaten as part of a meal, potatoes are generally used in place of other sources of starch, such as bread, pasta or rice. Because of this, they don't count towards your 5 A Day.

  Other vegetables that don't count towards your 5 A Day are yams, cassava and plantain. They're also usually eaten as starchy foods.

  Sweet potatoes, parsnips, swedes and turnips do count towards your 5 A Day because they're usually eaten in addition to the starchy food part of the meal.

  Potatoes play an important role in your diet, even if they don't count towards your 5 A Day. It's best to eat them without any added salt or fat. 

  They're also a good source of fibre, so leave the skins on where possible to keep in more of the fibre and vitamins.

  For example, if you're having boiled potatoes or a jacket potato, make sure you eat the skin, too.


source: Source: https://kevq.uk/online-conversations-website-engagement/
date: 17 Jul 2021
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  Why did the author remove comments from his web site?

text:
  Online Conversations & Website Engagement

  3 Jul 2021


  I was reading a post on online conversations by Manu last night, and the whole thing resonated with me. So I wanted to jot down my thoughts about online conversations and why I think it’s broken.

  "I’ll keep saying it till the day I die, or until someone invents something better: private conversations via email. If you care about discussing something with someone, like genuinely care, try contacting them directly, in private, via email."

                                   -- Manu Moreale


  A couple of years ago, I removed all comments from this site. It’s a WordPress site, so enabling comments is trivial. However, I found that the vast majority of the comments I was getting were along the lines of this:

      Some Internet Guy

      21 May 2020

      This is a great post, I wrote something similar on my site. Check it out…

      https://someinternetguy.com/my-unrelated-post


  If it wasn’t my pal Some Internet Guy it was spam comments, usually about viagra, or sometimes trolls wishing me dead. Which is always nice. 😍

  Lukily for me Akismet caught most of the spam, but I still had to wade through Some Internet Guy and his ilk’s useless comments on a daily basis.


  I still wanted onlined conversations
  -------------------------------------

  Problem was, dispite all the useless comments, I still wanted the engagement from genuine readers, as that’s the main reason I write content. So I replaced the comment form with a simple button that said Reply via email, which linked to my email address.


  At first I wasn’t sure it would work. But a couple years on, I’m happy to report that it has. I’m sure I miss many useful comments, as a lot of people are less likely to send an email than write a comment. Mainly because there’s more involved in the latter, I think.

  But that’s precisely why it has worked (I think). You see, this very small barrier of having to click a button, compose an email and send it just to me means many don’t bother. Those that do aren’t looking for traffic to their site, like Some Internet Guy. They’re genuinely interested in the subject of the post, and just want to discuss it further.

  I’ve had email conversations last weeks, and some people who have emailed me have kinda become friends off the back of it. I don’t think that would have happened if I was still using comments.

  I emailed Manu after reading his post, and we had a nice little conversation. He checked out my posts and we had a short chat about some stuff on this blog that he had thoughts on. It was a great connection, as are many of the engagements I have as a result of people emailing me.

  And don’t get me started on how much time it has saved me by not having to wade through useless comments every. Single. Day.

  Closing thoughts
  ----------------


  I’m really happy I decided to remove comments from this site. If you have comments on your site, and you’re having similar problems to me (or if you’re using the horrendous Disqus) maybe consider doing the same?

  I’m not saying it will definitely work for you, but it has for me, and it seems to have done the trick for Manu too.

  Are you all in on comments on your site? Or do you have nothing at all? Please do let me know your thoughts using the — you guessed it — email button below. 😁


source: Source: https://www.chadmoore.net/photos-are-remembrances
date: 17 Jul 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  What things a camera cannot do?

text:
  Photos don’t capture the moment

  Chad Moore

  7 June 2021

  I took this picture today, June 07 2021 around sunrise. When I looked at the picture on my phone, I thought to myself, “this picture doesnt do this sunrise justice”. I continiued to ruminate… Maybe I need to be a better iPhone photographer… I am sure there are tutorials and courses for that… Maybe I need a better camera. A real camera. Which one? How much does it cost? What things that I have now, could I sell to offset the spend? Maybe I should talk to my friends who are photographers…

  And so on, heading straight down a rabbit hole because I thought there was something lacking in me. My skills were not up to it. My tools aren’t “right”. I started walking and sat with these feelings. If I was literally the best photographer in the world, and I had the best and most perfect camera for sunrise photos at the beach, how much better would my picture be? Could I really capture the moment perfectly?

  Yes, my picture would be better. But no, I wouldn’t be able to perfectly capture the moment.

  The camera is a marvel of technology, and photos are great artifacts of what’s around us. What we’re experiencing. There are amazingly skilled photographers who can use their art and science to create emotionally moving imagery.

  But photographs can’t capture the moment. Photos are visual representations of those moments, and they help us remember them.

  The camera can’t capture the heat and humidity. The sounds of the waves and the birds. The smell of the ocean. The background noise of people and dogs on the beach. They can’t capture what’s in our heads at the moment.

  So, I look at this picture as a remembrance of all those things I was experiencing this morning. Not as a perfect capture of it.


source: Source: https://www.marksandspencer.com/c/flowers-and-plants
date: 21 Jul 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Having flowers at home is good for health. True or False?


  ANSWER

  True.

text:
  M&S FLOWER SHOP


  To bring instant cheer to your home or put a smile on a loved one's face, browse the flower shop here at M&S. Our beautiful blooms are sourced from expert growers and selected for their vivid colours, delicate fragrances and seasonality. 

  Buying flowers for yourself never fails to lift the spirits – discover our specially curated range of luxury flowers or sign up to our flower subscription service to receive beautiful blooms weekly, fortnightly or monthly. 

  Eye-catching on their own, fragrant flowers and vibrant colours can also be combined to make an impact in a statement vase. 

  Hosting a party? Brighten your table with a sophisticated floral centrepiece or mark each place setting with an individual stem. Houseplants are having something of a fashion moment, and we’re all for this revival. 

  Keeping plants indoors is a way to enjoy gardening without needing outdoor space, and they’re also good for your health and general wellbeing. Flowering plants offer the double benefit of seasonal blooms and all-year-round foliage, while long-lasting leafy varieties such as calathea or peperomia are sculptural and glossy. 

  Look for added interest with options that change colour through the year. Explore our plants online to find stylish choices that come complete with hand-made ceramic planters, woven baskets or contemporary metal stands. When there’s a special event on the calendar or you just want to send someone your love, a flower bouquet is a thoughtful gesture. 

  Among our inspiring selection, you’ll find an arrangement to suit every personality and occasion. Colours range from soft and muted to bold and bright. Go traditional with red roses contrasted against lush green foliage, or make a contemporary choice with a vibrant clutch of tulips. 

  For easy delivery, some options come in clever packaging that fits through the letterbox, while others are arranged in an elegant flower gift bag. Our next-day delivery flowers are available to ensure your gift arrives on time, and we also offer a Sunday flower delivery option on a selection of bouquets.


source: Source: https://mattlantz.ca/articles/2020-07-10-rest-is-key-to-good-quality-code
date: 24 Jul 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  The author thinks it is worth doing late work sessions. True or False?


  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Rest is Key to Good Quality Code


  Jul 10, 2020


  I’ve been mulling on this topic a bit lately as I’ve been prone to jumping on the bandwagon of the late nights strong coffee and even stronger Scotch. If you follow the school of thought that coding is an art form then you may feel like it makes sense to drain yourself to your root, and write code freely in the dark of night while your mind zones in. Though I have read there are some benefits to this approach I think the negatives far outweigh them.

  The Zone

  I have had many late nights where coding late into the evening has helped me stumble into that mystical zone. The place where all code just makes sense and the big picture and small picture combine into an elegant string of variables and methods. In short, I’ve been in that state where my brain (yours does this too) is beginning to shut down its sensory perceptions. Ironically, this create a sort of hyper-focused state but it’s mostly because your brain is unable to process anything else. This is the state where even if you get messages or there are issues you’re so deep its a challenge to get out of the focus. Though I have enjoyed times of reaching this psudo-nirvana, I don’t think its something to be sought after. My best code results are often from working in short bursts of focus. These are moments where I’m able to read thoroughly, make notes and then leave the code for a few hours to settle in my mind, think of it as a buffer management system.

  The Aftermath

  We often celebrate the late work sessions and multiple day burn outs which result in code we’re proud of. We will torture ourselves but just enough that we can still enjoy the outcome. However, we often neglect the fact that late work nights, burn out sessions, over caffeination and cheap carbohydrates result in long term detriment. Diving into one of these work sessions feels like it will only be a day or so to recover but it can have long term consequences. There is the real fact that sleep deprivation has severe health consequences, and there is a sad irony that the code you may be writing in that late night session may end up refactored completely in less than a year. Does that actually make it worth deteriorating you brain over it? We often also neglect the impact that it has on our social lives and skills. We’re often more edgy and short with co-workers, which results in poorer quality code revisions and focus.

  I myself if I’m tired enough will take naps on my office floor. These may be fifteen minute naps or even thirty minutes but I’m always better off doing this rather than making another pot of coffee or chugging back energy drinks. Our minds are always working and processing even in sleep. Personally, I’d much rather let my brain process a complex problem in sleep than while I’m sitting in the dark with bags drooping under my eyes as empty cans of Red Bull lay across my office floor.


date: 26 Jul 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  The author is pikcy about what he chooses to read. True or False?


  ANSWER

  True.

text:
  Why I follow few users and why it's not personal

  Thursday, July 23, 2020

  By Hund

  For some reason I ended up with a lot of followers on Mastodon and I don’t know why to be honest. Every time someone follows me and I don’t follow them back I honestly feel bad about it. It’s not that I find most people boring or anything, it’s just that.. well. life. I guess.

  Something unexpected happened to me recently, I was away from my computer for almost three weeks straight. Well. It’s perhaps not that unexpected—it’s not the first time I’ve been away from my computer (or even my phone) for longer periods of times—most of the times it’s only for a few days to a week or so though.

  In periods, I can sometime spend quite a lot of time on my computer. I really enjoy tinkering with my computer, Linux and open source software! I’m that person who sometimes gets a bit too obsessed about particular things and I can’t really let anything go before I’m done with it. This behaviour has actually led to a few years of some unhealthy multiplayer gaming about a decade ago, so it’s not something I take lightly on, even though I might sometimes joke about it.

  This time away from my computer it felt wonderful. I was partly busy with vacation for about one and a half weeks and partly just being home relaxing and watching movies with my girlfriend. I could have spent time with my computer as well, but I choose not to. Instead, I spent the time thinking about how I use my computer (and my phone), how I perhaps consume and process more information than I really want to and what the long term effects of that does to a person.

  As an introverted perfectionist with an ever so slight touch of OCD, I’m very good at obsessively thinking about the same things over and over again. This is especially true for things that I find fascinating. I’m constantly thinking about all the information I expose myself to via various ways that no one today is really used to. I also think a lot about what news feeds I follow, who I follow on social media, if I use social media too much and what all this does to our short term memory and our attention span.

  Removing two of my three monitors over a year ago was a big step into the right direction for me in de-cluttering my life. It has honestly made some huge positive improvements on my productivity and what I like to call my hyper focus. I also recently realised that while my workflow had improved a lot, I still did some really weird things that younger me would never have approved. One of those things is leaving the web browser always running in the background even when I’m not using it. I know it might sound silly, but closing any application when I don’t use it does help me focus on what I’m currently doing. This is partly why I like minimal desktop setups, it’s just not exclusively about scoring Internet points amongst my fellow dorks.

  When it comes to the news feeds I’m that person who can’t just leave them unread. I must read them to be able to relax and put them behind me so to speak. That’s actually why I’m very picky about what feeds I choose to subscribe to. I’m also that person who must read every single status message by the users I follow on social media. This is partly why I follow very few people on social media.

  After my three-week-long break from my computer I realised that I didn’t really have any desire to read all the potentially new and fancy articles. I enjoyed the nothingness and all the extra time I had on my hands more than anything. I did eventually launch my feed reader Newsboat, but I closed it moments later after a quick glance of the new articles and I then fired up my text editor Neovim with all my news feeds, and thoughtfully reviewed all of my feeds.

  I have about 50 feeds in total, so it didn’t take that long. The feeds I have subscribed to are mostly weblogs and various tech and/or open source related projects and news sites. One of the first feeds that I removed was a Swedish news site that posts daily—multiple times per day—about everything from movie trailers, science and tech to politics. It was my one and only source to the ‘real’ world outside my happy little ignorant eggshell.

  I never really liked the amount of articles they managed to publish in a day and my filter for that particular feed had grown enormous over the years in an attempt to filter out uninteresting news that seemed even remotely recurring. I don’t have any TV-channels, I don’t read any newspaper (not even online) and I don’t listen to any radio, this source was therefor pretty good at giving me various highlights about the world and what was going on, but in the end I decided that it took more than what I gave back to keep up with them.

  Since we have a limited quota of both time and focus to spend per day, I rather spend my valuable time on things that I find fun, that brings me joy and that keeps me productive!

  So. I hope you don’t feel offended If I don’t follow you on social media as it’s nothing personal.

source:
  Source: https://hunden.linuxkompis.se/2020/07/23/why-i-follow-few-users-and-why-it's-not-personal.html


source: Source: https://johnhenrymuller.com/nice
date: 26 Jul 2021
level: 3
text:
  This is short, so pay attention ...

  John Henry Müller

  Sitting in my chair/desk, I heard the principle's voice over the intercom. He started with the announcements then a segue to the “daily intention.” This is where he hands the microphone to a teacher for some inspirational words to start the day.

  We prepared ourselves mentally and physically for the typical 5-10 minute reading. Mr. Muller (my calculus teacher and dad) took over the airwaves.

  He said, “This is short, so pay attention…” He paused, then: “Be nice.”

  The microphone clicked off.

  We looked around the classroom expecting to hear more. But that was it. The bell rang and first period began.

  It was a simple but powerful sentiment. If more people followed this rule, the world would be a much happier place. My role is simple. Your role is simple. Everyone's role is simple.

  The clarity of this idea was delivered with such impact because the succinctness and unpredictability of those two words at the moment.

  Those two words have stuck with me for over 15 years.

  There were two lessons I learned from my dad that weekday morning. The first was the importance of message itself. The second was the importance of delivering your message succinctly with a bit of charm and whimsy.

question:
  QUESTION

  How many years ago did the author's father say "Be nice" when the author wrote this essay?


  ANSWER

  15.


source: Source: https://zapier.com/blog/admit-when-you-dont-know-things/
date: 27 Jul 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  The authors prefers confidence over competence. True or False?

  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Admit when you don't know things

  -- Why saying "I don't know" is so powerful

  By Justin Pot

  July 12, 2021


  I used to do sales, and I found three words very helpful: "I don't know." 

  The internet is full of articles for salespeople offering alternatives to saying those three words, all with elaborate ways to avoid admitting ignorance. And I get it: telling someone you don't know something is hard, especially when you're trying to convince that person to give you money. 

  But that's why saying "I don't know" is so powerful. In a world full of BS, the best way to stand out is to resemble an actual human being. Admitting you don't know something is the most human thing you can do. 


  You don't know everything—which makes sense
  ---------------------------------------------

  I used to build WordPress websites for local businesses in Boulder, Colorado, and I never impressed potential clients more than the times I admitted I didn't know the answer to a question. It caught people off guard, in the best way, because they were so used to people pretending or weaseling their way out of corners. 

  "I don't know," I'd tell people. "Let's see if we can figure it out together."

  And then we would. If I wasn't sure what a setting did, I'd experiment as the customer watched. If it was something that would require more research, I'd commit to figuring it out. But first, and always, I'd admit that I didn't know.

  I built multiple relationships using the words "I don't know" because people knew I wasn't trying to hide anything. There's trust in that. And you know what? The clients this impressed were by far the best people to work with. They were, on the whole, more curious, kind, and generally just the sort of people you want to work with on a project. 


  Our culture values confidence. It should value competence. 
  ---------------------------------------------------------------

  I should clarify: I'm not saying you should be proud of your ignorance. Far from it. I'm saying that, when you don't know something, you should admit it. You can't learn something if you think you already know it.

  This is a hard thing to realize. If recent history has taught me anything, it's that American culture values confidence more than competence. Being loudly incorrect gets you on TV more often than being quietly curious, and it sadly seems like a quick path to success in business. There's every incentive to pretend you know everything, and doing so can easily become reflexive. 

  Unfortunately, respecting the "I don't know" isn't universal. I asked my Zapier coworkers, and many of them told me that, in previous roles, they'd been punished professionally for admitting they didn't know something. That's a shame. Those companies missed out on the best possible version of my coworkers—the version that admits they don't know something and tries to learn.


  Just admit you don't know
  --------------------------

  None of this is to say that admitting you don't know something is easy. It isn't. My Zapier colleague Breetel Graves recently wrote a Friday update on our internal blog that I can't stop thinking about. She outlined her internal monologue in the lead-up to asking a question: 

  Breetel: I'm so dumb, I can't ask this question. I can't reveal how dumb I am!

  Other Breetel: Ok, let's say you are that dumb. What will happen if you reveal how dumb you are?

  Breetel: I'll get fired.

  Other Breetel: You probably won't be fired immediately. It'll take a bit. You'll probably have some warning. 

  Breetel: But then I'll get fired. 

  Other Breetel: Yeah, but you'd probably get another job. The local cheese shop is hiring. You love cheese.

  And then I asked the question.

  This is so human it hurts. I do the same thing: I wonder if admitting I don't know something will result in some sort of catastrophe. 

  But you know what? It hasn't, at least for me—and it shouldn't for anyone.


date: 28 Jul 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  A 12-year-old teenager can create a profile at Instagram. True or False?

  ANSWER

  True.

text:
  Instagram Ruins Self-confidence and Mental Health in Teenagers, Study Finds


  By Dunja Djudjic 


  July 24, 2017 


  Many artists use Instagram to promote their work and even book sessions. However, there are probably even more teenagers who use this social network for presenting themselves – the fake version of themselves. Anti-bullying organization Ditch the Label has explored the connection between social networks and bullying. In their Annual Bullying Survey 2017, they concluded that Instagram is the number one social network when it comes to cyberbullying.

  The survey was conducted in collaboration with schools and colleges, and it’s described as “the largest benchmark of bullying in the United Kingdom.” It’s published annually, and this year included 10,000 volunteers aged 12 to 20.


  INSTAGRAM RUINS SELF-CONFIDENCE AND MENTAL HEALTH IN TEENAGERS, STUDY FINDS
  July 24, 2017 by Dunja Djudjic 8 Comments



  Many artists use Instagram to promote their work and even book sessions. However, there are probably even more teenagers who use this social network for presenting themselves – the fake version of themselves. Anti-bullying organization Ditch the Label has explored the connection between social networks and bullying. In their Annual Bullying Survey 2017, they concluded that Instagram is the number one social network when it comes to cyberbullying.

  The survey was conducted in collaboration with schools and colleges, and it’s described as “the largest benchmark of bullying in the United Kingdom.” It’s published annually, and this year included 10,000 volunteers aged 12 to 20.




  The first part of the study has explored bullying in general, and the influence it had on the subjects. The majority of them have developed social anxiety, depression, or had suicidal thoughts. And the most common causes of bullying involved appearance (as much as 50%), attitudes towards interests and hobbies and attitudes towards the high grades.

  The second part of the study has researched cyberbullying. It reports that 69% of the surveyed people have been engaged in some form of the abusive online behavior. One out of two reported that they have experienced the cyberbullying in some of its forms. When it comes to social networks where the bullying occurred, Instagram takes the highest percentage, as 42% of all the bullying has happened on this network. Facebook is the second with 37%, and Snapchat is the third with 31%.

  According to the subjects themselves, social networks don’t do enough to prevent cyberbullying. As much as 71% of them have this opinion. And frankly, I would have to agree with this, considering that 12-year-olds were involved in the survey.

  According to Instagram’s Terms of Use, you are not allowed to use this social network if you are under the age of 13. Yet, the highest percentage of subjects (23%) is 12 years old. So while Instagram makes sure to delete fine art photos that happen to show a boob, they don’t really follow their own terms of use when it comes to underage kids creating profiles.

  Although Instagram was initially designed with a different idea in mind, it began evolving with age and has been involving more and more of different people. On the one hand, there are photographers showcasing their work, which can certainly be a good thing. But sadly, the other part of this social network is a growing playground for cyber bullies, the never-ending chase for likes, and a place where even the 12-year-olds (and younger kids) can start developing a completely wrong image of themselves and the world around them.

  In the future, I hope Instagram, along with other social networks, will develop the methods for verifying the users’ age. And of course, I hope that the parents will get more involved and talk to their children about the advantages, but also the dangers of social media.

source:
  Source: https://www.diyphotography.net/instagram-ruins-self-confidence-mental-health-teenagers-study-finds/


source: Source: https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20325047.html
date: 28 Jul 2021
level: 3
text:
  Eating together’s the recipe for happy Irish family life

  Dan Buckley

  21 April  2015


  According to the latest survey on dining-in, more than half of families share a meal at least five times a week.

  There is a quiet, everyday mealtime revolution taking place around the country, with a back-to-basics tradition of shared mealtimes and cooking from scratch, according to the first ever SuperValu Home Truths report released yesterday.

  More than half of the population believe sharing a meal is the No 1 thing that keeps families together.

  The study also reveals a movement towards back-to-basics, yet inspirational, cooking.

  Irish people are getting more passionate about buying and cooking fresh food —78% say they try to cook from scratch as much as possible, with only 16% of families regarding cooking as an “unavoidable chore”.

  There is also a growing trend enabled by our sharing culture — finding and sharing recipes on the internet comes second only to mum who is still the main inspiration for 43% of the nation’s cooking.

  The report, developed with clinical psychologist David Coleman, was carried out among 1,000 respondents, combined with an additional focused study of 400 families living at home with children under the age of 18.

  According to Mr Coleman: “It’s encouraging to see that Irish families see the value in taking some time out to sit down together for dinner.”

  Being able to relax and enjoy one another’s company are seen as the best things about coming together for dinner by 60% of the population and the atmosphere at family dinner tables seems to be generally good fun, with dad named as number one entertainer.

question:
  QUESTION

  Majority of Irish families regard cooking as an unavoidable chore.  True or False?

  ANSWER

  False.


source: Source: http://www.43folders.com/2005/09/19/writing-sensible-email-messages
date: 31 Jul 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Write a long email message to get a faster response. True or False?

  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Brevity is the soul of...getting a response

  Merlin Mann 

  19 Sep 2005

  It's completely depressing to check your email at 4:55 in the afternoon to discover a gothic novel of a message waiting for you, spilling down your screen the distance of 2 or 3 scrolling pages. It's certainly not the kind of thing that excites the desire to engage and respond. I mean just look at all that!

  So, although—in typical Merlin fashion—I have only anecdotal evidence and hunches to prove this point, I'd wager that there's one visual trick most likely to improve your message's success: fit it onto one screen with no scrolling. There's a reason those web ads placed “above the fold” cost a lot more than the ones stuck down at the bottom; it's the only part of the page that you're virtually assured that anyone will see.

  Whenever you can, try to distill your beautiful epistle down to just one or two points about a given topic, and then whittle that down to the point where there's plenty of white space left underneath your closing. Got more to say? Put it in separate emails with—again—excellent Subject lines, and a descriptive, concise opener.


source: Source: http://www.43folders.com/2006/07/10/listening
date: 1 Aug 2021
level: 4
text:
  Tips on becoming a better listener

  Merlin Mann

  10 Jul 2006

  When we meet, you and I, you will see for yourself one of my most humiliating traits. No it's not my acromegaly, my plaid pants, nor my atrocious hairpiece.

  No, friend, you will be deeply annoyed to hear me ask you to repeat your name at least twice, and possibly five times, during our inaugural conversation. And, in subsequent meetings, even though your face will be forever etched upon my brain (a skill at which I absolutely excel), I will probably call you "Champ," "Chief," or possibly "Tex." Because, yes, I will have completely forgotten your name. And it's not just a bad memory that's to blame here (although, of course, my memory sucks, too) -- I'm convinced it's because I am a terrible listener, and because I suffer intermittent encoding errors at the time data is written to disk, so to speak.

  In working to improve this socially-crippling liability, in general -- to hear what people are really saying rather than just using the down time to formulate a pseudo-clever response -- I've begun skimming the web for advice. I have these sites and tips to share with you so far, so listen up!

  From Becoming a Better Listener:

  Genuinely interested: A successful listener is genuinely interested in what the other person has to say. If you don't have time at the moment, offer to talk with the individual later...
  Silence: Become comfortable with silence in a helping relationship. Pauses can create valuable reflection time for the other person...
  Nonverbal messages: Be sure your nonverbal messages are congruent with your verbal ones. Unless cultural differences dictate otherwise, offer direct eye contact while the individual is talking. It helps establish trust and communicates interest. Leaning forward is also interpreted as an expression of concern and interest.

  How'd you become a good listener? Got a good trick that put you on the right track to hearing people more and better?

question:
  QUESTION

  Merlin thinks that he is a terrible listener who tends to forget his friend's names.  True or False?

  ANSWER

  True.


source: Source: http://www.43folders.com/2008/01/11/working-close
date: 1 Aug 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Close's paintings are built incrementally. True or False?

  ANSWER

  True.

text:
  Working In Close

  Brian Oberkirch

  11 Jan 11 2008

  "Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work." -- Chuck Close

  It may be that I like hearing about the work habits of writers and artists I like almost as much as I like their work. How do you force yourself to do work no one (really, like, no one) is clamoring for, in addition to doing the long apprentice work you need to do to build your chops? As most of our work gets less structured and more creative, it might prove helpful to take a look at how artists get their stuff done.

  And, sorry, all those romantic notions you have of absinthe spoons, manic episodes and Kerouac-like rambling on a long roll of butcher paper really aren't operative. Creative work is mostly showing up every day and enduring a million tiny failures as you feel your way to something a bit new.

  Let's look at Chuck Close. This interview with Terry Gross has all sorts of good things to think about (esp. if you like talk about technique), but I was especially struck by the way Close talks about evolving his method of working to overcome his own personality.

  "I'm a nervous wreck. I'm a slob. I have no patience. And I'm rather lazy. All those things would seem to guarantee that I would not make work like I make. But I didn't want to just go with my nature."

  So instead of painting overwrought, expressive things when the mood struck, he committed to making his epic, close-up portraits by breaking the work into tiny pieces and hewing to a grid. Not only did the grid make technical sense, it forced a lifehack on Close that would help him deal with his own tendencies. It helped get the work done, sure. It allowed him a style that might not have been 'natural' to his disposition. & it also had other side benefits.

  "What I found that one of the nice things [about] working incrementally is that I don't have to reinvent the wheel every single day. Today I did what I did. You can pick it up and put it down. I don't have to wait for inspiration. There are no good days or bad days. Every day essentially builds positively on what I did the day before. ... Given my nature, I believe it was very good for me to be able to add to what I already had and slowly construct the final image out of these little building blocks."

  Of course, this approach also reminds me of one of my favorite pep talks, _Bird by Bird_, in which Anne Lamott tries to make us mindful of each intervening step we have to take on the way to realizing larger things. Here, Close compares his method to the way knitting or crocheting is done in small intervals over an extended period.

  "My paintings are built incrementally, one unit at a time, in a way that's not all that different than the way, say, a writer would work. ... Because I work incrementally, I push little pieces of paint up against one another. .... And I slowly build these paintings, construct them, in the way someone might crochet or knit."

  If you believe in the process and you knit one, purl two long enough, eventually you get a sweater.

  Not only do I love the hope in that sentence, I think it's true. If you can create a process that short circuits some of your own worst habits, and you really believe in that process, eventually you'll get a sweater, a nine-foot painting, chicken enchiladas, a Web site, a marathon.


source: Source: http://www.43folders.com/2009/01/29/bierut-notebooks
date: 1 Aug 2021
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  Michael used 26 notebooks over 85 years. True or False?

  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Michael Bierut's Notebooks


  Merlin Mann

  Jan 29 2009

  Why a notebook link from the guy who’s supposedly over notebook pr0n? Easy. This is all about how Michael Bierut has used his 85 notebooks over the past 26 years.

  "The notebooks function like a security blanket for me. I can’t go into a meeting unless I have my current notebook in my hand, even if I never open it. Because I carry one everywhere, I tend to misplace them a lot. Losing one makes me frantic."

  It’s a fascinating mini-memoir, told through almost three decades of lines in a go-to capture tool. To me, this is much more about habits, cognition, and memory than paper and cardboard.

  "Like most designers, I get asked a lot about my process. A lot of my ideas are so simple and dumb that a simple dumb drawing is all it takes to describe it. I probably did the drawing for the cover of Tibor Kalman’s monograph in a meeting. Picture on the front, stacked type on the spine: what if we did something like this? That’s how it came out. If a process is supposed to have steps, to reflect a method, that isn’t much of a process."

  I disagree. Any process that stops feeling like a process has become an ideal process.


date: 2 Aug 2021
level: 4
text:
  The 'scientific' way to raise children is surprisingly simple

  By Sarah Berry

  6 March 2019


  The “scientific” way to raise our kids is so intuitively simple many parents are likely underestimate its importance, Notre Dame University paediatricians and public health researchers have warned in a new report.

  The researchers explored the latest science for children’s optimal mental, physical and emotional development, finding the best advice is as basic as it is pivotal.

  Simple activities like reading books, playing with our kids, preparing meals and eating together are highly significant for children's emotional development, while unscheduled time allows children to develop creativity through boredom, improving their resilience, independence and resourcefulness.

  Looking at physical health, the report said encouraging physical activity will improve both physical and mental health, offering water and whole foods instead of juice and junk foods will boost children's microbiome, and learning to switch off devices to allow for social engagement and sleep.

  “It’s not simply going back to basics, it’s understanding why the basics are important,” explains lead author Christine Bennett, a paediatrician, mother of five and dean of the school of medicine at Notre Dame University.

  Because, unfortunately, many of these basics are not currently being met.

  The report found Australian children spend more time interacting with their devices than interacting with their parents each week (an average of 14.6 hours in front of screens versus 9.3 hours with their parents).

  It also found nearly one third of children aged 12 to 15 experience broken or inadequate sleep as a result of excessive screen time.

  “Sleep is when your brain and body heal. It’s when your brain defrags,” Bennett says. “For children it’s particularly important.”

  Having more face time than FaceTime is also vital for the wellbeing of developing brains: excessive screen time is linked with poorer mental health and often displaces physical activity, playing with friends, and face-to-face interactions.

  Bennett recounts seeing a toddler repeatedly trying to get the attention of her mother while they were on a train together. The mother ignored the child and continued scrolling through her phone. Eventually, without saying a word, the mother pulled an iPad from her bag and put it in front of her daughter to keep her quiet.

  She tells the story not to “bash people up”, but to remind parents of the significance of our time and attention to our children.

  According to the report, many decades of “strong research” reveal that regular time where children are physically and emotionally close to their caregivers “act to positively shape” their development.

  “Time when the adult providing their care can focus their attention, affection and stimulation - the optimum conditions for children to learn and engage,” the report says.

  “Material rewards are not meaningful expressions of love. Children feel loved when they are given time and attention.”

  Bennett adds that social connectedness is “one of the predictors of length of life, our sense of purpose and our sense of self”.

  “We can be so busy and so rushed, children don’t get the chance to buddy up and move as a pack or see their grandparents or feel part of the broader community,” she says.

  In an age where children are scheduled within an inch of their lives and parents feel run off their feet, these basics are often forgotten, or considered somehow less important.

  “[The report] is really supporting what we have always intuitively thought; reading to our children, having fun with them and spending time with them is really good for their brains,” Bennett explains.

  “They are the things that get squeezed out of the busy life and they are as important and powerful as the music lesson... lessons are great but you have got to get balance there.

  “We now have the science to empower parents to spend that time with their children doing those activities, knowing you are doing them the world of good.”

  The five practical ways to improve your children's wellbeing
  Safety, security, love and belonging: talk, listen, read, play, sing, dance and hug every day.

  Healthy eating and drinking: food prepared and enjoyed together. A balanced diet full of fresh fruit and vegetables, with a priority focus on whole and unrefined foods. Water as the preferred drink.

  Active play: encouraging creativity and imagination. Be more interactive. Playing sports and games that children enjoy and spending time outside.

  Healthy sleep: a priority for all the family. Healthy sleep hygiene and developing a bedtime routine.

  Positive screen time: use digital technologies to aid, rather than dominate, living by learning to use the off-button to limit screen time and avoid cyber-addiction. Monitor the online "playground".

source:
  Source: https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/the-scientific-way-to-raise-children-is-surprisingly-simple-20190305-p511wr.html

question:
  QUESTION

  Eating together with kids is good for their mental development.  True or False?

  ANSWER

  True.


date: 2 Aug 2021
level: 3
text:
  Want to Raise Successful Kids?  Teach kids to take pride in their effort, not their gifts.


  Of all the advice I've shared over the years, this is the habit that prompts the most replies -- not from parents who don't think it works, but from adults who realize how much sense it makes, and how much they wished their parents had practiced it.

  Bottom line: Don't praise your kids for their gifts. Praise them instead for their efforts.

  In other words, not this: "Sally, you're so good at math!" Or else, "Ethan, you're such a fast runner!"

  Instead: "I'm proud of how hard you studied!" Or: "I could see the determination on your face as you crossed the finish line!"

  There's a whole line of scientific studies that backs this up, largely stemming from the work of Stanford University's Carol Dweck. But, I was also pleasantly surprised to learn recently that of all people, it's also one of the top bits of advice that Jeff Bezos preaches to young people and their parents.

source:
  Source: https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/want-to-raise-successful-kids-science-says-these-7-habits-lead-to-incredible-outcomes.html

question:
  QUESTION

  Don't praise your kids for their gifts. Praise them instead for their efforts..  True or False?

  ANSWER

  True.


source: Source: https://lucumr.pocoo.org/2021/2/5/be-humble/
date: 2 Aug 2021
level: 4
text:
  Be Humble

  Armin Ronacher

  5 February 2021

  2020 was a crazy and challenging year. Millions of people lost their jobs and thousands lost loved ones. But not me. Not just that, I work in an industry where I can safely say that most of us didn't really have such a terrible 2020 all things considered. Yeah, the pandemic sucks and for those of us with kids at home home office was challenging for sure. But really just compare that with the experience people have and had that are not in such a privileged position.

  And it's not just that programmers and IT folks in general had very little to complain about when it comes to the pandemic, we're a really, really privileged bunch in general. We get preferred visa treatment which makes us one of the most mobile work forces, our profession is universally recognized even if we did not actually get a degree, we can work from home and we're monetarily compensated in a way that even juniors coming from a few month training will out-earn many studied professions.

  With all that money come a lot of inflated egos. This has always been a weird thing but over the last year it has really started to annoy me how tone deaf some folks are about their personal situation. All that money buys you a ton that many can only dream of. You can use that money to retire early, that money buys you the freedom to start your own company, that money is often enough money to get more money from investors.

  It's nice that people can do that, but the nonchalant way in which this is presented online really starts to give my profession an awful reputation. Some of you might think that it's great you are all angel investors and serial entrepreneurs who work on dodgy immigration arrangements from different places in the world, who network on the latest and greatest social apps, share their lifestyle in their podcast armed with that fancy latte and craft beer and who are making a brand out of themselves.

  I just have one ask: when you do that, be humble and reflect on your situation. Most people are not that lucky.

question:
  QUESTION

  Programmers can work from home and still get decent payment during the pandemic.  True or False?

  ANSWER

  True.


source: Source: https://www.diyphotography.net/look-good-webcam-vlog/
date: 10 Aug 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Did the author find his camera back finally?

  ANSWER

  Yes.

text:
  IS LOSING YOUR CAMERA THE WORST END TO A TRIP EVER?



  By JP Danko


  9 June 2018


  My family and I recently returned from a week-long early spring backcountry camping trip.

  This trip involved canoeing in snow squalls and an extended portage where the lake was still frozen solid. Physically, it was a challenge, but it was also an amazing family bonding experience with my wife and our 9 and 12-year-old kids (the golden years when they are useful humans but not yet teenagers).

  At the end of the trip I sat my trusty old Fuji X100 (the original model) on a post in the parking lot to snap one final family portrait in self-timer mode.

  Then we drove home ...

  I think you know where this is going.

  Of course, I didn’t just have one camera. I also had my Nikon D800 as my primary stills camera and a Sony a6300 for video. The Fuji X100 is mostly used by the kids now, but I still use it for family snapshots on the go.

  Plus it’s just a damn sexy looking camera, and it’s been around the world with us.

  So the next day (after a 5-hour drive home) we’re unpacking the car and as I’m uploading the memory cards from my other cameras I realized…

  Me: Hey…has anyone seen the Fuji?

  Wife: No.

  Daughter: Nope.

  Son: What’s a Fuji? The silver camera. Oh…no.

  Wife: Well, it’s got to be here somewhere – when was the last time that you remember having it?

  Me: Hiking out I was using it…I don’t remember putting it in the car….it’s not in the camera bag…

  Wife: Gasp!!! Did you leave it sitting on the post in the parking lot after we took our family photo!? (In self timer mode.)

  Me: Awwwwww ffffffuuu#k.


  At this point, I am picturing my little Fuji X100 sitting on top of a wooden post, in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere, a 5-hour drive away.

  It wasn’t the only camera we took with us, and I didn’t lose all the photos from the trip – but I did lose a fair chunk of the more family oriented snapshots that we captured.

  Plus I just really like that camera!

  Now, this was very early spring – nobody would be using the access point we were parked at for another few weeks. If I left the camera sitting on a post in the parking lot, there was a very strong chance that it would still be there.

  The whole day I couldn’t shake it – I was so upset about losing this camera and all the photos on the memory card that I started rationalizing a ten hour round trip to go pick it up.

  I checked the forecast – heavy rain this evening – the memory card would survive, but the camera would probably be toast.

  I started re-arranging my work schedule – if I left now, I could make it through the city before rush hour and probably get there before it started raining.

  If it was still there…but where else could it be? In my mind’s eye, I could see exactly where I left it – sitting on top of a wooden post, facing the lake.

  So I thought – that’s it – I’m going – if I leave right now I’ll be back by midnight – it’s only 914 kilometers – I’ve got an audiobook on the go and 10 hours of driving is nothing.

  So I picked up my phone to text my wife and let her know that I would be a little late for dinner – and I saw a text from her…

  Wife: Check the glove compartment! I think I might have put it in there because I didn’t want it to get banged around loose in the car.

  And yes, that is exactly where I found it!


source: Source: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/12/15/camels-and-rubber-duckies/
date: 19 Aug 2021
level: 4
text:
  How much should I charge for my software?

  by JOEL SPOLSKY

  15 DECEMBER 2004 


  The reason I bring this up is because software is priced three ways: free, cheap, and dear.

  Free. Open source, etc. Not relevant to the current discussion. Nothing to see here. Move along.
  Cheap. $10 – $1000, sold to a very large number of people at a low price without a salesforce. Most shrinkwrapped consumer and small business software falls into this category.
  Dear. $75,000 – $1,000,000, sold to a handful of rich big companies using a team of slick salespeople that do six months of intense PowerPoint just to get one goddamn sale. The Oracle model.
  All three methods work fine.

  Notice the gap? There’s no software priced between $1000 and $75,000. I’ll tell you why. The minute you charge more than $1000 you need to get serious corporate signoffs. You need a line item in their budget. You need purchasing managers and CEO approval and competitive bids and paperwork. So you need to send a salesperson out to the customer to do PowerPoint, with his airfare, golf course memberships, and $19.95 porn movies at the Ritz Carlton. And with all this, the cost of making one successful sale is going to average about $50,000. If you’re sending salespeople out to customers and charging less than $75,000, you’re losing money.

question:
  QUESTION

  There are software applications priced between $1000 and $75,000.

  True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.


source: Source: https://www.codesimplicity.com/post/the-power-of-no/
date: 20 Aug 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Do not be afraid to say no to bad design ideas.

  True or False.

  ANSWER

  True.

text:
  The Power Of No

  By Max Kanat-Alexander

  20 Jan 2011

  How many times have you used a piece of software that was full of incredibly convoluted features, strange decisions, and unusable interfaces? Have you ever wanted to physically or verbally abuse a computer because it just wouldn’t do things right, or you couldn’t figure out how to make it function properly? And how often have you thought, “How could any programmer think this was a sane idea?”

  Well if you’ve ever experienced any of those things, your next thought might have been something like “**** this computer” or “**** the silly programmer who made it behave this way”. After all, aren’t programmers and hardware designers to blame for the crazy behavior of the system? Well, yes, to some extent they are. But after being intimately involved in software design for many years, I now have another reaction to poorly-implemented features. Instead of becoming angry with the programmer who implemented the system, I ask myself, “Who was the software designer who authorized this feature?” Who stood by silently and let this feature happen when they had the power to stop it?

  Granted, sometimes there is no software designer at all, in which case you’re practically guaranteed to have a broken system. But when there is a software designer, they are ultimately responsible for how the system is put together. Now, quite a bit of this job involves designing the structure of features before they go into the system. But there’s also another part of the job of a software designer–preventing bad ideas from being implemented. In fact, if there’s any lesson I’ve learned from my years in the software industry, it’s this:

  The most important word in a software designer’s vocabulary is “no”.


  The problem is that if you give a group of humans total freedom to implement any random idea that comes into their mind, then nearly every time they will implement bad ideas. This isn’t a criticism of developers, it’s more of a fact of life. I have great faith in the intelligence and capability of individual developers. I admire developers’ struggles and achievements in software development. It’s just an unfortunate fact of existence that without some central guidance, people in a group tend to evolve complex systems that don’t help their users as well as they could.

  An individual designer, however, is usually capable of creating a consistent and enjoyable experience for the users and developers both. But if that individual designer never steps up and say “no” when another developer starts to do something the wrong way, then the system will collapse on itself and become a chaotic mess of bad ideas. So it is very important to have a software designer who has the power to say “no”, and then it’s important for that designer to actually use that power whenever it is appropriate.

  It is truly amazing how much you can improve your product just by saying “no” to any idea that really deserves a “no”.

  Recognizing Bad Ideas
  Before you can apply this principle, there is one thing that you have to know: how to recognize bad ideas. Thankfully, there are a lot of software design principles that help clue you in on what is a bad idea, and lead you to saying “no” when it’s truly needed. For example:

  If the implementation of the feature violates the laws of software design (for example, it’s too complex, it can’t be maintained, it won’t be easily changeable, etc.) then that implementation is a bad idea.
  If the feature doesn’t help the users, it’s a bad idea.
  If the proposal is obviously stupid, it’s a bad idea.
  If some change doesn’t fix a proven problem, it’s a bad idea.
  If you aren’t certain that it’s a good idea, it’s a bad idea.
  Also, one tends to learn over time what is and isn’t a good idea, particularly if you use the above as guidelines and understand the laws of software design.

  Having No Better Idea
  Now, sometimes a designer can recognize a bad idea, but they still implement it because they can’t think of a better idea right now. This is a mistake. If you can think up only one solution to a problem but it is obviously stupid, then you still need to say no to it.

  At first this may seem counter-intuitive–don’t problems need to be solved? Shouldn’t we solve this problem in any way we can?

  Well, here’s the problem: if you implement a “bad idea”, your “solution” will rapidly become a worse disaster than the original problem ever was. When you implement something terrible, it “works”, but the users complain, the other programmers all sigh, the system is broken, and the popularity of your software starts to decrease. Eventually, the “solution” becomes such a problem that it requires other bad “solutions” to “fix” it. These “fixes” then become enormous problems in themselves. Continue down this path, and eventually you end up with a system that is bloated, confused, and difficult to maintain, just like many existing software systems today.

  If you often find yourself in a situation where you feel forced to accept bad ideas, it’s likely that you’re actually near the end of this chain of events–that is, you’re actually building on a series of pre-existing bad ideas from the system’s past. In that case, the solution is not to keep “patching” over the bad ideas, but to instead find the most fundamental, underlying bad ideas of the system and redesign them to be good, over time.

  Now ideally, when you reject a bad idea, you should provide an alternate, good idea in its place–that way you’re being constructive and moving the project forward, instead of being viewed as a roadblock on the path of development. But even if you can’t come up with a better idea right now, it’s still important to say no to bad ideas. A good idea will come eventually. Maybe it will take some study, or perhaps it will suddenly come to you while you’re standing in the shower one day. I have no idea where the idea will come from or what it will be. But don’t worry too much about it. Just trust that there is always some good way to solve every problem, and keep looking for it until you find it. Don’t give up and accept bad ideas.

  Clarifications: Acceptance and Politeness
  So it’s important to say “no”, but there are a few clarifications required on what I really mean, there. I’m not saying that every suggestion is wrong. In fact, developers are usually very bright people, and sometimes they really do nail it. Many developers make perfect suggestions and do excellent implementations. And even the worst solutions can have good parts, despite not being excellent as a whole. So many times, instead of actually saying “no”, what you’ll be saying is something more like, “Wow, there’s a part of this idea that is really good, but the rest of it is not so great. We should take the best parts of this idea and build them up into something awesome by doing more work on them.” You do have say no to the parts of an idea that are bad, though. Just because one part of the idea is good doesn’t mean that the whole idea is good. Take what’s intelligent about the idea, refine it, and build good ideas around it until the solution you’ve designed really is great.

  Also, it is still critically important that you communicate well with the rest of your team–having the responsibility of saying “no” doesn’t give you the right to be rude or inconsiderate. If you continuously say “no” without any hint of kindness, you are going to fracture your team, cause upsets, and ultimately end up wasting hours of your time in argument with the people you’ve upset. So when you have to say “no”, it’s best to find a polite way to communicate it–a way that expresses appreciation for the input, positive suggestions of how to improve things, and lets the person down easily. I understand how frustrating it can be to have to slow down and explain things–and even more frustrating to repeat the explanation over and over to somebody who doesn’t get it the first time–but if that’s what it takes to have an effective development team while still saying “no” to bad features, then that’s what you have to do.

  -Max


source: Source: https://thetacode.com/2008/02/03/pleasure-in-programming/
date: 20 Aug 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  What is quick buck?

  ANSWER

  Quick money.

text:
  Pleasure In Programming

  Max Kanat-Alexander

  3 Feb 2008

  We’ve long known that a programmer’s productivity depends largely upon how much he enjoys his work environment and the task that he’s been assigned. We know that various things that make the environment nicer assist productivity, for some seemingly ungraspable reason.

  To me, at least, this has long been a mystery. Why is it that a programmer, given total understanding of his field, excellent training, and high intelligence, could yet produce better in a more enjoyable environment? It would seem to have nothing to do with the interaction between a person and a machine, as programming seems to be.

  Well, in Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, L. Ron Hubbard talks about pleasure, over and over. One of the things he says is:

  "There is a necessity for pleasure, a necessity as live and quivering and vital as the human heart itself. … The creative, the constructive, the beautiful, the harmonious, the adventurous, yes, and even escape from the maw of oblivion, these things are pleasure and these things are necessity."

  Talk to anybody who worked at Netscape in its early days, and they will tell you that there was a sense of adventure in what they were doing. Talk to some of the people who work on Google’s greatest projects, and ask them about how pleasurable they find their jobs. Ask the Apple engineers how enjoyable it was to create the iPhone, or to design Mac OS X. Ask the world’s greatest user interface designers if the harmony of a perfectly usable, good-looking interface isn’t something that makes them happy.

  Or just ask me why I have spent the last four years of my life working on Bugzilla.

  The world’s greatest creations don’t come from the desire to make a quick buck, or the fear of a manager’s wrath. They don’t come merely from some programmer’s desire to prove how smart they are, and impress their peers. And they definitely don’t come about from organizations where programmers sit, blank-faced and void of thought, forced to stare at a computer to the exclusion of all else for eight hours a day, deprived of the pleasures of life. No, true creation flourishes in environments that bring into being that necessity “as live and quivering and vital as the human heart itself”–pleasure.


source: Source: https://www.codesimplicity.com/post/success-comes-from-execution-not-innovation/
date: 21 Aug 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Most successful people are innovators. True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Success Comes From Execution, not Innovation

  Max Kanat-Alexander

  8 Sep 2008

  There’s a strange sort of social disease going around in technology circles today, and it all centers around this word “innovation.”

  Everybody wants to “innovate.” The news talks about “who’s being the most innovative.” Marketing for companies insists that they are “innovating.”

  Except actually, it’s not innovation that leads to success. It’s execution.

  It doesn’t matter how good or how new my idea is. It matters how well I carry it out in the real world.

  Now, our history books worship the inventors, not the executors. We are taught all about the people who invent new things, come up with new ideas, and plough new trails. But look around you in present time and in the recent past, and you’ll see that the most successful people are the ones who carried out the idea really well, not the people who came up with the idea.

  Elvis didn’t invent rock and roll. Ford didn’t invent the automobile or the assembly line. Apple didn’t invent the GUI. Webster didn’t invent dictionaries. Maytag didn’t invent the washing machine. Google didn’t invent web searching. I could go on and on and on.

  Granted, sometimes the innovator also is an excellent executor (Alexander Graham Bell being an example), but usually that’s not the case. Most inventors don’t turn out to be the most successful people in their field (or even successful at all).

  So stop worrying about “coming up with something new.” You don’t have to do that. You just have to execute an already existing idea really, really well. You can add your own flair to it, maybe, or fix it up a little, but you don’t have to have something brand new.

  There are so many examples that prove this that it’s hard not to see one if you move your eyes anywhere. Just look, you’ll see.

  Now, I’m not saying that people shouldn’t innovate. You should! It’s fun, and it advances the whole human race a tiny step every time you do. But it’s not the path to long-term success for you or for any group you belong to. That’s all in execution.


source: Source: https://www.codesimplicity.com/post/instant-gratification-instant-failure/
date: 21 Aug 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  The author likes instant success (or creation). True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Instant Gratification = Instant Failure

  Max Kanat-Alexander

  9 Apr 2008

  The broadest problem that I see in the software industry is that companies are unwilling to engage in strategies that only show results in the long term. Or, more specifically, that organizations are unaware that there is any such thing as a long-term strategy.

  In the US, it’s probably a symptom of a general cultural problem–if an American can’t see an instant result from something, they think it doesn’t work. This leads to fast food, french fries, and fat people. The healthy way to eat (protein and vegetables) has a delayed effect on the body (you don’t get the energy for over an hour), and the bad way to eat (endless carbohydrates without nutritional value) has an instant result–immediate energy.

  Software is always a long-term process. I wrote the first version of VCI in about three weeks, and that was insanely fast. Any actual application (VCI’s just a library) takes months or years of person-hours, even if you keep it small. So you’d think that organizations would be far-sighted about their development strategies, right?

  Unfortunately, it just doesn’t happen. Competitor X comes out with “Shiny New Feature” and The Company says “we must have Shiny New Feature RIGHT NOW!” That’s not a long-term winning strategy, that’s just short-sighted panic. If you have users, they’re not all going to get up and go away in the next five minutes just because somebody else has one feature that you don’t. You should be looking at trends of how many users you’re gaining or losing, not just responding mindlessly to the immediate environment.

  So what’s a good long-term strategy? Well, refactoring your code so that you will still be able to add features in the future, that’s a good one. Or spending some extra time putting some polish on your features and UI so that when the product is released, users are actually happy with it. Not adding features that you don’t want to maintain, if they’re not important enough–that’s another one.

  Remember that Mozilla did poorly for years, only to finally start gaining dominance in a market that Netscape had lost, because they had a long-term plan. Granted, Mozilla made some decisions early on that caused some things to take longer than they should have, but they still won out in the long term, despite failing in the short term.

  Of course, it can be hard to convince people that your long-term plan is right, sometimes, because it takes so long to show results! When I started refactoring Bugzilla about four years ago, there was pretty constant resistance, particularly when I would review patches and say, “You need to wait for the new architecture before this can go in,” or “This needs to be fixed to not be spaghetti code.” But once the refactoring really got rolling (after about two and a half years), it suddenly became way easier to add new features and nearly all the developers became big supporters of refactoring.

  I read so much “advice” on “how to run your software business” that just focuses on instant gratification–what you can get done right now. “Add features!” “Get millions of dollars instantly from VCs!” Unfortunately, the way the universe seems to work is that you can destroy something in an instant, but it takes time to create something. So in reality, the closer you get to “instant gratification”, the closer you get to destruction of your product, your business, and your future.

  If you want a good plan, pick one that admits that creation takes time. It doesn’t have to take forever, but it’s never instant.


date: 24 Aug 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION



  ANSWER

text:
  Afghanistan: Security concerns could be deciding factor in whether to extend Afghan mission

  Deborah Haynes

  24 August 2021 


  British officials have been seeking push back the exit date beyond next Tuesday to allow more time to airlift thousands of Afghans to safety.

  Growing security concerns in Afghanistan could well sink any diplomatic drive by the UK to delay a US deadline to withdraw troops from the country and prolong an evacuation effort.

  British officials, up to the prime minister, have been seeking push back the exit date beyond next Tuesday to allow more time to airlift thousands of Afghans to safety who have worked with UK forces and others who are deemed at particular risk from the Taliban.

  France is also keen to secure more time.

  US President Joe Biden has yet to decide whether to alter his course - a topic that is set to feature in an emergency meeting of G7 powers, chaired by Boris Johnson, on Tuesday.

  But such a move would risk direct conflict with the Taliban, which has said the presence of US or other allied forces beyond 31 August would be a red line that would incur consequences.


  Advertisement
  US officials are in daily talks with the Taliban, whose approval is needed to be able even to conduct the many evacuation flights that America, the UK, and multiple other nations have been facilitating since Kabul fell to the one-time insurgents just over a week ago.



  It is unclear whether the Taliban, focused on forming a new government, will want to start a new violent confrontation with US-led forces if their "red line" is breached.

  Though that will of course be a serious risk.

  But a potentially graver threat - even if concerns about the Taliban can be mitigated - is posed by terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan like Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

  British ministers and officials have warned that Islamic State Khorasan - the name of the ISIS affiliate in the country - could target UK and US forces overseeing the evacuation at Kabul Airport with suicide bombers.

  Another risk is from militants trying to exploit the evacuation scheme to travel to the UK and commit acts of terror.

  Sky News revealed on Monday a person on Britain's no-fly list - designed to block individuals who are considered a security risk from travelling to the country - had been flown into Birmingham on an evacuation flight.

  The government ultimately deemed that person not to be a threat.

  But in a sense of the challenge facing officials as they process applications from Afghans seeking to flee Kabul, the number of "hits" on the watchlist over the past week - while still only a tiny handful - is more than would normally be expected in a year.

  Successive prime ministers have cited as one of the key gains from the war in Afghanistan the fact there has been no act of terrorism directed from that country towards the West since the September 11 attacks in 2001 that triggered the US-led invasion in the first place.

  Such a claim would ring hollow if the evacuation effort prompted by the failed conclusion of their intervention led directly to a terrorist atrocity on UK soil.

  While Britain and its allies have a moral duty to ensure all Afghans who risked their lives to support the US-led mission in Afghanistan are flown to safety, they will be balancing this obligation against the fundamental requirement to protect national security.

source:
  Source: https://news.sky.com/story/afghanistan-security-concerns-could-be-deciding-factor-in-whether-to-extend-afghan-mission-12389165


source: Source: https://www.techradar.com/news/intel-qualcomm-will-design-advanced-chips-for-us-military
date: 24 Aug 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION



  ANSWER

text:
  Intel, Qualcomm will design advanced chips for US military


  By Joel Khalili 


  US DoD wants to keep chip design and fabrication on home soil

  Chipmakers Intel and Qualcomm have been awarded a contract by the National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL) to devise and manufacture chips for the US military.

  The two companies were handed the deal as part of the Rapid Assure Microelectronics Prototypes - Commercial (RAMP-C) program, the objective of which is to ensure the US Department of Defense (DoD) has reliable access to the latest 7nm and sub-7nm foundry technologies on home soil.

  The value and duration of the contract remains unclear, as does the specific role of Qualcomm (as a fabless semiconductor company), but the agreement is supposed to fulfil the “long-term leading edge microelectronics fabrication needs for DoD-specific designs”.


  US chip manufacturing
  ----------------------


  As the NSTXL explains, US chip designers currently rely predominantly on off-shore companies (the likes of TSMC and Samsung) for fabrication. For national security and supply reasons, the US DoD would prefer not to have to outsource the manufacturing of its semiconductors.

  Intel is the largest US-based chip manufacturer, but has repeatedly delayed the rollout of its 7nm process (recently rebranded to Intel 4), which is now set to debut in 2022. Meanwhile, Taiwan-based TSMC is on track to go live with its 3nm process in the same year.

  “There is currently no commercially viable option that can provide a US-located leading-edge foundry that can fabricate the assured leading-edge custom integrated circuits and Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) products required for critical DoD systems. The purpose of the RAMP-C program is to incentivise such an option,” wrote NSTXL.

  In its own announcement, Intel explains it will partner with a number of domestic companies - including IBM, Cadence and Synopsis - and the first test chips developed for the DoD will be fabricated on Intel 18A, a process technology planned for early 2025.

  Previously, the company has said it aims to restore parity between itself and TSMC by 2024 and retake “process performance leadership” by 2025.

  “One of the most profound lessons of the past year is the strategic importance of semiconductors,” said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. “Intel is the sole American company both designing and manufacturing logic semiconductors at the leading edge of the technology.”

  “When we launched Intel Foundry Services earlier this year, we were excited to have the opportunity to make our capabilities available to a wider range of partners, including the US government.”

  Although Intel has gone public with the contract announcement, Qualcomm has remained silent thus far. TechRadar Pro has asked the chip designer for comment on the significance of the contract and role it will play in the project. 


date: 31 Aug 2021
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  What is the name of the Finance Chief of Qiagen?

  ANSWER

  Roland Sackers.

text:
  Qiagen shares hit 21-year high following Reuters exclusive interview


  By Reuters News Agency

  30 August 2021


  Reuters reported exclusively that German genetic testing company Qiagen sees upside potential for its full-year guidance and expects a good third quarter after the company cut its forecast in July.

  Finance Chief Roland Sackers told Reuters in an interview that demand for COVID-19 tests had taken yet another turn as continued breakthrough infections from the Delta coronavirus variant in some vaccinated people was fueling test kit demand.

  Asked about the prospect of Qiagen becoming a takeover target again, Sackers said he had strong confidence in the group’s growth potential but would not rule out any tie-up.

  Market Impact
  -------------

  The stock extended gains to hit a 21-year high after the comments, trading 2.6% higher at 47.51 versus a record 61.24 set in 2000.

source:
  Source: https://www.reutersagency.com/en/reuters-best/qiagen-shares-hit-21-year-high-following-reuters-exclusive-interview/


source: Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cancer/in-depth/biopsy/art-20043922
date: 3 Sep 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  A biopsy allows doctors to see cells. True or False.

  ANSWER

  True.

text:
  Biopsy: Types of biopsy procedures used to diagnose cancer

  By Mayo Clinic Staff

  16 Jan 2020

  A biopsy is a procedure to remove a piece of tissue or a sample of cells from your body so that it can be analyzed in a laboratory. If you're experiencing certain signs and symptoms or if your doctor has identified an area of concern, you may undergo a biopsy to determine whether you have cancer or some other condition.

  While imaging tests, such as X-rays, are helpful in detecting masses or areas of abnormality, they alone can't differentiate cancerous cells from noncancerous cells. For the majority of cancers, the only way to make a definitive diagnosis is to perform a biopsy to collect cells for closer examination.

  Here's a look at the various types of biopsy procedures used to make a cancer diagnosis.


  Bone marrow biopsy
  ------------------


  Your doctor may recommend a bone marrow biopsy if an abnormality is detected in your blood or if your doctor suspects cancer has originated in or traveled to your bone marrow.

  Bone marrow is the spongy material inside some of your larger bones where blood cells are produced. Analyzing a sample of bone marrow may reveal what's causing your blood problem.

  Bone marrow biopsy is commonly used to diagnose a variety of blood problems — both noncancerous and cancerous — including blood cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma. A bone marrow biopsy may also detect cancers that started elsewhere and traveled to the bone marrow.

  During a bone marrow biopsy, your doctor draws a sample of bone marrow out of the back of your hipbone using a long needle. In some cases, your doctor may biopsy marrow from other bones in your body. You receive a local anesthetic before a bone marrow biopsy in order to minimize discomfort during the procedure.


  Endoscopic biopsy
  -----------------


  During endoscopy, your doctor uses a thin, flexible tube (endoscope) with a light on the end to see structures inside your body. Special tools are passed through the tube to take a small sample of tissue to be analyzed.

  What type of endoscopic biopsy you undergo depends on where the suspicious area is located. Tubes used in an endoscopic biopsy can be inserted through your mouth, rectum, urinary tract or a small incision in your skin. Examples of endoscopic biopsy procedures include cystoscopy to collect tissue from inside your bladder, bronchoscopy to get tissue from inside your lung and colonoscopy to collect tissue from inside your colon.

  Depending on the type of endoscopic biopsy you undergo, you may receive a sedative or anesthetic before the procedure.


  Skin biopsy
  -----------


  A skin (cutaneous) biopsy removes cells from the surface of your body. A skin biopsy is used most often to diagnose skin conditions, including melanoma and other cancers. What type of skin biopsy you undergo will depend on the type of cancer suspected and the extent of the suspicious cells. Skin biopsy procedures include:

  Shave biopsy. During a shave biopsy, the doctor uses a tool similar to a razor to scrape the surface of your skin.
  Punch biopsy. During a punch biopsy, the doctor uses a circular tool to remove a small section of your skin's deeper layers.
  Incisional biopsy. During an incisional biopsy, the doctor uses a scalpel to remove a small area of skin. Whether you receive stitches to close the biopsy site depends on the amount of skin removed.
  Excisional biopsy. During an excisional biopsy, the doctor removes an entire lump or an entire area of abnormal skin. You'll likely receive stitches to close the biopsy site.
  You receive a local anesthetic to numb the biopsy site before the procedure.


  Biopsy analysis and results
  ---------------------------


  After your doctor obtains a tissue sample, it's sent to a laboratory for analysis. The sample may be chemically treated or frozen and sliced into very thin sections. The sections are placed on glass slides, stained to enhance contrast and studied under a microscope.

  The results help your doctor determine whether the cells are cancerous. If the cells are cancerous, the biopsy results can tell your doctor where the cancer originated — the type of cancer.

  A biopsy also helps your doctor determine how aggressive your cancer is — the cancer's grade. The grade is sometimes expressed as a number on a scale of 1 to 4 and is determined by how cancer cells look under the microscope.

  Low-grade (grade 1) cancers are generally the least aggressive and high-grade (grade 4) cancers are generally the most aggressive. This information may help guide treatment options. Other special tests on the cancer cells also can help to guide treatment choices.

  In certain cases, such as during surgery, a pathologist examines the sample of cells immediately and results are available to your surgeon within minutes. But in most cases, the results of your biopsy are available in a few days. Some samples may need more time to be analyzed. Ask your doctor how long to expect to wait for your biopsy results.


source: Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/millionaires-attempt-evict-homeless-man-24901311
date: 3 Sep 2021
level: 4
text:
  Millionaires attempt to evict homeless man who has lived in cave during pandemic


  By Ryan Fahey


  3 Sep 2021


  Awhi, 64, has set up a temporary home from himself with a camp bed and storage space for his food and keepsakes, but posh residents in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, with "couple of million dollar" mortgages aren't happy.


  A homeless man living in a cave says millionaires in surrounding mansions are trying to evict him from the home he uses to "stay warm".

  Awhi, 64, lives in a vandalised cave across the road from affluent homeowners in the flashy Mt Drury Reserve neighbourhood in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand.

  In his temporary home, Awhi sleeps on a camp bed raised off the floor and has crammed in small shelves for keepsakes and food provided by homeless charities.

  The rock floor is lined with with patterned rugs and even a space for his dog to sleep.

  He uses a paddle board for a door to provide some privacy and he has also decorated the small cave with abandoned toys and trinkets found on the beach.

  The rich people living close by hold regular meetings to evict him from his temporary home, he says.

  "They are all millionaires along here. They would rather get me out of here," Awhi told New Zealand publication Stuff.


  The 64-year-old worked as in forestry and as a builder before falling on hard times. He said he returned "home" last year, to where his family are from, after the death of his mum.


  He said: "My family were from here. I went to school, went away, got married, had children, my mother died, so I came home.

  "Things didn't work out at home, so I just hit the road again.

  "I am not gonna live forever, but I'd like to stay as long as I can, until the time comes.


  "I get up in the morning, the sun is shining and I am still above the ground."

  The local MP Simon Bridges confirmed residents with a "couple of million dollars of mortgage" have made complaints about Awhi.

  He said: "It is not so much Awhi, they tell me, but it is more the mates and hangers-on that come along - drinking, parties, noise... graffiti, breaking into nearby building sites - even fires."

  The MP added: "If I had a couple of million dollars of mortgage there I might feel the same.

  "I acknowledge it is complex and we don't want to lack compassion here. It is saddening at every level.

  "It is a very 2021-type problem and it is also a fairly accurate metaphor for Tauranga today - you have got the most expensive properties in New Zealand outside of Auckland, up against homelessness and social problems."

  Despite efforts from the millionaire residents, it's reported that the council can't move Awhi because he's slept rough in the cave for more than 18 months.

question:
  QUESTION

  Since New Zealand is a developed country, it is impossible that a man can live in a cave. True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.


date: 5 Sep 2021
level: 4
text:
  Some experienced surfers 'no longer want to go in water' after latest fatal shark attack

  Connor Sephton

  5 September 2021


  A man has died after being attacked by a shark off Australia's eastern coast.


  Surfers, bystanders and paramedics tried to give him CPR, but he had a critical arm injury and could not be revived.


  The attack occurred off Shelly and Emerald beaches in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales - about 330 miles (530km) north of Sydney.


  Beaches in the area were busy at the time of the incident on Sunday, as families celebrated Father's Day in the country.

  Aaron Armstrong, who saw what happened, said it was the first shark attack in the community that he and other locals knew of.

  He added: "[We were] just out in the surf and we just saw a few people getting out of the water and we were pretty excited to be honest because we were like 'yes, less people in the water'.

  "So we started to paddle down to where these people were and then we got called out of the water.

  "Ran down to see what was happening, saw a man without an arm, lots of blood and lots of people helping him so we just stood by just to see if we needed to help anymore.

  "And then we just proceeded to watch people work on him, CPR for a good hour, hour and a half, before the ambulances arrived and then, yeah, it doesn't look good."

  Although New South Wales is under a coronavirus lockdown, people can leave their homes for exercise.

  Before Sunday's incident, the most recent fatal shark attack in Australia was in May.

  Glenn Coleman, another witness, said there has been a "lot more shark activity over recent years" - and many experienced surfers now no longer want to go into the water.

source:
  Source: https://news.sky.com/story/australia-man-dies-after-being-attacked-by-a-shark-off-coast-of-new-south-wales-12399547

question:
  QUESTION

  The man lost his leg due to a shark attack in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.


date: 5 Sep 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Afghanistan is now a peaceful country. True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Have Entered Capital Of Holdout Province Panjshir, Say Taliban

  By 247 News Around The World

  5 September 2021

  The Panjshir fighting has been the most prominent example of resistance to the Taliban

  The Taliban said on Sunday their forces had fought their way into the provincial capital of Panjshir, the valley where opposition forces have been holding out since the fall of Kabul three weeks ago.


   
  The police headquarters and district centre of Rukhah, adjacent to the provincial capital Bazarak, had fallen, and opposition forces had suffered numerous casualties, with large numbers of prisoners and captured vehicles, weapons and ammunition, Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi said on Twitter.


   
  Fighting was underway in Bazarak, he said. It was not possible to confirm the report, which was echoed on other Taliban Twitter accounts.

  Earlier on Sunday Fahim Dashti, spokesman for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), which groups opposition forces, said the Taliban “propaganda machine” was trying to spread distracting messages.

  “The resistance forces are ready to continue their defence against any form of aggression,” he said.


   
  On Saturday, Italian aid group Emergency said Taliban fighters had reached the trauma hospital it operates in Anabah district, within the Panjshir valley.

  Taliban has said previously their forces had secured full control of Panjshir but fighting has been continuing for days, with each side saying it had inflicted large numbers of casualties.


   
  Ahmad Massoud, leader of the NRFA, has pledged to continue resisting the offensive and has called for international support.

  Panjshir, a rugged mountainous valley north of Kabul still littered with the wreckage of destroyed Soviet tanks, has proved very difficult to overcome in the past. Under Massoud’s late father, Ahmad Shah Massoud, it resisted both the invading Soviet army and the previous Taliban government.


   
  On Sunday, Massoud said hundreds of Taliban fighters had surrendered to NRFA forces, which included remnants of regular Afghan army and special forces units as well as local militia fighters. It was not possible to confirm that independently.

  The Panjshir fighting has been the most prominent example of resistance to the Taliban, whose forces swept into Kabul on August 15 as the Western-backed government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

  But small individual protests for women’s rights or in defence of the green, red and black tricolour flag of Afghanistan have also been held in different cities.

  Massoud originally called for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban and several attempts at talks were held but they eventually broke down, with each side blaming the other for their failure.

source:
  Source: https://247newsaroundtheworld.com/news/have-entered-capital-of-holdout-province-panjshir-say-taliban/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=have-entered-capital-of-holdout-province-panjshir-say-taliban


source: Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-lord-kelvin-nearly-killed-darwins-theory/
date: 6 Sep 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION



  ANSWER

text:
  When Lord Kelvin Nearly Killed Darwin's Theory


  The eminent 19th century physicist argued—wrongly, it turned out—that Earth wasn’t old enough to have let natural selection play out.

  By Mano Singham

  5 September 2021

  The famous opening lines "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times" of Charles Dickens' 1859 novel The Tale of Two Cities referred to the period of French revolution. But he could equally well have been describing his contemporary Charles Darwin's experience with his theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin was born at the best of times in 1809 when conditions were highly conducive for his theory to flourish but he died in 1882 at the worst of times because there was a real danger that it might soon be killed off. Darwin's nemesis was the eminent physicist Lord Kelvin and the weapon used against him was the age of the Earth.

  Various theories of evolution predated Darwin but whatever version one favored, one thing was clear: it needed a very long time for its consequences to work itself out. Precisely how long was hard to pin down, but it was believed to require tens or hundreds of millions of years. From 1650 on, the dominant theory about the age of the Earth, based on the work of Bishop Ussher, Isaac Newton, and many other scholars who used various textual sources, was that it was about 6,000 years.

  Theories of geology and biology had to accommodate themselves to this short timeframe. The geological theory known as catastrophism postulated that major features such as the Grand Canyon, Himalayas, etc. had emerged as a result of sudden and violent upheavals. When it came to biological diversity, the idea of special creation, that organisms were immutable and had been specially designed to fit the biological niches in which they found themselves, was the dominant idea.

  Such a short window of time would have made it impossible for anyone to credibly propose the emergence of new species by a process of slow evolution. But around 1785, ideas of the age of the Earth began to undergo a radical change as geologists and paleontologists started using the features of the Earth itself, such as erosion, sedimentation, and the layers of strata and the fossils embedded in them, to estimate its age. The theory of uniformitarianism, that major geological features were caused by the very slow accumulation of tiny changes, gained ground, culminating in Charles Lyell's epic three volume work Principles of Geology in 1830 that cemented the idea that the Earth had been around for hundreds of millions of years and possibly much longer, so long that it seemed impossible to fix an actual age.

  Darwin was also a keen student of geology and was familiar with Lyell's work (they later became close friends) and had the first two volumes of his book with him as he made his five-year voyage around the globe on The Beagle from 1831-1836, where the ideas for his theory of evolution germinated as he observed the patterns of species in the various locations that he visited. Darwin knew from his work with pigeons that even deliberately breeding for specific characteristics took a long time to produce them. But how much time was necessary? He felt that it required at least hundreds of millions of years. The work of Lyell and other geologists gave him the luxury of assuming that sufficient time existed for natural selection to do its work.

  Darwin also came of age at a time when the idea that species were immutable had begun to crumble. While Darwin was taught and accepted the still dominant special creation theory, he was also familiar with the general idea of evolution. His own grandfather Erasmus Darwin had in 1794 published a book Zoonomia that explored proto-evolutionary ideas. Jean Baptiste Lamarck had published his own model of how evolution worked in 1802. The various models proposed for the mechanism of evolution, such as Lamarckian evolution, orthogenesis, and use-disuse, all implied some level of teleology, that there was a directionality inherent in the process.

  The extremely long window of time opened up by the new geology allowed Darwin and his co-creator Alfred Russell Wallace, working independently, to develop the central new insight of natural selection that differed from other models of evolution by showing how diversity could arise naturally by a process of Malthusian population selection pressures, without any kind of mystical agency directing the process towards any specific ends.

  According to their theory, evolution was contingency-driven in that how organisms evolved depended on chance factors and the environment that existed at that time, and that if we ran the clock again, we could get very different outcomes in which human beings, as we know them, may not appear. Their work was first presented in a joint paper in 1858. Darwin's major work On the Origin of Species published a year later was a closely argued compilation of a massive amount of evidence that helped establish evolution as a fact.


  The radical change in the status of human beings implied by their model, from being specially created in the image of God to just another accidental byproduct of the evolutionary process just like all other species, was an immediate source of controversy because it challenged a key religious tenet that human beings were special. This was why natural selection aroused such opposition even while evolution was accepted. Many scientists of that time were religious and believed in theistic evolution that said that a supernatural agency was guiding the process to produce the desired ends.

  While all models of evolution required very long times, natural selection required much longer times than any guided selection process. Hence the younger the age of the Earth, the more likely it was that natural selection could not be the mechanism. It was physicists, led by the eminent Kelvin, himself a theistic evolutionist, that led the charge for a young Earth, though it must be emphasized that 'young' at that time meant around 100 million years or less. Even religious scientists of that time had abandoned the idea of an Earth being just 6,000 years old.

  Beginning around 1860, Kelvin and other physicists started estimating the ages of the Earth and Sun using the nebular hypothesis proposed around 1750 by Immanuel Kant and Pierre Laplace. This model treated the Earth and the Sun as starting as rotating clouds of particles that coalesced under gravity to form molten balls, with the Earth subsequently solidifying and cooling. Kelvin used the laws of thermodynamics and other physics principles to arrive at estimates of 20-400 million years. By 1879 the upper limit had been lowered to about 100 million years for the Earth and an even shorter upper limit of 20 million years for the Sun, much less than the 200 million years or so believed to be required for natural selection to work. Since physics was considered to be the most rigorous of the sciences at that time, things looked bad for natural selection.

  When Darwin died in 1882, he was mourned as a great scientist who had radically changed our understanding of how the vast diversity of organisms we see around us came about, dethroning the idea that they were immutable. But because of the shrinking age of the Earth, he died with a major cloud hanging over his mechanism of natural selection. Darwin's final words on the topic, written in 1880 just two years before his death, expressed a plaintive hope that future developments might reconcile the needs of natural selection with physics calculations.

  “With respect to the lapse of time not having been sufficient since our planet was consolidated for the assumed amount of organic change, and this objection, as urged by [Lord Kelvin], is probably one of the gravest as yet advanced, I can only say, firstly that we do not know at what rate species change as measured in years, and secondly that many philosophers are not yet willing to admit that we know enough of the constitution of the universe and of the interior of our globe to speculate with safety on its past duration.”

  It turned out Darwin was prescient that improved knowledge of the interior of the Earth might change the calculations in his favor but at the time he seemed to be grasping at straws. In fact, in the near term the problem got even worse because Kelvin and others produced new calculations that resulted in the age of the Earth being reduced even more, so that by 1895 the consensus physics view was that the age of Earth lay in the range 20-40 million years. Natural selection appeared to be doomed.

  But physicists were now encountering stiffer opposition from other disciplines. Geologists were adamant that their models based on the accumulating evidence on sedimentation and erosion, while not as rigorous as the physics models, were well enough established that they were confident of their lower limit of 100 million years. Paleontologists were also arguing that the fossil record was not consistent with the physicists' shorter ages. Both groups argued that the physicists must have gone awry somewhere, even if they could not point out the specific flaws.

  Beginning in 1895, this impasse began to be broken when physicist John Perry, a former assistant of Kelvin's, challenged the latter's assumption that the Earth was a rigid and homogeneous body, saying there was little evidence to support it. By introducing inhomogeneity and convective flow in the Earth’s interior, he found that Kelvin’s estimates for the age of the Earth could change by as much as a factor as 100, shifting the upper limit into the billions of years. Other physicists also chimed in with similar upward shifts and this encouraged geologists, paleontologists, and biologists to ignore the physicists' arguments for a young Earth.

  It was the discovery of radioactivity that decisively changed the picture because it led to an entirely new way of measuring the age of the Earth, by allowing scientists to calculate the ages of rocks. Since the oldest rock that could be found set a lower limit for the age of the Earth, the race was on to find older and older rocks using this method and records fell rapidly, leading to ages of 141 million years by 1905, 1.64 billion years by 1911, 1.9 billion years by 1935, 3.35 billion years by 1947, and to 4.5 billion years by 1953, which is where the current consensus lies. 

  When Kelvin died in 1907 at the age of 83, it was not clear if he had accepted that his estimates were no longer valid. But Darwin's hope that Kelvin would be proven wrong, and that eventually it would be shown that sufficient time existed for natural selection to work, was realized, 30 years after his death. His theory now has all the time it needs.


source: Source: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/good-habits-for-junior-developers/
date: 10 Sep 2021
level: 4
text:
  When Stuck, Take a Break

  Tom Hombergs

  8 SEPTEMBER 2020

  As software developers, we tend to get stuck a lot. And boy, does it piss me off when I'm stuck and don't see a way out.

  It's such obvious advice to take a break when you're stuck, but it's so hard to do. "I'm so close to solving the problem, I can't take a break now!"

  Also, taking a break now would mean I would have to warm up to the topic again later. Why should I deliberately switch contexts when context switching is the number one source of wasted time?

  When you're stuck, you're not thinking straight. You're thinking about how stupid it is to be stuck with this problem, how easily your teammates would probably solve it, and why they always get the easy tasks. But you're not thinking about how to solve the problem.

  Take a break and work on something else for a time. Or even better, try again the next day. Getting some distance to the problem will allow you to see solutions you were blind to before.

  If you haven't tried this before, you won't believe how often a problem is "just solved" the next morning. Mostly because you see a path to a solution that you haven't seen before.

  Now, it's easy to say to take a break, but how do you identify that you're currently in "stuck mode" and then persuade yourself to quit working on the problem for a time?

  I'm honestly not very good at this myself, because I usually WANT THIS DUMB TASK OUT OF THE WAY so I can show that I've achieved something!

  But what I found that helps me is to divide my day into 30-minute slices and have a quick recap after each of those slices. This technique is called the Pomodoro technique based on those tomato-shaped kitchen timers.

  After each pomodoro unit, I'm asking myself if I'm still working in a "solution mode", or if I'm stuck and should work on something else for a while.

  A nice benefit of the pomodoro technique is that you can use the end of a unit as a trigger for other habits.

  I use it as a trigger to stand up from my chair to stretch my muscles and drink some water, for example. This is sometimes called "habit stacking", because you're stacking one habit on top of another, and it's very effective.

  If you want to read more on habits, I can warmly recommend the book "Atomic Habits" by James Clear.

question:
  QUESTION

  Which book did the author recommend for time management?

  ANSWER

  A. Atomic Habits

  B. The Pomodoro Technique 


source: Source: https://blog.codinghorror.com/how-to-achieve-ultimate-blog-success-in-one-easy-step/
date: 11 Sep 2021
level: 4
text:
  How To Achieve Ultimate Blog Success In One Easy Step

  Jeff Atwood

  26 Oct 2007


  Always Be Jabbing. Always Be Shipping. Always Be Firing. It's the same advice, stated in different ways for different audiences.

  My theory is that lead generation derives from Google rank and that the best way to increase Google rank is to be like a professional fighter: neither jabs nor haymakers are enough. You must be always jabbing and you must regularly throw haymakers. Blog continuously to keep your hit-rate and link-traffic high and write longer pieces, containing the high-value words associated with your niche, occasionally.

  When people ask me for advice on blogging, I always respond with yet another form of the same advice: pick a schedule you can live with, and stick to it. Until you do that, none of the other advice I could give you will matter. I don't care if you suck at writing. I don't care if nobody reads your blog. I don't care if you have nothing interesting to say. If you can demonstrate a willingness to write, and a desire to keep continually improving your writing, you will eventually be successful.

  But success takes time – a lot of time. I'd say a year at minimum. That's the element that weeds out so many impatient people. I wrote this blog for a year in utter obscurity, but I kept at it because I enjoyed it. I made a commitment to myself, under the banner of personal development, and I planned to meet that goal. My schedule was six posts per week, and I kept jabbing, kept shipping, kept firing. Not every post was that great, but I invested a reasonable effort in each one. Every time I wrote, I got a little better at writing. Every time I wrote, I learned a little more about the topic, how to research topics effectively, where the best sources of information were. Every time I wrote, I was slightly more plugged in to the rich software development community all around me. Every time I wrote, I'd get a morsel of feedback or comments that I kept rolling up into future posts. Every time I wrote, I tried to write something just the tiniest bit better than I did last time.

  The changes, to me, were almost imperceptible. But from a very modest start – a 2004 new year's resolution for professional development – I'd say writing this blog is now, without a doubt, the most important thing I've ever done in my entire career.

  As near as I can tell, between RSS stats and log stats, around 100,000 people read this blog every day. Ad revenues that I've only reluctantly taken are significant enough now that I've actually entertained the idea, in my weaker moments, of becoming a full-time blogger. That is how crazy it's gotten. I would never have predicted this outcome in a million years, and writing it all down like this actually freaks me out a little bit.

question:
  QUESTION

  The blog author can earn money from posting advertisements on his log.  True or False.

  ANSWER

  True.


source: Source: https://baus.net/doersandtalkers/
date: 12 Sep 2021
level: 4
text:
  Talkers and Doers

  Christopher Baus

  19 Dec 2004


  I was fortunate enough to make some stupid decisions when I was young -- when I didn't have much to lose. Number one stupid decision: when I graduated in 1997, I turned down a developer job at Adobe, to work at a start-up called ObjectSpace (yes there was a woman involved, but that was only part of the equation).


  Talkers and Doers
  ------------------

  Back then I considered myself to be a hot shot OOD guy. I was an arrogant SOB. I jumped on the C++ bandwagon early, and fought my way to a scholarship, and a few jobs based on what was, in retrospect,
  limited knowledge. I naively believed that with the right methodology I could solve any problem.


  ObjectSpace appealed to me because they were all about the new cool methodologies. They drew pretty diagrams, drove Lotus's, and described how to correctly model the employee/roll relationship, while providing elaborate explanations of how it saved their customers millions of dollars. They gave seminars and wrote books. They talked a lot. They
  were the smart guys. But something was missing, and I knew what it was: working applications.


  One day I went to a brown bag lunch, and a lead architect proudly proclaimed that he had used every GoF Design Pattern in a project. What he failed to mention was that the software didn't live
  up to the customer's expectations. It didn't work. After the meeting, I immediately called the hiring manager at Adobe and begged for the developer position, but it was too late. The bridge had been
  burned. In normal times this could have torpedoed my
  career. Fortunately 1997 was not normal times.


  Software isn't about methodologies, languages, or even operating systems. It is about working applications.  At Adobe I would have learned the art of building massive applications that generate millions of dollars in revenue.  Sure, PostScript wasn't the sexiest application, and it was written in old school C, but it performed a significant and useful task that thousands (if not millions) of people relied on to do their job. There could hardly be a better place to learn the skills of building commercial applications, no matter the tools that were employed at the time. I did learn an important lesson at ObjectSpace. A UML diagram can't push 5000 pages per minute through a RIP.


  There are two types of people in this industry. Talkers and Doers. ObjectSpace was a company of talkers. Adobe is a company of doers. Adobe took in $430 million in revenue last quarter. ObjectSpace is long bankrupt.

question:
  QUESTION

  The author belives more in new cool methodologies than working applications.  True or False?

  ANSWER

  False.


source: Source: https://baus.net/embrace-asynchronous-work/
date: 12 Sep 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Email is an asynchronous communication tool.

  ANSWER

  True.

text:
  Synchronous vs asynchronous

  Christopher Baus

  12 Jun 2020

  Simply, and I'm borrowing from Google's dictionary here, asynchronous means, "not happening at the same time."

  Asynchronous is the opposite of synchronous communications which include a face-to-face discussion -- the communication between all parties is happening simultaneously. Other synchronous examples include telephone calls (hi Mom!), video conferences, and, potentially, text messaging.

  An example of asynchronous communication would be listening to a pre-recorded podcast. The listener is consuming the information at a different time than when it was recorded. E-mail is another example.

  Working asynchronous means preferring asynchronous communication over synchronous. Collaboration means making a request and not getting or expecting an immediate response.


source: Source: http://paulgraham.com/ace.html
date: 24 Sep 2021
level: 3
text:
  Billionaires Build

  Paul Graham

  December 2020


  The first thing the partners will try to figure out, usually, is whether what you're making will ever be something a lot of people want. It doesn't have to be something a lot of people want now. The product and the market will both evolve, and will influence each other's evolution. But in the end there has to be something with a huge market. That's what the partners will be trying to figure out: is there a path to a huge market?


  Mundane as it sounds, that's the most powerful motivator of all, not just in startups, but in most ambitious undertakings: to be 
  genuinely interested in what you're building. This is what really drives billionaires, or at least the ones who become billionaires from starting companies. The company is their project.


  That, not exploiting people, is the defining quality of people who become billionaires from starting companies. So that's what YC looks for in founders: authenticity. People's motives for starting startups are usually mixed. They're usually doing it from some combination of the desire to make money, the desire to seem cool, genuine interest in the problem, and unwillingness to work for someone else. The last two are more powerful motivators than the first two. It's ok for founders to want to make money or to seem cool. Most do. But if the founders seem like they're doing it just to make money or just to seem cool, they're not likely to succeed on a big scale. The founders who are doing it for the money will take the first sufficiently large acquisition offer, and the ones who are doing it to seem cool will rapidly discover that there are much less painful ways of seeming cool.


  I'll tell you how it's really done, so you can at least tell your own kids the truth. It's all about users. The most reliable way to become a billionaire is to start a company that grows fast, and the way to grow fast is to make what users want. Newly started startups have no choice but to delight users, or they'll never even get rolling. But this never stops being the lodestar, and bigger companies take their eye off it at their peril. Stop delighting users, and eventually someone else will.


  Users are what the partners want to know about in YC interviews, and what I want to know about when I talk to founders that we funded ten years ago and who are billionaires now. What do users want? What new things could you build for them? Founders who've become billionaires are always eager to talk about that topic. That's how they became billionaires.

question:
  QUESTION

  To be a billionnaire, you need to build something which has a huge potential market.  True or False.

  ANSWER

  True.


source: Source: http://paulgraham.com/wealth.html
date: 24 Sep 2021
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  Wealth cannot be created. True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Craftsmen

  Paul Grahma

  May 2004

  The people most likely to grasp that wealth can be created are the ones who are good at making things, the craftsmen. Their hand-made objects become store-bought ones. But with the rise of industrialization there are fewer and fewer craftsmen. One of the biggest remaining groups is computer programmers.

  A programmer can sit down in front of a computer and create wealth. A good piece of software is, in itself, a valuable thing. There is no manufacturing to confuse the issue. Those characters you type are a complete, finished product. If someone sat down and wrote a web browser that didn't suck (a fine idea, by the way), the world would be that much richer.

  Everyone in a company works together to create wealth, in the sense of making more things people want. Many of the employees (e.g. the people in the mailroom or the personnel department) work at one remove from the actual making of stuff. Not the programmers. They literally think the product, one line at a time. And so it's clearer to programmers that wealth is something that's made, rather than being distributed, like slices of a pie, by some imaginary Daddy.

  It's also obvious to programmers that there are huge variations in the rate at which wealth is created. At Viaweb we had one programmer who was a sort of monster of productivity. I remember watching what he did one long day and estimating that he had added several hundred thousand dollars to the market value of the company. A great programmer, on a roll, could create a million dollars worth of wealth in a couple weeks. A mediocre programmer over the same period will generate zero or even negative wealth (e.g. by introducing bugs).


  This is why so many of the best programmers are libertarians. In our world, you sink or swim, and there are no excuses. When those far removed from the creation of wealth-- undergraduates, reporters, politicians-- hear that the richest 5% of the people have half the total wealth, they tend to think injustice! An experienced programmer would be more likely to think is that all? The top 5% of programmers probably write 99% of the good software.

  Wealth can be created without being sold. Scientists, till recently at least, effectively donated the wealth they created. We are all richer for knowing about penicillin, because we're less likely to die from infections. Wealth is whatever people want, and not dying is certainly something we want. Hackers often donate their work by writing open source software that anyone can use for free. I am much the richer for the operating system FreeBSD, which I'm running on the computer I'm using now, and so is Yahoo, which runs it on all their servers.


date: 2 Oct 2021
level: 4
text:
  I mocked the Apple Pencil. Now my iPad productivity depends on it

  By Matthew Miller 

  31 July 2017


  Thankfully, there is much more you can do with an Apple Pencil than draw pictures, create cartoons, and develop electronic masterpieces. One of the first things for those of us with no artistic bent, is to start taking handwritten notes. I find it a bit rude and distracting when people bring laptops into meetings and start typing away on the keyboard while a speaker is talking. I personally focus more when I take handwritten notes on a medium that is resting on a table or on my lap. At the last four conferences I attended, I used my Surface Pro and OneNote to capture notes during the event and never once felt I was blocking the speaker or getting distracted by other notifications and applications.

  There are a large number of note taking apps for the Apple iPad Pro, including the greatly improved Apple Notes app in iOS 11. I am running iOS 11 beta on my iPad Pro so am able to take advantage of the Instant Notes function where you tap your Apple Pencil on the lock screen to jump into Notes, search for your handwritten text, and sketch with the Apple Pencil right in the body of your note.

source:
  Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-pencil-proves-itself-as-valuable-tool-for-productivity-and-efficiency/

question:
  QUESTION

  You cannot open Apple Notes by tapping on the screen when the screen is locked.  True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.


source: Source: https://paperlike.com/blogs/paperlikers-insights/is-the-apple-pencil-really-worth-buying
date: 2 Oct 2021
level: 4
text:
  Is the Apple Pencil Really Worth Buying?

  7 September 2021


  Curious whether or not the Apple Pencil is worth buying?

  Whether you’re a new iPad user or you’ve had one of Apple’s mobile tablets for years, you’ve probably heard about the Apple Pencil. Since its first release in 2015, Apple’s high-tech, low-profile input device has changed the way iPad users interact with their favorite apps.

  Apple has gone out of its way to make sure that the Apple Pencil is more than just another iPad stylus.

  But do the benefits really justify the price tag? Is the Apple Pencil worth buying, or is it just a fancy finger replacement for Apple fans?

  In this guide, we’ll help you cover the basics of the Apple Pencil and whether it’s worth buying for your specific needs.


  Apple Pencil: 1st Generation

  This was the model that started it all: The original Apple Pencil. The first generation of the Apple Pencil was released in 2015 and is compatible with older iPad models.

  But it comes with a major downside: To charge the device, you’ll need to plug it into the Lightning port on your iPad.

  Even though Apple says it only takes about 15 minutes to charge the device, charging the first-generation Apple Pencil feels clumsy and awkward. Some users even prefer to buy female port adapters for the lightning connector — like this one on Amazon — to avoid charging the Apple Pencil via the iPad.


  Major Benefits


  Going beyond the technical details, the Apple Pencil offers a few major advantages over your fingers when it comes to interacting with your iPad.


  Improved Versatility

  Hands and fingers are great for a lot of things, but they’re clumsy and awkward when compared to the precision that we get from using specialized tools.

  And we’re not just talking about the Apple Pencil! That’s true for any tool — stylus or otherwise.

  With the Apple Pencil, you’ll have finer-grained control over your hand movements. This allows you to use your iPad in new and exciting ways, from writing and journaling all the way to drawing and digital design.

  Protip: You can add even more versatility and control when using your Apple Pencil by picking up a Paperlike. Our screen protectors emulate the feel of paper. Combined with the Apple Pencil, drawing and writing on your iPad feels just like working in a sketchbook or physical notebook.

  Pressure Sensitivity

  Another major advantage of the Apple Pencil comes down to sensitivity when touching the stylus to your screen.

  Because the tip of the Apple Pencil understands how hard or soft you press against the screen, it’s possible for iPad users to create everything from handwritten text to incredible digital artwork without any other specialized tool.

  Other stylus options may only provide limited pressure sensitivity — if they even offer it at all.

  What’s more: Many app developers have also discovered how to take advantage of these unique features.

  With creative apps like Procreate, artists can adjust the size, texture, and consistency of the brushes and erasers they use to paint and draw.

  Notetakers using GoodNotes 5 can emphasize key points in their notes by pressing down harder while using the fountain pen tool.

  While Apple hasn’t revealed any pressure sensitivity levels for the Apple Pencil, the stylus is diverse enough that professional artists are able to create incredible works of digital art without resorting to specialized equipment like Wacom tablets or expensive desktops.

question:
  QUESTION

  GoodNotes 5 is a note-taking app compatible with Apple Pencil.  True or False.

  ANSWER

  True.


source: Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210920151949.htm
date: 3 Oct 2021
level: 4
text:
  Mars habitability limited by its small size, isotope study suggests


  20 September 2021


  Washington University in St. Louis


  Summary: Researchers measured the potassium isotope compositions of Martian meteorites in order to estimate the presence, distribution, and abundance of volatile elements and compounds, including water, on Mars, finding that Mars has lost more potassium than Earth but retained more potassium than the moon or the asteroid 4-Vesta; the results suggest that rocky planets with larger mass retain more volatile elements during planetary formation and that Mars and Mars-sized exoplanets fall below a size threshold necessary to retain enough water to enable habitability and plate tectonics.

  ----

  Water is essential for life on Earth and other planets, and scientists have found ample evidence of water in Mars' early history. But Mars has no liquid water on its surface today. New research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests a fundamental reason: Mars may be just too small to hold onto large amounts of water.

  ----

  Remote sensing studies and analyses of Martian meteorites dating back to the 1980s posit that Mars was once water-rich, compared with Earth. NASA's Viking orbiter spacecraft -- and, more recently, the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers on the ground -- returned dramatic images of Martian landscapes marked by river valleys and flood channels.

  Despite this evidence, no liquid water remains on the surface. Researchers proposed many possible explanations, including a weakening of Mars' magnetic field that could have resulted in the loss of a thick atmosphere.

  But a study published the week of Sept. 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests a more fundamental reason why today's Mars looks so drastically different from the "blue marble" of Earth.

  "Mars' fate was decided from the beginning," said Kun Wang, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, senior author of the study. "There is likely a threshold on the size requirements of rocky planets to retain enough water to enable habitability and plate tectonics, with mass exceeding that of Mars."

  For the new study, Wang and his collaborators used stable isotopes of the element potassium (K) to estimate the presence, distribution and abundance of volatile elements on different planetary bodies.

  Potassium is a moderately volatile element, but the scientists decided to use it as a kind of tracer for more volatile elements and compounds, such as water. This is a relatively new method that diverges from previous attempts to use potassium-to-thorium (Th) ratios gathered by remote sensing and chemical analysis to determine the amount of volatiles Mars once had. In previous research, members of the research group used a potassium tracer method to study the formation of the moon.

  Wang and his team measured the potassium isotope compositions of 20 previously confirmed Martian meteorites, selected to be representative of the bulk silicate composition of the red planet.

  Using this approach, the researchers determined that Mars lost more potassium and other volatiles than Earth during its formation, but retained more of these volatiles than the moon and asteroid 4-Vesta, two much smaller and drier bodies than Earth and Mars.

  The researchers found a well-defined correlation between body size and potassium isotopic composition.

  "The reason for far lower abundances of volatile elements and their compounds in differentiated planets than in primitive undifferentiated meteorites has been a longstanding question," said Katharina Lodders, research professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University, a coauthor of the study. "The finding of the correlation of K isotopic compositions with planet gravity is a novel discovery with important quantitative implications for when and how the differentiated planets received and lost their volatiles."

  "Martian meteorites are the only samples available to us to study the chemical makeup of the bulk Mars," Wang said. "Those Martian meteorites have ages varying from several hundred millions to 4 billion years and recorded Mars' volatile evolution history. Through measuring the isotopes of moderately volatile elements, such as potassium, we can infer the degree of volatile depletion of bulk planets and make comparisons between different solar system bodies.

  "It's indisputable that there used to be liquid water on the surface of Mars, but how much water in total Mars once had is hard to quantify through remote sensing and rover studies alone," Wang said. "There are many models out there for the bulk water content of Mars. In some of them, early Mars was even wetter than the Earth. We don't believe that was the case."

  Zhen Tian, a graduate student in Wang's laboratory and a McDonnell International Academy Scholar, is first author of the paper. Postdoctoral research associate Piers Koefoed is a co-author, as is Hannah Bloom, who graduated from Washington University in 2020. Wang and Lodders are faculty fellows of the university's McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences.

  The findings have implications for the search for life on other planets besides Mars, the researchers noted.

  Being too close to the sun (or, for exoplanets, being too close to their star) can affect the amount of volatiles that a planetary body can retain. This distance-from-star measurement is often factored into indexes of "habitable zones" around stars.

  "This study emphasizes that there is a very limited size range for planets to have just enough but not too much water to develop a habitable surface environment," said Klaus Mezger of the Center for Space and Habitability at the University of Bern, Switzerland, a co-author of the study. "These results will guide astronomers in their search for habitable exoplanets in other solar systems."

  Wang now thinks that, for planets that are within habitable zones, planetary size probably should be more emphasized and routinely considered when thinking about whether an exoplanet could support life.

  "The size of an exoplanet is one of the parameters that is easiest to determine," Wang said. "Based on size and mass, we now know whether an exoplanet is a candidate for life, because a first-order determining factor for volatile retention is size."

question:
  QUESTION

  A planet's size is a determining factor for its habitability.  True or False.

  ANSWER

  True.


source: Source: https://www.deepakarora.org/dont-give-free-advice-to-people-unless-asked-for-it/
date: 6 Oct 2021
level: 3
text:
  Don’t Give Free Advice to People

  By Deepak Arora

  There is a German proverb, Never Give your advice until asked for it.

  Yeah, this thing was on my mind for quite some time but its time for the implementation. Don’t give your advice to people until they ask you for it. What happens is that when you are an expert on a subject or have some good knowledge you want to help other people out on it, you might even want to help them from the start. You found something good you might start recommending it to the people you know. But wait why the hell you are telling them, they don’t want to know about it, you just want to say to them!

  Suppose you are a software engineer and you know everything about this industry, I am into insurance sector, you know that software market is going to boom up and you tell me about it, but what the hell I am into insurance boy, I don’t care whether software industry goes up or down.

  I know its hard to resist but too much talking is terrible. You should learn to keep things to yourself. Found something useful, don’t go around and tell everybody about it. More the words spread, the lesser piece of it you are going to get. So its better to keep your mouth shut unless someone asked for it.

  When somebody asks your advice on something you are good at, they first listen to you carefully and thank you for helping them out. Then your opinion is counted. Otherwise, you are labeled as talkative. So I guess its better to keep good things to yourself, your knowledge is essential and it should go to the people who deserve it and will use it for their benefit and thank you for your expertise on the subject or matter in hand.

question:
  QUESTION

  Why is it better to give advice only when people ask for it?  Choose all correct answers.

  ANSWER

  A. Because when people ask for it, they need it terribly so that they would listen to you carefully.

  B. Your expert opinion will not be valued if you give it for free.


source: Source: https://www.philcooke.com/stop-giving-advice-to-people-who-dont-ask-for-it/
date: 6 Oct 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Usually people do not listen to unsolicited advice. True or False.

  ANSWER

  True.

text:
  Stop Giving Advice to People Who Don’t Ask For It

  By Phil Cooke

  21 January 2014

  I’m embarrassed to say that it’s taken me most of my life to understand this, but it’s true. Except in very rare situations, giving people advice who haven’t asked for it just doesn’t work – no matter how noble your intentions. In fact, they will often be offended and your very relationship can be damaged. When my daughters were growing up I would see them making a mistake and offer my advice. Did they take it? Rarely. More often than not, they were offended. My wife Kathleen was the same way. Unsolicited advice almost always seems judgmental and is therefore unappreciated. So after a lot of fiery darts being flung my way, here’s a few things I’ve learned:

  1. If they don’t ask, don’t give advice. Simple as that.

  2. This applies to just about everything, short of stopping people from stepping in front of a moving car.

  3. It doesn’t mean people are ungrateful, but people are often embarrassed when reminded of their mistakes or shortcomings. In my experience, most people actually need to see the end result of their wrong thinking. When that happens, it makes a much more powerful and lasting impression.

  4. Your advice will be more effective when they’ve seen their mistake, and then come to you.

  5. This doesn’t mean you abandon anyone. It simply means you watch, track their progress, keep quiet, and then be ready to answer their questions in a positive, inspiring way.

  The impact of your advice isn’t just based on the insight, it’s also based on the timing.


date: 6 Oct 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Modeling works, and instructing fails. True or False.

  ANSWER

  True.

text:
  Giving People Advice Rarely Works, This Does

  Go against your instincts to influence others.

  Thomas G. Plante

  15 July 2014

  People love to tell you how to live your life. There is no shortage of family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, businesses, and of course, magazines and websites offering plenty of guidance about what you should or shouldn't do. Others want to tell you what or how you should (or shouldn’t) eat, drink, shop, vote, believe in (or not believe in), dress, exercise—you name it. But while everyone thinks that telling others what they should do will work, few actually rely on the proven, research-based strategies that actually do typically result in behavior change.

  Think about it: Has there ever been a conversation between a Democrat and a Republican, between a believer and a non-believer, between a meat-eater and a vegetarian, between a Fox News viewer and a MSNBC viewer, or between a Yankee fan and a Red Sox fan that ended with one saying, “You know what? You’re right. I’ll change right away!”

  And honestly, while people encourage you to change your ways to accommodate their suggestions what are you privately thinking? Probably: “Mind your own business.” "Why don’t you leave me alone?” You might politely listen but privately most of us resent being told what to do and how to do it.

  In a nutshell: Advice giving usually doesn't work, and often completely backfires.

  What Does Work?

  If we really want to encourage behavior (or belief) change in others we actually need to move away from advice-giving (especially when our advice is unsolicited) and toward modeling. We need to be an example for others rather than telling them what to do.

  Research on observational learning (in conjunction with an understanding of reactance theory) suggests that while people will resist unsolicited advice and instruction, they will follow the behaviors of others—especially when there appear to be good and reinforcing outcomes from these behaviors (or beliefs).

  If you really want to encourage behavior change in those around you, model the behavior that you want and keep your advice-giving instincts in check. I know—I'm giving advice here, and perhaps contradicting myself, but still, just consider this strategy and see how it works out for you.

source:
  Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/do-the-right-thing/201407/giving-people-advice-rarely-works-does


source: Source: https://lifehacker.com/i-still-use-plain-text-for-everything-and-i-love-it-1758380840
date: 7 Oct 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  The author uses plain text for to-dos. True or False.

  ANSWER

  True.

text:
  I Still Use Plain Text for Everything, and I Love It

  By Thorin Klosowski

  2 November 16


  Plain text has long been a favorite here at Lifehacker, but over the years most people have moved away from it in favor of specialized to-do apps, notes apps, writing apps, or whatever else. I still use plain text for just about everything, but never thought much about why I do. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that snazzy features aside, plain text is still king for portability and simplicity.

  We’ve talked about the value of plain text to-do lists before. The short of it is simple: any computer can read plain, simple text. A .txt file is totally portable, and there are no bells, no whistles, no proprietary software, and no fancy formatting options. It is one of the simplest files a computer can create, and any computer—alongside a variety of apps—can read it. Over the years, tons of productivity software tried to replace it, and yet, from snarky to-do apps to big budget notes apps, nothing’s beaten plain text for me.

  ** Plain Text Forces Me to Keep Things Simple **

  I love organizing things. I love formatting things. I love outlining, keywording, and listing things. This is often a useful character trait, but it’s just as often a distraction and utterly useless when it comes to writing, setting to-dos, and taking notes.

  Give me a to-do app with tags, color choices, and hierarchies, and I’ll give you an hour of my time to organize something as simple as a grocery shopping list. Give me multiple notebooks for my notes and I’ll give you days of my life building an organization system.

  I will then go on to not actually use any of those systems.

  Even though I love organization and gravitate to it in many facets of my life, it’s not important to me with stuff like basic notes or to-dos. What is important is simplicity. I want to quickly open an app, write down what I need to, then close it without thinking about what tag it should get, what formating to add, or whatever else. Just give me an empty sheet of paper and a blinking text icon.

  How do I find what I’m looking for without those organization tricks? Remember, this is plain text. It’s a simple file format. Control + F, type in a couple of words into a search bar, either in the app or in Spotlight on a Mac, and it brings up exactly what I need. Of course, I have some higher level organization too. All my Lifehacker post ideas are in one file. To-dos in another. Fiction ideas in another. You get the point. It’s simple, yet a little chaotic, which is exactly what I like about it.

  ** I Can Stuff All My Creative Ideas In One Place **

  One thing that’s really kept me on plain text is the fact I can use it for everything I want to. I don’t have to divide my brain space into different apps or services. Plain text is as analogous to a single small creative notebook as software can get.

  Even when you’re using an app like ToDo.txt, Sublime Text, or Simplenote to manage plain text files, things get messy. Your system will never be as organized as it could be with the likes of Evernote. And that’s exactly why I love it. I have today’s to-dos right next to an idea for a feature film I’ll never write. I have notes on making a desk from three years ago snuggling up next to a text file filled with weird dreams. My list of ideas for Lifehacker articles is right next to some structural notes about a novel. Every idea I’ve had, dumb, smart, insane, and whatever else is together in a single folder, accessible as one giant lump of text. Every day I see all of it, and every day I think about much of it, even when I don’t have to.

  Because of this, my brain’s constantly churning through ideas good and bad. Abandoned ideas and completed ones live in the same space. Because of that I can see what works, what doesn’t, and what I just haven’t figured out how to do yet. This is great for me. When my stupid idea for a video game sits right next to my grocery list, everything feels doable. Every idea is worth thinking about, and the ideas are worth thinking about multiple times, even if I can’t figure out what to do with them at first.

  Of course, you don’t have to go all in like that. Most people probably find this type of system overwhelming, but the beauty of plain text is how easy it is to solve that kind of problem. You can create folders or use an app that supports tagging, and just like that, you’re organized without a lot trouble.

  Plain Text Will Never Require a Subscription, Lock Away Features, or Go Out of Business
  Plain text is ubiquitous. It works on every operating system, and on every mobile device, regardless of who makes it. A wide variety of apps can read it. You’ll never run into file compatibility errors. You can take what you write from one app to another without a thought.

  This matters because the tech industry likes to remind us that nothing lasts forever. We see apps shut down all the time. They add in a subscription fee. They lock that one feature you want behind a paywall. It’s annoying, and if you’re invested in an app, whether it’s a notes app or a to-do app, you’re often forced to pay out the nose for a bunch of features you don’t want. Plain text doesn’t suffer this problem because it’s universally readable across platforms, not to mention a bedrock of well, computing as we know it.

  Likewise, plain text will never change. Where an app might get updated with new features and a new user interface, plain text is pretty much always plain text. I will never open up an app to find a new design that I hate, or a new user experience I have to learn. Text editors may change, but there’ll always be another, and they’ll never all go subscription-only. This is really important to me. I use plain text every single day for simple tasks. I don’t need anything getting in the way of me capturing text as quickly as possible.

  So, nowadays, my plain text files are all related to creative endeavors alongside my to-do lists. It’s a mishmash of stuff that someone else could probably organize better, but I like that these things live together in the same apps. It makes it feel like even my craziest ideas are a little more achievable.


source: Source: https://www.fsf.org/news/lifes-better-together-when-you-avoid-windows-11
date: 7 Oct 2021
level: 4
text:
  Dear Free Software Supporter,

  October 5 marks the official release of Windows 11, a new version of the operating system that doesn't do anything at all to counteract Windows' long history of depriving users of freedom and digital autonomy. While we might have been encouraged by Microsoft's vague, aspirational slogans about community and togetherness, Windows 11 takes important steps in the wrong direction when it comes to user freedom.

  Microsoft claims that "life's better together" in their advertising for this latest Windows version, but when it comes to technology, there is no surer way of keeping users divided and powerless than nonfree software. Developing nonfree software is an inherently antisocial act, for it is intentionally choosing to create an unjust power structure, in which a developer knowingly keeps users powerless and dependent by withholding information. Increasingly, this involves not only withholding the source code itself, but even basic information on how the software works: what it's really doing, what it's collecting, and how often it's snitching on users. "Snitching" may sound dramatic, but Windows 11 will now require a Microsoft account to be connected to every user account, granting them the ability to correlate user behavior with one's personal identity. Even those who think they have nothing to hide should be wary of sharing potentially all of their computing activity with any company, much less one with a track record of abuse like Microsoft.

  You may have heard that thousands of machines currently running Windows will not be allowed to upgrade to Windows 11 due to a hardware incompatibility. At first glance this seems like plain old forced obsolescence, but the reality is much more sinister. Windows 11 now requires the use of a small dedicated chip attached to a computer motherboard called a TPM, something which their advertising copy and the mainstream press call a "Trusted Platform Module." This is slightly misleading, as when it's deployed by a proprietary software company, its relationship to the user isn't one based on trust, but based on treachery. When fully controlled by the user, TPM can be a useful way to strengthen encryption and user privacy, but when it's in the hands of Microsoft, we're not optimistic.

  We expect Microsoft to use its tighter control on cryptography that happens in Windows as a way to impose more severe Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) onto media and applications, and as a way to ensure that no application can run in Windows without Microsoft's approval. In cases like these, it's no longer appropriate to call a machine running Windows a "personal" computer, as it obeys Microsoft more than it does its user. Indeed, it's bitterly ironic that Microsoft is calling the program that verifies a system's compatibility with Windows 11 a "PC Health Check." We counter that a healthy PC is one that respects its user's wishes, runs free software, and doesn't purposefully restrict them through treacherous computing. It would also never send the user's encryption keys back to its corporate overlords. Intrepid users will likely find a way around this requirement, yet it doesn't change the fact that the majority of Windows users will be forced into a treacherous computing scheme.

  Microsoft knows that its "Teams" videoconferencing program isn't the most beloved app in the world, as even users on Windows typically opt for a more popular (though deeply problematic) alternative like Zoom. Now it seems that no Windows user can avoid it any longer, as it's been given an irritatingly central place in the user interface, and is more closely integrated into how Windows manages one's personal contacts. Many videoconferencing programs of this type have gained popularity due to the pandemic, yet we hope Teams' unpopularity and its newfound, unwanted place in Windows will encourage users to seek out conferencing programs that they themselves can control.

  Sometimes, Microsoft realizes that it can't be quite so overtly antisocial. We've commented many times before on the hypocrisy involved in saying that Microsoft "loves open source" and "loves Linux," two ways of mentioning free software without reference to freedom. At the same time, Microsoft employees do make contributions to free software, contributions which benefit many others. Yet they do not extend this philosophy to their operating system, and in the last few years, they've made an attempt to impair the ways free software makes "life better together" further by making critical functions of Microsoft GitHub rely on nonfree JavaScript and directing users toward Service as a Software Substitute (SaaSS) platforms. By attacking user freedom through Windows, and the free software community directly by means of nonfree JavaScript, Microsoft proves that it has no plans to loosen its grip on users.

  No program that you're forbidden to copy, modify, or share can truly bring people "together" in the way that Microsoft claims. Thankfully, and right outside the window, there's a true community of users you and your loved ones can join:

  What you can do
  Sign (or renew!) your pledge not to use Windows and help a friend install GNU/Linux, sending Microsoft the strong message that software that subjugates its users has no place in Windows.

  You can choose to replace Windows with an operating system made up of free software, such as Trisquel or other distributions of the GNU/Linux operating system.

  If you don't feel ready to take the plunge and switch entirely, you can use our resources like the Free Software Directory to find programs you can use as starting points for your free software journey.

  If you're having difficulties switching to free software, or have advice for how to help others do the same, we hope that you'll take the time to provide us with feedback on the public draft of our freedom ladder campaign.

  We hope that you'll take the opportunity to make a major change yourself, by choosing to use and advocate for software that fosters community and cooperation rather than restriction. Let's stop falling for the trap of chasing short-term, superficial improvements in proprietary software that may seem to make life better, and instead opt for free software, the only software that can support the best versions of ourselves.

  In freedom,


  Greg Farough
  Campaigns Manager

question:
  QUESTION

  The email sender praises Microsoft's recent release Window 11.  True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.


source: Source: https://www.arm.com/blogs/blueprint/arm-30-years
date: 15 Oct 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  ARM started big in a big, modern building. True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Arm at 30: A Story of Patience, Focus and Vision

  Dipesh Patel

  11 December 2020

  The march of technology can be unforgiving. Circumstance or inflexibility can turn an emerging company into a struggling one, and these days the barriers to success are enormous.

  I think about this as Arm celebrates 30 years of innovation. What was it that enabled a small team of engineers working out of an old Cambridge turkey barn to create a business that thrives 30 years on, now employs more than 6,800 people around the world and is considered a vital contributor to the global technology ecosystem?

  We’d like to say we predicted everything—but in technology, it never works that way. We started small and focused on delivering microprocessor technology in a new and compelling way, focusing on power efficiency and building a unique business model that empowered our partners to focus on their core values.

  This partnership approach was key to our model of shared success: we only made money if our partners made money. Over time, we expanded into adjacencies with a core principle in mind: deliver new products that make design easier across multiple applications, from mobile to automotive to embedded.

  Patience, focus and vision
  As Arm grew, we constantly challenged ourselves. In retrospect, I think three things were key to our early success: Patience, focus and vision. We were fortunate that our initial focus came at a time when mobile technology was in its infancy, and partners were looking for a solution that provided the delicate balance between performance, power consumption and code memory footprint.

  For example, our mobile phone partners of the mid-1990s had to contend with expensive memory and needed to balance long battery life with enough compute performance to drive the phone’s hardware and software. The ARM7TDMI microprocessor provided that balance and helped to ease the memory-cost issue, too.

  As business took off, we continued to develop our microprocessor roadmap and find new application areas for the same designs. Eventually, we started to look beyond the processor (CPU). Mobile phones were starting to enable more sophisticated graphics, and so—with the acquisition of Falanx Microsystems in 2006—the Mali graphics processor (GPU) roadmap was born. Refusing to rest on our laurels, we listened intently to our partners and began looking outward with a focus on how to enable the new workloads that they required.


source: Source: https://www.moneycrashers.com/work-from-home-kids/
date: 17 Oct 2021
level: 4
text:
  How to Work From Home If You Have Kids

  Heather Levin

  7 March 2019

  Many parents dream of working from home. You give up the stressful commute and constant distractions at the office in exchange for a cozy office and more time with your kids. Perfect, right?

  Well, in theory. Working at home can be a fantastic experience, and it’s full of opportunities to be more productive and do your best work. However, when you add kids to the mix, things can get challenging fast. Kids, by nature, want and need your constant attention. They don’t care if you’re on a conference call; they want to show you their watercolor painting – right now.

  So how do you balance your desire to be there for your kids with your desire to succeed in your career? Here’s are some strategies you can use to find a good balance between work and family and get more done during the day.

  Read the average “working at home with kids” article, and you’ll see the typical stock photo of a mother smiling happily, a 1-year-old on her lap, while she productively plinks away on her laptop in a sunny home office. The toddler magically lets her get all her work done while he sits coloring quietly or even taking a nap.

  I will save you some grief here: Working at home with children is not like this at all.

  My husband and I both work at home with our two boys, ages 4 and 3. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned so far, it’s that some days go smoothly, while others are full of minor disasters. But never have we had one day like all these stock photos illustrate, with a precious toddler sitting quietly in our laps while we happily accomplish all of our work.

  So don’t be fooled by the glossy images. Working at home with kids is great. It’s also a lot of hard work, kind of like juggling 15 bananas or building the Panama Canal. Some days it will feel like you’re trying to do both – blindfolded.

  Another important caveat: There is an endless number of strategies you can use to build a successful work-at-home routine that includes your kids. Some of these strategies will work great for you, while others won’t be a good fit. Every family is different, so pick what feels right for you and give it a try. Use what works and ditch what doesn’t.

  Working at home with kids isn’t for everyone, but if you’re ready to give it a try, or you want to learn how to get more done without losing your sanity, let’s get started.


  Communicate With Your Partner
  -----------------------------

  If your spouse or partner is at home caring for the kids, it’s essential that you communicate what your day is like so you’re both on the same page with your expectations and needs.

  For example, if you’re under a pressing deadline and need to focus, let them know so that they can get the kids out of the house for a while. If you have a lighter workday with more flexibility, offer to take the kids for an hour at lunch so your partner can have a break.

  It can also help to put a sign on your office door to let your family know when you’re on an important call, especially when those calls are unexpected. Some work-at-home parents use an open-closed sign like those that typically hang on the doors of small businesses, such as this one from Amazon. When you get an unexpected call, simply flip the sign from “Open” to “Closed” so your partner and kids know not to interrupt. With some persistent teaching, even young children can learn how to tell the difference between the two signs.

  Some work-at-home parents adapt this strategy in creative ways their kids can understand better. For example, one work-at-home dad puts on a red superhero cape when he’s on a call so his son knows not to interrupt, while one work-at-home mom puts on a princess tiara. These ideas might sound silly, but such props are powerful signals to kids, and you might have better success with a variation of them than with a door sign.

question:
  QUESTION

  When work at home, you should tell your spouse that you are busy so that he/she could take kids out of house and let you stay focused.  True or False.

  ANSWER

  True.


source: Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211013114018.htm
date: 23 Oct 2021
level: 4
text:
  Did Venus ever have oceans?

  Université de Genève

  13 October 2021


  Astrophysicists have investigated the past of Venus to find out whether Earth's sister planet once had oceans.
  ---------------------------------------------------

  The planet Venus can be seen as the Earth's evil twin. At first sight, it is of comparable mass and size as our home planet, similarly consists mostly of rocky material, holds some water and has an atmosphere. Yet, a closer look reveals striking differences between them: Venus' thick CO2 atmosphere, extreme surface temperature and pressure, and sulphuric acid clouds are indeed a stark contrast to the conditions needed for life on Earth. This may, however, have not always been the case. Previous studies have suggested that Venus may have been a much more hospitable place in the past, with its own liquid water oceans. A team of astrophysicists led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS, Switzerland, investigated whether our planet's twin did indeed have milder periods. The results, published in the journal Nature, suggest that this is not the case.

  Venus has recently become an important research topic for astrophysicists. ESA and NASA have decided this year to send no less than three space exploration missions over the next decade to the second closest planet to the Sun. One of the key questions these missions aim to answer is whether or not Venus ever hosted early oceans. Astrophysicists led by Martin Turbet, researcher at the Department of Astronomy of the Faculty of Science of the UNIGE and member of the NCCR PlanetS, have tried to answer this question with the tools available on Earth. "We simulated the climate of the Earth and Venus at the very beginning of their evolution, more than four billion years ago, when the surface of the planets was still molten," explains Martin Turbet. "The associated high temperatures meant that any water would have been present in the form of steam, as in a gigantic pressure cooker." Using sophisticated three-dimensional models of the atmosphere, similar to those scientists use to simulate the Earth's current climate and future evolution, the team studied how the atmospheres of the two planets would evolve over time and whether oceans could form in the process.

  "Thanks to our simulations, we were able to show that the climatic conditions did not allow water vapour to condense in the atmosphere of Venus," says Martin Turbet. This means that the temperatures never got low enough for the water in its atmosphere to form raindrops that could fall on its surface. Instead, water remained as a gas in the atmosphere and oceans never formed. "One of the main reasons for this is the clouds that form preferentially on the night side of the planet. These clouds cause a very powerful greenhouse effect that prevented Venus from cooling as quickly as previously thought," continues the Geneva researcher.

  Small differences with serious consequences
  -------------------------------------------

  Surprisingly, the astrophysicists' simulations also reveal that the Earth could easily have suffered the same fate as Venus. If the Earth had been just a little closer to the Sun, or if the Sun had shone as brightly in its 'youth' as it does nowadays, our home planet would look very different today. It is likely the relatively weak radiation of the young Sun that allowed the Earth to cool down enough to condense the water that forms our oceans. For Emeline Bolmont, professor at UNIGE, member of PlaneS and co-author of the study, "this is a complete reversal in the way we look at what has long been called the 'Faint Young Sun paradox'. It has always been considered as a major obstacle to the appearance of life on Earth!" The argument was that if the Sun's radiation was much weaker than today, it would have turned the Earth into a ball of ice hostile to life. "But it turns out that for the young, very hot Earth, this weak Sun may have in fact been an unhoped-for opportunity," continues the researcher.

  "Our results are based on theoretical models and are an important building-block in answering the question of the history of Venus," says study co-author David Ehrenreich, professor in the Department of Astronomy at UNIGE and member of the NCCR PlanetS. "But we will not be able to rule on the matter definitively on our computers. The observations of the three future Venusian space missions will be essential to confirm -- or refute -- our work." These prospects delight Emeline Bolmont, for whom "these fascinating questions can be addressed by the new Centre for Life in the Universe, which has just been set up within the UNIGE's Faculty of Science."

question:
  QUESTION

  What is the Faint Young Sun paradox?

  ANSWER

  If the Sun was too cool, then the Earth would have had become a ball of ice.  If the Sun was too hot, then the Earth would have had no liquid water.


source: Source: https://markboulton.co.uk/
date: 14 Nov 2021
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  What is Mark's job?

  ANSWER

  Designer.

text:
  Product design, creative strategy, design leadership

  Hello, I’m Mark, a designer from the UK.

  I help organisations build digital products and services, understand their users, and communicate their purpose.

  I occasionally write a blog. You can read the latest post, “The morning test” or the odd musing on Twitter. I'm currently reading “Handsome Frank”

  I help in-house leaders and teams design sustainable products, websites, and services. Find out how I could help, or if you have a project in mind, I’d love to talk.

  I believe in teams. The right team, with the right support, can do anything.

  I believe in the right fidelity design at the right time.

  There is no substitute for getting my work in front of users.

  Prototypes win. I prefer working things, not pictures of how things should work.


source: Source: https://markboulton.co.uk/journal/pros-cons-of-remote-work/
date: 14 Nov 2021
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Remote work is preferred by introvert people. True or False.

  ANSWER

  True.

text:
  The pros and cons of remote office work

  Eighteen months on I’m still thinking about remote work. The grumblings in the mainstream news media are full of extreme views: ‘Remote is the future!’, ‘Remote work is abhorrent!’. As usual, it’s more subtle than that. I think the future of office work will be as dynamic as the past 18 months. I’m not one for the binary view of the working world – either remote or not – but here’s where I’m up to with my thinking.

  TL;DR: I think remote office work is more accessible and results in more diverse teams.

  Remote desk-bound work is more accessible for:

  Disabled people.
  Chronically ill people.
  People who live outside of metro centres due to other family commitments (close to relatives, children in school etc).
  People who choose to live elsewhere for a better quality of life.
  Those people who prefer not to spend hours a day commuting.
  A global workforce or team. Broaden the net and you could be working in a team that spans the globe. Being remote – with a daytime schedule that is flexible enough to accommodate their needs – works for everyone.
  Those with introvert preferences when under pressure to deliver or collaborate. Acknowledging that people are unique and complex, and that introversion and extroversion exist on a continuum, modern work places, methods, and habits – especially in tech (especially in UX and design!) – are built around extrovert preferences. Workshops, meetings, co-creation, 1-1 meetings, co-design…
  In-office desk bound work maybe more preferable for:

  Intensive, collaborative work.
  Sensitive and direct conversations. My experience is this is difficult to do through a screen no matter how hard you may try.
  Those with extrovert preferences. See above!
  For business:

  The hiring pool is suddenly much bigger. It’s true that everyone who is talented does not live in San Francisco, London, or Amsterdam. They live everywhere.
  This is less risk. But requires more work and near constant monitoring of team health as it relates to productivity.
  For some, this work is too much work. The ebb and flow of how work is done in an office is all too familiar, comfortable, and controllable.
  For remote work to be productive, managers need to be supportive, available, and trusting. This sounds way easier than it actually is.
  In some ways it’s cheaper: lower financial overheads.
  In other ways, it’s more expensive: more time dedicated to communication and the tools to support the business.


source: Source: Masters in Business
date: 19 Nov 2021
level: 4
text:
  Become a small expert

  Journalist and author Derek Thompson on how to succeed as a writer in the modern world:

  INTERVIEWER: "What advice do you give to a recent college grad who comes up to you and says I'm interested in journalism and writing books?"

  THOMPSON: "...there is a paradox to scale, I think. People who want to be big sometimes think, "I have to immediately reach the largest possible audience." But in a weird way, the best way to produce things that take off is to produce small things. To become a small expert. To become the best person on the internet at understanding the application of Medicaid to minority children, or something like that.

  And the reason why I think this is true I call my Tokyo example. If you go to Tokyo, you'll see there are all sorts of really, really strange shops. There'll be a shop that's only 1970's vinyl and like, 1980's whisky or something. And that doesn't make any sense if it's a shop in a Des Moines suburb, right? In a Des Moines suburb, to exist, you have to be Subway. You have to hit the mass-market immediately.

  But in Tokyo, where there's 30-40 million people within a train ride of a city, then your market is 40 million. And within that 40 million, sure, there's a couple thousand people who love 1970's music and 1980's whisky. The Internet is Tokyo. The Internet allows you to be niche at scale.

  Niche at scale is something that I think young people should aspire to."

question:
  QUESTION

  What is the meaning of "niche"?

  ANSWER

  A specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service.


date: 21 Nov 2021
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  What is Kanboard used for?

  ANSWER

  Project management.

text:
  Kanboard: A simple to deploy, easy to use Kanban board for project management

  by Jack Wallen

  9 March 2021

  If you're looking for an in-house Kanban solution that is as easy to deploy as it is to use, check out Kanboard. Learn how to install and customize this open source project management tool.

  If your small business is looking for a better way to manage projects and you prefer an open source solution, there's one piece of software you can install on a data center server that will meet your needs well. That solution is Kanboard. 

  The Kanboard feature set includes:

  - A visual and clear task overview

  - Drag and drop tasks

  - Limit work in progress

  - Search and filter

  - Tasks, subtasks, attachments and comments

  - Automatic actions

  - Multiple languages

  - Multiple authentication backends

source:
  Source: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/kanboard-a-simple-to-deploy-easy-to-use-kanban-board-for-project-management/


source: Source: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/manifesto.html
date: 23 Nov 2021
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  The author prefers a bigger house. True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Manifesto

  26 Sep 2008

  In a home I need walls, roof, windows, and a door that can be opened and closed. I also need a place to cook, a place to eat, a place to sleep, a place for a guest, and a place to write. More space is not better. More space means a bigger house. A bigger house means more hassle, more maintenance, more work to pay for rent, mortgage, taxes, and less time for living. More space also attracts more stuff which eventually means less space. The amount of actual space in a room depends more on personal tolerance for clutter than anything else. Some things make life easier, but more things do not make life more easy. More things mean more things that can break down and more time spent fixing or replacing them. Comfort is freedom and independence. Comfort is having the sweat glands and metabolic tolerance to deal with heat and cold. It is not central heating or air conditioning which may fail or be unavailable. It is not plushy seats but a healthy back. Luxury is not expensive things. It is a healthy and capable body that moves with ease with no restraints because something is too heavy, too far, too hard, or too much. It is a content and capable mind that can think critically, solve problems, and form opinions of its own.


source: Source: https://www.philcooke.com/say-no-to-the-cult-of-productivity/
date: 2 August 2022
level: 3
question:
  QUESTION

  A busy man always accomplishes something significant. True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Is It Time To Say No To The Cult of Productivity?

  September 15, 2014

  I was drafted into the productivity cult a long time ago. I have 3 different To-Do List apps on my computer, iPhone and iPad. I have about 6 different calendar apps. I’ve experimented with roughly 20 different online productivity suites for our Cooke Media Group. I’ve read David Allen’s books (the holy scriptures of the productivity movement) and plenty of others. And the truth is, there’s something to be said for being organized. While I’m not a fanatic, I do believe that if you’re spending all your time searching for documents, clippings, books, files, or other materials, that simply takes away from creative time.

  But there’s also those who are obsessed with simply being busy.  I noticed it long before the computer age. Early in my career I worked with a guy who spent the first hour or two of his morning just getting his to-do list down. It was a work of art – nice lines, organized, boxes to be checked. He constantly told everyone how “busy” he was, but the only problem?  He rarely ever accomplished anything significant. He was simply too busy keeping his to-do list up to date.

  But there’s something even more sinister about the productivity movement. It’s the attitude that if you’re not busy, you’re not accomplishing anything. As a result, I have friends who don’t talk about accomplishment, they constantly talk about “being busy.”

  “Hi, what are you doing?”
  “Oh, you know – just staying busy!”

  “Did you have a good day today?”
  “No – I’m have so much to do, I barely scratched the surface.”

  Writer Tom Kreider puts it this way: “Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy … I can’t help but wonder whether all this histrionic exhaustion isn’t a way of covering up the fact that most of what we do doesn’t matter.”

  Maybe it’s time we worried less about being busy, and more about being significant.  But then again, significance takes deep thought, focus, and reflection.

  And in today’s distracted world, it’s probably easier just to be busy.   


source: Source: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230127_13/
date: 29 Jan 2023
level: 4
text:
  Japan health ministry panel agrees on COVID-19 classification downgrade

  Friday, Jan. 27

  An expert panel of Japan's health ministry agreed on Friday that COVID-19 should be downgraded to the same category of infectious diseases as seasonal influenza in about three months.

  The government is expected to decide at a meeting of its coronavirus task force later in the day that the disease's classification will be downgraded on May 8.

  The panel met on Friday morning and agreed that the current coronavirus situation does not require strict restrictions on individual rights.

  It said the disease should be downgraded to category five, the same grouping as seasonal flu, under the infectious disease control law. COVID-19 is now classified as equivalent to category two, the second-most severe tier.

  The panel also said about three months of preparation will be necessary as the downgrade could significantly affect people's lives, businesses, healthcare facilities and others.

  The experts said the healthcare system for dealing with coronavirus patients should be shifted to one similar to that of seasonal influenza. It said the transition should be carried out in stages while making necessary preparations.

  The panel also said measures to protect people with a high risk of becoming seriously ill, including the elderly, still need to be implemented, considering a possible resurgence of infections. It said people and firms are also advised to take precautions independently.

  The panel also advised that whether to wear a face mask should basically be up to the individual.

  It said authorities should continue providing detailed information about the virus to the public.

question:
  QUESTION

  Japan will downgrade COVID-19 to same category of flu immediately.  True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.


source: Source: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/2277/
date: 3 Feb 2023
level: 4
question:
  QUESTION

  Paabo finally become a priest. True or False.

  ANSWER

  False.

text:
  Nobel laureate finds peace of mind at Zen temple

  Deyama Tomoki and Sugimoto Chuya

  Svante Paabo's groundbreaking studies have helped shed light on the history of human evolution and earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2022. It was the crowning honor for over twenty years of research. During that time, the one place he could always return for a reprieve was a Zen temple in the mountains of Japan.

  Danjo's temple

  Saiko-Zenji temple is on a hillside in northern Hiroshima Prefecture. It was built in 1469 and has a more understated design than some of the more famous temples of the era.

  When Danjo Soken became the chief priest here around 20 years ago, his first task was to restore the temple's appearance. The temple had fallen into disrepair in the years following the death of the previous chief priest.

  Danjo overhauled the design by introducing a style of landscaping that adhered to the ideological tenets of Zen Buddhism. As a result, the temple grounds now receive particularly close attention. This is evident in the appearance of the garden, which has been named Kegon-no-niwa (lit. Garden of Flower Ornament Sutra). Stones are arranged to resemble constellations, like the Big Dipper.

  "I wanted to express the universal outlook of the plants, insects, and all other forms of life reside that reside here," Danjo says. "It's an invitation to feel the vastness of the universe."

  A fateful meeting

  Before moving to Saiko-Zenji, Danjo worked at a different temple in Hiroshima Prefecture that catered to foreign visitors. He remembers the day, over 25 years ago now, when a lanky man wearing shorts arrived with a suitcase, saying he wanted to meditate in the Zen style. Danjo thought he looked like a hippie.

  The man introduced himself as Svante Paabo from Sweden. They started talking and immediately hit it off. They learned they were just one year apart in age and that Danjo had studied at UC Berkeley, a university in the US where Paabo had once done research.

  Paabo explained the nature of his studies. Danjo was fascinated and thought the subject matter was relevant to his own work.

  "Dr. Paabo's research involves understanding human history by studying genetics," he says. "My understanding of Buddhism is that human lives are connected through fate. I found it interesting that he was trying to explore how this was true with genetics."

  They have been friends ever since. Paabo stays at Saiko-Zenji whenever he visits Japan, saying he prefers the temple to a hotel.

  A mountain reprieve

  Paabo's work focuses on using DNA to understand the history of the human species. For decades, he tried to extract genetic data from bones so he could map out the Neanderthal genome. He finally succeeded in 2010, using DNA from bones that were 40,000 years old.

  His findings proved that the modern human -- Homo Sapiens -- inherited a portion of its genes from Neanderthals, meaning interspecies breeding was highly likely.

  When Paabo started his research in the 1980s, the technological standard for DNA extraction was not as high as it is now. Taking DNA from bones tens of thousands of years old and sequencing the genomic data was considered nearly impossible.

  Contamination from human DNA added to the challenge. Even the smallest amount of sweat or a skin fragment falling from a researcher's head during the excavation process could ruin a sample. Paabo and his team were able to use the first-ever clean room designed for DNA analysis and yet they still struggled to get results.

  It was during this time of frustration that Paabo started visiting the temple.

  Danjo says even though Paabo was ostensibly on vacation, he always led a disciplined life. The scientist would wake up at the same time every morning and immediately start meditating. He spent his days in quiet contemplation, looking at the garden instead of reading books or documents for his research.

  Impressed by his commitment, Danjo one day asked Paabo if he was thinking about converting to Buddhism. Paabo answered that he was not, because he was a scientist.

  He once told Danjo, "When humans center themselves, they become prideful. They can even cause wars because of this. If I become prideful, I couldn't finish my research. Humans are essentially one part of nature. I want to be the kind of scientist that can understand the feelings of flowers, birds, and even rocks."

  Paabo has since written at length about the anxiety he faced while conducting his research. The pressure to find funding, to socialize at academic conferences, to negotiate the rights for bones -- it was almost too much for him and there were days when he wanted to escape.

  The serenity and peace of mind offered by Zen Buddhism may have been exactly what he needed.

  To Danjo, Zen means taking a step back and realizing the importance of finding your "inner self."

  He would often tell visitors of the temple to find a rock that they like from the garden.

  "They all find something they like about that rock," he says. "That's what I believe Zen is. 'This is my favorite,' or 'this is me.' When they realize that, that's when the real them comes out."


  'I'm looking for a place to write'

  In February 2013, three years after he decoded the Neanderthal DNA, Paabo called Danjo and asked for a favor. He was writing a book about his research and wanted to work on it at the temple. Danjo told his friend to come right away.

  Paabo wrote in the same spot every day: a detached first-floor room on the east side of the main temple, with windows facing the garden. Even though the book kept him busy, he continued to meditate three times a day, take morning walks, and hike the surrounding areas.

  He also received calls and emails about ongoing research he was involved in. Sometimes the lack of progress would leave him distressed. When this happened, Danjo would take him on drives to the nearest town. They would visit coffee shops and antique stores.

  Danjo would try to cheer his friend up by telling him he would one day win the Nobel Prize. Paabo always replied that he wasn't interested.

  Two years later, he published Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes. The preface includes the following note:

  "Souken Danjo provided hospitality in Saikouji for some of the time I needed to withdraw from the world."

  A copy Paabo sent to Danjo also includes a handwritten message:

  "Thank you for being a part of my life!"

  The Nobel Prize

  In 2020, Paabo was given the Japan Prize, a prestigious award for researchers who have made significant contributions to science and technology. The ceremony was held in April 2022, after a two-year delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.

  The venue was full of scientists in suits and dresses, and one man in monk's robes. Most recipients had invited their colleagues and family members; Paabo had invited Danjo.

  On the morning of the ceremony, the pair spent an hour meditating together at a park. Afterward, they had breakfast and Danjo told Paabo the Nobel Prize was next. An old joke between two friends.

  Danjo expected Paabo to demur, like always. But this time he smiled and said, "Maybe."

  Six months later, he was told he had won the award.

  When Danjo learned the news, he texted Paabo immediately.

  "Congratulations! Nobel Prize. DREAMS COME TRUE."

  Less than four months after sending his celebratory message, Danjo had a chance to congratulate Paabo in person.

  The two men were reunited in Tokyo at the end of January.

  Paabo confirmed that things had unfolded as Danjo predicted. To the delight of both men, they were able to take a moment to meditate in the garden of the hotel that hosted their reunion.

  Paabo had a chance to express thanks for the encouragement he has received over the years and Danjo was able to address his friend as a Nobel laureate at long last.

  After taking time to celebrate and meditate with his friend, Danjo returned to his temple, where he will continue to tell visitors exactly what he told Paabo.

  "Find your favorite rock."


source: Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/03/230315132416.htm
date: 21 Mar 2023
level: 4
text:
  Making sense of scents: Deciphering our sense of smell

  Breaking a longstanding impasse in our understanding of olfaction, scientists at UC San Francisco (UCSF) have created the first molecular-level, 3D picture of how an odor molecule activates a human odorant receptor, a crucial step in deciphering the sense of smell.

  The findings, appearing online March 15, 2023, in Nature, are poised to reignite interest in the science of smell with implications for fragrances, food science, and beyond. Odorant receptors -- proteins that bind odor molecules on the surface of olfactory cells -- make up half of the largest, most diverse family of receptors in our bodies; A deeper understanding of them paves the way for new insights about a range of biological processes.

  "This has been a huge goal in the field for some time," said Aashish Manglik, MD, PhD, an associate professor of pharmaceutical chemistry and a senior author of the study. The dream, he said, is to map the interactions of thousands of scent molecules with hundreds of odorant receptors, so that a chemist could design a molecule and predict what it would smell like.

  "But we haven't been able to make this map because, without a picture, we don't know how odor molecules react with their corresponding odor receptors," Manglik said.

  A Picture Paints the Scent of Cheese

  Smell involves about 400 unique receptors. Each of the hundreds of thousands of scents we can detect is made of a mixture of different odor molecules. Each type of molecule may be detected by an array of receptors, creating a puzzle for the brain to solve each time the nose catches a whiff of something new.

  "It's like hitting keys on a piano to produce a chord," said Hiroaki Matsunami, PhD, professor of molecular genetics and microbiology at Duke University and a close collaborator of Manglik. Matsunami's work over the past two decades has focused on decoding the sense of smell. "Seeing how an odorant receptor binds an odorant explains how this works at a fundamental level."

  To create that picture, Manglik's lab used a type of imaging called cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), that allows researchers to see atomic structure and study the molecular shapes of proteins. But before Manglik's team could visualize the odorant receptor binding a scent molecule, they first needed to purify a sufficient quantity of the receptor protein.

  Odorant receptors are notoriously challenging, some say impossible, to make in the lab for such purposes.

  The Manglik and Matsunami teams looked for an odorant receptor that was abundant in both the body and the nose, thinking it might be easier to make artificially, and one that also could detect water-soluble odorants. They settled on a receptor called OR51E2, which is known to respond to propionate -- a molecule that contributes to the pungent smell of Swiss cheese.

  But even OR51E2 proved hard to make in the lab. Typical cryo-EM experiments require a milligram of protein to produce atomic-level images, but co-first author Christian Billesbøelle, PhD, a senior scientist in the Manglik Lab, developed approaches to use only 1/100th of a milligram of OR51E2, putting the snapshot of receptor and odorant within reach.

  "We made this happen by overcoming several technical impasses that have stifled the field for a long time," said Billesbøelle. "Doing that allowed us to catch the first glimpse of an odorant connecting with a human odorant receptor at the very moment a scent is detected."

  This molecular snapshot showed that propionate sticks tightly to OR51E2 thanks to a very specific fit between odorant and receptor. The finding jibes with one of the duties of the olfactory system as a sentinel for danger.

  While propionate contributes to the rich, nutty aroma of Swiss cheese, on its own, its scent is much less appetizing.

  "This receptor is laser focused on trying to sense propionate and may have evolved to help detect when food has gone bad," said Manglik. Receptors for pleasing smells like menthol or caraway might instead interact more loosely with odorants, he speculated.

  Just a Whiff

  Along with employing a large number of receptors at a time, another interesting quality of the sense of smell is our ability to detect tiny amounts of odors that can come and go. To investigate how propionate activates this receptor, the collaboration enlisted quantitative biologist Nagarajan Vaidehi, PhD, at City of Hope, who used physics-based methods to simulate and make movies of how OR51E2 is turned on by propionate.

  "We performed computer simulations to understand how propionate causes a shape change in the receptor at an atomic level," said Vaidehi. "These shape changes play a critical role in how the odorant receptor initiates the cell signaling process leading to our sense of smell."

  The team is now developing more efficient techniques to study other odorant-receptor pairs, and to understand the non-olfactory biology associated with the receptors, which have been implicated in prostate cancer and serotonin release in the gut.

  Manglik envisions a future where novel smells can be designed based on an understanding of how a chemical's shape leads to a perceptual experience, not unlike how pharmaceutical chemists today design drugs based on the atomic shapes of disease-causing proteins.

  "We've dreamed of tackling this problem for years," he said. "We now have our first toehold, the first glimpse of how the molecules of smell bind to our odorant receptors. For us, this is just the beginning."


source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/01/230113112804.htm
date: 23 Mar 2023
level: 4
text:
  Why chocolate feels so good -- it is all down to lubrication

  Scientists have decoded the physical process that takes place in the mouth when a piece of chocolate is eaten, as it changes from a solid into a smooth emulsion that many people find totally irresistible. By analyzing each of the steps, the interdisciplinary research team hope it will lead to the development of a new generation of luxury chocolates that will have the same feel and texture but will be healthier to consume. During the moments it is in the mouth, the chocolate sensation arises from the way the chocolate is lubricated, either from ingredients in the chocolate itself or from saliva or a combination of the two. Fat plays a key function almost immediately when a piece of chocolate is in contact with the tongue. After that, solid cocoa particles are released and they become important in terms of the tactile sensation, so fat deeper inside the chocolate plays a rather limited role and could be reduced without having an impact on the feel or sensation of chocolate.


source: Source: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/
date: 26 Mar 2023
level: 4
text:
  Things You Should Never Do

  Netscape 6.0 is finally going into its first public beta. There never was a version 5.0. The last major release, version 4.0, was released almost three years ago. Three years is an awfully long time in the Internet world. During this time, Netscape sat by, helplessly, as their market share plummeted.

  It’s a bit smarmy of me to criticize them for waiting so long between releases. They didn’t do it on purpose, now, did they?

  Well, yes. They did. They did it by making the single worst strategic mistake that any software company can make:

  They decided to rewrite the code from scratch.

  Netscape wasn’t the first company to make this mistake. Borland made the same mistake when they bought Arago and tried to make it into dBase for Windows, a doomed project that took so long that Microsoft Access ate their lunch, then they made it again in rewriting Quattro Pro from scratch and astonishing people with how few features it had. Microsoft almost made the same mistake, trying to rewrite Word for Windows from scratch in a doomed project called Pyramid which was shut down, thrown away, and swept under the rug. Lucky for Microsoft, they had never stopped working on the old code base, so they had something to ship, making it merely a financial disaster, not a strategic one.

  We’re programmers. Programmers are, in their hearts, architects, and the first thing they want to do when they get to a site is to bulldoze the place flat and build something grand. We’re not excited by incremental renovation: tinkering, improving, planting flower beds.

  There’s a subtle reason that programmers always want to throw away the code and start over. The reason is that they think the old code is a mess. And here is the interesting observation: they are probably wrong. The reason that they think the old code is a mess is because of a cardinal, fundamental law of programming:

  It’s harder to read code than to write it.

  This is why code reuse is so hard. This is why everybody on your team has a different function they like to use for splitting strings into arrays of strings. They write their own function because it’s easier and more fun than figuring out how the old function works.

  As a corollary of this axiom, you can ask almost any programmer today about the code they are working on. “It’s a big hairy mess,” they will tell you. “I’d like nothing better than to throw it out and start over.”

  Why is it a mess?

  “Well,” they say, “look at this function. It is two pages long! None of this stuff belongs in there! I don’t know what half of these API calls are for.”

  Before Borland’s new spreadsheet for Windows shipped, Philippe Kahn, the colorful founder of Borland, was quoted a lot in the press bragging about how Quattro Pro would be much better than Microsoft Excel, because it was written from scratch. All new source code! As if source code rusted.

  The idea that new code is better than old is patently absurd. Old code has been used. It has been tested. Lots of bugs have been found, and they’ve been fixed. There’s nothing wrong with it. It doesn’t acquire bugs just by sitting around on your hard drive. Au contraire, baby! Is software supposed to be like an old Dodge Dart, that rusts just sitting in the garage? Is software like a teddy bear that’s kind of gross if it’s not made out of all new material?

  Back to that two page function. Yes, I know, it’s just a simple function to display a window, but it has grown little hairs and stuff on it and nobody knows why. Well, I’ll tell you why: those are bug fixes. One of them fixes that bug that Nancy had when she tried to install the thing on a computer that didn’t have Internet Explorer. Another one fixes that bug that occurs in low memory conditions. Another one fixes that bug that occurred when the file is on a floppy disk and the user yanks out the disk in the middle. That LoadLibrary call is ugly but it makes the code work on old versions of Windows 95.

  Each of these bugs took weeks of real-world usage before they were found. The programmer might have spent a couple of days reproducing the bug in the lab and fixing it. If it’s like a lot of bugs, the fix might be one line of code, or it might even be a couple of characters, but a lot of work and time went into those two characters.

  When you throw away code and start from scratch, you are throwing away all that knowledge. All those collected bug fixes. Years of programming work.

  You are throwing away your market leadership. You are giving a gift of two or three years to your competitors, and believe me, that is a long time in software years.

  You are putting yourself in an extremely dangerous position where you will be shipping an old version of the code for several years, completely unable to make any strategic changes or react to new features that the market demands, because you don’t have shippable code. You might as well just close for business for the duration.

  You are wasting an outlandish amount of money writing code that already exists.



  Is there an alternative? The consensus seems to be that the old Netscape code base was really bad. Well, it might have been bad, but, you know what? It worked pretty darn well on an awful lot of real world computer systems.

  When programmers say that their code is a holy mess (as they always do), there are three kinds of things that are wrong with it.

  First, there are architectural problems. The code is not factored correctly. The networking code is popping up its own dialog boxes from the middle of nowhere; this should have been handled in the UI code. These problems can be solved, one at a time, by carefully moving code, refactoring, changing interfaces. They can be done by one programmer working carefully and checking in his changes all at once, so that nobody else is disrupted. Even fairly major architectural changes can be done without throwing away the code. On the Juno project we spent several months rearchitecting at one point: just moving things around, cleaning them up, creating base classes that made sense, and creating sharp interfaces between the modules. But we did it carefully, with our existing code base, and we didn’t introduce new bugs or throw away working code.

  A second reason programmers think that their code is a mess is that it is inefficient. The rendering code in Netscape was rumored to be slow. But this only affects a small part of the project, which you can optimize or even rewrite. You don’t have to rewrite the whole thing. When optimizing for speed, 1% of the work gets you 99% of the bang.

  Third, the code may be doggone ugly. One project I worked on actually had a data type called a FuckedString. Another project had started out using the convention of starting member variables with an underscore, but later switched to the more standard “m_”. So half the functions started with “_” and half with “m_”, which looked ugly. Frankly, this is the kind of thing you solve in five minutes with a macro in Emacs, not by starting from scratch.

  It’s important to remember that when you start from scratch there is absolutely no reason to believe that you are going to do a better job than you did the first time. First of all, you probably don’t even have the same programming team that worked on version one, so you don’t actually have “more experience”. You’re just going to make most of the old mistakes again, and introduce some new problems that weren’t in the original version.

  The old mantra build one to throw away is dangerous when applied to large scale commercial applications. If you are writing code experimentally, you may want to rip up the function you wrote last week when you think of a better algorithm. That’s fine. You may want to refactor a class to make it easier to use. That’s fine, too. But throwing away the whole program is a dangerous folly, and if Netscape actually had some adult supervision with software industry experience, they might not have shot themselves in the foot so badly.

question:
  QUESTION

  If the software source code looks messy, then it is a good time start rewriting the software from scratch.  True or False?

  ANSWER

  False.


