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smallblanketfort · 8 years ago

Note

do you have tips on taking notes?

yes!! i have many, so i tried to make it easier for you to navigate :)

L O N G post ahead of you, covering lecture notes and readings notes, from a college senior :)

lecture notes:

i suggest using a notebook and pen, physically writing down. it’s easier to study, and since it’s using your body, you have a much higher retention rate on your side than if you use a laptop.

i have used my laptop for taking notes before. it’s easier to take more notes, word for word, but that’s not always helpful. maybe that’s your style, especially if you enjoy rewriting your notes all pretty and more successfully when you get home. i am not that girl.

more notes does not always equal better! it’s good for you to listen actively, selecting what is important and what is not. i take very thorough notes. i take a lot of notes. if you need notes for a missed class, i. am. your. girl. that doesn’t mean i write out everything word for word. selecting details, clauses, and images really helps me to not only keep up, but also to memorize later. plus, when you’re typing, it’s easier to type all the words out without really processing the whole meaning. remember that dense notes are harder to study

finally, when you write by hand, you can get more creative with your style. occasionally, i’ll web notes out from one, rather than a traditional outline, bc it makes more sense for the topic

it also helps my anxiety! so much! if i force myself to take great in depth notes, then my mind has to dedicate more brain space to the task at hand than to my anxieties.

stick to one of these though. it really sucks to get into a test and realize you didn’t study half of your notes bc you forgot half were on your laptop. it’s awful lol.

if you use a laptop, get used to how it works first. do u know how much i resent trying to switch from a bullet that is under other bullets (like this one, not filled in) to a main point bullet (the ones filled in). it can be so confusing. also make sure you use a program you like. you can take directly into documents, but i find that i really love evernote, as i can make notebooks for classes, stacks of notebooks for my college, and that i can tag notes with specific classes and topics.

if you’re on paper, for fuck’s sake, divide your notebook into sections for classes. keep it all together. those notebooks with handy dandy dividers are so helpful, and they keep you from carrying around 5 notebooks at once.

i wouldn’t worry too much about highlighters and such in class. there’s just so much going on then. save highlighting and color coding for later, and count it as studying.

don’t worry about traditional outlining styles, with roman numerals or whatever. i take notes very simply. bullets/dashes, subnotes under a broad note.

do it how it makes sense to you! maybe that includes different bullet styles, different places for different types of information (on a simple level, i start writing chapter numbers and titles as far to the left as i can go, over the margins, in bold and capital letters. i also usually go over these later in a certain color marker)

in some classes it is helpful for me to write the topic along the top of the page in a highlighter (color coding is lovely) the main idea/topic for each page. the classes this was most obviously helpful in were astronomy (COMETS or BLACKHOLES etc) and shakespeare (MUCH ADO ACT 2 or ROMEO etc)

it’s easiest to just note page numbers of referenced complex diagrams, as they are usually in your reading or accessible online

your style might look different in each class. whatever works.

note everything (everything) your professor writes on the board. if it’s important enough for your professor to write it, it’s probably important enough for you to write it.

note examples only if it’s helpful for your memory. however, make light note of things like famous people and their science/psych experiments. but in math and such, note! the! examples! and! reasons! will help you so much.

examples that have emotion, imagery, or sound are going to be more helpful. applicable examples are most helpful. good professors will lecture you accordingly. lazy ones will not.

star anything that the professor stresses or hints will be tested. anything that they say is a major theme or whatever.

note main ideas/points/themes, definitions, conclusions,

use your tests to help you figure out what you need to know. ask questions about the tests too. in every class i’ve taken, i’m totally shocked at how willingly people ask about exam format and how willingly the professor will tell us how it will work. they want you to succeed.

people learn differently! i suggest taking notes in class and later adding touches that help you. count it as study time too. a warm up, if you will.

if you’re visual, this might include highlighting, color coding, drawing diagrams, etc.

if you’re an auditory learner, reading the notes out loud and organizing them accordingly, as well as making up rhymes, rhythms and such, might help you. some auditory learners actually like to record lectures and listen to them later.

if you learn best through movement, rewriting or making flashcards will be great for you.

sometimes professors go really. fuckin. fast. why. idk? but

dont be afraid to ask them to go back a slide bc i guarantee, you will be the class hero for asking

develop a little bit of shorthand. sometimes i end up using initials, arrows, abbreviations… this is where i got “bc” and “thru” and “u” and such. lol. also, list things vertically, rather than using commas and “and/&/+) it’ll be more clear later

some professors you literally cannot take notes on. it sucks. you’re going to need to do the readings and pick their brains on how the test will be to figure out how to prepare. take home tests are your best friend. thank god for them. seriously. get your butt to church and do some worshipping.

if your professor puts powerpoints online, save the powerpoints, ya never know.

look at inspiration if you want, but remember that notes on studyblr are usually copied from class notes. if you’re too focused on how pretty your notes are, good luck to you

finally, the day before an exam, i review my notes that i have (hopefully) been studying. i like to make a one page cheat sheet / study guide on everything i didn’t remember, leaving out everything i understand, memorized, or want to disregard.

reading notes:

ima be real and tell you i hardly ever do reading unless i will be tested on it in class in multiple choice. and im an english student. ye i suck, i know. i dont condone shirking the system but u know what, reading shakespeare or 18th century lit literally makes me want to kill myself. so, im a senior in college, and have barely ever done the reading for a class. the thing is, if you do it right, anything is better than just reading the words on the page and not getting the meaning. dont be a reading zombie. read actively, even if it’s not the actual reading. doing this, i have a 3.9 gpa. so. there’s hope for us yet.

first of all, yall need to do your damn reading. idc how. but due to the fact that a test will be multiple choice, essay answer, a presentation, or a paper, you’re going to not love pulling nothing out of your ass. can be done tho. just be fake deep.

that being said, i’m writing a lot below, but the reality is that if it’s lit, your notes dont have to be longer than a sentence. if it’s a textbook, more.

the same formatting question comes into play here, except it’s should you take notes in your book or in a notebook?

listen i’m always going to be pro notebook, pro physically writing it out as it helps me really get the information into my head, rather than more passively highlighting

i tend to do both, if im willing to mark up a book. i underline and highlight things that stick out to me, and i write them down as well. sometimes when reading literature/essays, if i know the contextual/meaning notes will be interesting to me later, i will copy notes both into my notebook and also less in depth onto post it notes (which also make sweet little flashcards btw), which i will stick into the passage. this is so helpful when a) im reading it again later and b) when we are discussing a passage in class

buy used books. it’s cheaper. until it happens to u, u do NOT UNDERSTAND how EXCITING it is to get a book that has highlights and underlines in it ALREADY. DUDE. my work is basically DONE for me. now take that lightly, bc often different ppl will highlight different pieces of information. however, it is helpful.

look up summaries. do not simply rely on cliffsnotes and sparknotes, esp since professors are very aware of these. google “title of book, summary, chapter notes, whatever youre looking for” and use the blog posts, the book reviews, the papers that come up. does this method probably take a bit longer? maybe? but it’s easier on my tired brain.

if you don’t have time to read your textbook one day and really want to, read the introduction and the conclusion to the chapter, or the first and last sentences to the paragraphs. it’s not great, but it’s something.

like your lectures, note definitions, conclusions, and helpful examples, as well as people and dates. if i’m reading literature and i’m deciding to be a smart student i will keep several logs as well. these logs will make it so. easy. to study for your exam:

updated character lists, including name, relationships, and anything defining and important

scene/chapter summaries, just a sentence summarizing what happened where

any quotes or themes that stand out

i highly highly highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of the well educated mind for note taking on a range of genres. this is what i had to use through high school and while it’s involved, it’s incredibly helpful.

if you’re going to have to cite your notes, note the page number in the margin every time you flip the page

the biggest issue i have with reading is when and where to do it. before or after class? always ask your professor if they do not tell you. where in your notebooks? i always do it on the next blank page bc leaving space stresses me the fuck out. make notes on the top of your pages of corresponding lectures/readings.

for both lectures and readings i really really really suggest either having something to drink or something to snack on (think fruit, loose nuts, m&ms. small loose things rather than things u bite? idk they just last longer?)

okay i hope this was somewhat helpful even tho it’s an incredibly longwinded post. it seems like a lot, but the reality is that while i take a lot of notes, i don’t make them complicated, i don’t have rules, i just do what feels right in the moment. they’re not at all stressful. just take it easy and do whatever works for you :)

if anyone has other tips, feel free to reply :)

#school

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myflowerfriends · 5 years ago

Text

Final Blog Posts

Blog 7: Unsaturating the World

Figure 1: Saturation in boardwalk photo, https://www.adorama.com/alc/0008627/article/100-in-100-Dont-be-a-super-soaker-saturater

In photography, to saturate an image is to edit it so that all of the visible colors are intensified against the white; the right side of Figure 1 is saturated to bring out the vibrancy in the greens and blues. The lowest form of saturation is greyscale, where the photo loses all colors and becomes simple variations of white and blacks. I kept thinking of this term, saturation, while doing the readings for this week. It feels like humanity has taken hold of the saturation scale in Adobe Photoshop and is steadily turning the world greyer. This week’s post looks at the causes of biodiversity loss and extinction, particularly in chapters 9 and 10 of the textbook.

One of the first times I really felt a deep empathy for the environment was when I must have been about eight years old, and I was flipping through a magazine in my dad’s dental office. On the cover there was a polar bear, and on the inside there must have been an editor’s note that stressed how sad and absurd it was that the editor’s children might live to see a world where polar bears go extinct. It completely blew my mind. Polar bears going extinct?! But they’re such iconic animals!

Figure 2: Polar Bear on Time Magazine, 2006. Not sure if this was the exact magazine I was flipping through, but it carries the same energy. http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20060403,00.html

What I didn’t realize then was that every twenty-four hours, between 150-200 species of plant, insect, bird, and mammal go extinct.[1] And according to Miller and Simmons’ text, “20-50% [is the] percentage of the earth’s known species that could disappear this century primarily because of human activities.”[2] The guilt on the shoulders of humankind should be there, but it is not. There is hardly any action being taken to preserve these species, or at least ease their suffering—and hardly any action being done to do the same for our human sisters and brothers.

“Given the pace and scale of change, we can no longer exclude the possibility of reaching critical tipping points that could abruptly and irreversibly change living conditions on Earth.” [3]This quote comes from the World Wildlife Populations Down 50% in Last 40 Years video, which explains just what the title says. There are critical tipping points that are coming closer and closer to being reached each day, and very little being done to reduce the strain of these.

One way to remember the reasons that are causing this biodiversity loss is through HIPPCO: Habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmentation; Invasive (nonnative) species; Population growth and increasing use of resources; Pollution; Climate change; and Overexploitation. Habitat destruction is at this time the most common damaging action being taken, and is a difficult one to stop. It can be difficult to realize too; people in industrialized parts of the United States took great pity on the wildfires being burned in the Amazon Rainforest in late 2019, but were hypocritical to the land that was destroyed so that their city or suburb could be built.

This also reminds me of an interaction I saw on Instagram the other day. There was a post by National Geographic on how salmon are being overfished and losing their wild habitat. One of the top comments stated something along the lines of, “this is why we need to farm salmon! Stop fishing in the wild, it’s the only way to protect them!” And it made me think, because if the problem is that isolated—salmon in the wild are disappearing, so just eat the ones that are farmed—then that would work, maybe. But the issue with salmon, or any species, is that they do not exist in a vacuum. They are an integral part of ecosystems in their natural habitats; farming salmon would eliminate a lot of the benefits that salmon have in the wild.

I was just having a discussion with my brother about this too, and we started making a list of things: what if cows were wild? Would they look the same or had hundreds of years of domestication made them softer and bigger, as chickens have become? Farms make evolution work differently.

As do zoos. Is there any real chance of zoos integrating animals back into the wild? I support animal education, and I get that it’s easier to study animals in zoos than in the wild sometimes.

Figure 3: A photo I took in February, 2019 of the South African Lion and Safari Park website where they acknowledge that they do not feel comfortable with their own lion-petting exhibits but continue to have them for economic purposes. The website has since been renovated and this page was completely removed.

But zoos tend to really get me questioning their ethics. Are they necessary for people to understand why it’s necessary to protect them, or is watching high quality documentaries enough to give humans a change of heart? I had a huge fallout with some friends of mine while we were studying abroad in South Africa because they went to a Lion Park where lions are bred and adults are euthanized. I heard lots of, “but you connect with the animals! You learn to respect them for their conservation! They do scientific research there!” And then the question is, how different is using horses for entertainment? Is it not practically the same as breeding lions for human entertainment? This isn’t the section of the course dedicated to philosophy, but the unanswered questions remain, bring the choice back to whether we will keep the turning the world grey or work on brightening its diversity.

The Critical Thinking Question #5 on page 218 is a tough one: what would you do if a wild boar invaded and tore up your yard or garden?

Currently my dad is having an issue where these strange moth-type bugs build cocoons on the pine trees separating our house from our neighbors. They’re killing the pine trees, because when they make their cocoons, they eat the needles. My dad asked me, as an environmental studies major, what the best option would be: let the bugs take over the trees and once they turn brown, cut them down? Or use pesticides to kill the trees?

Critical Thinking Question # 5 on page 250 asks: Are you in favor of establishing more wilderness areas in the United States?

To that I say: YES TO MORE WILDERNESS AREAS!!!! More old growth forests means more biodiversity! Any disadvantages would just be hidden advantages; for example, less room for suburban sprawl would give more space for the earth to heal.Less private space allows for more public space, which can be used by humans, vegetations, and wildlife.

WC:1189

Question: It is interesting too, that some species are considered accidentally introduced/invasive. Are humans accidentally introduced to places, or do we make possible the ability to sustain life on any corner of the earth because we were designed to do that?

Blog 8: Eat or Be Eaten.

Aquatic Biodiversity Loss and Extinction

Figure 1: Lake Erie, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/piro/learn/nature/images/Waves-on-shore_1.jpg?maxwidth=1200&autorotate=false

Unless you have seen one of the Great Lakes with your own eyes, you cannot fathom what they are really like: vast, powerful bodies of water, with big waves and long stretches of sandy beaches; comparable to an ocean. I grew up living about a block away from Lake Erie, and when I was younger, I really hated my hometown. I wanted to live in a big city. My parents countered my arguments by emphasising how lucky we were to live in the Great Lakes Basin. It wasn’t until I attended a March for Science that I realised how important it was to protect the lakes — see me pictured below with my generic sign, and my friend Max holding a sign that my mom crafted; she’s the one taking the photo.

Figure 2: Cleveland’s March for Science Protest, 2017. Photo by author.

Part of my love of the Great Lakes, and of open bodies of water in general, comes from me living so close to them. But as Sylvia Earle is quoted in the beginning of chapter 12, “With every drop of water you drink, with every breath you take, you are connected to the sea, no matter where on Earth you live” (253).[1] Even if you live in a desert, every decision you make can in some way affect aquatic ecosystem services. Take, for example, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Figure 3: Eastern Great Pacific Garbage Patch, 2019.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottsnowden/2019/05/30/300-mile-swim-through-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-will-collect-data-on-plastic-pollution/#4b2a7f36489f

There are actually two large garbage patches with some connecting debris in-between them; the greater of these patches is just off the coast of California, and is about 600,000 square miles, and in some areas, several feet deep. It is an island floating on the surface of the water, made up of plastics and microplastics. Because plastic is not biodegradable, the Garbage Patch continues to grow, and many animals, such as the albatross pictured below, die due to ingestion of these plastics, which Chris Jordan documents hauntingly well in the film Albatross.[2]

Figure 4: Albatross Bodies with Plastic, 2018,

https://www.albatrossthefilm.com/ourstory

One thing that I think could have been better written about in this chapter is water distribution. I stumbled through this very briefly in my presentation while explaining biophilia and the damaging effects of trying to make Las Vegas into an oasis in the desert. I understand that this chapter is focused more on the biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems, but I still think that concept 11.5 of this chapter could go more in depth with the ownership rights of water sources, or perhaps the section on the Great Lakes in the previous section could explain how although the Great Lakes are the largest collective body of freshwater in the world, water diversions are pretty much limited to regions within the Great Lakes Basin, and why it is important that it stays that way.

Critical Thinking Question #2, p. 280:

Three Greatest Threats to Aquatic Biodiversity

1. Ocean Acidification

2. Plastic Pollution

3. Coastal Wetland and Watershed Protection

4. Overfishing (if there are fish left after the above 3 are increased!)

The list above is my answer to the Critical Thinking Question for this chapter. All of them are caused by humans on the land. The greatest threat according to me is that of ocean acidification, or the increasing amounts of heat and acidity in the oceans. This stems from increased Co2 in the atmosphere. One of the main factors contributing to that, is animal agriculture.

Soil, Agriculture, and Food

Figure 5: You Can Smell the Methane in This Photo, 2014

https://www.wilderutopia.com/health/cowspiracy-animal-agriculture-despoils-land-water-and-climate/

Chapter 12 in the textbook discusses the effect of food production on the environment. I act like I know a lot about this when people ask me why I’m a vegetarian, but this chapter was full of great information and details that I didn’t fully understand until now.

The issue with animal agriculture is not only that Co2 is basted into the atmosphere through gasses released form the animals and humans which eat them, and the clearing of land for the animals. With the depletion of biodiversity to allow animals grazing land, vital natural habitats for other species are lost, as shown in George Monbiot’s brief video on rewilding the countryside and rural areas.[3]

Truthfully, I expected the chapter to be much more focused on animal agriculture alone. But other forms of farming are nearly as bad, as pictured below.

Figure 6: Effects of Food Production of Any Sort

https://slideplayer.com/slide/6187595/

I’m also glad that the chapter covered a comparison of overnutrition and malnutrition. I found the quote: “We live in a world where, according to the WHO, about 795 million people face health problems because they do not get enough nutritious food to eat and at least another 2.1 billion (29% of the human population) have health problems stemming largely from eating too much sugar, fat, and salt.”[4] The greed of modern civilization never ceases to amaze me.

Critical Thinking Question #1 p. 320

Figure 7: Vertical Harvest of Jackson Hole, 2013.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2056017617/vertical-harvest-of-jh-a-growing-system-for-change

If I were a member of Growing Power Inc. and in charge of turning an abandoned shopping center into an organic farm, I would begin by getting a perfect team together; potentially including some of the students in this class (networking!). I’d do my best to dismantle the concrete and debris of the shopping center, and reuse whatever I was able to on the spot. As it is in the Case Study, my farm would be powered partly by solar electricity and solar hot water systems, and would be structured like a green house to keep the produce supported year round. As it is in Jackson Hole’s Vertical Harvest organic urban farm, my employee positions would first be open to disabled peoples who are working on communication skills, training in this center for jobs elsewhere.[5] We would be deeply integrated into the community, selling our produce locally and donating to food banks and soup kitchens whenever possible. That sounds too good to be true, but we’ll leave it at that.

Question, and I think about this every day: which is better for the environment, to be vegan and avoid animal products entirely but eat non-local tofu or other forms of meatless protein; or to eat only locally sourced food which would make animal products more of a staple to the diet?

WC: 1156

[1] Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott E. Spoolman. Living in the Environment. Chapter 11: Sustaining Aquatic Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. 19th ed. Boston, MA: Engage Learning, 2020.

[2] Jordan, Chris. Albatross. https://www.albatrossthefilm.com

[3] Smith, Peter. “George Monbiot on reqilding countryside and rural areas” YouTube, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1KW-0YbO3Q

[4] Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott E. Spoolman. Living in the Environment. Chapter 12: Food Production and the Environment, p. 286. 19th ed. Boston, MA: Engage Learning, 2020.

[5] “Vertical Harvest Jackson Hole,” Vertical Harvest, https://www.verticalharvestjackson.com/our-mission.

Blog 9: Fight the System by Appreciating Soil and Supporting Local Farmers !

Symphonies of the Soil

Figure 1: Cover Artwork, 2012, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2229397/

When I began watching this documentary, I braced myself for what I thought was going to be a long, boring hour-and-a-half. But by the end of it, I think it may have changed the trajectory of my summer plans.

The first half of the documentary is an almost meditative description of different types of soils found across planet earth, backed by an orchestral score. Ironically, one of the first phrases of the narrator is: “most of the planet is non-living.”[1]And it is. As my sister pointed out, even humans are mostly CHON: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Yet plots of land are not 100% soil; half of it is the compounds that make up soil, and half of it consists of spaces for air, water, and microorganisms which use soil to survive.

Figure 2: Andy Foraging for Mushrooms in Washington, 2019, photo by author.

This point leads to another: you cannot grow good produce in a void. If you were to strip a type of soil down to its purest form and attempt at planting anything in it, it likely would not be successful. This seems to be the thesis of the second half of the documentary: farmers need to feed soil the natural ingredients it needs to be nutritional.

As I don’t have a very strong science background, some of this went over my head, such as the part about the lupines and nitrogen fixation. This summer, as long as the pandemic settles down, I hope to get an internship or job working in permaculture or vertical harvesting. It’s very odd to me that I can talk so much about the environment but know so little about it in a physical way. Although I try to shop mostly locally or from farmers markets, the development I grew up in didn’t allow gardens aside from flower beds, so I have had very little connection to soil or the ground I live on.

A critique I have of this film is that they paid very little attention to indigenous practices of cultivating soil, or hunter-gatherer ideas. They looked at how the harmful processes began, with civilizations in Europe flattening out the hillsides and beginning monocrop farming during the agricultural revolution, and they did discuss the Law of Return, but I thought there might be more references with how the soil had been used in previous human populations, and perhaps a discussion on primitivism. The discussion that was had in the film was more focused on finding a structured form of rewilding agriculturally, which I support, but still I thought the film could show the other side, and give more credit to the indigenous groups that have been pushing for this rewinding for centuries.

Figure 3: Stone Age Reenactment Group, http://www.jutulskinn.no/stone-age-gathering.

No matter how far you think society should dive into with a return to primitivism, the message of this video is clear: we can do a better job at how we farm, in order to produce healthier more sustainable products. It feels as though this shouldn’t be too difficult—but with the rigid constraints set forth by the corporations involved in the agricultural industry, farmers have very little say in how their crops get produced, and animals have become far removed from from the agricultural process, removing a great source of natural fertilizer as well. The next film explains that a bit more.

Food, Inc.

Figure 4: Food, Inc. Cover Image, 2008, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/mediaviewer/rm3514966016.

Food, Inc. uses various segments to explain the systems put in place to produce food, and how rigid those constraints are within the law-and-order system of the United States of America. These segments range from showing statistics, interviews, and video clips of what the world of agriculture is really like.

I found the Polyface Farms clips to be fascinating, because it was so difficult to watch and listen to, but was still the best possible scenario for meat farming. The cattle fertilize and mow the variety of greens they eat; there are no shipments of corn that have to be made. As Joel says, “it’s all real solar dollars….we’re every bit as efficient, especially if you plug in all of the inefficiencies of the industrial system.” [2]

Figure 5: Joel at Polyface Farms, http://www.temeats.com/polyface-farms/.

I think this will be the hardest connection for people to make, especially because we need food to sustain ourselves. Someone can be addicted to nicotine and cut it out of their lives, or can choose to avoid it altogether. But they cannot simply ignore food. People can ignore bad food, but the temptation is always lingering as a possibility, and if you grew up like I did—eating processed foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until I was about sixteen and realized I needed to be healthier—breaking away from those habits can feel like the single most challenging thing to accomplish. And when fast food is the only option due to income levels, the cycle gets even more challenging to break.

Figure 6: Elk in Wyoming, https://content.osgnetworks.tv/petersenshunting/content/photos/bull-elk-bugling.jpg

I am reminded of an argument that put me on bad terms with my boss at my summer job as a waitress at a guest ranch near Jackson, Wyoming. Elk lived in the meadows just outside the property and were hunted and sold locally. One of our most popular items on the menu was elk tenderloin, and once I had a guest ask how local the elk we served was, a reasonable assumption as our website says that our kitchen sources locally and is as sustainable as possible, even though the menu does not specify what is or is not local. Upon speaking with the head chef I learned that the elk was actually shipped in, frozen, from Austria. The more getting-into-everybody-else’s-business that I did, the more I realized that the only ingredients we used that weren’t shipped in from Sysco were a weak amount of herbs from the farmers market. That guest was from Philadelphia and could have had fresher elk had he shipped it from Austria to Pennsylvania rather than Austria to Utah to Wyoming.

Along with that, our menu was incredibly meat-and-potatoes based, following exactly the prediction that humans are hard-wired to crave salt, fat, and sugar.

Something my mom makes fun of me for saying all the time is “it’s supply and demand!” as if all the problems in the world could be that simple. But in truth, they can be. And I hope that just as my generation has severely damaged the tobacco industry, the next generation can put an end to big corporations controlling the food industry, so that 30% of the United States’ land base will not be corn, and the choice between medication or buying vegetables will be unfathomable, and local food companies will overrule the 4 major meat companies in charge now.

A critique I have of Food, Inc. is that there is very little said about the dairy and fishing industries. I felt that there could have been an additional segment on those in the film—perhaps they aren’t as bad as the meat and corn industries, but I do not feel as though they are righteous enough to be counted out of this conversation.

I also am a bit confused by the Monsanto segment and hope to discuss that in our class time.

Question: Food, Inc. is very focused on the United States of America. What are food systems like in other parts of the world? Is there a correlation between colonized places having more fast-food?

WC: 1257

[1] Garcia, Deborah Koons, director. Symphony of the Soil. YouTube, 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDZVKMe2FTg.

[2] Kenner, Robert, et al. Food, Inc. 2008. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smk2xq2l3Ig

Blog 10: The Health of the Environment, The Health of Humans

Figure 1, COVID-19 illustration, https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/11/disease-caused-by-the-novel-coronavirus-has-name-covid-19/

This week’s focus is on hazards and waste on human health and the environment. Chapter 17 in the textbook begins with a discussion on diseases stimulated from biological and chemical hazards and how these can be linked with environmental causes. The chapter ends with a discussion on risks, and how decision making can affect the world around us.

One of the most frustrating, common, and powerful diseases is cancer. Cancer’s direct cause in an individual is unknown. The title of the article “Breast Cancer: prevention or Cure? Why Is Breast Cancer Awareness/Cure Run By Major Chemical Companies?” gives good insight to the confusion around cancer research. The article goes on to explain the intricacies behind cancer research and bring to light the distrust that many people rightfully have towards corporations that are in control of cancer funding and research. Again, I see these problems tying so deeply into capitalism: individuals finding ways for their own selves to be as successful as possible without working towards the greater good.

Ethics always comes in to play and is very noticeable in this chapter. If malaria is such a murderous disease, and malaria is spread by mosquitoes, how bad would it be to just completely wipe out the mosquito population? I admit that I will appreciate any bug that lands on me, or gently flick them off, unless they are a mosquito. I do not like the inconvenience of mosquito bites, and killing mosquitoes gives me a weird sort of satisfaction that I could not achieve from the death of any other living being. In my biology class last semester, we looked at a case study of several scientists who were considering wiping out mosquitoes entirely in areas of the world susceptible to malaria. After long debates, no conclusion was reached. It feels wrong to eliminate a species that is annoying to us—if this is possible, then who’s going to stop the wolves in the western United States from eating cattle on ranches encroaching on their wild territory? At the same time, this could be a heroic achievement and an extreme stress-reliever for humankind.

These things seem like such simple solutions: page 455 of the textbook lists some ways to avoid exposure to hormone disrupters. Yet the article of the man who eliminated plastic from his life yet still got microplastics from his milk which was stored in a mason jar but filtered through a plastic lining proves that even when trying desperately to follow that advice, it is still just about impossible to be rid of them completely.

Figure 2, Microplastics Diagram, https://www.java-biocolloid.com/event/the-threads-of-microplastics-in-food-8721

I recently read the chapter “The Indian Healer” out of The Indian Giver, a book by Jack Weatherford in which he goes through the various ways that Native American peoples have contributed to modern medical technology or found the basis for medications. Native American practices of healing should be can be used to encourage well-being in medical practices, so as to put into action ways that advance views on the interconnectedness of community, the environment, and medicine overall.

I can’t help but think of what it felt to be alive before the industrial period began. I generally do feel better when I have spent some time in fresh air—but any fresh air in this day and age still has toxins in and around it, and no food nor water is completely free of microplastics or

A quick critique I have about all the extra informational videos and articles is that although they are very interesting, they are quite outdated. In other classes I am not allowed to cite articles older than five years old, and all of these are from the mid 2000s. I understand needing to learn the history of how we perceive chemicals in the body, but there was no range for that either. I’m curious as to what research has been put out within the last few years—or months.

CTQ #7 on p. 468 asks to name some risks that I face and how to eliminate or reduce those risks. This causes me to check my privilege once again; even when I come across pollution, I will likely have access to the best healthcare to heal me from whatever risks may concern me. There are risks that I can avoid, but that I still choose; I have chosen to live in Manhattan, with all its pollution, instead of living in a pristine area out west. Yet perhaps my education in New York will allow me to strengthen my ties with academia so that I can preserve those lands out west.

Solid and Hazardous Waste

I also recently read Waste Seige: the Life of Infrastructure in Palestine by Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins, who’s covering the discussions behind environmental, economic, and social issues that in occupied Palestine. Through illegal occupation, Israeli settlers are forcing neo-capitalist practices in the area, leading to more forced consumption, leading to more waste in an area that cannot contain it, and does not have the finances nor the leadership to create more sustainable waste options, such as those shown in the textbook. Palestine has become a literal dumpsite, and the effects of the toxins in the various wastes infiltrating the area is murderous. There is an ironic “Polluter Pays Principle” in use, where the governmental organizations have Palestinians pay higher taxes because technically they are the ones who are polluting—it is their sewer systems overflowing, their land that has the burning dump sites, and their people who are being cheap, non-sustainable products. Ironically, the sewers are flooding because Israeli-settler waste flows directly into them as well; landfills in that region are almost all located in designated Palestinian areas; and the suffocation of the economic process in Palestine keeps their people from having any upward mobility.

Figure 3, Landfill in Palestine, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-israel-s-solution-for-expelled-bedouin-between-garbage-and-junkyard-1.6158225

CTQ #1 p. 600: List three products you use and make them cradle-to-cradle.

The past two years I have begun having an immense feeling of guilt if I purchase something that isn’t made sustainably, or that isn’t able to be recycled or composted. When I need to buy something new (key word: need), I spend a lot of time looking into which company I can trust. I get most of my products from Package Free Shop. But as I keep saying, it goes back to economics. I’m sure anyone who uses their shampoo and conditioner bars and natural face oils would prefer it over whatever drugstore brand they use currently, but that price difference is what makes it so unreachable. To circle back, this is highlighted in Chapter 17’s discussion on HIV: lifesaving drugs are expensive, and simply cost too much to be used widely both in less-developed countries and in impoverished areas of industrialized countries.

Question: With marijuana becoming a much more common recreational and medicinal drug, I would have appreciated an unbiased discussion of it in this chapter, instead of it being left out completely. Does smoking marijuana affect your lungs as badly as smoking tobacco? Are there any studies being done on dab pens, which include THC but don’t include nicotine like traditional vape pens?

WC: 1105

Blog 11: Water (cont.)

Had I been patient with blog 8, I may have realized that there would be a whole other blog dedicated to water, filling in the gaps that I felt were left out in the previous readings—chapter 20 really digs into the inefficiencies of Ohio water treatment. This is that blog post, looking at chapters 13 and 20 in the textbook.[4]

Figure 1. Water Dispersal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_resources

Chapter 13: Water Resources

Water is stored in many ways in the earth’s surface, but only 0.024% of the earth’s water is readily available as a liquid freshwater. Due to climate change, areas that are dry are becoming drier, and areas that are oversaturated are becoming wetter and with saltwater, not freshwater. With that small percentage of water that is usable to humans, about 70% is used to irrigate cropland and raise livestock.

Industrialized nations in particular treat water as if it is free; Miller and Spoolman note that “we have no substitute for this vital form of natural capital” (325). Things that don’t seem to be made of water need large amounts of it in order to be produced, such as blue jeans and lettuce; producing a quarter-pound hamburger takes about 2,400 liters of freshwater. “About 66% of the freshwater used in the world and about 50% of the freshwater used in the United States is lost through evaporations, leaks, and inefficient use” (342). Water really is our most necessary resource, and we absolutely take it for granted.

The United States has lots of freshwater resources, particularly in the eastern states. The book reads, “the United States has more than enough renewable freshwater to meet its needs. However, it is unevenly distributed and much of it is contaminated by agricultural and industrial practices” (329). Freshwater shortages are becoming more common and will continue to expand as climate change increases. Aquifers are losing their water faster than the rain is refilling them—in some parts of the United States, four times as fast—and much of this water being taken out is going to waste. There are other frightening results that come from too much groundwater being pulled out of the earth, such as sinkholes, as pictured in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Sinkhole in Guatemala City, 2007. https://www.businessinsider.com/giant-sinkhole-photos-2014-9

There is an option of tapping deep aquifers that lie beneath the surface of the ocean, but this is dangerous in that they are nonrenewable on a human timeline, little is known about what effects doing this may have, no international treaties govern these areas yet, the costs are unknown, and the water is likely still contaminated with some salt, arsenic, and uranium.

Dams are also not an ideal way to increase water supplies, because even though they help humans in many ways, they can destroy the natural environment in many ways, which in turn brings destruction to humans after a matter of time. Desalination is another option, albeit a costly and perhaps inefficient one, though more research is being done in the search to find better desalination technology.

The 4 R’s of recycling (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle) may be the best way to work with water. Refusing unnecessary amounts of water, and reducing one’s usage of necessary water, are two prime first steps to take when trying to heal water issues. Part of what will make this easier for people to remember to follow is if water is treated by society as a necessity, through higher prices of freshwater (and perhaps a Universal Basic Income – style user pays approach) and redirecting government subsidies to being more efficient. Simple household changes, such as installing low-flow toilets, fixing leaks as soon as they are noticed, and redesigning lawns and outdoor spaces with vegetation that suits the ecoregion can also help limit the amount of freshwater wasted. Vaster options can include incorporating infrastructures in communities that reuse greywater in areas that are able.

Water has no substitute. Sure, you can drink LaCroix or Coke Zero and treat that as your liquid intake for the day, but freshwater is at the base of those items. Without some form of h2o in our systems, humans would not survive for more than a few days.

Chapter 20: Water Pollution

The previous chapter had its focus on freshwater, and how to be efficient with it. This one focuses on what happens if that freshwater gets polluted. In some parts of the world, mercury, pathogens, metals, and other nutrients can kill people drinking the water if it is not treated properly. In some areas, this does not directly affect humans intake, but can affect humans lives in other ways—for example, all of northeast Ohio becoming a laughing stock when the Cuyahoga River caught on fire in the late 1960’s (see Figure 3).

Figure 3, Cuyahoga River fire recolored, June 1969. https://1960sdaysofrage.wordpress.com/2019/03/18/burn-on-big-river-cuyahoga-river-fires/

But in the textbook, Miller and Spoolman start this discussion of as saying that the Cuyahoga River fires were a success story. I rode my bike by the Cuyahoga River just the other day and it was not ablaze—there were fishermen and ducks in it. Still, most of the world’s major riverways are heavily polluted, with “80-90% of the raw sewage in most cities in less developed countries [is] discharged directly into waterways” (548). Yet there is hope that these rivers can heal, though it will take a tremendous amount of strength from the humans who have caused this incredible pollution in the first place.

Balance is another important factor into keeping water clean. No water, not even the “clean” water humans drink, is pure h20—that would kill us. We need small traces of other elements in it too. Too many nutrients, though, can lead to eutrophication, which is when a shallow body of water has too many nutrients, causing dense growths of organisms which decompose and suffocate the body of water, giving it a greenish-teal color.

Question: Why are some mountain lakes so brightly colored? Does it have to do with eutrophication, even if they are pristine?

WC: 1112

Blog 12: Future, No Future

Figure 1: Protestors rally against pipelines being put into Wet’suwet’en land in Canada

First off, I would like to disagree with Justin Trudeau’s statement made at the Houston Energy Conference in 2017 where he says that “No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground and just leave them there.” I would like to believe that I, and many people with unselfish morals dedicating their lives to environmental justice, would let those oil barrels STAY IN THE GROUND.

I was surprised that Trudeau was the one to say it, as when I was younger, I thought he could do no evil; I was quite a little liberal. But now I see his desire for economic greed showing through his attempted democracy, just as I thought the Paris Climate Agreement was exactly what the world needed, and now see that there’s a lot of flimsy rhetoric in there. But we’ll get to that in a minute. First, the reading:

Chapter eleven of Simon Lewis and Mark Maslin’s The Human Planet: How We Created the Anthropocenetells how there are three possible future for the world: continued consumer capitalist development, collapse, or a new mode of living. [5]

Continue

Figure 2: Consumerism, http://links.org.au/node/1972

I think it’s interesting that they even gave continued consumer capitalist development a chance—I feel as though they could have just grouped that with collapse. I recognize that not many people (ie. My family who I am quarantined with) think the way I do, so I am glad they gave the explanation. Business as usual cannot continue. We are heading for collapse.

I suppose in some kind of sense, you could say that it can continue. But that’s because what’s continuing isn’t really capitalism in the first place. The small changes are already being had. For example, our right-wing president is dishing out monetary stimulus checks to bolster the economy, which smells a lot like socialism to me (delicious).

Lewis and Maslin explain our current economic system as being driven by positive feedback loops which end in fundamental changes. The factors which underlid all human societies are changing faster and faster as time moves onwards—it is true exponential growth. It is consumers acting as though we have infinite resources even while living on a finite planet. It is contradictory. But even in it’s core, our current system is one of change.

Perhaps the change requires all cars to be electric, but the increase in demand for electric cars requires an increase in demand for the lithium mined in Bolivia. Maybe there is no realistic, futuristic plan to put in place that will efficiently and sustainably save the world. Maybe I just need to read up more on this. Lewis and Maslin do offer some good suggestions, though, including Universal Basic Income and Half-Earth.

A New Way of Life?

Figure 3: Half-Earth website screenshot, https://www.half-earthproject.org

Universal Basic Income (UBI) and the Half-Planet theory are the two most clearly stated pathways for success of our planet that we have studied thus far.

UBI: I know a lot of professors don’t like to talk about their politics, but I was trying to figure out where yours lie as someone who knows so much about the interweaving’s of politics and the environment. A few months ago you dropped that you were a big proponent of UBI, and I thought, “aha! so Andrew Yang is the one who will save the environment!” But my impression of Yang’s UBI felt more focused on Artificial intelligence—I really just didn’t know a lot about UBI in general. (side note: I am REALLY excited for it to be summer so I can stop having deadlines and start just immersing myself in the random topics I want to learn more about. This course gave me a lotta suggestions.) After reading about it in this chapter, I think that UBI is really promising. Lewis and Maslin state that, “[UBI] breaks the link between work and consumption; we could work less and consume less and still meet our needs…those working in the fossil fuel industry would have the security of income to retrain” (406). This sounds incredibly promising, but there are still questions involving culture (some people feel more “manly” working in a coal mine) and how this would play out with refugees and non-citizens residing in the United States, etc. Still, I think a solid attempt at integrating this into our economy would help the world in lots of ways.

Half Earth: I am very interested in the idea of giving half the earth to other species, and perhaps indigenous groups as well. Again, I look at the suburbs and think of how seemingly easy it would be to develop rewilding techniques. All it would take is one popular suburban mom changing her front lawn from monoculture bluegrass to being a large garden—or whatever a local environmental rewilding consultant would suggest—and the rest of the neighborhood would follow suit. Half-Earth may seem like an enormous task to take on, but I genuinely have faith that it is possible.

Collapse

Figure 4: Quarantine Meme That My Mom Thought Was Real, https://www.boredpanda.com/nature-healing-quarantine-jokes/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

As an environmental studies and anthropology double-major, people would ask me where those two overlap. I even felt that I was choosing two very different subjects because I was so scatter brained—I’d study a little about the environment, a little about humans, and figure out what I was going to do with that somewhere along the way. I let myself feel belittled for choosing two of the “easiest” subjects—no intense economics, no organic chemistry to work through. Just a lot of thinking too much about things which some people may consider completely irrelevant, a task which I am very good at. So it made me feel a lot better when, I believe it was you Dr. Kindervater, who said: “These two scientists think there is time for economic and political changes to save human kind. Culturally, though, do we believe it?”

For a long time I really thought that collapse was the only path our planet was headed towards—that Jane Goodall was bullshitting us all with her Reasons For Hope, and that if Bernie Sanders didn’t become president and begin balancing out the wealth gap and making changes to environmental legislation, then we might as well all be dead now and let whatever remaining species reclaim the earth before we make them go extinct too. I guess, if you’re someone who prefers life over death, (and I suppose we are all those types of people as even if we want to kill ourselves, we haven’t done it yet!) the we might as well have hope for the future, and continue working towards the new path.

“With great power comes great responsibility” is a quote from Uncle Ben in the Spiderman series, which Peter Parker/Spiderman keeps close to his heart as he begins to realize his powers, and is constantly questioned with the choice to use them selfishly or for the greater good. With increased technology, humankind collectively has the power to transform the earth or destroy it. I hope that soon we recognize what is at stake with our planet, and learn how to efficiently reduce the destruction being caused. It might not bring dolphins into the heat ponds of Washington D.C., but it would certainly allow for a lot of other miracles to happen.

Question: My concern with UBI is, how can you make sure that people aren’t spending it irresponsibly? Would it be better to just raise the minimum wage, or expand the amount available for people to get food stamps and free healthcare? Would UBI allow people to get their basic needs met, or would it provide for spending money on sustainable/fair trade products?

WC: 1251

[1] Vidal, John. “UN Environment Program: 200 Species Go Extinct Every Day, Unlike Anything Since Dinosaurs Disappeared 65 Million Years Ago,” Huffpost May 2011. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/un-environment-programme-_n_684562

[2] Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott E. Spoolman. Living in the Environment. Chapter 23: Economics, Environment, and Sustainability. 19th ed. Boston, MA: Engage Learning, 2020.

[3] https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26ybub

[4] Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. Living in the Environment . 19th ed. S.l.: Cengage Learning, 2018.

[5] Lewis, Simon L., and Mark A. Maslin. “Chapter 11: Can Homo Dominates Become Wise?” The Human Planet: How We Created the Anthropocene, Yale University Press, pp. 367–416.

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shouucore · 6 years ago

Text

Safer Cycling on the Streets

Cycling is simple, isn't it? Anyone can do it. So why write this article?

Because it is not-so-easy to cycle S A F E L Y. Many a times accidents ( which SHOULD NOT have happened) do occur. Spend a little time to read this article and you will become a safer cyclist.

Like driving, cycling safely requires awareness, concentration, quick reflexes and a good set of safe traveling habits. In all my years of cycling, I have been quite fortunate to be accident-free. I would like to share some of my cycling habits and experience which so that you too can ride safely on our roads.

Disclaimer: Whilst these safe riding skills works for the author, please consider them carefully before use. Due to numerous variables involved on the road, not all situations can be possibly covered. The author will hold no responsibility for any accidents or injuries as a result of applying information contained within this article. You are advised to consider carefully before applying these techniques at your own risk.

WHAT IS SAFE CYCLING?

Safe cycling brings you home safely. It reduces the risk of road traffic accidents to an absolute minimum. A cyclist who rides safely will not force other road users to take late evasive actions which may endanger lives.

This document is divided into 4 sections. Please click on the underlined titles below to skip to the section you are interested in.

SAFETY EQUIPMENT:

Bicycle helmets

The foam inside the helmet absorbs the impact of a fall on your head. It compresses and breaks to prevent your brain juice from spilling all over the road. Always wear one.

Bicycle mirrors.

Some attach to the edge of your handlebar. I find it difficult to focus into the small mirror (which shakes with the vibration from the front wheel) and it takes my attention away from what's happening in front of me.

Rear reflector and rear light.

Other road users seem to pass me with more side clearance when my rear lights are on at night. Perhaps it tells them that I am a valid road user and reminds them to take cyclists seriously.

Front light.

At night, never ride beyond the nearer of your braking distance or your bicycle's lamp range, especially on dark downhill streets. Your lights will also help attract the attention of drivers along merging lanes.

Clothing.

There is a reason why cycling jerseys are always colorful and , at times, "loud". It helps to improve the visibility of the rider on the road. At least wear light coloured clothing so that you can been easily seen. I always get worried for those Indian cyclists along Zhu Jiao Centre who wear dark clothes and ride without any lights/reflectors. They are probably just more visible than the shadows around.

PRE-RIDE CHECK

Ensure your equipment is in safe working condition before each ride. This is my quick "1-2-3" routine that I practice before each and every time I return to my bike. It should take less than 5 seconds and allows me to have much more peace of mind during my ride.

Quick release parts - Check these easily removable fixtures if you have them. Do not fall victim to children with "itchy fingers", foiled thieves or saboteurs. It is too late when your front wheel disengages itself from you fork when you are flying over a hump.

Brakes - Always test the strength of the brakes (esp front) before you ride off. It allows you to have an idea how far your minimum effective braking distance (see the section on emergency stopping on how to establish it) will be.

Bike bounce - Hold your bike by the handle and seat, lift it by about an inch and let it drop on its wheels. Apart from some chainslap, you shouldnt really hear any other sounds. Otherwise, check for loose parts.

GOOD CYCLING HABITS

By reading the techniques below, there seems to be alot to do while cycling. Dont worry about it. These skills will slowly be internalised and before you know it, you're already doing it.

ATTITUDE'They are always "right"'

Cyclist are probably the most vulnerable group of road users. We stand to lose the most in an accident. Whether it was due to our fault or due to other's mistakes does not matter. Hence, it is not always wise to enforce your "right of way".

'They are all out to get you'

Sounds schizophrenic and probably not fun to cycle with. But it is useful for beginner cyclists until they have enough road cycling experience under their belt.

'Thank goodness i'm okay'.

Ask any regular road cyclist and i'm sure that they'll have some "close shave" incidents to share. Such situations will happpen and if it is due to a driver's poor road behaviour, it is quite understandable for you to get angry or to vent your indignance on the driver. Dont do that. The driver will have realised his mistake if it was a "close shave". Showing your anger probably will make the driver loathe cyclists more. More importantly , it'll unsettle your emotions and for the next few miles, and the incident will probably dwell in your mind. Just be thankful that you were skillful/smart enough to avoid an accident, learn from it and let it go. Then, focus on the immediate road needs. As a cyclist, you dont have the luxury to be distracted on the road.

GENERAL TIPS

Time allowance.

If you have a dateline to meet, estimate how much time you need your destination on your regular cruising speed and cut yourself extra 20% slack time. Rushing increases the chance of mistakes, and mistakes can have disastrous consequences on the cyclist. Giving yourself enough slack will also allow you to enjoy the ride more.

Bike control.

On Singapore roads, the double yellow lines are very useful as a guide. I try to track between the yellow lines unless the drainage holes extend into that region. Practice until you can hold your "line" +/- 1/2 foot and these lines will remind you not stray too far out into the road.

Ride with company.

Not only will you have someone to chat with, you can practice drafting and you can look after each other. If you must ride alone, always keep a note on you with the details of a contact person to reach in the event of an emergency.

Use hand signals.

Do not sway direction suddenly without notice. Remember to signal in advance, check if you have enough space before changing direction. By doing so, other road users are to be able to anticipate your path and pass you safely.

Look to the rear.

This is essential before changing direction, passing junctions/merging lanes/bus bays. Just a glance is needed to establish the traffic situation behind you. Are you able to look over your shoulder and yet keep your bicycle moving straight ahead? If not, here's how you do it - relax your muscles from your shoulder up, touch the tip of your chin to your clavicle bone and glance back. No other parts of your body should move since that might affect your stability. When you are familiar with the motion, practice this on your bike in a safe open area before progressing onto the road.

Establish eye contact

Have you ever felt someone looking at you and turn to actually find someone doing so? I cant explain that sixth feeling but it is a very useful tool for cyclists. Do not just consider cars as moving metal boxes. Look into the driver's eyes to establish his intention. The vehicle's sideview or rearview mirrors can help do this. Conversely, with practice, you can project your intention to drivers through your eyes. But remember to check that the road conditions are clear before doing so.

Look

at the side

of obstacles.

I've heard some fallen cyclists say, "I SAW the obstacle coming, but couldnt react on time." *SPLAT*. Your bike will go where you intend it to. If you look AT the obstacle, you WILL go over it. When you are going fast on your bike, dont concentrate ON an obstacle when you spot it. Instead, look at the SIDE the obstacle and your subconscious mind will help you steer around it. Avoiding obstacles is that simple.

Emergency stopping

How far do you need to stop your bike in an emergency? If you know this, you will be able to estimate how fast you can/should travel. The minimum effective braking distance is a function of 1. your reaction time 2. effectiveness of your bikes braking parts 3. your braking technique 4. road conditions and gradient. When you grab a fistful of your brakes, the pads tend to lock both wheels. Sometimes, the resultant force throws you over the handlebars and cause you to end in an ugly "face-plant". With the correct braking technique, you will not "endo" unnecessarily. As you brake, lift you rear from the seat, shift your weight diagonally downwards to the rear while straigtening your arms. In your final crouch position, your chest should be inches above the seat and your rear just inches above the rear wheel. By shifting your weight in this manner, you are able to counteract the resultant "up and forwards" force that trys to yank you over the handlebars. You will probably wear some rubber off your wheels from the skidding but you will stop very quickly without "endo"ing. Practice this well, it'll help to save your life.

Reading the road

You need to understand what is happening all around you when you cycle. If you are already a driver, you will know how to anticipate other cars paths. Otherwise, some experience on the road will help. Also, learn how to distinguish road hazards eg. large bumps, cracks on the road and potholes. What is on the surface of the road? Oil? Sand? Moss? What is the effect of it on your braking distance? Do not just use your eyes. With experience, you can HEAR heavy vehicles approaching, FEEL the draft of a vehicle beginning to overtake you and even SENSE a driver behind looking at you.

Road shoulders

On a road without kerbs, you may sometimes encounter a 1 to 2 inches vertical drop between tarmac road and the soil. If your front wheel goes off the road and down onto the soil, do not attempt to get back onto the tarmac immediately. Unless you are supremely skillful, the forces acting on the bike will cause a front wheel skid-fall. I have witness at least 2 such incidents where cyclists in front of me have lost some skin to the tarmac this way. Where possible, let the rear wheel drop onto the soil before attempting to get back onto the tarmac. I would recommend a path of travel back up of no more than 45 degrees to perpedicular of the tarmac. Approach at any greater angle and the reaction force from the front wheel hitting the vertical edge may yank your front wheel front beneath you.

ON THE ROADCross traffic junctions - safety check

We all know that we have to look before we proceed. But which parts of the cross traffic junction do we have to be careful of?

Blind spot

Sometimes a large vehicle will pass you while you are within the junction box. This is a dangerous time as vehicles waiting on path 3(see picture above) may not see you as you are hidden behind the large vehicle. If the road is clear behind you, they may decide to begin their turn only to see you too late. Slow down until you can ensure that path 3 is clear before proceeding.

Positioning at red lights

Position your bike several feet ahead of the leading car (be careful not to go into the junction box!) so that the driver behind you can see you and give you ample space when moving off. By positioning you bike there, you will not have to jostle for space once the green light appears.

Buses and long vehicles

When being overtaken by long vehicles, slow down so that they can pass you as quickly as possible. In so doing, you reduce your risk of being 'squeezed out' onto the kerb.

Parked vehicles

Be careful of these immobile dangers. Before passing one, do note if it is empty. If it is not, try to give at least 4 feet side clearance. There are inconsiderate drivers who do not check their rear before opening their doors abruptly. Also, look at the driver to see if he is about to turn out into the road. Occassionally, pedestrains may suddenly appear from in between parked cars so do control you speed before these points.

Wet weather

Best not to cycle in it. If you must cycle, beware of the smooth freshly painted road signs on the tarmac and metal grills. You will not be able to distinguish the depth of puddles so try to avoid them. If you are cycling on smooth cement after the rain, note areas with moss growing which are very slippery. Another dangerous period is when it just begins to drizzle. People tend to rush to escape the rain. Be especially alert - dont be overly preoccupied with rushing for shelter. Other drivers are rushing too!

Night riding

In dark places, always ride within the nearer of your bike light's range, your minimum effective braking distance, or as dictated by road conditions. In essence, do not go too fast at dark places.

Some of the notes above may not apply to the country that you are residing in. It depends quite alot on your local traffic condition. Just adapt as necessary.

Here is an interesting anecdote: When I was cycling in Guangzhou (China), there were so many bicycles weaving in between the chaotic traffic than I was throughly confused. I was petrified at traffic junctions. There did not seem to be any system at all. It was only until a local cyclist enlightened me: "Just worry about your front. The people behind will take care of themselves." Subsequently, it so much easier to bike around there. Its just a different cycling paradigm there.

#bikelife #cycling #commute

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symbianosgames · 8 years ago

Link

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

The following article was made possible after a long year of development, where I was able to gather all my experience from previous works.

Having worked on different roles ranging from junior to senior programmer, I was able to make it to the lead position on Jake & Tess Finding Monsters Adventure Mobile version.

Now it's time to share that knowledge.

[embedded content]

Being a Lead Programmer is often associated with pure critical thinking and decision-making, but too often the human part of the occupation is neglected. We often find leaders that know exactly what to do code wise, but not exactly what to do with the people working around them.

This article will touch mainly two aspects of the lead programmer:

Interacting with the engineers, focusing on good mentoring, conflict resolution and keeping the drive to work as high as possible;

Interaction with other areas and upper management;

First off, all human being are emotional. No matter how well centered someone is, emotions drive some of the decision making, the interactions done and the productivity.

If that wasn’t enough, the imposter syndrome is a well-documented problem that happens with people that work with code in a team. Their work/thinking process/solutions are all extremely exposed to their peers and are constantly reviewed. This makes them feel less confident as a programmer compared to their fellow coworkers.

As a leader, the goal is to achieve a stable product, with highly optimized and well-organized code delivered on time.

All of that achieved in a radical, mutable environment that is the game development industry where features may change as well as schedules and shipping dates.

Leading people, not code.

Lead programmer might be the title of the job, but it is not a program which is being led. It is the people producing it. A couple of things might get unnoticed:

Different levels of seniority and experience are working on the same code base;

Different style of coding coexists;

Different areas interfere directly on what codes will do next;

Frustration is a constant villain that undermines the drive to code;

Every project that has more than 3 coders will face radically different skill levels with different style people working together trying to have a single coherent code base.

Keep in mind that they will most likely be suffering from the imposter syndrome, on edge of how well they are doing compared to other team members.

Keeping the drive to code up and keeping people motivated is a job that has to be constantly maintained during the entire length of the project at the same time that code quality, stability and optimization must be demanded from every team member, which will involve criticism.

Criticizing a coder’s work might be the most delicate part of leading programmers. The success on delivering that criticism is the difference between transforming an average coder into a great one, or throwing him into an unproductive pit where he will either leave the company or be fired.

Since programmers already have the tendency of comparing their work to their colleagues, delivering a criticism using code comparison might be one of the worst mistakes a Leader can do.

It must be crystal clear that every effort done by that person is appreciated, and that he will not be punished by the mistakes done in his code (never present them as mistakes!).Instead communicate what is expected from him is better results; not because the company demands it, but because the team believes he is capable of that.

Even though good results are indeed expected from a person doing a job, delivering that on a negative tone will put the entire person’s focus on how bad his situation is rather than in which way he can improve his performance and skills.

As a leader, you want to build a comfortable and safe environment for a person to grow, shielding that person from the pressure and the possibility of being fired if improvement is not achieved.

This must not be mistaken by “going soft” on someone.

This safe environment has to be set from day one in a project. Mentoring for better results must be a part of the daily activities of a Lead Programmer.

Getting to know your team

Making a profile of each programmer on what their strengths and weakness are, what is their style, and calling upon bad behaviors as soon as one is detected is essential.

Planning what areas each team member is most likely to fall short makes it easier for both mentor & mentee to have better programming habits and keeping a stable and coherent code base along the way.

Breaking the news

A Leader cannot leave as last resort measure to call upon bad habits and demand change. Doing so, will most likely lead to a series of bashes upon the code produced by that individual.

He will enter a defensive state of fear and shut down. What is most likely to happen is slower production covered with fear of doing new mistakes, often increasing the mistakes done by that programmer. It will also become harder to detect because he will tend to hide his work from other members or play the guilt game.

Instead, it must be done as soon as a bad habit is noticed and never delivered as “hey, you did it wrong”. It must be in a form of suggestions, explaining why and how it is better to do it in another way.

Sitting beside that person and letting him figure out a better way to do the same task will get him used to working better. Then always acknowledge his effort and congratulate him on the new solution he found.

When a problem is happening across the team because bad habits existed before and a new leader arrives, making a “tech talk” is the way to go. It should have a tone of a brown bag instead of a calling out on everyone.

Why so much babysitting?

One might think that people should be mature enough to figure this all out on their own, after all, they are technical people, critical thinkers and know how a good code should look like. However, humans are creature of habits. One can have a destructive behavior and not realize it.

Changing habits is hard. Being confronted by it triggers our self-defenses and shuts us down towards change.

A leader must understand this aspect of human nature and have a good skill set on bringing up conflict without triggering defenses.

Being blunt and sincerity might work for a particular individual, but it is most likely to drive a grudge between the leader and the developers rather than bringing people close together thus opening everyone up for better productivity.

A leader must not want to promote himself or dictate the “right way to do it”. Creating a game is not like hammering a nail. If people are not invested, driven and excited about making that game, they will not come up with creative solutions. Strive to improve and create an eager team hungry for challenge.

Dev Team vs Upper Management

Game Development is delicate. Not only the team has to bring life to the game itself, but they must also create tools for other projects, guaranteeing stability and delivery on time.

Bigger and more mature studios might have teams dedicated to each segment of development, but smaller ones must share resources.

Moving programmers between projects is not like moving construct workers. It takes time to settle in a new project and get back to producing at 100%.

One major problem that developers face is the struggle for code quality when upper management wants to interfere on development directly. That creates turbulence, possibility of rework, new set of features and a lot of frustration to developers.

The lead programmer must have a voice against reckless changes. He must shield the team developers from these turbulences, letting through only the changes that must happen and will be as close as possible to final decisions.

This will involve strong conflicts and fear of losing the job when “no” starts to be said a lot.

The key here is reasonability.

The lead is the responsible for the project’s technical decisions. If something seems unreasonable, he cannot give in.

If the leader fails to do that, work will be done twice: one for the unreasonable change and another to correct that.

Time will be lost in the process and frustration will be generated among developers.

On top of that, developers will start to doubt the decisions done by the lead, since allowing nonsense to reach them will be seen as a decision made by him (it was indeed). Trust might be hurt resulting in future mentoring and requests being received with less enthusiasm by the team members.

Dev Team vs Other Areas

Every area wants something from code. Feature requests will always be endless. It all depends on how much the dev team can deliver.

A change often happens on game features along the development process. They evolve and become different things.

The code base will suffer as obsolete code starts to pile up.

In order to counter that, upkeep must be done whenever old systems have to go through too much change to include a new feature, meaning it must be reworked.

This will be met with high resistance by production, as they will not have factored in that extra time.

It is again the leader’s job to ensure that the next sprint effort will be placed into reworking that code.

This practice has more than one benefit.

The obviously one benefit is the stability. The code becomes more predictable, detached and reliable.

Additionally, programmers involved on those tasks will feel more comfortable about that segment of the code and they will work with less tension on new features involving that. The decision of solidifying code indicates that the project is now more mature; programming involving that part of the code will be easier and more flexible.

Be aware that when a leader recently joined a team that did not have that mindset, resistance will be felt from all areas.

Once the first project is done, the code stability and the ease of bug fix/polish will make it very clear that it has all been worth it, especially if any team members have previously worked on chaotic projects that crash all the time near the dead line. This might sound crazy for readers from bigger studios, but mobile studios that are only now starting to see bigger headcounts face this all the time.

Conclusion

Leading a team of programmers might at first seem like a very tech heavy position, but it might as well be even heavier on the human resources interaction.

It is essential that the leader has a strong technical background, but too often leaders with low social skills fill the position. When this happens he ends up doing most of the programming because he is unable to mentor people into producing better. That segregation further distance him from the team, creating almost a struggle between regular programmers and “the boss” that bashes them because of their bad code and expects them to get better under the pressure of being fired if they don’t follow the same standards of the best programmers.

Not only that, the leader must be mature enough to shield the dev team from outside storms, allowing a stable and fertile environment to exist in which every programmer can achieve better results.

#IFTTT #Blogger

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symbianosgames · 8 years ago

Link

The following article was made possible after a long year of development, where I was able to gather all my experience from previous works.

Having worked on different roles ranging from junior to senior programmer, I was able to make it to the lead position on Jake & Tess Finding Monsters Adventure Mobile version.

Now it's time to share that knowledge.

[embedded content]

This article will touch mainly two aspects of the lead programmer:

Interacting with the engineers, focusing on good mentoring, conflict resolution and keeping the drive to work as high as possible;

Interaction with other areas and upper management;

First off, all human being are emotional. No matter how well centered someone is, emotions drive some of the decision making, the interactions done and the productivity.

As a leader, the goal is to achieve a stable product, with highly optimized and well-organized code delivered on time.

All of that achieved in a radical, mutable environment that is the game development industry where features may change as well as schedules and shipping dates.

Leading people, not code.

Lead programmer might be the title of the job, but it is not a program which is being led. It is the people producing it. A couple of things might get unnoticed:

Different levels of seniority and experience are working on the same code base;

Different style of coding coexists;

Different areas interfere directly on what codes will do next;

Frustration is a constant villain that undermines the drive to code;

Every project that has more than 3 coders will face radically different skill levels with different style people working together trying to have a single coherent code base.

Keep in mind that they will most likely be suffering from the imposter syndrome, on edge of how well they are doing compared to other team members.

Since programmers already have the tendency of comparing their work to their colleagues, delivering a criticism using code comparison might be one of the worst mistakes a Leader can do.

As a leader, you want to build a comfortable and safe environment for a person to grow, shielding that person from the pressure and the possibility of being fired if improvement is not achieved.

This must not be mistaken by “going soft” on someone.

This safe environment has to be set from day one in a project. Mentoring for better results must be a part of the daily activities of a Lead Programmer.

Getting to know your team

Making a profile of each programmer on what their strengths and weakness are, what is their style, and calling upon bad behaviors as soon as one is detected is essential.

Planning what areas each team member is most likely to fall short makes it easier for both mentor & mentee to have better programming habits and keeping a stable and coherent code base along the way.

Breaking the news

A Leader cannot leave as last resort measure to call upon bad habits and demand change. Doing so, will most likely lead to a series of bashes upon the code produced by that individual.

Why so much babysitting?

Changing habits is hard. Being confronted by it triggers our self-defenses and shuts us down towards change.

A leader must understand this aspect of human nature and have a good skill set on bringing up conflict without triggering defenses.

Dev Team vs Upper Management

Game Development is delicate. Not only the team has to bring life to the game itself, but they must also create tools for other projects, guaranteeing stability and delivery on time.

Bigger and more mature studios might have teams dedicated to each segment of development, but smaller ones must share resources.

Moving programmers between projects is not like moving construct workers. It takes time to settle in a new project and get back to producing at 100%.

This will involve strong conflicts and fear of losing the job when “no” starts to be said a lot.

The key here is reasonability.

The lead is the responsible for the project’s technical decisions. If something seems unreasonable, he cannot give in.

If the leader fails to do that, work will be done twice: one for the unreasonable change and another to correct that.

Time will be lost in the process and frustration will be generated among developers.

Dev Team vs Other Areas

Every area wants something from code. Feature requests will always be endless. It all depends on how much the dev team can deliver.

A change often happens on game features along the development process. They evolve and become different things.

The code base will suffer as obsolete code starts to pile up.

In order to counter that, upkeep must be done whenever old systems have to go through too much change to include a new feature, meaning it must be reworked.

This will be met with high resistance by production, as they will not have factored in that extra time.

It is again the leader’s job to ensure that the next sprint effort will be placed into reworking that code.

This practice has more than one benefit.

The obviously one benefit is the stability. The code becomes more predictable, detached and reliable.

Be aware that when a leader recently joined a team that did not have that mindset, resistance will be felt from all areas.

Conclusion

Leading a team of programmers might at first seem like a very tech heavy position, but it might as well be even heavier on the human resources interaction.

Not only that, the leader must be mature enough to shield the dev team from outside storms, allowing a stable and fertile environment to exist in which every programmer can achieve better results.

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes