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dapper-ships-herself · 5 years ago

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Should you fight my f/os?

Tagged by @megane-shipping @rose-wine-selfships @firebird-inkheart

I have many f/os, so this isn't all of them but I still did a fair number of 'em.

Also the rating system confused me but I did my best.

Dazai: He looks pretty scrawny, and while he is a pretty good fighter fighter through skill he isn't the physically strongest opponent, but you still wouldn't be able to beat him. He'd come up with some sort of plan where you'd probably think you'd won but then you turn around and oop no Dazai won. How does that work? Who fucking knows.

No fighting Dazai. 2/10

Erza Scarlet: She will kick your ass with the power of friendship and her eighteen thousand swords. Are you kidding me? She's queen of the fairies, no way. Beating her up only inspires her to win for the sake of her guild.

No fighting Erza. 1/10

Shinobu Kocho: She will poison you with a smile on her face. Unless your name is Douma, I would not recommend (ouch).

No fighting Shinobu. 4/10

Chuuya Nakahara: if you're looking to get crushed by a manlet in a fancy hat, then go for it. He's quite possibly one of the strongest ability users out there, but tell him Dazai called him a nerd or whatever and he'll fly into a rage that you can either use to your advantage or will result in you being crushed faster.

No fighting Chu-tan. 1/10

Yosano Akiko: Holy shit what? You're going to fight her? She will hack you to pieces, put you back together, and then repeat, repeat, repeat until she has to go and catch a sale.

No fighting Yosano. 4/10

Howard Phillips Lovecraft: You have a chance so long as he continues to give into his tiredness, he may simply lay there while you beat the shit out of him. Make sure you keep him from going all eldritch monstrocity on your ass though.

Not advised to fight Lovecraft. 3/10

Edgar Allen Poe: He's baby, why would you fight him? I know his best friend is a raccoon and he looks like he hadn't been outside since he was a baby, but what would you accomplish by fighting him?

To remain a decent person no fighting Poe. 5/10

Mark Twain: He's allergic to wearing shirts properly and thinks he's all buff and stuff, but you can punch him in the eye and knock him the fuck out. His little doll friends ain't gonna do shit. So long as you get too close for him to snipe you, you've got this.

Fight Mark. 7/10

Margaret Mitchell: I would really rather you not, she's napping. If you did, though, be ready to get caught in your own personal tornado while she rants about restoring her families honor. Unless your name is Akutagawa, be careful.

Not advised to fight Margaret. 5/10

Higuchi Ichiyo: She's certainly not the most formidable opponent, but she would gladly cut a thousand bitches for the sake of getting senpai to notice her.

You could fight Higuchi but it's not advised. 6/10

Gin Akutagawa: You wouldn't even hear her coming. The thought of fighting her would be brand new and then whoops, you've got a knife to the throat. She's not a leader of the black lizards for no reason.

Not advised to fight Gin. 4/10

Beelzebub: There is a chance that he would literally eat you, but for the most part while he is a big, beefy demon, he's also a teddy bear; he'd probably let you punch him over and over with a straight face. Stay away from his food and you should be fine.

Maybe fight Beelzebub. 6/10

Mammon: On one hand, he is the second most powerful of his brothers, he could easily destroy you. On the other hand, boy gets beat up verbally and physically by his brothers every damn day and has a mountain of insecurities, poke at those and you could probably win. Or make him even more mad. It's a gamble with the avatar of greed, my guy.

Maybe fight Mammon but not advised. 5/10

Jae-ha: He's a quick fellow, and his aim with those daggers is pretty spot on, it'd be very difficult and your best chance would be to try and ground him so he can't use his dragon leg. Although, he's a pervert and would probably like getting beat up, so you could win simply by that

Not advised to fight Jae-ha unless he's feeling especially nasty: 5/10

Chain Sumeragi: She can literally make herself completely undetectable and then stick her hand through you to play with your insides, unless you can get past that somehow, you're fucked.

No fighting Chain. 3/10

Steven Alan Starphase: He will Esmeralda Blood Freeze you before you can even blink and the shatter you into ice cubes for his drink. He ain't afraid to get his hands dirty.

No fighting Steven. 3/10

The Happy Huntresses: They're an experienced team of top of their class huntresses; four badasses trained not only to fight people but also giant evil monsters.

No fighting the happy huntresses. 4.5/10

Meis and Gueira: I mean they look decently tough with those bikes and the armor and the fire, but everytime we see them in a fight they get their asses handed to them in like two seconds. Best to be equiped with a fire extinguisher or like some ice cubes to chuck at 'em.

Maybe fight them. 6/10

Aizawa Shouta: Your best bet is to catch him in the middle of a nap, but please be so careful not to wake him up, he's most likely be so cranky that he'd forget he's a hero and snap your neck.

Not advised to fight Aizawa. 5/10

Idia Shroud: His scrawny ass barely ever leaves his room, he hasn't lifted anything heavier than his phone ever, he's a flaming stick basically.

You could fight Idia. 7/10

Sesshomaru: He has very little mercy to spare and has killed a great deal of people and demons.

No fighting Sesshomaru. 2/10

Annie January: She is capable of blinding and throwing you across the room with a beam of light from her hands and can lift like thirty two times her bodyweight. Unless you also have superpowers, would not recommend.

Not advised to fight Annie. 5/10

Byleth: She's a skilled fighter on her own, but she also has an army of feral students ready to beat the shit out of anyone who messes with their proffessor.

No fighting Byleth. 4/10

Shatina: Her greatest joy is beating people up and watching them bleed, she steps on and torments even her closest allies on a near daily basis. She would crush you and the go right back to drinking.

No fighting Shatina. 4/10

Maeve: I'm actually not sure what kind of fighting ability she has, but why would you want to hurt a goddess?

No fighting Maeve. 5/10

Ban: He's a member of one of the strongest groups of fighters in the land, and he's able to almost immediately regenerate after any and all damage. Also, he's like 10 feet tall, what are you going to do? Chew on his ankles until they snap off? They grow right back.

No fighting Ban. 4/10

Joxter: Fucking feral cat man, too lazy to fight back. Kick his ass.

Fight Joxter. 8/10

Shigure Sohma: Please fight Shigure, please. I will put my bet on you and watch.

Please fight Shigure. 9/10

Vodka: She's used to fighting giant fallen angels, she'd have no trouble kicking your ass and looking good while doing it. Also, she could simply send her hawk Andre to peck out your eyes before she even has to do any work.

Not advised to fight Vodka. 5.5/10

Jordan 'JD' Davies: They're the Jersey Devil. Literally, the Jersey Devil. They'd burn you to a crisp with their fire powers. But, your chances of victory aren't zero if you could find a way to deal with that. They're strong, but you could find a way with a fist fight. Fuck knows they deserve to be fought.

You probably shouldn't but fight JD anyways. 7/10

Zoro: You're going to fight a guy who wields three swords? One of which he sticks in his mouth? He's clearly crazy. Also I'm pretty sure he cuts a mountain in half at some point or something like that? So there's that to take into consideration. You're best bet would be to also be amazing with swords.

No fighting Zoro. 3/10

Nami: She's not the most powerful out of all of all of her crew, but if you beat her you will leave afterwards and notice that your wallet and all your valuables that you had on you are missing and she's already sailing away.

You could fight Nami but you will be poor afterwards. 7/10

Mollymauk Tealeaf: Hasn't he been through enough?

No fighting Molly please. 5/10

Zora: She will turn you into a literal baby, how do you plan on beating her up as an infant with your chubby lil baby hands?

No fighting Zora: 4/10

And I wanted to include some familial too

Yukichi Fukuzawa: Have you seen him fight with a sword? You won't even see him draw it.

No fighting Fukuzawa. 2/10

Ogai Mori: He will trick you into thinking he's merely a simple, friendly neighborhood physician, and then the moment your back is turned there will be a scalpel buried deep in it. Also, he has a demon baby at his command.

No fighting Ogai. 2/10

Kouyou Ozaki: You might think you're sneaking up on her, but her Golden Demon will cut you down without her even needing to look away from admiring the flowers and sipping her tea.

No fighting Kouyou. 2/10

Oda Sakunosuke: HASN'T HE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH.

No fighting Oda PLEASE. 4/10

Ranpo Edogawa: While he has eaten nothing but processed sugar since the day he was born, he will eviscerate you with his words and leave you too mentally beaten to lift a finger. Stuff your ears with some cotton and kick his scrawny ass. The rest of the detective agency will come after you, though.

Not advised but go ahead and fight Ranpo. 5/10

Yumeno Kyusaku: So much as look at this child wrong, much less lay a finger on them, and I will be the one fighting you.

NO FIGHTING YUMENO. 0/10

Lio Fotia: I know he looks like a dandy who was abandoned and raised by a biker gang, but he is also the strongest known burnish. The only thing saving you is his code against killing.

Not advised to fight Lio. 4/10

Laxus Dreyar: He's an asshole, and I completely understand wanting to fight him, but he is jacked as shit with the power of lightning at his finger tips.

It's not smart but I would like to watch you do it anyways. 2/10

Noctis Lucis Caelum: He'd rather fish than fight you, but he is capable of taking down giant monsters and mini armies with the ability to teleport. Tell him Hot Topic is going out of business and he'll crumble.

Not advised to fight Noctis but eh maybe you could. 4/10

Pretty sure all the people I would've tagged have already done it? So do this if you want to.

#self ship #self shipping #should you fight my f/os?#selfship #selfshipping #self ship community #dazian #erzian #I'm too lazy right now to tag them all gonna do that later

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newhologram · 8 years ago

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When my dad fights with me about being ill and disabled he always says the same thing. I wanna be clear before I go on that he’s not a bad person. He does not understand. He has his own issues and his own worries. It’s incredibly difficult for a parent to see their child ill and my father does not have the mental or emotional resources to deal with it, so unfortunately, he reacts in ways and says things he doesn’t really mean that make my mental state worse because then it just confirms that I’ve ruined his life by being sick. He’s terrified that he will spend the rest of his life caring for his mother, and for me, and will have nothing left for himself. This isn’t the life he wanted.

But it’s not the life I wanted either. I didn’t ask to be sick. I never asked to be born with ticking time bombs for genes, or a messed up spine, or to develop PTSD. But I’m doing the best with what life has given me even when I feel lost and wonder if I was born to suffer and never be happy or comfortable. Anyway. He says to me while I cry and retch, “you know better” and “you’re smarter than this.” And I don’t.... know what that means. Usually, when I’m in a bad state, him saying that sends me flying into a rage because I don’t know what the fuck it means and it frustrates me because I don’t know what more he wants from me.

I’ve worked so hard these past several years to audition, book jobs, work 3 different part time jobs, taking on odd jobs whenever I can (even if it means throwing up at the job or when I get home because of the strain on my body’s already limited resources). I research my illnesses, I talk to others, I’m always trying new things all the time, always doing my best to look on the positive side, always smiling when people ask how I am even the tissue around my spine is swollen and making it hard to understand language. I go to work with icepacks on my neck and when customers ask what happened I just laugh and say, “it’s a long story!”

But I’m always getting my hopes up for a new treatment to give me relief and help me get stronger only to have a flare up that knocks me on my ass and suddenly I’m creeping back below 100lbs, shaking trying to lift a spoon to my mouth, gagging trying to take medication or supplements to help me feel better, falling down a lot dizzy and dazed after a 6 hour shift, burning my hands with tea because I’m so weak, pulling over on the side of the road to throw up before working shoots, apologizing to my agent if an audition is too far and interferes with my medical treatments. And then I think, “am I delusional for doing this when I’m sick?” and I refuse, and I’m like, “No, there are totally actors with chronic illness! If they can do it, so can I. I can be tough like them.”

But the thing is, I had accepted that this was my life. After I turned 25 and had not only my usual bad winter flare up a really deep depressive episode because I was like “wow I’m old now and these illnesses have no cure and the doctors are so mean to me and my dad resents me for ruining his life by being sick and my dreams will not come true and I’m just a burden and I wish I had never been born”, I wiped my tears away and accepted it. I said, “if I’m gonna be in pain every day anyway, I might as well put in 110% and do what I love. If I’m gonna throw up on set, I’ll just pack meds and mints and hoard bananas so that I can do my best! I’ll vape a little medical cannabis when I can to take the edge off the pain, I’ll rest whenever possible, and I’ll kick ass!” I was so determined. Stepping onto sets every week and meeting so many people, I felt so happy, even if I was in pain, even if I was having really bad cycling mood swings (that I mostly kept to myself) that made me doubt if I really was happy.

I got strict. I started making schedules for myself. Self-care and rest routines. Anything I could do to maximize productivity so I could not only audition, work on set, go back to Japanese school, and work part time jobs as a cushion to help pay my sometimes $800 a month medical expenses, but so that I could start making vlogs to help other people who are sick too. Yoga, meditation, herbs, more yoga, acupuncture, chiropractor, massage, therapy, acu-pressure mat, inversion table, so many pain relief gels and oils that my papers and clothes and blankets and all stained. This is my life now.

And he always says those things, “you know better” and “you’re smarter than this” especially when I’m in bed in a neck brace crying because the pain is so intense and nothing is helping it or at the toilet violently throwing up, having a meltdown because I’m in so much pain or have been vomiting/unable to eat for days/weeks and/or y’know. Bleeding from my intestines daily for years straight. (Yes, TMI, sorry. I BLEED FROM MY GUTS and people still wanna tell me I’m not sick enough or I’m faking)

But it scares me when he says these things when I’m at the end of my rope because I can no longer cope with all of it and have no actual support system at home. I feel trapped and isolated. Out of resources. As much as I try to teach other people ways to deal with every aspect of illness, whether physical or mental or emotional, I’m just as vulnerable.

How can I “know better” than physical illnesses that cause me such intense daily pain, organ problems, constant fatigue and vomiting spells, and severe insomnia that all send me into sensory overload that make me have epic meltdowns because I don’t get much relief and the discomfort and pressure on my brain stem/spinal cord/nerves literally make me lose my mind? Like. It’s not “oh boobloo I have a flu/hangover and I don’t feel well.” It’s intense, constant, deep pain in my skin, my muscles, my nerves, my spine, my organs. It’s everything. It’s gnawing, aching, itching, burning, stinging, scratching, acid, lightning, electricity, melting, disintegrating. Every day. Every day! Every damn day. Unless I am very lucky and have a few days of low pain or my cells make a little extra energy, or I time my pain meds right (which I don’t like to take every day because opiate withdrawals are horrible 0/10 would not recommend).

How can I “be smarter than” the way these illnesses affect my neurology, my mood, my perception of reality, my outlook on life?

“It’s not about being smarter,” I always tell him, voice hoarse from so much crying. “It’s not about that. I’m sick. I’m very sick and you keep telling me I’m too smart to be this sick. It’s not about that. It’s not about being smart. Stop telling me I’m smarter than this. It doesn’t matter if I’m smart or stupid. I’m sick and I just need someone to care. Not yell at me. I need help. I need support.”

And from there, the arguments devolve into screaming.

And from there, I lose sensation in my body and mind and heart. I stop caring about auditions, about work, about my videos, about games, about friends, about my dreams, about my favorite shows, my favorite food, bath time, robots, eyelashes, new wigs, tea time.

And I get so scared and I have to cling to any little thing to make it to tomorrow. A tomorrow that I know will bring more pain and tears.

But, I’m supposed to be smarter than this. I guess.

#long post #teku #personal

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doodlewash · 5 years ago

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My name is Rémy Lach. I live near Paris, in France. As for my artistic background, I only drew and painted 2 hours per week during plastic art courses in middle school. In a nutshell, I wasn’t born with a paint brush in my hand. To be honest, I used to live a pretty ordinary and happy life until watercolor decided to knock on my door.

My watercolor journey began in 2013. At this time, Youtube wasn’t so popular but I already spent hours and hours on it watching videos on my couch. Lazy man. One day, I stumbled upon a video from Direk Kingnok, a Thai watercolorist. I couldn’t take my eyes off this video. I was like a child watching “Frozen” for the first time. It was magic for me. Everything was memorable: the confident brush strokes, the light on the painting, the watery effects…

I bought a 10€ set of 12 half pans from Winsor & Newton Cotman and started my journey. The first attempts were successful. The colors blended nicely. I discovered the power of watercolor. Wow, nice! I would then be able to master this medium in no time. I was so naive, and so wrong. I was such an amateur and watercolor reminded me of it relentlessly.

When it came down to a whole landscape painting, I can’t remember how many times I failed. I constantly switched between joy and despair. I looked at how people painted on Youtube and I tried to reproduce the same paintings. Unsuccessfully…

My Erratic Learning Curve

One night in 2014. Already 2:00 am… Not tonight! Not again!! As yesterday… and the day before yesterday… disappointed… I looked dully at my watercolor painting. Actually, it is looking at me… with dead eyes. No light, no mood, no atmosphere. Nothing.

I messed this painting up. This time, I put too much water when I shouldn’t, creating these so-dreaded cauliflowers. I know them too well. I can feel my best friend coming right away to taunt me: Frustration. Its voice pops into my head: “Why not give up on painting? See, you just embarrassed yourself. Stop doing it, for God’s sake. This path is a dead end. Start something new instead! Something that would make you happier.”

That same voice telling me that I shouldn’t paint because I’ll screw up. That same voice which makes me click on the Netflix app just after I decided to paint. That same voice convincing me that I’m too tired to paint after a working day as an engineer. Unfortunately, I know that voice too well.

Here is the sad truth about watercolor: Frustration will become a close friend to you. And it sometimes becomes unbearable. At this time, I didn’t know that I would struggle for 2 whole years. 2 years before painting the first landscape I would be proud of.

From this moment, I started painting 2 to 3 landscapes every week for 1 year while working full time until 2016. I gained momentum. I even succeeded in selling up to 12 paintings in one exhibition. Good job, kiddo!

My Watercolor Supplies

With that money in my pocket, I upgraded my art supplies. I bought a Holbein palette. An easel, some masking tape, a bottle spray and some minor stuff. I stuck exclusively to Arches paper rough 140 lbs. I used Winsor & Newton professional quality tubes. At this time and until now, the brushes I had were still the first ones I bought: Raphael 803 brushes size 0/3, 2 and 4, and a synthetic brush with a fine point.

If you want to know the exact references of all my supplies, you can check my website where you can download the .pdf checklist. For each supply, I go deep into what I would recommend and the product references I exactly use (the exact colors etc.)

Then… Then I became a father, the best job in the world. A job which required me to make some sacrifices. Among them, putting watercolor aside for 4 years. Until recently, I started to paint again in March 2020 as I now have more time.

I also created a Youtube channel for those who want to join me in this artistic and fabulous journey. I know how solitary this painting activity may be. I can only help if we can support each other.

My Painting Process

I usually paint at night, when children are asleep. I pick a photo according to composition, light and mood. I mainly choose landscapes as there are already so many subjects to paint: rural landscapes, cityscapes, snowy landscapes, seascapes etc. I describe my art as atmospheric watercolor landscapes.

I tweak the photo so that it matches the result I have in my mind. I draw a quick sketch (5 to 10 minutes max) to get the big shapes on the paper. And I start painting. The painting process itself takes on average one hour.

Actually, watercolor fits my personality quite well. Since I started this Youtube channel, many people ask me the best advice I can give to a complete beginner in watercolor. Still with me? Okay, let’s move on then!

How To Improve In Watercolor As A Beginner

Having failed many times, here is what I would suggest to someone who starts painting in watercolor:

1. Learn the technical skills first. Know how to create a wash and a graded wash. Be familiar with color mixing, wet in wet techniques, dry brush marks and learn how to avoid cauliflowers. There’s a ton of free tutorials on the web which are very well explained. Use them to your advantage.

2. Choose a mentor. Someone whose work inspires you. Learn everything you can learn from this person. One tip: It’s better if you have access to painting videos from this artist as you will have to reverse engineer the paintings. Try to recognize when this artist uses the techniques you acquired in step 1.

3. Lastly, copy the paintings you analyzed until you end up with a satisfying result. There is no shame in copying for a learning purpose. The purpose in this process is not to find your style, it is to learn the technical moves. Select the simplest subjects first and as you improve your skills, you can switch to more difficult topics.

Then, you reach a tipping point where you actually enjoy the painting process more than before as you are no more limited by your technical skills. Then, you can broaden your vision by getting inspiration from other artists (not necessarily watercolorists by the way). I would not recommend checking other artists’ stuff before mastering the technical part first or you may end up switching relentlessly from one artist to the other without actually improving.

When you reach this point, then you have achieved a huge milestone! Congratulations. You can give yourself a pat on the back. Take the time to appraise what you already accomplished so far. You deserve it.

How To Find Your Own Style

I have some bad news for you…only then can the real journey begin. The good news? It’s fun. It’s real fun. I mean: Finding your own style and exploring new compositions and new subjects is what I find the most satisfying moments. Recently, I decided to give a shot to snowy landscapes:

Then I spent some time exploring asian landscapes:

It’s a never ending process and it makes you grow as an artist. It also makes you grow as a human being. Thanks to watercolor, I learned to embrace frustration. Of course there will be some failures. When I started painting, culpability was striking me like a lightning bolt whenever a painting didn’t turn out the way I wanted.

But I now feel gratitude when my best friend, Frustration, knocks on my door. I now understand the happy truth behind watercolor: Frustration is what comes before fulfillment. And fulfillment leads to gratitude. And gratitude is closely linked to happiness.

So… Wanna be in? Yes? Nice!!! Welcome on board then. I hope you don’t care about my strong Frenchy accent (as you could have read it!) and I’m glad we met. If we get to know each other, I would suggest you to subscribe to my YouTube channel. I share every week a time lapsed painting demonstration.

Take a seat, have some rest and let’s start painting! I would like to thank Charlie for his incredible work. It takes so much courage and perseverance to inspire people with his daily post. Respect to the man! Peace, joy and long life to watercolor!

Rémy Lach YouTube Website Instagram

GUEST ARTIST: "The Insightful Truth Behind Watercolor" by Rémy Lach - #doodlewash #WorldWatercolorGroup #watercolor #watercolour #aquarelle My name is Rémy Lach. I live near Paris, in France. As for my artistic background, I only drew and painted 2 hours per week during plastic art courses in middle school.

#WorldWatercolorGroup #aquarelle #artist #doodlewash #featured #France #inspiration #Landscape #landscapes #painting #Paris #watercolor #watercolor landscape #watercolour

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cvrnewsdirectindia · 5 years ago

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Digital privacy at stake? 10 Tips to avoid leaving tracks around internet

Google and Facebook collect information about us and then sell that data to advertisers. Websites deposit invisible “cookies” onto our computers and then record where we go online. Even our own government has been known to track us.

When it comes to digital privacy, it’s easy to feel hopeless. We’re mere mortals! We’re minuscule molecules in their machines! What power do we possibly have to fight back?

That was the question I posed to you, dear readers, in the previous “Crowdwise.”

Many of you responded with valuable but frequently repeated suggestions: Use a program that memorizes your passwords, and make every password different. Install an ad blocker in your web browser, like uBlock Origin. Read up on the latest internet scams. If you must use Facebook, visit its Privacy Settings page and limit its freedom to target ads to you.

What I sought, though, was non-obvious ideas.

It turns out that “digital privacy” means different things to different people.

“Everyone has different concerns,” wrote Jamie Winterton, a cybersecurity researcher at Arizona State University. “Are you worried about private messaging? Government surveillance? Third-party trackers on the web?” Addressing each of these concerns, she noted, requires different tools and techniques.

Duck Google

“The number one thing that people can do is to stop using Google,” wrote privacy consultant Bob Gellman. “If you use Gmail and use Google to search the web, Google know more about you than any other institution. And that goes double if you use other Google services like Google Maps, Waze, Google Docs, etc.”

Like many other readers, he recommended DuckDuckGo, a rival web search engine. Its search results often aren’t as useful as Google’s, but it’s advertised not to track you or your searches.

And if you don’t use Gmail for email, what should you use? “I am a huge advocate for paying for your email account,” wrote Russian journalist Yuri Litvinenko. “It’s not about turning off ads, but giving your email providers as little incentive to peek into your inbox as possible.” ProtonMail, for example, costs $4 a month and offers a host of privacy features, including anonymous sign-up and end-to-end encryption.

Jam Google

The ads you see online are based on the sites, searches, or and Facebook posts that get your interest. Some rebels therefore throw a wrench into the machinery — by demonstrating phony interests.

“Every once in a while, I Google something completely nutty just to mess with their algorithm,” wrote Shaun Breidbart. “You’d be surprised what sort of coupons CVS prints for me on the bottom of my receipt. They are clearly confused about both my age and my gender.”

It’s “akin to radio jamming,” noted Frank Paiano. “It does make for some interesting browsing, as ads for items we searched for follow us around like puppy dogs (including on The New York Times, by the way.)”

Barry Joseph uses a similar tactic when registering for an account on a new website. “I often switch my gender (I am a cisgender male), which delivers ads less relevant to me — although I must admit, the bra advertising can be distracting.”

He notes that there are side effects. “My friends occasionally get gendered notifications about me, such as ‘Wish her a happy birthday.’” But even that is a plus, leading to “interesting conversations about gender norms and expectations (so killing two birds with one digital stone here).”

Avoid unnecessary web tracking

It’s perfectly legitimate, by the way, to enjoy seeing ads that align with your interests. You could argue that they’re actually more useful than irrelevant ones.

But millions of others are creeped out by the tracking that produces those targeted ads.

If you’re in that category, Ms. Winterton recommended Ghostery, a free plug-in for most web browsers that “blocks the trackers and lists them by category,” she wrote. “Some sites have an amazing number of trackers whose only purpose is to record your behavior (sometimes across multiple sites) and pitch better advertisements.”

Careful on public Wi-Fi

Most public Wi-Fi networks — in hotels, airports, coffee shops, and so on — are eavesdroppable, even if they require a password to connect. Nearby patrons, using their phones or laptops, can easily see everything you’re sending or receiving — email and website contents, for example — using free “sniffer” programs.

You don’t have to worry about Social, WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessages, all of which encrypt your messages before they even leave your phone or laptop. Using websites whose addresses begin with https are also safe; they, too, encrypt their data before it’s sent to your browser (and vice versa).

(Caution: Even if the site’s address begins with https, the bad guys can still see which sites you visit — say, https://www.NoseHairBraiding.com. They just can’t see what you do there once you’re connected.)

The solution, as recommended by Lauren Taubman and others: a Virtual Private Network program. These phone and computer apps encrypt everything you send or receive — and, as a bonus, mask your location. Wirecutter’s favorite VPN, TunnelBear, is available for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. It’s free for up to 500 megabytes a month, or $60 a year for up to five devices.

Use Apple

“I don’t like Apple’s phones, their operating systems, or their looks,” wrote Aaron Soice, “but the one thing Apple gets right is valuing your data security. Purely in terms of data, Apple serves you; Google serves you to the sharks.”

Apple’s privacy website reveals many examples: You don’t sign into Apple Maps or Safari (Apple’s web browser), so your searches and trips aren’t linked to you. Safari’s “don’t track me” features are turned on as the factory setting. When you buy something with Apple Pay, Apple receives no information about the item, the store, or the price.

Apple can afford to tout these features, explained software developer Joel Potischman, because it’s a hardware company. “Its business model depends on us giving them our money. Google and Facebook make their money by selling our info to other people.”

Don’t “Sign in with Facebook”

Mr. Potischman never registers with a new website using the “Sign in with Facebook” or “Sign in with Google” shortcut buttons. “They allow those companies to track you on other sites,” he wrote. Instead, he registers the long way, with an email address and password.

(And here’s Apple again: The “Sign in with Apple” button, new and not yet incorporated by many websites, is designed to offer the same one-click convenience — but with a promise not to track or profile you.)

Identity theft, from a pro

My call for submissions drew some tips from a surprising respondent: Frank Abagnale, the former teenage con artist who was the subject of the 2002 movie “Catch Me if You Can.”

After his prison time, he went began working for the F.B.I., giving talks on scam protection, and writing books. He’s donating all earnings from his latest book, “Scam Me If You Can,” to the AARP, in support of its efforts to educate older Americans about internet rip-offs.

His advice: “You never want to tell Facebook where you were born and your date of birth. That’s 98 percent of someone stealing your identity! And don’t use a straight-on photo of yourself — like a passport photo, driver’s license, graduation photo — that someone can use on a fake ID.”

Mr. Abagnale also notes that you should avoid sharing your personal data offline, too. “We give a lot of information away, not just on social media, but places we go where people automatically ask us all of these questions. ‘What magazines do you read?’ ‘What’s your job?’ ‘Do you earn between this and that amount of money?’”

Why answer if you don’t have to?

The lightning round

A few more suggestions:

“Create a different email address for every service you use,” wrote Matt McHenry. “Then you can tell which one has shared your info, and create filters to silence them if necessary.”

“Apps like Privacy and Token Virtual generate a disposable credit-card number with each purchase — so in case of a breach, your actual card isn’t compromised,” suggested Juan Garrido. (Bill Barnes agreed, pointing out the similar Shopsafe service offered by from Bank of America’s Visa cards. “The number is dollar and time limited.”)

“Your advertisers won’t like to see this, so perhaps you won’t print it,” predicted Betsy Peto, “but I avoid using apps on my cellphone as much as possible. Instead, I go to the associated website in my phone’s browser: for example, www.dailybeast.com. My data is still tracked there, but not as much as it would be by the app.”

There is some good news: Tech companies are beginning to feel some pressure.

In 2017, the European Union passed the General Data Protection Regulation (G.D.P.R.), which requires companies to explain what data they’re collecting — and to offer the option to edit or delete it. China, India, Japan, Brazil, South Korea and Thailand have passed, or are considering, similar laws, and California’s Consumer Privacy Act takes effect on January 1.

In the meantime, enjoy these suggestions, as well as this bonus tip from privacy researcher Jamie Winterton:

“Oh yeah — and don’t use Facebook.”

For the next “Crowdwise”: We all know that it’s unclassy and cruel to break up with a romantic partner in a text message — or, worse, a tweet. (Well, we used to know that.) Yet requesting an unusual meeting at a sidewalk cafe might strike your partner as distressingly ominous.

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');fbq('init','550264998751686');fbq('track','PageView');

from CVR News Direct https://cvrnewsdirect.com/digital-privacy-at-stake-10-tips-to-avoid-leaving-tracks-around-internet/

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traveltechgadgets · 6 years ago

Link

Best Travel Gadget Gift Ideas for Travelers

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*Please note this post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase, we will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our site. Read our disclosure here Below is a list of gifts for travelers to help you find the best travel presents for the world traveler in your life. All these useful travel tech gifts help travelers pack better and lighter. Maybe you’re buying for someone who packs carry-on only or perhaps you’d like to encourage your family and friends to take a little less on their next trip. These great gifts for travelers are things we use and love ourselves or have been recommended by other travelers like us.

Click on the links below to skip ahead to your gift budget or scroll down to read the whole article.

Contents

$0–10

$10–25

$25–50

$50–100

$100–250

$250+

Digital Gifts for Travellers

$0–10

Samsonite - Travel Sentry 3-Dial Combination Lock

Travel-Size Toiletry Bottles

Anker 24W Dual USB Car Charger

16-Ounce Collapsible Water Bottle, Eco-Friendly Design

$10–25

Microfiber Sports & Travel Towel

Conair Travel Smart - EZ Inflate Neck Travel Pillow

Contigo - Transit 16-Oz. Travel Mug

Contigo Autospout Ashland Water Bottle

SanDisk - Ultra 16GB microSDHC Class 10 Memory Card

Packable Lightweight Daypack Backpack

Travel Smart - Travel Power Adapter

Anker 6700mAh Astro E1 Candy-Bar Sized Ultra-Compact Portable Charger

$25–50

Packable Travel Tote Bag

Travel Toiletry Bag

Shop Electronics + Spend $35, Get Free Shipping on Select at Target.com

Packing Cubes

We love these cubes, they made our packing for trips and unpacking at destinations a lot better and faster.

$50–100

LaCie - Porsche Design Mobile Drive 1TB External USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive

Seagate - Backup Plus Slim 1TB External USB 3.0/2.0 Portable Hard Drive

$100–250

Kindle Paperwhite – Waterproof with 2x the Storage

WD - My Passport Ultra 4TB External USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive

Travel Laptop Carry-On Size Backpack

Related: How to Choose a Carry On Backpack The 17 Best Carry-on Backpacks for Your Next Trip Best Carry-on Backpacks

Carry-On Size Suitcase

$250+

Apple - iPad Air 2 with Wi-Fi + Cellular - 128GB

iPad Pro - latest version just released

» No home button » USB Type-C port replaces Lightning charging port » 10 hours battery life » Apple's own A12X Bionic with Neural Engine chip inside » Liquid Retina displays » Apple Pencil automatically attaches to iPad

Canon EOS M50 Mirrorless Camera

Apple Watch Series 4

» Up to 18 hours of battery life on a single charge » Water resistant up to 50 meters » Has ECG built-in; this features provides low and high heart rate monitoring. Great for hikes, sightseeing biking, and other activities while traveling » Walkie‑Talkie capability - communicate quickly with whoever else has an Apple Watch » Apple Watch Series 4 with cellular lets you just take the watch along and take calls, send texts, listen to voicemail with the watch » Stream Apple Music

Digital Gifts for Travellers

Amazon Prime – Books, music, films, unlimited Photos Private Internet VPN – Get the protection for your private browsing data, access to sites via VPN Airbnb – Rooms and apartments around the world. Our favorite way to travel. Netflix – Stream TV and films. iTunes – Travel apps, music, and more You could also gift an Amazon Kindle book or paperback Do you have any other travel gift ideas? Let us know below

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isaacscrawford · 6 years ago

Text

Hoarding Patient Data is a Lousy Business Strategy: 7 Reasons Why

By VINCE KURAITIS & LESLIE KELLY HALL

Vince Kuraitis

Leslie Kelly Hall

Among many healthcare providers, it’s been long-standing conventional wisdom (CW) that hoarding patient data is an effective business strategy to lock-in patients — “He who holds the data, wins”. However…we’ve never seen any evidence that this actually works…have you?

We’re here to challenge CW. In this article we’ll explore the rationale of “hoarding as business strategy”, review evidence suggesting it’s still prevalent, and suggest 7 reasons why we believe it’s a lousy business strategy:

Data Hoarding Doesn’t Work — It Doesn’t Lock-In Patients or Build Affinity

Convenience is King in Patient Selection of Providers

Loyalty is Declining, Shopping is Increasing

Providers Have a Decreasingly Small “Share” of Patient Data

Providers Don’t Want to Become a Lightning Rod in the “Techlash” Backlash

Hoarding Works Against Public Policy and the Law

Providers, Don’t Fly Blind with Value-Based Care

Background

In the video below, Dr. Harlan Krumholz of Yale University School of Medicine capsulizes the rationale of hoarding as business strategy.

We encourage you to take a minute to listen to Dr. Krumholz, but if you’re in a hurry we’ve abstracted the most relevant portions of his comments:

“The leader of a very major healthcare system said this to me confidentially on the phone… ‘why would we want to make it easy for people to get their health data…we want to keep the patients with us so why wouldn’t we want to make it just a little more difficult for them to leave.’ …I couldn’t believe it a physician health care provider professional explaining to me the philosophy of that health system.”

Health care data has been viewed as a competitive asset by many health care providers. The CW among many providers over the past several decades has been that hoarding patient information locks-in patients to specific care providers and deters them from going to competitors. CW adds that data also can lock-in independent physicians and other care providers.

Quantifying the magnitude of hoarding is challenging. It’s not exactly the type of guiding vision that senior management necessarily would broadcast broadly and loudly, or even acknowledge publicly. It is likely that many constituents — e.g., clinicians, local press, regulators, employees — would find the strategy to be odious. It’s more likely that senior management would publicly deny that they embrace hoarding as business strategy.

Where it does exist it’s possible to exist primarily (or solely) at the C-level of provider organizations. It might not even be an explicit strategy — it could be implicit — something that the CEO, CIO and/or CFO hold in their heart-of-hearts or understand with a wink-and-a-nod.

Hoarding also comes in many shades and flavors, many of which might be more paternalistic or cautious than malicious. For example, one organization’s view of “stewardship” might be considered hoarding by another that wants the data. Both are right.

So how prevalent is hoarding? We have to rely on indirect evidence — and there is plenty of that available.

A Center for Studying Health System Change analysis examined barriers to health information sharing. In interviews with health system executives, they found that “Hospitals’ greatest concern in weighing the costs and benefits of participation in [a health information exchange (HIE)] was losing competitive advantage by relinquishing control of ‘their’ data. They viewed clinical data as a key strategic asset, tying physicians and patients to their organizations.” (emphasis added)

A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Study asked HIE organization respondents to characterize the degree to which potential barriers slowed their development. 83% listed “concerns about competitive position” and 78% listed “lack of stakeholder [provider] interest”.

A 2017 study by Julia Adler-Milstein and Eric Pfeifer examined the prevalence of information blocking. HIE respondents answered that 50% of EHR vendors routinely engaged in information blocking and that another 33% did so occasionally; they also answered that 25% of hospitals/health systems engaged in information blocking routinely and another 34% occasionally.

A few qualifiers. First, we don’t mean to imply that hoarding as business strategy is the only reason that’s limited appropriate exchange of patient health data; there are many other factors at play. To name a few: a fear of violating HIPAA regulations; a lack of technical standards; privacy/security concerns; technology and infrastructure gaps and others.

Second, we also understand that patient retention/loyalty is an important and relevant strategic initiative in most health care organizations today. It’s one of few strategies that make sense in BOTH the old world of fee-for-service payments and the new world of value-based payments. There are many viable tools and tactics to increase patient loyalty and to improve clinical care through care coordination — but “hoarding as business strategy” isn’t one of them.

Finally, the specific focus of this article is to explain why hoarding is a lousy business strategy. We also strongly believe that there are many positive reasons why appropriate sharing of patient data is a powerful and effective business strategy – but that’s a separate article.

7 Reasons: Hoarding Patient Data is NOT an Effective Business Strategy

Let’s dive in.

1) Data Hoarding Doesn’t Work — It Doesn’t Lock-In Patients or Build Affinity.

Hoarding as business strategy assumes a provider view that they’re running a tight ship — that patients are highly loyal to care providers and stay within their confines.

That view would be wrong. The reality is that care provider networks are highly “leaky” and that patients readily cross over among 2 or more health systems. This phenomenon has been studied extensively.

Some of the most extensive data on leakage and crossover (patients registered at 2 or more providers) come from public Health Information Exchanges. Maine HealthInfoNet documents their current crossover rate as being 61%. In two-hospital towns like Bangor and Lewiston, HealthInfoNet’s system has shown as much as 75% patient crossover.

A study of Indiana ER visits found that more than 40% of emergency visits during the one-year study period were for patients having data at multiple institutions. That rose to 60% when multiple years of data were included.

A Massachusetts study found that significant leakage takes place even within captive referral networks. One health insurer’s referral data showed that “only 35-45% of adult inpatient care, as measured by revenue, goes to the partner hospital”.

A 2018 analysis in the American Journal of Managed Care examined specialty referral leakage in Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs). The researchers found leakage rates of 61-72% among the most specialty-oriented ACOs (Figure 2).

The take away here is that patient lock-in strategies just haven’t worked. The natural state is for patients to go pretty much wherever they want or wherever urgency demands.

2) “Convenience is King” in Patient Selection of Providers.

Chances are you’ve seen a billboard like the one below.

Even as the hospital C-suite might be thinking “Hoarding is our business strategy”, the hospital marketing department groks that patients overwhelmingly are motivated by convenience — that they will select a specific provider simply to save a few minutes time.

Patients DO NOT think: “I want to go to ACME ER because they have all my data – they know me”.

Patients DO think: “I’ll go to ABC ER because they have a short wait time.”

The Advisory Board (AB) provides consulting, research and technology to hospitals and delivery systems. The AB asked 4,000 consumers about their on-demand care preferences and published a list of the “Top Ten Preferred Primary Care Clinic Attributes”. 6 of the top 10 attributes were related to access and convenience.

The element of whether a provider has access to a patient’s data (whether “they know me”) didn’t even make the list. They concluded that “Convenience is king”.

3) Loyalty is Declining, Shopping is Increasing.

The Advisory Board also measured patient loyalty to their primary care physicians. They surveyed 1,843 patients who had a primary care visit within the past year and found:

Only 53% would stay with their current PCP for the next 12 months

Only 9% of respondents would follow their current PCP if they changed locations

Only 36% would recommend their PCP to family and friends

Consumers were more likely to promote Sprint, Apple, Amazon, and Orbits than their PCP

The UnitedHealthcare 2018 Consumer Sentiment Survey found that 36% of respondents had used the internet or mobile apps to comparison shop for health care services — a 257% increase from 2012.

Many trends in the health care marketplace point to further decreases in patient loyalty and increased prevalence of consumers’ shopping for care:

The greater financial burden being shifted to patients, e.g., a report from Americas Health Insurance Plans documented that the number of people enrolled in HSA-Qualified High Deductible health plans grew from 1 million in 2005 to 22 million in 2017.

Patients have more choices, providers have more competition — the growth of retail clinics, the entry of tech companies (Amazon, Apple…) and retailers (Walmart, CVS…), funding for new digital health companies.

Increasing availability and relevance of health care quality and pricing information.

Improvements in patient digital tools and apps.

Consistently poor patient experience drives patients to seek alternatives.

4) Providers Have a Decreasingly Small “Share” of Patient Data.

Providers might think that they have the corner on patient’s health data, but that mindset is increasingly inaccurate. They have a sliver of a patient’s data.

The graphic below from Travis May, CEO of Datavant, illustrates the scale and distributed nature of health data. Note that provider data in EHRs is represented only by the box in the upper left corner.

A providers “share” of a patient’s health data is declining over time. New and better sources of data are defining a patient’s experience of health and care, e.g., patient-generated health data (PGHD), data from remote monitoring devices, genetic data, data relating to social determinants of health, etc.

5) Providers Don’t Want to Become a Lightning Rod in the “Techlash” Backlash.

A recent article in the New York Times describes “the year’s biggest overarching tech narrative: the ‘techlash’ against companies like Facebook and Google over issues like privacy, data protection and antitrust concerns.”

One effect of techlash is that it is sensitizing patients to the notion that patients themselves should be in control of health data, not some 3rd party.

To-date, techlash has affected tech companies, but there’s great potential for techlash to spill over to health care organizations that treat patient data as “their” asset, not patients’ asset.

Does this sound far-fetched? Consider what’s happened at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center over just the past few weeks. Administrators acted as-if the data from 25 million patient tissue slides was “their” asset to sell to a private company…and now they are the focus of a scandal investigation and front page news.

6) Hoarding Works Against Public Policy and the Law.

The last item spelled out the dangers of providers’ being called out in the court of public opinion. Providers should also be increasingly concerned about being called out in a court of law.

Many recent legislative and policy initiatives are emphasizing patients’ rights relating to their health information:

Patients’ right to access their health records under HIPAA

Information blocking restrictions in the 21st Century Cures Act

The MyHealtheData initiative, which “aims to empower patients by ensuring that they control their healthcare data and can decide how their data is going to be used.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, spelled out four areas of emphasis toward value based transformation. Item #1 on his list was “giving consumers greater control over health information through interoperable and accessible health information technology”.

7) Providers, Don’t Fly Blind with Value Based Care.

There are many ways in which information exchange will be necessary to support value based care, but we’d like to focus on one in particular.

As financial risk increasingly is shifted to care providers, providers will be responsible for the cost and quality of care provided by out-of-network care providers.

Let’s recall some of the data we presented under #1. In the last example, researchers documented that 61-72% of ACO specialty referrals went to out-of-network providers. If data is hoarded and not shared appropriately with these out-of-network providers, two things happen:

Out-of-network care providers fly blind — they don’t have the best data to care for patients

At-risk care providers fly blind — they can’t assure that patients’ get appropriate care and they undermine their own economic self-interests

That’s flying blind for roughly 2/3 of referred patients!!

Conclusion

The bases of competition in healthcare are shifting – away from competing based on misguided attempts to lock-in patients and providers – and toward competing based on providing care that’s high quality, low cost, and a superior patient experience.

Sometimes conventional wisdom goes stale…or was never wise in the first place.

Vince Kuraitis, JD/MBA (@VinceKuraitis) is an independent healthcare consultant with over 30 years’ experience across 150+ healthcare organizations.

Leslie Kelly Hall (@lesliekellyhall) is a nationally recognized leader in patient engagement advocating for patients in health IT and beyond.

Article source:The Health Care Blog

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loreofpalmhair · 7 years ago

Note

0-44

All of them??? I’ll do it because I’m bored and I love you

0: 5′7″

1: 20

2: Mens 12

3: Yes, much more than I should

4: Yes, but less than I used to

5: Occasionally

6: People usually think I’m at least 21

7: Yes, I have a Bowie lightning bolt on my arm, a portrait of an 80s rocker chick on my shoulder, and a little portrait of a 1920′s style lady on the other arm

8: I want to get a sprig of lavender and something Twin Peaks related in the future

9: Yes, I have two piercings in each earlobe, an industrial bar, a cartilage piercing in one ear, and a septum ring

10: I really want a nose ring and just more piercings in my ears

11: My best friend is named Mia, she’s Serbian and we are gonna get married

12: Single

13: I just love piercings and tattoos, also just really intelligent people

14: People who are rude to service workers, people who expect me to be someone I’m not

15: At the moment it’s Mulholland Drive (highly recommend, there are lesbians!)

16: You talk to me about David Bowie

17: I haven’t seen my sister in a while and I really miss her

18: Tbh I had a mental breakdown last winter and it was awful and I’m still traumatized

19: It’s really easy to make me laugh

20: My body

21: My optimism

22: I just want to make art

23: I’m quite close with both of my siblings, and especially my sister

24: I’m also very close with my parents, at this point I tell them most things (but not everything)

25: Take me to an art museum and then lets walk through the park

26: People who don’t let you exit the train before you get on, slow walkers, people who block the sidewalk (General New York pet peeves)

27: I don’t have a solid crush right now tbh, I just see people and I think they should date me but do nothing about it

28: Ugh, he’s just self-absorbed and never shuts up

29: Tbh I just didn’t feel like hanging out so I said I wasn’t feeling well

30: The worst part about school is forcing myself to actually get up and go to class

31: “RIP in peace”

32: I just hate hearing the word faggot leave a straight person’s lips, drives me crazy

33: I love when people call me pretty or funny

34: I’m not really attracted to women so

35: Again, tattoos really do it for me. tbh I also really love like body hair

36: Right now I really wanna live in Astoria, Queens or Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn (it’s where all the eastern europeans live)

37: again, my body in general

38: I wanted to be a meteorologist

39: I’m obsessed with Ben & Jerry’s Cinnamon Bun flavor

40: I wish I could be Stephen Shore, he takes the best photos and has had a super successful career as an artist

41: I just want to be at Mia’s place (it’s so nice and I love hanging with her)

42: I just ate a grilled cheese!

43: My first thought is this really attractive guy who lives on my floor

44: Today my history prof said that if we were to follow the French Revolutionary calendar Trump was elected on the 18th of Brumaire which happens to be the same day Napoleon took power (idk I thought that was interesting/concerning)

0 notes

tintuc111-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Đề thi thử tiếng anh THPT 2017 đề 77

SỞ GD&ĐT VĨNH PHÚC

TRƯỜNG THPT LIỄN SƠN

(Đề thi gồm: 04 trang)

ĐỀ KTCL ÔN THI THPT QUỐC GIA NĂM 2017

Môn: TIẾNG ANH – ĐỀ SỐ 77

Thời gian làm bài: 60 phút, không kể thời gian phát đề

Họ và tên thí sinh:……………………………………………………………………. SBD:…………………………

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on answer sheet to indicate the word whose underlined part differs from the other three in pronunciation in each of the following questions.

Question 1: A. handcraft B. handbook C. handkerchief D. handbag

Question 2: A. exhaust B. height C. honest D. heir

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the rest in the position of main stress in each of the following questions.

Question 3: A. weather B. confirm C. highland D. entrance

Question 4: A. dependence B. prediction C. disastrous D. Compliment

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on answer sheet to indicate the word or phrase that is CLOSEST in meaning to the italicized part in each of the following questions.

Question 5: Lack of water and nutrients has impeded the growth of these cherry tomato plants

A. promoted B. assisted C. realized D. prevented

Question 6: Bone and ivory are light, strong and accessible materials for Inuit artists

A. available B. beautiful C. economic D. natural

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word(s) OPPOSITE in meaning to the italicized word(s) in each of the following questions.

Question 7: The consequences of the typhoon were disastrous due to the lack of precautionary measures. A. physical B. severe C. beneficial D. damaging

Question 8: Vietnam’s admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has promoted its trade relations with other countries.

A. balanced B. restricted C. expanded D. boosted

Mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet t indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions

Question 9: Not until he got home he realized he had forgotten to give her the present.

A. got B. he realized C. her D. the present

Question 10: A lot of people stop smoking because they are afraid their heath will be affected and early death

A. A lot of B. smoking C. are D. early death

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer

Question 11. In Vietnam, application forms for the National Entrance Examinations must be __________before the deadline, often in April.

A. issued B. signed C. filed D. submitted

Question 12. Points will be added to the Entrance Examination scores for those who hold an excellent high school__________.

A. certificate B. diploma C. qualification D. degree

Question 13. The world __________a better place if we had known a hundred years ago what we know about the earth’s environment.

A. should be B. might be C. was D. will be

Question 14. I _________Tom with me if I had known you and he didn’t get along well with each other. A. won’t bring B. wouldn’t have brought C. Didn’t bring D. hadn’t brought

Question 15. Remember to bring with you your school certificate and letters of __________from your teachers or your previous employers when you come to the interview.

A. assignment B. invitation C. recommendation D. advertisement

Question 16. This present will be given to __________can answer the last question.

A. whomever B. whoever C. whom D. who

Question 17. These new laws have laid legal grounds for __________inefficient co-operatives.

A. dissolving B. analyzing C dividing D. disarming.

Question 18. I like spending my holidays in the mountains, __________my wife prefers the seaside.

A. though B. whereas C. despite D. in spite of

Question 19. __________he wasn’t feeling very well, Alex was determined to take part in the racing.

A. Despite the fact that B. Despite the fact it

C. Despite D. In spite of

Question 20. When we got home, dinner __________, so we had a drink first.

A. was preparing B. had been prepared C. was being prepared D. was prepared

Question 21. Linda __________her identity card again. This is the second time this __________.

A. lost/ happened B. has lost/ has happened C. has lost/ happened D. lost/ has happened

Question 22. I started working here in 2000.

A. I have started working here since 2000. B. I haven’t worked here since 2000.

C. I have started working here since 2000. D. I have worked here since 2000.

Question 23. It took me a long time to __________wearing glasses.

A. get used to B. use to C. used to D. use

Question 24. Let’s have this letter __________by express mail.

A. sends B. send C. being sent D. sent

Question 25. Andrea: “Can I help you?” Alex: “ ___________”.

A. No, thanks. I’m just looking B. No, I’m seeing

C. Yes, I’m watching D. Yes, I’m thinking

Question 26. Let’s go to the station to see her __________.

A. through B. back C. off D. to

Question 27. I can’t recall __________that old movie, but maybe I did many years ago.

A. to see B. to have seen C. having been seen D. having seen

Question 28. Henry will pass his exams __________any means. He has studied well.

A. by B. on C. with D. in

Question 29. Without transportation, our modern society could not exist.

A. Our modern society could not exist if there is no transportation.

B. Our modern society will not exist without having transportation.

C. If there were no transportation, our modern society would not exist.

D. If transportation no longer exists, our modern society will not exist.

Question 30. A house in that district will cost at least $100,000.

A. If you have $ 100,000, you can buy a house in that district.

B. $ 100,000 is the maximum price for a house in that district.

C. You won't be able to buy a house in that district for more than $ 100,000.

D. You won't be able to buy a house in that district for less than $ 100,000.

Question 31. It wasn’t an awful experience. It was the worst thing _________has ever happened to me. A. which B. that C. what D. Why

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following sentences

Learning means acquiring knowledge or developing the ability to perform new behaviors. It is common to think of learning as something that takes place in school, but much of human learning

occurs outside the classroom, and people continue to learn throughout their lives.

Even before they enter school, young children learn to walk, to talk, and to use their hands to manipulate toys, food, and other objects. They use all of their senses to learn about the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells in their environments. They learn how to interact with their parents, siblings, friends, and other people important to their world. When they enter school, children learn basic academic subjects such as reading, writing, and mathematics. They also continue to learn a great deal outside the classroom. They learn which behaviors are likely to be rewarded and which are likely to be punished. They learn social skills for interacting with other children. 13After they finish school, people must learn to adapt to the many major changes that affect their lives, such as getting married, raising children, and finding and keeping a job.

Because learning continues throughout our lives and affects almost everything we do, the study of learning is important in many different fields. Teachers need to understand the best ways to educate children. Psychologists, social workers, criminologists, and other human-service workers need to understand how certain experiences change people’s behaviors. Employers, politicians, and advertisers make use of the principles of learning to influence the behavior of workers, voters, and consumers.

Learning is closely related to memory, which is the storage of information in the brain. Psychologists who study memory are interested in how the brain stores knowledge, where this storage takes place, and how the brain later retrieves knowledge when we need it. In contrast, psychologists who study learning are more interested in behavior and how behavior changes as a result of a person’s experiences.

There are many forms of learning, ranging from simple to complex. Simple forms of learning involve a single stimulus. A stimulus is anything perceptible to the senses, such as a sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste. In a form of learning known as classical conditioning, people learn to associate two stimuli that occur in sequence, such as lightning followed by thunder. In operant conditioning, people learn by forming an association between a behavior and its consequences (reward or punishment). People and animals can also learn by observation - that is, by watching others perform behaviors. More complex forms of learning include learning languages, concepts, and motor skills. (Extracted from Microsoft® Student 2009 – DVD Version)

Question 32: According to the passage, which of the following is learning in broad view comprised of? A. Knowledge acquisition and ability development

B. Acquisition of social and behavioural skills

C. Acquisition of academic knowledge

D. Knowledge acquisition outside the classroom

Question 33: According to the passage, what are children NOT usually taught outside the classroom?

A. interpersonal communication B. life skills

C. literacy and calculation D. right from wrong

Question 34: Getting married, raising children, and finding and keeping a job are mentioned in paragraph 2 as examples of ______.

A. the changes to which people have to orient themselves

B. the situations in which people cannot teach themselves

C. the ways people’s lives are influenced by education

D. the areas of learning which affect people’s lives

Question 35: Which of the following can be inferred about the learning process from the passage?

A. . It becomes less challenging and complicated when people grow older

B. It plays a crucial part in improving the learner’s motivation in school

C. It takes place more frequently in real life than in academic institutions

D. It is more interesting and effective in school than that in life

Question 36: According to the passage, the study of learning is important in many fields due to ______. A. the need for certain experiences in various areas

B. the exploration of the best teaching methods

C. the great influence of the on-going learning process

D. the influence of various behaviours in the learning process

Question 37: It can be inferred from the passage that social workers, employers, and politicians concern themselves with the study of learning because they need to ______.

A. change the behaviours of the objects of their interest towards learning

B. thoroughly understand the behaviours of the objects of their interest

C. make the objects of their interest more aware of the importance of learning

D. understand how a stimulus relates to the senses of the objects of their interest

Question 38: Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Psychologists studying memory are concerned with how the stored knowledge is used

B. Psychologists studying memory are concerned with the brain’s storage of knowledge

C. Psychologists are all interested in memory as much as behaviours

D. Psychologists studying learning are interested in human behaviours

Question 39: The word “retrieves” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _______.

A. generates B. creates C. recovers D. gains

Question 40: According to the passage, the stimulus in simple forms of learning ______.

A. bears relation to perception B. is created by the senses

C. is associated with natural phenomena D. makes associations between behaviours

Choose the word or phrase ( A, B, C or D ) that best fits the blank space in the following passage.

When you first apply for a job, you (41)________ not succeed in getting it. It’s always a good (42)________ to ask them to explain to you what prevented from beating the other candidates. Don’t complain about the situation, but ask them to advise you (43)________ what you can do better next time. Perhaps the interviewer disapproved of or disagreed with something you said. Perhaps they just glanced at your application and saw something that made it easy to choose between you and another candidate. Don’t regard it as a failure, but recognize it as a chance to learn more. (44)________ you don’t worry too much about it and continue to believe in yourself, you’ll (45)________ find the chance you’ve been waiting for. Then, your family and friends will be able to congratulate you on your success!

Question 41: A. might B. would C. won’t D. must

Question 42: A. means B. opinion C. idea D. method

Question 43: A. about B. of C. over D. in

Question 44: A. As far as B. By far C. So far D. As long as

Question 45: A. in the end B. lastly C. at last D. eventually

Read the passage below and choose the best answer ( A, B, C or D ) to each question.

Higher education, also called tertiary, third stage or post secondary education, is the non-compulsory educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school. Tertiary education is normally taken to include undergraduate and postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training. Colleges and universities are the main institutions that provide tertiary institutions. Tertiary education generally results in the receipt of certificates, diplomas, or academic degrees.

Higher education includes teaching, research and social services activities of universities, and within the realm of teaching, it includes both the undergraduate level and the graduate level. Higher education in that country generally involves work towards a degree-level or foundation degree qualification. It is therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right, and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy.

Question 46: What is ‘tertiary education’?

A. Primary education B. higher education C. Secondary education D. children education

Question 47: Where can we find tertiary education?

A. Colleges and high schools B. universities and institutes

C. Colleges and universities D. high schools and universities.

Question 48: The word ‘degree’ in paragraph 1 refers to __________.

A. a unit for measuring angles B. a unit for measuring temperature

C. the qualification D. a level in a scale of how serious something is.

Question 49: How many kinds does higher education have?

A. One B. two C. three D. four

Question 50:_________is important to national economies.

A. Qualification B. Foundation C. Schooling D. Higher education

________THE END________