#that you can sit through one million ads. bc the entire game is watch an ad and get stuff for your house/coins/cash to buy stuff

[scionshtola]

i miss corishtola so bad i downloaded this horrible ad-filled game to make them in it

they’re so cute

they go on dates

here’s cori watering the floor for some reason and also them sleeping 🥰

shtola proposed at the beach and then they went to pride 🥹🥹

[thomascoolatta]

here's a headcanon people don't talk about enough: what kind of phone games does everyone have? gordon has facebook games, bitch has Farmville and if you have him added on Facebook he will ask you for help with stuff every fucking day. Forzen plays shitty shooters like Pixel Gun. Tommy also probably has various idle games like Abyssium and Penguin Isle and Virdi. Coomer and Bubby have vicious feuds in Trivia Crack and Words With Friends. Coomer plays Wordscapes. Gman has a fucking blackberry so he just has the shitty games that come with it. Gordon also has like.... Minecraft pocket edition installed for Joshua. Benrey probably has one of those games where you have to scream to move and it's like, a platformer. Benrey still has Flappy Bird downloaded. Benrey plays fucking Fruit Ninja.... dude will download any game he gets an ad for.

Tommy has specialized playlists just for when he's playing Flow Free and Solitaire. he has clean labeled folders and his home and lock screen are pictures of Sunkist.

Benrey's phone is a fucking disaster, it has no case and no screen protector, it's shattered to hell and back and has a billion games downloaded, no folders so whenever he wants to play something you have to sit there and watch him swipe through his games for 5 minutes.

Gordon has like, Farmville and Candy Crush for himself and Minecraft Pocket Edition for Joshua. his gallery is entirely pictures he's taken himself. he's always got his sound up way too high and his brightness on max, he doesn't know how to close apps fully so when you check he's got like a million apps running in the background.

Darnold's camera roll consists of pictures of Sunkist, stuff from his dates with Tommy, and random things as a self reminder for potion recipes. his notes app is full of random things that make sense to no one else but he will happily explain are potion recipes and ideas. he has Little Alchemy and Little Alchemy 2 downloaded.

Bubby has Trivia Crack and Words With Friends downloaded and him and Coomer have bitter rivalries in it. His gallery is just screenshots of him getting good scores or beating Coomer at games. His notes app is recipes and nothing else.

Coomer has like, Wordscapes, Words with Friends, and Trivia Crack. his notes app ranges from reminders for himself to late night musings about the meaning of life and morality. his gallery is full of pictures of the science team, screenshots of him beating Bubby, and the meals that Bubby makes bc Bubby makes gorgeous meals but things it's stupid to take photos.

Forzen's gallery is like, cats he saw while out walking and incomprehensible memes and YouTube screenshots. he plays Pixel Gun 3d and his notes app is entirely rants about AVGN and Irate Gamer. his lock screen is a Facebook level meme about how touching his phone will get you gutted like a fish or some shit. his home screen is a screenshot of Irate Gamer's YouTube channel.

I think Coomer's lock screen is probably like, some of the plants in his garden and his home screen is a selfie of him and Bubby.

Bubby doesn't know how to change his home or lock screen and is too up his own ass to ask someone for help.

I'm not really sure what Darnold's would be?

Gordon's lockscreen is probably the default while his home screen is a picture of himself, Benrey, and Joshua. if anyone comments on them being a cute family he argues that Benrey isn't part of his family and he's a stranger who refused to be left out. you can clearly see both their wedding rings and Joshua's awful t-shirt that says "son of two epic gamer dads"

Benrey's lockscreen is a shitty one he stole off of Pinterest that has a Disney character or some shit saying something snarky about you touching his phone. his home screen is the same as Gordon's but it's shoddily edited so that Joshua's shirt says "son of epic gamer dad" bc all he did was scribble black over parts of it. Benrey just has every Ancient Game tm. Robot Unicorn Attack, Flappy Bird, Temple Run, Subway Surfers, Fruit Ninja, Burrito Bison, etc.

[thermie]

h h hewwo owoo 22 / 23 / 29 / 31 / 34 / 50 / 58 / 61 / 88 in any order, and u can also just. pick only those that u want :3

hhhh-ewwwo? I did say I wanted to chat and I desperately do not want to do work or studies so buckle in for a long post (derogatory). 22. role model? Oh man, I don’t think I have any, like, specific ones for entire things, though I do fall in my hero-worship phaes and then fall out of them like everyone else. I think that taking an entire person and being like I wanna be like them is... not for me though. But I do look up to some people for specific things - I look up to, weirdly enough, Abigail Phylosohpytube who I didn’t watch before her coming out for her graceful coming out video though she admits that the experience wasn’t obviously as smooth. I look up to lots and lots of people for their ability to create and their art (not gonna tag my fav artists bc am tiny and do not want people to look at me, but i do be reblogging). I look up to people like ConcernedApe Stardewvalley and Supergiantgames Hades for their ability to put so much soul in their work, smth I aspire to do. I look up to @not-poignant for, among other things, their idk how to say it best, wisdom in understanding and communicating with others and with myself? I’ve learned a lot by just sort of being in their periphery and seeing how they articulate their thoughts and choose to be kind and witness other’s pain. Hell, I look up to twitch streamers and youtubers sometimes (the recent nice trait I’d like to have if I ever went into bigger content production is how ibxtoycat deals with parasocial relationship realities). 23. strange habits? Hm. I don’t think drinking tea whenever I need a pick-me-up is strange, that’s just probably forcefully assigning a British nationality to me. I think my insistence on misspelling words in a way I think is lowkey funny might be one, I say thamks bc it feels softer, or thank bc it’s funny, I say sleeb, I say finkers or tryink or otherwise replace g with k for lulz. I also don’t know if it counts as a habit but I have a small leather band around my wrist that’s been there for a year soon. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm I probs have like, stranger habits but I can’t recall rn. 29. best way to bond with you? Hmm. Well, if you show initiative and are explicit about wanting to spend time with me, that’s already a big chance of me spending time with you. And then if our interests match and I don’t think that you’re like, young in a way that automatically puts me in a position where I don’t feel comfortable really being myself around you bc in my head I have to look out for you (it has happened with two of my friends, sigh), and we regularly spend time together, voila, friend acquired. It simultaneously doesn’t take much and takes a bit to be my friend and bond with me - it’s easy af to become a casual friend cuz I’m always open to new people, but there has to be a level of trust to become like, a close friend. Respecting my boundaries, talking shit with me, being explicitly committal about wanting to bond with me are big steps that way. 31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names? Uh, I don’t do neither, but a current fave that is reasonably badass is my black tshirt with like, a ritual circle and a deer skull. V edgy, 10/10. I also used to have like a real edgy tshirt with a jester and some dice that said the game of life, but I threw it out bc dysphoria. or maybe I put it at the back of my closet along with one other shirt In Case I Get Top Surgery so I can wear them then. 34. advertisements you have stuck in your head? Many, such is the nature of advertising, alas. I have managed to avoid most of it tbh though, so the only place I am forced to sit through ads so they stick is my scrabble capitalist nightmare app where I play and always beat haha my coursemate. And they have adds for those shitty apps where you have to solve a puzzle that ends up failing in the add and like, drenching a man in green goo. I find those kinda fascinating tbh. Who plays these games? Who plays these shitty shitty games whose ad has to be “prove your IQ“ to make you want to prove yourself to play them? Oh and also, the insidious nature of ads in media I consume - the mcelroys have gotten me informed about many many things bc they do it in a funny way. Have you heard about squarespace? What about meundies? I also literally installed honey yesterday that I knew abt bc of the relentless adds and I wanted to save, uh, 2.50 from my minecraft server purchase (and then spent some time googling how they make money before giving up. just say u sell my data, that’s easier than not knowing what part of this makes you money). I was tired and in a weird mood, ok. 50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have? It’s always the stupidest jokes, what matters more is laughing together with someone and getting caught in a laughing loop. I still remember laughing with my siblings until our stomachs really really hurt bc I think one of us said a rug was vomit-colored and it was funny in the moment. How many times have I laughed like that with you too, vit. I know that Laura’s one is nostrilatu, right? :D :D It’s just something that catches you off guard, I think.

58. four talents you’re proud of having? Oh shid. Hm. 1) My ability to analyze data and understand the basic building blocks of something. Makes me cool at studying and sexy at explaining things to my course-mates. 2) Not a talent more like a skill that I’ve worked hard on through therapy - but my inner positive voice/healthy parent is very strong and automatic (something I was sure would never happen). A good example is me going out for a walk, my phone dying so I can’t listen to music, when I went in my head “well I can always make music in my head. do-do-do *drum sound*“ and I could feel the wave of self-reprimand cresting but before I could actually hear any negative comments the positive voice said with a light of a thousand suns NO THAT IS ACTUALLY CUTE AND SEXY and just haaaaaaah. 3) I sing good. Need to sing more. 4) I think I’m good at making conversation. Even with people I don’t necessarily like or want to talk to. More of a skill again but whatever. 61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.? Do not come to me and ask for favorites, witch. Uh, I have some quotes in my notes app, like 7 from Pia’s writing :D. But imma go with “It’s a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world“ by Mary Oliver. It counts, ok. Or, wait, something I will for real one day either crosstitch of commission shitpostcalligrapher: “t’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. “What are we holding onto Sam?” “There’s good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.“” 88. your greatest wish? Hrm. Right now? To have like a couple days with no responsibilities and without the outside world bearing on me as heavily, to be tiny tiny tiny so I’m invisible and can drink tiny tea on a tiny leaf. Uh, in general? My recently formulated wish or a goal is stability/peace. Then everything else becomes ok because you can bounce back to stable ground between feeling shit or everything happening so much. And I’ve sort of reached that. Also like, half a million euros would be nice too so I can get a house and a car and go on a few trips abroad. :D // there’s two ask memes in my blog recently, go wild

[moodymurda]

shanemundi forever and ever

tw: mention of death

i knew i was going to want to come here for this but i kept putting it off.  thinking about this and everything else it makes me think about hurts so bad. i honestly don’t know where to fucking start. idk. I’m going to try.

so shanemundi. my fucking niggas. my fucking family. my babies. all that shit. shanemundi is what the fans of the shane show are called. (i write this shit like someone reads it, no one reads this shit. download the shane show app tho. they’re also on the podcasts shit if you have an iPhone.) i became aware of who shane was and then the show obviously like mid 2015 thru being subscribed to golf media and listening to golf radio on dash. (for some reason tho i didn’t realize that there was a whole ass community of fans and shit on twitter until 2016. i truly do not know how i had no clue fr. i deadass live on fucking twitter). but anyways, the shane show quickly became one of the most important things in my life. it became something that got me through the day. i’d listen to the live show and then re listen throughout the day whenever i felt like i needed to. even then tho, i don’t think i realized just how much that show was going to mean to me. I’m just thinking back to the headspace i was in in 2015, i would not be able to comprehend what the fuck happened. i wouldn’t believe this shit.

so anyways like i said, i realized there was a whole ass community of fans on twitter in 2016. i followed a couple people, i really wish i could remember who i followed first and all that. i know it happened around the time where everyone was taking over the shane show snap. i know my takeover was march 7th, 2016. It’s crazy that I was sitting last night and realizing i dead remember that day. like i rememberrrrr that shit, i remember what i did that day and how nervous i was when dc dm’d me the password for the snap bc i was 100% sure my snap takeover was bout to be weak as FUCK. anyways. I remember ru had quoted my tweet and said something along the lines of “i enjoyed your takeover” or something. i remember some of the replies people sent to my snaps and shit. and a couple people dm’d me bout some shit i was talking about on snap, saying they could relate and shit. anyway. I’m all over the fucking place. but recalling this shit is, fuck i don’t know. it’s just like we were innocently just encouraging each other while basically being fucking strangers. we just knew for sure that the shane show and OF were two things we had in common. fuck the fact that that shit is damn near the foundation for all this shit is fuccking crazy.

anyways. we have a twitter group chat for the show now. i am so assy at timelines bruh i can not remember how shit happened i just know what the fuck happened. other shit happened between there but imma make this shit short and sweet so I’m skipping to the twitter gc. i think it got started early 2017. i know it was after cfg 2016 had already happened. it was so that anyone could be in the chat and it wasn’t about like who’s s100 and who isn’t and shit (I’m not going into explanations about what the shane 100 is rn. i don’t have the time i got too many thoughts flowing rn and i gotta get these bitches out. I’m already bad with words and this shit probably don’t make sense already). anyways by this time i had already bonded with some people but honestly the bonds i had grew stronger after this chat was made and i gained some new ones. the chat is a fucking mess to say the least. i say that in the most loving way possible. so many disagreements have gone down in that bitch. full out arguments. so much shade (yassss honey i LIVE!!!!). but one thing you can’t question is how much we all love each other. i really grew to love everyone like family. like i was talking to my mom today about me graduating next yr & my grad party. deadass my main concern was who would be able to make it and how much i just want my friends to be there. I’m thinking about it and i’ve dead talked to these niggas damn near everyday. that shit is fucking crazy. i traveled alone for the first time and i did it with them. fuck. thats crazy thats fucking crazy.

but yea anyways. i guess i gotta get to what i’ve been avoiding now. so a lil while ago someone had added ru back to our chat. now that I’m thinking about it i don’t remember when he left or for what reason. everyone was like “where have you been” etc etc but he never responded. thinking back on it I’m wondering why i didn’t think anything of him not responding to us…. anyway. last night lost came in the chat and was like he hadn’t realized ru was “gone”. when he said gone my first thought was “fuck do you mean we just added him back to the chat”. and i checked to see that he was in fact in the chat. and then i looked at his twitter account and realized his last tweet was december 15th i think. then i started to reconsider exactly what lost meant by “gone”. like “fuck does he mean gone like gone gone” i don’t know bruh. i didn’t want to believe that he meant gone like.. ya know. and i don’t know. i didn’t reply to the chat when i saw it because i just.. i don’t know i don’t know i do not know. i can’t remember who asked what he meant. he sent an article though and the article had a video of a news report attached to it. which i put off watching because i felt like if i didn’t hear it then it wasn’t real. i watched my friends be like “wtf” “is this real” etc in the chat but i was just like nah this can not be for real right now.

i haven’t had to deal with the death of someone that i knew a whole lot yet. the first death of someone in my family that i actually knew and was close to was november 2016. that shit was rough as fuck for me because it was the first ya know. for some reason i thought that the next time i had to deal with it, maybe i wouldn’t take it as hard. boy was i fucking wrong. the thing about death that i guess I’m not understanding is that it’s final and that it kinda just creeps up on you. whatever all of our (meaning shanemundi) last encounters/conversations with ru were, we didn’t know that would be the last one. shit he didn’t know either. makes me wonder like what if, what if niggas knew ahead of time ya know? maybe we (as people. like society) would appreciate shit more. idk. anyway. one part thats super hard for me is that we found out damn near a month later. i guess thats the trouble with internet friends. the only way we know whats going on with each other is when we decide to get on our phones and post some shit. and truly i be checking for my internet friends on social media more than my local friends because they’re less accessible to me and I’m a mom friend at heart. i need to know how everyone is doing. (hi friends if you are reading this. i stalk all of you. like i be seeing all y’all’s tweets and snaps and shit. i love y’all okay. anyway)

ru was probably one of the most dedicated fans to the show. he had a whole ass meme account where he made meme’s related to episodes of the show. that was highkey something i looked forward to, seeing what meme’s he’d make. he was a fucking witness for the world record show. (s/o shane & vanger. they fucking killed that shit. also s/o all my other friends who were witnesses). he went to vanger’s games to support him like.. so much shit. fuck. I’m sure he made sure everyone around him knew about the show. he shit on my music opinions a lot to fuck with me. and he’d always tell me nas was better than jay (nas was his fav, jay is mine.. so you know how that goes) that shit used to be so funny. fuck man.

i feel like at this age a lot of us feel kind of invincible. i truly don’t realize that any day could be my last.. whats going to stop me ya know? i’m 20, i’ve barely gotten to live yet. I do what I’m supposed to, what could possibly go wrong? i didn’t realize that was my mindset until shane kind of said it on the show today. life truly is so precious and we don’t ever sit back and realize that. on top of that, we impact others lives so much with out even knowing it. the HARDEST part about this for me is not my own sadness but knowing that my friends are hurting. Seeing everyone reminiscing in the chat and on the timeline just makes me think did ru KNOW. did he know how much he meant to everyone? and do we realize how much we all mean to one another? There have been times where i’ve felt down & I didn’t bring it up to anyone because I’m not always up to talk about how i feel. But somehow one of them said something in the chat that inspired me, or simply made me laugh & realize whatever was wrong wasn’t THAT big of a deal.

i don’t entirely know what i’m trying to say here because i’m feeling so many things at once. what i do know is that we should all cherish our lives and make the most of it. we should also cherish and love one another because friends/family is all we’ve got. to this day it still amazes me that the shane show brought all of us together. i gained close ass friends from having a fucking radio show in common. HOW THE FUCK.

Rest in peace Ru. Thank you so much for being a friend to all of us, I’m glad to have known you. If any of my friends are reading this, I’ve said it a million times already at this point but I love all of you so much. I hope that you all keep growing and learning and prospering. You can literally have whatever the fuck you want in this world. You guys are deadass the coolest group of people I’ve ever met and I’m so inspired by all of you in different ways. I'm not just saying that, I'm deadass. Shanemundi for fucking ever. I can’t wait until i get to see and hug all of you again.

[pedroscurls]

Title: Love At First Sight? (Part 9.)

Character(s): Denny and Jess (fictional/original character). Summary: Denny has a sudden sense of realization from an acquaintance. Word Count: 2,769 Author’s Note: I added two gifs because why not??? Are you crying yet bc I certainly am :(. Also, if you want to add more tears, listen to All I Want by Kodaline then listen to I Won’t Let You Go by James Morrison while reading this. It’ll definitely hit you right in the feels. Also, I used some familiar quotes from Grey’s Anatomy so that solely belongs to Shonda Rhimes.  Tag list: @memphisgirl1977​ , @clinicalkayla​ , @lostxwanderess , @negan--is--god , @trashforwinchesters​ , @heartfulloffandoms

Gif belongs to @heartfulloffandoms and @mypapawinchester

“So, I told my mom about you.” I tell him, looking at the ships on the board game. We have been avoiding the subject of our last argument, but I knew Denny was still upset. He didn’t show it often, but I could tell when his demeanor changed when a nurse came in to check his vitals.

Denny looks over at me, smiling softly. “Oh, yeah? What’d she say?”

“She wants to meet you. I don’t usually tell her about my boyfriends because she tends to bring up the subject of marriage all the time. She married young. Had me young. I guess she assumed I would follow in her footsteps.”

One of the things I enjoyed about my relationship with Denny was that we were able to talk to one another without having to worry about what the other may think. Bringing up marriage was a risk I was willing to take. Besides, it didn’t seem like he was going to run away at the mention of long-term commitment.

“What exactly is young?” Denny asks.

“She had me when she was nineteen then married my dad a year later.”

Denny arches a brow, smiling. “So, you’ve got a young mom?”

I playfully smack his upper arm, shaking my head. “Don’t get any ideas. You’re mine and she’s still happily married.”

Denny takes my hand, kissing my knuckles gently. I stare into his eyes, instantly noticing the twinkle it always seemed to hold in his brown orbs.

“I’m joking. Besides, I like them young,” he winks.

I laugh quietly, dropping my eyes to my ships on the board.

“We’re not that far apart in age, you know.”

“But you’re younger than me regardless, so your argument is moot point.” Denny grins pride fully; he always loved being right.

“Oh, shush. B7,” I say, looking up at him to see if I were to finally hit one of his ships.

“Miss. Again. Come on. Get outta your head and pay attention. What the hell are you thinking about, woman?”

I pout, looking into his eyes. “You know what, maybe you’re just better than me at board games.”

Denny laughs, nodding slightly. “That’s probably true. You’re not very good.”

Feigning a shocked expression, I widen my eyes.

“Oh, I’m definitely going to kick your ass now.”

“You’ve been saying that. I’m still waiting for it to happen,” Denny teases.

---

“I’ve got to stop by the bar to talk to Nate. I’ll be back in an hour or so, okay?” I tell Denny, looking into his eyes as I sit at the edge of his hospital bed.

He nods, staring into my eyes. It had been a couple of days since our argument and things were falling back into place. I was still aware that he was losing hope, but he said he was going to hold on a bit longer.

“All right. If you bring a deck of cards, we can play another game that I’ll win at,” he teases.

“You know, the things they say that the man should always let the woman win doesn’t apply to you, does it?”

Denny chuckles, shaking his head. “Not at all.”

“Mm, and that is why I like you.” Leaning down, I gently peck his lips. I let my fingertips run through his shaggy hair, slowly stroking it away from his face. “I’ll be back.”

“I’ll be right here,” Denny smiles.

“No stairs, okay?” I pull on my coat, retrieving my bag from the chair nearby.

Denny playfully salutes me. “Yes, doctor.

I leave his room hesitantly, glancing at him one last time before I walk to my car. Leaving him since our argument had become a tough task on its own. Leaving him alone meant he had enough time to think to himself, enough time to have his mind set on leaving, enough time for him to realize that I wasn’t worth making him stay at the hospital.

During the entire drive to the bar, I couldn’t help but let my mind drift to Denny. I knew we were running out of time and despite the LVAD giving us an ounce of hope, it wasn’t enough. Denny would continue losing hope until good news would come his way.

I walk into the bar and smile at Nate, sitting down with him. We talked about my job, about Denny. It was the first time I admitted that I loved him out loud. I put it out in the world rather than keep it bottled in.

“He’s going to hurt you, Jess.” Nate says.

I shake my head, “Then I’m willing to take that risk. I’ve all he’s got right now. He’s it, Nate. I love him.”

“You barely know him. You’ve been with him for three months at the latest. How can you love this man?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. In the back of my mind, I knew that he was simply just looking out for me. I knew many of my friends and family were worried about me investing my entire time to a man who didn’t have a guaranteed future.

“He has this natural twinkle in his eyes whenever he would look at me. He holds me when I’m crying, comforting me because I’m scared that at the end, he won’t be here. Denny’s smile brightens my entire world. He laughs when he gets a score of sixty-nine in Scrabble. He loves animals to the point that we had to rush him back to his hospital room because he ran so quickly to a group of therapy dogs that were visiting the hospital.

“He makes me laugh, Nate. We fall asleep talking about our goals in life, what we want to do and what we have already done. I may have spent those three months taking care of him, but I would do it over again in a damn heartbeat. He has my heart now, Nate. If you can’t understand that or what I’m doing, then don’t hold my job for me.”

I hadn’t realized that I was tearing up. I wasn’t expecting this conversation at all. From the looks of it, Nate wasn’t expecting me to get so emotional over Denny.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jess. You and Kate have a perfect dynamic. I’m just looking out for you. If he doesn’t make it, you’re going to be devastated.”

I stand up, grabbing my bag and my coat. It was time for me to leave.

“If that happens, I will deal it with it if it comes. Thanks, Nate. I’m going to go now.”

Before he could respond, Kate appears from the back of the bar and sighs. “Let me come with you! I want to see Denny, too.”

I glance over at her and nod, holding the door open for her. The ride back to the hospital was quiet. My mind was racing at the million thoughts in my head. I couldn’t even be angry at Nate for being protective of me. I was surprised that Kate hasn’t talked to me about it yet.

Once at the hospital, I immediately walk to Denny’s room. I almost forget that Kate was with me before I hear her voice, calling out for me to slow down.

“Sorry,” I tell her.

“Don’t worry about it. I get it,” she grins, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

I lean against her for support before my eyes instantly find Denny’s.

“I brought you a visitor,” I tell him, removing my coat and setting my bag down. I instantly walk to him, kissing his forehead before sitting at the edge of his bed. “Are you okay?”

Denny glances over at Kate and smiles before he turns his attention to me. “I’m fine, Jess. I’m glad you’re back, though.”

“Me too. I’m going to talk to Dr. Stevens to see about your food for today. Kate, try not to hit on my man, okay?” I tease, climbing off his bed to give her a hug.

“No promises. I forgot how handsome he was,” she teases.

I laugh quietly, leaving the room to find Dr. Stevens.

---

Denny’s POV

I see Kate look over her shoulder, watching Jess leave. I couldn’t help but feel slightly confused. Surely, she wouldn’t try anything on me. Right?

Though, when I meet her eyes, I realize why Kate was making sure Jess was gone. It seemed like she was going to have a serious talk with me.

“How are you?” She asks.

“I’m doing okay. They’ve got me on an LVAD to buy me more time. Just waiting for good news, you know?” I reply.

Kate slowly paces back and forth, her arms crossed over her chest. She looked nervous.

“Kate, what are you doing?”

“I think Jess is going to get hurt, Denny. She’s been investing too much of her time on you when it isn’t a guarantee that you’ll get a heart. I know it sounds bad, fuck, but I want to be realistic here. That night you two had an argument because you wanted to go home… She called me when you were asleep. I have never heard her cry that much in my life, Denny. Jess is my best friend and I love her,” Kate says.

My heart breaks. She was telling me to break up with Jess. The worse part of it was that I had already been considering it. I knew it was going to break her heart, but if I died, it would hurt her even more.

“Kate…”

“No, listen, Denny. I just don’t want to see my best friend hurt because of you. When Jess gets back, tell her Nate called me to go back to the bar. I’ll talk to you later.”

When she leaves my room, I stare down at the crossword puzzle that I had been working on before she got here. My mind drifts to Jess and the past three months. If it wasn’t for her optimism, I was sure that I would have been dead by now.

But I’m just tired. I told Jess I would hold on a bit longer, but what if holding on was simply prolonging the inevitable?

As I think back to the first time I met Jess and the past three months with her, I realized one thing.

I was in love with her.

She would scrunch up her nose when she laughed. She would get lost in her thoughts when she was staring at me. She would bite her lower lip in deep thought when she was trying to figure out the next word or where my battleship was placed. She would rest her cheek against my chest, listening to my heartbeat despite how irregular it sounded. She gave me hope when I lost it.

She was keeping me alive.

But I knew. The longer we hold on, the more hurt she would get when I died. And I love her too much to let her go through that pain.

Kate was right.

I had to let Jess go.

---

“Okay! I have a salad and some fruit for a Dennison Duquette!” I smile, looking around the room only to find Kate gone. “Hey, where did Kate go?”

Denny looks at me, his smile not reaching his eyes like it usually would.

“She said she had to go. Nate called her in.”

“Go figure. Fridays were always busy. Now, let’s get you fed.” I set the tray onto the table, sitting at the edge of his bed and handing him a fork.

He avoids my eyes and I couldn’t understand why. I just hoped it wouldn’t result in him telling me that he wanted to go home because I didn’t know if I could handle that conversation again.

We eat in silence. I glance at him every so often, but he doesn’t meet my gaze. Usually, we would get lost in each other’s eyes, but tonight was different.

Once we finish our food, I grab our trays and set it aside for the nurse to pick up. Denny instantly grabs the unfinished crossword puzzle before I take it from his grasp.

Again, he doesn’t look at me.

“Did Kate do something? Did she hit on you?” I tease, laughing quietly to myself in hopes that Denny would join me. When he doesn’t, I cease my attempts at trying to lighten the mood.

“Denny, what did she do?”

When his eyes finally meet mine, I take notice at how glassy it was and the tears that were now pooling at his eyes.

“Do you believe in heaven, Jess?” He asks.

I furrow my brow. “Why are you talking like this?”

“Just – Just answer the question. Please.”

“Yes, Denny. I believe in heaven.”

He simply nods. “Do you believe in karma?”

“Yeah. Denny, what’s going on?”

“I think you’re mine. That night when I saw you… I knew I shouldn’t have talked to you. I should have minded my own business, but I couldn’t.”

“Well, thank you for talking to me. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you,” I smile. When he doesn’t return it, I simply frown.

What the hell was going on?

“You’ve done more than I could have ever asked of you, Jess. I will forever be grateful for all that you’ve done for me, but… I can’t do this. Not to you.” His tears were more noticeable now and suddenly, everything made sense.

Kate must have talked to him about me.

“W – What?”

“You should go home. Go back to school. Get your job back. I’ll be fine, Jess. I’ll be all right.”

My voice quivers and tears begin to leak at the corner of my eyes. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“What if you die? What if you die and I’m not here with you? What happens then, Denny?!”

“Then I die. I’ll be all right, Jess. You don’t have to worry.”

“I did not ask for you to help me with my groceries, Denny! I did not ask to see you in this hospital three months ago! I have spent all my time giving you hope, making sure that you were okay and you want me to leave just like that? You want me to walk away like I never cared?”

“Jess –”

“What about me, Denny?! What about me when you go to the light?! What about me?!”

Tears were now rolling down my cheeks, but the more I look at Denny, the more my heart breaks.

“I’m going to be all right,” he repeats.

“No, I get it! I get it, okay? You’ll be okay, but what about me?! If you tell me to leave and you die, I will never be able to forgive you!”

“For dying?” His voice is shaky and when I meet his eyes, I realize that this was hurting him just as much as it was hurting me.

“No! For making me love you!”

Denny stares at me as if the words that just escaped my lips was something he wasn’t expecting. He stares at me and I know in that moment, he loved me too.

“Jess –”

“I am not going to let you go, Denny! Do you understand me?! Because I can’t – I can’t leave and let you die so please… Please don’t tell me to go!” My body shakes with the intensity of all my built-up emotions from today’s events and today’s conversation with Nate.

Denny gently reaches for my forearm and I allow him to pull me close. I continue to cry, wiping the tears away but it was no point. They were just going to fall.

“I’m in love with you, Denny… Please don’t tell me to go… Please…”

“Okay, okay…” His arms wrap around me and instantly, I let my face bury against my neck. My cries continue as he tries to calm me down by allowing a hand to rub along my back.

“I love you too, Jess…” He whispers into my ear.

I shut my eyes, holding onto him tightly. At his confession, I let a fresh set of tears fall from eyes. I realize that there was no turning back from this. All I could hope for was Denny to get a new heart.

When he pulls back to look at me, he places two fingers onto his lips.

“Kiss me.” Denny says.

Slowly, I lean in to let my lips press against his and allow the brief kiss to melt away both of our concerns and worries.

Right now, it was Denny and I.

No one else mattered as long as we were together.

[topfygad]

10 Things You Didn’t Know About China 10 Things You Didn’t Know About China

The People’s Republic of China is an amazing country, with an ancient history steeped in wonder and so many modern marvels to explore. This fascinating and unique country is the most populated country in the world, as well as one of the largest by land mass.

Many of the people who live here still abide by their traditional Chinese culture, but the country has always been at the forefront of innovation too, graduating more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students than any other country in recent years.

You probably already know that China is the world’s longest continuous civilization, that its Great Wall is the largest manmade structure on the planet (but contrary to popular belief, is not visible from space), and the Silk Road is the oldest and longest trade route ever; however, did you know that China is also responsible for the creation of our modern decimal and binary systems, algebra, geometry, and the discovery of the human circulatory system?

Did you also know that 1.7 million pigs are consumed daily in China and that one weird delicacy is ‘urine eggs’ which are eggs boiled for 24 hours in the urine of young boys? Neither did we! Here are ten more amazing facts about China that you probably didn’t know:

China has only one time zone

Despite being the third-largest country in the world by square mileage (China is almost as wide as the US) and technically spanning five time zones, the whole country has operated under one single time zone since 1949, when ‘Beijing Standard Time’ was made official by the Communist Party. That means when it’s 6am in Beijing, it’s also 6am across the other side of the country – even though the sun won’t rise for approximately three hours.

Most schools, transport services, and other Government services in the westernmost region of Xinjiang obey Beijing time, while many local businesses stick to their own time. This means kids are walking to school by starlight, while later, some locals are getting caught up in rush hour traffic… at 7pm!

Chinese new moms are meant to ‘sit’ for four weeks

You might have heard that couples in China need to apply for a ‘Family Planning Certificate’ to have a baby, but did you know that after the birth, new moms are customarily meant to stay in confinement for a month?

This tradition – called ‘Sitting the Month’ – involves the new mother resting in bed for a month, not exposing herself to people or any conditions that may cause stress, such as exertion, cold weather, emotional stress, and traditionally, even water!

Being physically wet was thought to pose a health risk to the mother, as she may catch a cold if she’s exposed to these elements through bathing and hair washing. Thankfully, avoiding water is less often practiced these days, but mothers (and sometimes fathers) still regularly participate.

The confinement is designed to give the mother rest and recover from the birth, ensure both her and her baby aren’t exposed to unnecessary threats, improve breastmilk production and strengthen the maternal bond.

Soccer was invented in China

The ancient Chinese not only invented paper, gunpowder, printing and the compass, but they also invented the concept of soccer (or football, if you prefer). The game of ‘cuju’ – which means ‘kick the ball with foot’ – was regularly played during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). The popularity of cuju then spread to neighboring countries and the rest is history!

You can’t access western websites in China

While China is undoubtedly a captivating country with unsurpassed beauty, fascinating history, and amazing people, the current Government don’t really want to dilute it all with western influence, so they have created a state of heavy censorship, banning many western internet sites.

If you were considering a visit to China, don’t expect to be able to browse Google, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or Reddit sites, just to name a few – these have been blocked by what many have dubbed the ‘Great Firewall of China’.

The Government have even attempted to block methods for circumventing their firewall, including blocking the use of many VPNs. Thankfully, it’s still really easy to bypass this firewall using VPNs, but only if you know which ones still work! If you want to know which VPNs to use to get through China’s firewall, visit vpnMentor’s article ‘9 Best (Still Working in 2019) VPNs for China – 3 Are FREE’ and enjoy some internet freedom in China.

The Chinese heavily censor their film industry

There is no film rating system in place in China, but that doesn’t mean it’s a haven for 12-year-olds who want to watch adults only films. Films are censored for the same reasons as the country’s internet.

Instead of ratings, there is a 36-person committee who ensure nothing untoward or inappropriate makes it through to Chinese audiences. When they find something too raunchy, violent, flamboyant or insulting to China, they simply cut the entire scene out of the film before releasing it to the public!

These cuts include the famous nude painting scene in Titanic being removed, a whole minute of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ being cut due to a man-on-man kissing scene and drug use, as well as 13 minutes of ‘Men In Black 3’ being removed because it featured an alien disguised as a Chinese person. If you’re in China and want to watch any censored films, you can use one of the VPNs mentioned here.

Chinese manners are a little different

Many countries think burping after a meal shows that the meal was delicious and is a sign of good manners, while other countries don’t blink an eye at spitting in the streets. There are also plenty of people who don’t think yawning wide or grunting are rude – in China, all of these are totally acceptable while eating!

Even more interesting is the country’s lack of diaper use. Older babies and toddlers who are able to use a potty don’t wear them. Instead, they wear special pants with a split in the rear and when they need to go potty, they squat wherever they feel like it and go. We don’t just mean outside either. It’s acceptable for the youngest Chinese citizens to poop or pee wherever they feel the need to, inside or out!

China is full of cavemen

Not really, but close! Due to inheritance, tradition and sometimes poverty and lack of affordable housing, an estimated 35 million Chinese people live in caves. The majority live in the yellow, porous cliffs and hillsides of the Loess plateau in Shaanxi province. The Government has attempted to move them on but the long-term residents love their cave homes and refuse to budge.

The Chinese do actually eat canine meat and also invented the first ice cream

Most people have heard the rumor that Chinese people eat dogs and this is actually no rumor. In the city of Yulin for one day per year, the residents celebrate the summer solstice by eating dogs bred for this purpose. The dog meat is eaten as a tradition that started 4000 years ago.

Another ancient tradition that started around the same time is the milk-based treats that the Chinese invented, made with yaks milk and rice and cooled with saltpeter (potassium nitrate) and snow poured on the outside of the containers. Yes, these were the first milk-based ice treats most similar to what we now think of today as ice cream.

The Chinese are masters of war

You may think that large gas and chemical weapons are a fairly modern invention, but the Chinese were actually the first to poison people on a mass scale, with incendiary weapons being reportedly used as early as 200BC according to Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’.

There were also reports of arsenic gas bombs being used by the Chinese as early as 1000BC and their war history is littered with similar references and hundreds of recipes for weapons of mass destruction, like the supernatural -sounding ‘soul-hunting fog’. They may have also been the first country to utilize covert spy operations, as they invented kites to gather military intelligence about 3000 years ago.

The Art of War is itself a bible of warfare tactics and many strategies from the book are still used today. While the Chinese have always been ruthless to their enemies, they aren’t completely war oriented – Shanghai was the only port in the world who were accepting Jewish people without visas during the holocaust.

China has the World’s largest army

The Chinese aren’t only masters of war historically, but they are also well-prepared for any future combat. The People’s Liberation Army boasts the largest number of soldiers on the planet, with more than 2 million soldiers. It also has the second largest defense force budget and is almost considered a military superpower.

source http://cheaprtravels.com/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-china-10-things-you-didnt-know-about-china/

[growthvue]

5 Free Tech Tools to Try in Your Social Studies Lessons

Richard Byrne on episode 225 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Richard Byrne, author of Free Technology for Teachers, was a history teacher. It shows. In today’s show, he talks about top free tech tools to try in social studies lessons. This is one to share with your history department.

Richard Byrne the author of Free Technology for Teachers has some fantastic professional development courses including a course for history / social studies teachers. Go to http://ift.tt/2lomeMO and plan your professional development for 2018.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

5 Free Tech Tools to Try in Your Social Studies Lessons

Link to show: http://ift.tt/2lZZSCC Date: January 5, 2018

Vicki: Today we have with us one of my favorite people, Richard Byrne @rmbyrne.

We’re talking about five free tech tools to try in social studies lessons!

Now, I will include a link in the show notes and in the pre- and post-roll for this podcast episode to an amazing teaching history course that Richard does have, as well as some other courses that he has online that you may want to join in.

So Richard, where do we start?

  Richard: Well, where do we start?

Richard’s Background as a History Teacher

A little bit about my background, I think, for folks who don’t know me. I taught high school social studies for the better part of ten years, and also worked in special education for a little bit.

So this course is right up my alley, or this topic is right up my alley, of Using Technology in Social Studies. That’s how I got into the educational technology field, really, was through social studies.

So I want to share a few of my favorite tools that I think… Some folks might be familiar with, and some people might be brand new to them.

So, if you don’t mind, I’ll just jump right into my first one. What do you think?

Vicki: Yep! Go for it!

Tool #1: Make Bookshelves in Google Books

  Richard: So this is one that’s right under everyone’s nose when ever they go to Google, but whenever I share it, people are like, “Oh! I didn’t know you could do that.”

It’s Google Books.

Now, there’s two versions of Google Books. There’s Google Books where you can go and buy a book.

But I’m talking about the research tool for Google Books that gives you access to millions of titles that are in the public domain. For a social studies teacher, a history teacher, who needs to give his or her student a little more access to historical articles and books, that’s a great resource. You can clip sections out of the public domain books, using the tools that are built right in to Google Books. I used to make “bookshelves” in Google Books for all my students.

You know, in my course, I’d have a 120-130 kids at a time, and our school library had about 30 books on the Civil War. So, you know, I’m a little short there.

So I’d go to Google Books, I’d make a bookshelf and I’d say, “Hey kids, here ya go. Here’s a whole bunch of resources that are public domain. You can look at them, read them online, and print them out if you want to print them.

So that’s one. And, as I said, it’s right under your nose. Just go to http://ift.tt/1nvoZJI and you can start using it.

Vicki: Yeah! And it’s so much easier now to read those books.

  Richard: Oh, yeah.

Vicki: They’re in a more readable format, than back when you were using it, right?

  Richard: Yeah. When I first started using it, you had to read it on your computer in your web browser. Now there’s an eBook option. Of course there’s a PDF download option. There’s many ways to read it that doesn’t require you to sit at your laptop or sit at your Chromebook and stare at the screen the whole day.

So that’s a really neat tool.

Tool #2: TimelineJS

Another one that is kind of an update on I would say the standard play in the social studies teachers’ playbook — and that’s the timeline project, right?

I think, going back since the dawn of time, people have been making timelines, right? TimelineJS which a free tool that your students can use, and you can use to make a multimedia timeline. The reason that I really like it?

It can be a collaborative tool. The way you build a timeline is you actually make a spreadsheet, and you just input into the spreadsheet template in TimelineJS a link to a YouTube video.

If you want to include a location in Google Maps, you can link to that. If you want to include a picture, you can link to a picture that’s in your photo album or anything that’s in the public domain.

And it’s also not restricted to AD/BC format. You could use CE/BCE, you know. It’s a very very flexible tool.

So I really like Timeline JS. And if you want to see an example of it, CNN even uses it to make some of their multimedia timelines.

So it’s a really neat tool. Free tool. Check it out.

Vicki: Very cool.

  Richard: That tool — that’s kind of a standard. The timeline is kind of a standard in our history and social studies teacher playbooks, right?

Something that’s new… and I’m really excited about. I think the entire internet is excited about right now… is Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Right?

You know, those technologies have been around for a really long time — a couple of decades they’ve been available — but now they’re much more accessible than ever before.

Tool #3: Metaverse

One of the services that I’m really excited about is a service called Metaverse.

READ my review of Metaverse

Vicki: Oh, I love it!

  Richard: Yeah, Metaverse Studio… The way that I’ve been describing it for the last six months or so is, like, it’s build your own Pokemon Go, but with an academic slant. Right?

So when I think about using Metaverse Studio in the social studies classroom, I often think about, “Could you make a historical Pokemon Go for your local community?”

Have your students build their own. Augmented Reality game in which the players go out. They look for landmarks in town, or in your county. When they get to that landmark, they get a little digital prize. And they can watch a video about that place, or they can learn more information about that place.

So if you played Pokemon Go, or if you have a child in your life who played Pokemon Go, that’s the concept behind Metaverse Studio. You can build your own game like that, and build an educational slant to it.

One of the things that those folks are doing at Metaverse Studio is they’re really trying to support teachers as much as possible. They have a fantastic Facebook page for teachers, that I’d encourage you to check out if you have a chance.

Vicki: Awesome!

  Richard: It sounds like you’ve been using it, too, Vicki!

Vicki: My students started programming in Augmented Reality in November. And I’ve done some work for Metaverse, and I’ll disclose that. But I love it. It’s just fantastic, and there’s all kinds of potential.

Plus, there’s even some pre-packaged stuff that other teachers have created that you can play. But you know, the whole goal, as you and I often talk about, is to get the kids creating. So, love that.

OK, what’s your next?

  Richard: I’m going to go out of order from my notes, because of what you just said.

So, speaking of creating…

Vicki: (laughs)

Tool #4: Google Expeditions

  Richard: … when it comes to Virtual Reality, you know it’s great to sit back and take kids on a Google Expedition, which was going to be one of the things I was going to talk about anyway. Google Expeditions is great. You can show kids places that can’t be displayed in a 2D format. You know, a flat map is great, but going and looking at it in Google Expeditions? That’s a whole nother experience. Right?

Tool #5: Google Cardboard Camera App

But… I want kids to create things. So I like the Google Cardboard Camera App, and the Streetview App, particularly the Streetview App is you have access to a 360 camera. (If you don’t, it’s still an awesome spp. But the Google Cardboard Camera app will let you and your students make your own 360 degree imagery that you can then view inside Virtual Reality in a VR Viewer or a Google Cardboard Viewer or any number of hundreds of virtual reality viewers that are on the market now.

See episode 127 Simple Virtual Reality with Google Streetview and Google Cardboard with Donnie Piercey for how he’s using these tools.

Donnie Piercey recommended the Ricoh Theta S camera

The Google Cardboard Camera app in particular, I really like because I can narrate what’s being displayed to my students. The Google Cardboard Camera app now makes it very easy to share your imagery publicly or privately. If you want to just share it with your students, and not share it with the whole world — or you want students to share it without making it public, Google Cardboard Camera app is a really neat way to do that.

And I’ll give you an example of how I’ve seen it used by a school. I visited a school in New Hampshire last summer, where the teacher had decided that for part of his geology unit, actually, he was going to have the kids go out with that app and record some 360 panoramas and talk about some geologic physical features. So there’s a little extension outside of your social studies class, with the Google Cardboard Camera app.

So those are the five great tools that I think any social studies teacher should try out in 2018 if you haven’t tried them yet.

I could go on for days, as you know, about tools that are free and available with cool features. But I think those five, if you’re a social studies teacher who is looking to infuse some new things this school year and the new calendar year, that’s a good place to start.

Vicki: So Richard, as we finish up, I will link to the course in the Shownotes. I am recommending your history course with technology. Tell us a little bit about the course.

  Richard: So the course is “Teaching History with Technology,” and it’s really based on partly my own classroom, my own social studies lessons, and then the new things that have come out since I left the classroom on a full time basis.

We go in detail, actually through all five of the tools that I mentioned today but also many, many others. It’s not just a “how to use the tool.” I’m really trying to encourage people to think about how to use the tools, and so I include examples and suggestions every week in the course on, “Here’s how this could work in your classroom. Here’s a couple of activities that I’d recommend trying out in your classroom.”

And of course, if you have any questions about it, the way that the course is formatted you just hit, “Reply,” on any module that I send to you. I’m there to answer your questions, clarify information. I’m there to help you.

So for the month of December, we have 35 people that are taking the course and they’re at various stages of completion because you can start and finish it pretty much whenever you want. If you want to start it tomorrow, you can. If you want to start it and finish it six months from now, you can do that as well. It’s really self-paced.

Vicki: Cool. So teachers, there’s lots of great tools out there that we can use. These are things we couldn’t even do before, and that’s the greatest use of technology is to be able to do things that we never could do — not just a substitute. To actually have new things and reinvent how we teach.

I will link, again, to the Shownotes. But thank you, Richard, and I love all your stuff. Keep it coming!

  Richard: Thanks, Vicki!

  Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

kymberlimulford@gmail.com

  Bio as submitted

Richard Byrne is the President of Byrne Instructional Media, LLC. which manages multiple websites and training programs for teachers. Richard is a former high school social studies teacher best known for developing the award-winning blog Free Technology for Teachers. He has been invited to speak at events on six continents and would gladly speak in Antarctica too. He also provides online training and guidance for teachers and technology coaches.

Blog: http://ift.tt/12CxJ5K

Twitter:@rmbyrne

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some links in this show are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase that a small commission will be paid to me at no additional cost to you. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post 5 Free Tech Tools to Try in Your Social Studies Lessons appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

5 Free Tech Tools to Try in Your Social Studies Lessons published first on http://ift.tt/2xx6Oyq

[succeedly]

5 Free Tech Tools to Try in Your Social Studies Lessons

Richard Byrne on episode 225 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Richard Byrne, author of Free Technology for Teachers, was a history teacher. It shows. In today’s show, he talks about top free tech tools to try in social studies lessons. This is one to share with your history department.

Richard Byrne the author of Free Technology for Teachers has some fantastic professional development courses including a course for history / social studies teachers. Go to http://ift.tt/2lomeMO and plan your professional development for 2018.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

5 Free Tech Tools to Try in Your Social Studies Lessons

Link to show: http://ift.tt/2lZZSCC Date: January 5, 2018

Vicki: Today we have with us one of my favorite people, Richard Byrne @rmbyrne.

We’re talking about five free tech tools to try in social studies lessons!

Now, I will include a link in the show notes and in the pre- and post-roll for this podcast episode to an amazing teaching history course that Richard does have, as well as some other courses that he has online that you may want to join in.

So Richard, where do we start?

  Richard: Well, where do we start?

Richard’s Background as a History Teacher

A little bit about my background, I think, for folks who don’t know me. I taught high school social studies for the better part of ten years, and also worked in special education for a little bit.

So this course is right up my alley, or this topic is right up my alley, of Using Technology in Social Studies. That’s how I got into the educational technology field, really, was through social studies.

So I want to share a few of my favorite tools that I think… Some folks might be familiar with, and some people might be brand new to them.

So, if you don’t mind, I’ll just jump right into my first one. What do you think?

Vicki: Yep! Go for it!

Tool #1: Make Bookshelves in Google Books

  Richard: So this is one that’s right under everyone’s nose when ever they go to Google, but whenever I share it, people are like, “Oh! I didn’t know you could do that.”

It’s Google Books.

Now, there’s two versions of Google Books. There’s Google Books where you can go and buy a book.

But I’m talking about the research tool for Google Books that gives you access to millions of titles that are in the public domain. For a social studies teacher, a history teacher, who needs to give his or her student a little more access to historical articles and books, that’s a great resource. You can clip sections out of the public domain books, using the tools that are built right in to Google Books. I used to make “bookshelves” in Google Books for all my students.

You know, in my course, I’d have a 120-130 kids at a time, and our school library had about 30 books on the Civil War. So, you know, I’m a little short there.

So I’d go to Google Books, I’d make a bookshelf and I’d say, “Hey kids, here ya go. Here’s a whole bunch of resources that are public domain. You can look at them, read them online, and print them out if you want to print them.

So that’s one. And, as I said, it’s right under your nose. Just go to http://ift.tt/1nvoZJI and you can start using it.

Vicki: Yeah! And it’s so much easier now to read those books.

  Richard: Oh, yeah.

Vicki: They’re in a more readable format, than back when you were using it, right?

  Richard: Yeah. When I first started using it, you had to read it on your computer in your web browser. Now there’s an eBook option. Of course there’s a PDF download option. There’s many ways to read it that doesn’t require you to sit at your laptop or sit at your Chromebook and stare at the screen the whole day.

So that’s a really neat tool.

Tool #2: TimelineJS

Another one that is kind of an update on I would say the standard play in the social studies teachers’ playbook — and that’s the timeline project, right?

I think, going back since the dawn of time, people have been making timelines, right? TimelineJS which a free tool that your students can use, and you can use to make a multimedia timeline. The reason that I really like it?

It can be a collaborative tool. The way you build a timeline is you actually make a spreadsheet, and you just input into the spreadsheet template in TimelineJS a link to a YouTube video.

If you want to include a location in Google Maps, you can link to that. If you want to include a picture, you can link to a picture that’s in your photo album or anything that’s in the public domain.

And it’s also not restricted to AD/BC format. You could use CE/BCE, you know. It’s a very very flexible tool.

So I really like Timeline JS. And if you want to see an example of it, CNN even uses it to make some of their multimedia timelines.

So it’s a really neat tool. Free tool. Check it out.

Vicki: Very cool.

  Richard: That tool — that’s kind of a standard. The timeline is kind of a standard in our history and social studies teacher playbooks, right?

Something that’s new… and I’m really excited about. I think the entire internet is excited about right now… is Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Right?

You know, those technologies have been around for a really long time — a couple of decades they’ve been available — but now they’re much more accessible than ever before.

Tool #3: Metaverse

One of the services that I’m really excited about is a service called Metaverse.

READ my review of Metaverse

Vicki: Oh, I love it!

  Richard: Yeah, Metaverse Studio… The way that I’ve been describing it for the last six months or so is, like, it’s build your own Pokemon Go, but with an academic slant. Right?

So when I think about using Metaverse Studio in the social studies classroom, I often think about, “Could you make a historical Pokemon Go for your local community?”

Have your students build their own. Augmented Reality game in which the players go out. They look for landmarks in town, or in your county. When they get to that landmark, they get a little digital prize. And they can watch a video about that place, or they can learn more information about that place.

So if you played Pokemon Go, or if you have a child in your life who played Pokemon Go, that’s the concept behind Metaverse Studio. You can build your own game like that, and build an educational slant to it.

One of the things that those folks are doing at Metaverse Studio is they’re really trying to support teachers as much as possible. They have a fantastic Facebook page for teachers, that I’d encourage you to check out if you have a chance.

Vicki: Awesome!

  Richard: It sounds like you’ve been using it, too, Vicki!

Vicki: My students started programming in Augmented Reality in November. And I’ve done some work for Metaverse, and I’ll disclose that. But I love it. It’s just fantastic, and there’s all kinds of potential.

Plus, there’s even some pre-packaged stuff that other teachers have created that you can play. But you know, the whole goal, as you and I often talk about, is to get the kids creating. So, love that.

OK, what’s your next?

  Richard: I’m going to go out of order from my notes, because of what you just said.

So, speaking of creating…

Vicki: (laughs)

Tool #4: Google Expeditions

  Richard: … when it comes to Virtual Reality, you know it’s great to sit back and take kids on a Google Expedition, which was going to be one of the things I was going to talk about anyway. Google Expeditions is great. You can show kids places that can’t be displayed in a 2D format. You know, a flat map is great, but going and looking at it in Google Expeditions? That’s a whole nother experience. Right?

Tool #5: Google Cardboard Camera App

But… I want kids to create things. So I like the Google Cardboard Camera App, and the Streetview App, particularly the Streetview App is you have access to a 360 camera. (If you don’t, it’s still an awesome spp. But the Google Cardboard Camera app will let you and your students make your own 360 degree imagery that you can then view inside Virtual Reality in a VR Viewer or a Google Cardboard Viewer or any number of hundreds of virtual reality viewers that are on the market now.

See episode 127 Simple Virtual Reality with Google Streetview and Google Cardboard with Donnie Piercey for how he’s using these tools.

Donnie Piercey recommended the Ricoh Theta S camera

The Google Cardboard Camera app in particular, I really like because I can narrate what’s being displayed to my students. The Google Cardboard Camera app now makes it very easy to share your imagery publicly or privately. If you want to just share it with your students, and not share it with the whole world — or you want students to share it without making it public, Google Cardboard Camera app is a really neat way to do that.

And I’ll give you an example of how I’ve seen it used by a school. I visited a school in New Hampshire last summer, where the teacher had decided that for part of his geology unit, actually, he was going to have the kids go out with that app and record some 360 panoramas and talk about some geologic physical features. So there’s a little extension outside of your social studies class, with the Google Cardboard Camera app.

So those are the five great tools that I think any social studies teacher should try out in 2018 if you haven’t tried them yet.

I could go on for days, as you know, about tools that are free and available with cool features. But I think those five, if you’re a social studies teacher who is looking to infuse some new things this school year and the new calendar year, that’s a good place to start.

Vicki: So Richard, as we finish up, I will link to the course in the Shownotes. I am recommending your history course with technology. Tell us a little bit about the course.

  Richard: So the course is “Teaching History with Technology,” and it’s really based on partly my own classroom, my own social studies lessons, and then the new things that have come out since I left the classroom on a full time basis.

We go in detail, actually through all five of the tools that I mentioned today but also many, many others. It’s not just a “how to use the tool.” I’m really trying to encourage people to think about how to use the tools, and so I include examples and suggestions every week in the course on, “Here’s how this could work in your classroom. Here’s a couple of activities that I’d recommend trying out in your classroom.”

And of course, if you have any questions about it, the way that the course is formatted you just hit, “Reply,” on any module that I send to you. I’m there to answer your questions, clarify information. I’m there to help you.

So for the month of December, we have 35 people that are taking the course and they’re at various stages of completion because you can start and finish it pretty much whenever you want. If you want to start it tomorrow, you can. If you want to start it and finish it six months from now, you can do that as well. It’s really self-paced.

Vicki: Cool. So teachers, there’s lots of great tools out there that we can use. These are things we couldn’t even do before, and that’s the greatest use of technology is to be able to do things that we never could do — not just a substitute. To actually have new things and reinvent how we teach.

I will link, again, to the Shownotes. But thank you, Richard, and I love all your stuff. Keep it coming!

  Richard: Thanks, Vicki!

  Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

kymberlimulford@gmail.com

  Bio as submitted

Richard Byrne is the President of Byrne Instructional Media, LLC. which manages multiple websites and training programs for teachers. Richard is a former high school social studies teacher best known for developing the award-winning blog Free Technology for Teachers. He has been invited to speak at events on six continents and would gladly speak in Antarctica too. He also provides online training and guidance for teachers and technology coaches.

Blog: http://ift.tt/12CxJ5K

Twitter:@rmbyrne

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some links in this show are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase that a small commission will be paid to me at no additional cost to you. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post 5 Free Tech Tools to Try in Your Social Studies Lessons appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

5 Free Tech Tools to Try in Your Social Studies Lessons published first on http://ift.tt/2jn9f0m

[aira26soonas]

5 Free Tech Tools to Try in Your Social Studies Lessons

Richard Byrne on episode 225 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Richard Byrne, author of Free Technology for Teachers, was a history teacher. It shows. In today’s show, he talks about top free tech tools to try in social studies lessons. This is one to share with your history department.

Richard Byrne the author of Free Technology for Teachers has some fantastic professional development courses including a course for history / social studies teachers. Go to www.coolcatteacher.com/edtech and plan your professional development for 2018.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

5 Free Tech Tools to Try in Your Social Studies Lessons

Link to show: www.coolcatteacher.com/e225 Date: January 5, 2018

Vicki: Today we have with us one of my favorite people, Richard Byrne @rmbyrne.

We’re talking about five free tech tools to try in social studies lessons!

Now, I will include a link in the show notes and in the pre- and post-roll for this podcast episode to an amazing teaching history course that Richard does have, as well as some other courses that he has online that you may want to join in.

So Richard, where do we start?

  Richard: Well, where do we start?

Richard’s Background as a History Teacher

A little bit about my background, I think, for folks who don’t know me. I taught high school social studies for the better part of ten years, and also worked in special education for a little bit.

So this course is right up my alley, or this topic is right up my alley, of Using Technology in Social Studies. That’s how I got into the educational technology field, really, was through social studies.

So I want to share a few of my favorite tools that I think… Some folks might be familiar with, and some people might be brand new to them.

So, if you don’t mind, I’ll just jump right into my first one. What do you think?

Vicki: Yep! Go for it!

Tool #1: Make Bookshelves in Google Books

  Richard: So this is one that’s right under everyone’s nose when ever they go to Google, but whenever I share it, people are like, “Oh! I didn’t know you could do that.”

It’s Google Books.

Now, there’s two versions of Google Books. There’s Google Books where you can go and buy a book.

But I’m talking about the research tool for Google Books that gives you access to millions of titles that are in the public domain. For a social studies teacher, a history teacher, who needs to give his or her student a little more access to historical articles and books, that’s a great resource. You can clip sections out of the public domain books, using the tools that are built right in to Google Books. I used to make “bookshelves” in Google Books for all my students.

You know, in my course, I’d have a 120-130 kids at a time, and our school library had about 30 books on the Civil War. So, you know, I’m a little short there.

So I’d go to Google Books, I’d make a bookshelf and I’d say, “Hey kids, here ya go. Here’s a whole bunch of resources that are public domain. You can look at them, read them online, and print them out if you want to print them.

So that’s one. And, as I said, it’s right under your nose. Just go to https://books.google.com/ and you can start using it.

Vicki: Yeah! And it’s so much easier now to read those books.

  Richard: Oh, yeah.

Vicki: They’re in a more readable format, than back when you were using it, right?

  Richard: Yeah. When I first started using it, you had to read it on your computer in your web browser. Now there’s an eBook option. Of course there’s a PDF download option. There’s many ways to read it that doesn’t require you to sit at your laptop or sit at your Chromebook and stare at the screen the whole day.

So that’s a really neat tool.

Tool #2: TimelineJS

Another one that is kind of an update on I would say the standard play in the social studies teachers’ playbook — and that’s the timeline project, right?

I think, going back since the dawn of time, people have been making timelines, right? TimelineJS which a free tool that your students can use, and you can use to make a multimedia timeline. The reason that I really like it?

It can be a collaborative tool. The way you build a timeline is you actually make a spreadsheet, and you just input into the spreadsheet template in TimelineJS a link to a YouTube video.

If you want to include a location in Google Maps, you can link to that. If you want to include a picture, you can link to a picture that’s in your photo album or anything that’s in the public domain.

And it’s also not restricted to AD/BC format. You could use CE/BCE, you know. It’s a very very flexible tool.

So I really like Timeline JS. And if you want to see an example of it, CNN even uses it to make some of their multimedia timelines.

So it’s a really neat tool. Free tool. Check it out.

Vicki: Very cool.

  Richard: That tool — that’s kind of a standard. The timeline is kind of a standard in our history and social studies teacher playbooks, right?

Something that’s new… and I’m really excited about. I think the entire internet is excited about right now… is Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Right?

You know, those technologies have been around for a really long time — a couple of decades they’ve been available — but now they’re much more accessible than ever before.

Tool #3: Metaverse

One of the services that I’m really excited about is a service called Metaverse.

READ my review of Metaverse

Vicki: Oh, I love it!

  Richard: Yeah, Metaverse Studio… The way that I’ve been describing it for the last six months or so is, like, it’s build your own Pokemon Go, but with an academic slant. Right?

So when I think about using Metaverse Studio in the social studies classroom, I often think about, “Could you make a historical Pokemon Go for your local community?”

Have your students build their own. Augmented Reality game in which the players go out. They look for landmarks in town, or in your county. When they get to that landmark, they get a little digital prize. And they can watch a video about that place, or they can learn more information about that place.

So if you played Pokemon Go, or if you have a child in your life who played Pokemon Go, that’s the concept behind Metaverse Studio. You can build your own game like that, and build an educational slant to it.

One of the things that those folks are doing at Metaverse Studio is they’re really trying to support teachers as much as possible. They have a fantastic Facebook page for teachers, that I’d encourage you to check out if you have a chance.

Vicki: Awesome!

  Richard: It sounds like you’ve been using it, too, Vicki!

Vicki: My students started programming in Augmented Reality in November. And I’ve done some work for Metaverse, and I’ll disclose that. But I love it. It’s just fantastic, and there’s all kinds of potential.

Plus, there’s even some pre-packaged stuff that other teachers have created that you can play. But you know, the whole goal, as you and I often talk about, is to get the kids creating. So, love that.

OK, what’s your next?

  Richard: I’m going to go out of order from my notes, because of what you just said.

So, speaking of creating…

Vicki: (laughs)

Tool #4: Google Expeditions

  Richard: … when it comes to Virtual Reality, you know it’s great to sit back and take kids on a Google Expedition, which was going to be one of the things I was going to talk about anyway. Google Expeditions is great. You can show kids places that can’t be displayed in a 2D format. You know, a flat map is great, but going and looking at it in Google Expeditions? That’s a whole nother experience. Right?

Tool #5: Google Cardboard Camera App

But… I want kids to create things. So I like the Google Cardboard Camera App, and the Streetview App, particularly the Streetview App is you have access to a 360 camera. (If you don’t, it’s still an awesome spp. But the Google Cardboard Camera app will let you and your students make your own 360 degree imagery that you can then view inside Virtual Reality in a VR Viewer or a Google Cardboard Viewer or any number of hundreds of virtual reality viewers that are on the market now.

See episode 127 Simple Virtual Reality with Google Streetview and Google Cardboard with Donnie Piercey for how he’s using these tools.

Donnie Piercey recommended the Ricoh Theta S camera

The Google Cardboard Camera app in particular, I really like because I can narrate what’s being displayed to my students. The Google Cardboard Camera app now makes it very easy to share your imagery publicly or privately. If you want to just share it with your students, and not share it with the whole world — or you want students to share it without making it public, Google Cardboard Camera app is a really neat way to do that.

And I’ll give you an example of how I’ve seen it used by a school. I visited a school in New Hampshire last summer, where the teacher had decided that for part of his geology unit, actually, he was going to have the kids go out with that app and record some 360 panoramas and talk about some geologic physical features. So there’s a little extension outside of your social studies class, with the Google Cardboard Camera app.

So those are the five great tools that I think any social studies teacher should try out in 2018 if you haven’t tried them yet.

I could go on for days, as you know, about tools that are free and available with cool features. But I think those five, if you’re a social studies teacher who is looking to infuse some new things this school year and the new calendar year, that’s a good place to start.

Vicki: So Richard, as we finish up, I will link to the course in the Shownotes. I am recommending your history course with technology. Tell us a little bit about the course.

  Richard: So the course is “Teaching History with Technology,” and it’s really based on partly my own classroom, my own social studies lessons, and then the new things that have come out since I left the classroom on a full time basis.

We go in detail, actually through all five of the tools that I mentioned today but also many, many others. It’s not just a “how to use the tool.” I’m really trying to encourage people to think about how to use the tools, and so I include examples and suggestions every week in the course on, “Here’s how this could work in your classroom. Here’s a couple of activities that I’d recommend trying out in your classroom.”

And of course, if you have any questions about it, the way that the course is formatted you just hit, “Reply,” on any module that I send to you. I’m there to answer your questions, clarify information. I’m there to help you.

So for the month of December, we have 35 people that are taking the course and they’re at various stages of completion because you can start and finish it pretty much whenever you want. If you want to start it tomorrow, you can. If you want to start it and finish it six months from now, you can do that as well. It’s really self-paced.

Vicki: Cool. So teachers, there’s lots of great tools out there that we can use. These are things we couldn’t even do before, and that’s the greatest use of technology is to be able to do things that we never could do — not just a substitute. To actually have new things and reinvent how we teach.

I will link, again, to the Shownotes. But thank you, Richard, and I love all your stuff. Keep it coming!

  Richard: Thanks, Vicki!

  Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

kymberlimulford@gmail.com

  Bio as submitted

Richard Byrne is the President of Byrne Instructional Media, LLC. which manages multiple websites and training programs for teachers. Richard is a former high school social studies teacher best known for developing the award-winning blog Free Technology for Teachers. He has been invited to speak at events on six continents and would gladly speak in Antarctica too. He also provides online training and guidance for teachers and technology coaches.

Blog: http://practicaledtech.com

Twitter:@rmbyrne

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some links in this show are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase that a small commission will be paid to me at no additional cost to you. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post 5 Free Tech Tools to Try in Your Social Studies Lessons appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://www.coolcatteacher.com/5-free-tech-tools-try-social-studies-lessons/

[topfygad]

10 Things You Didn’t Know About China 10 Things You Didn’t Know About China

The People’s Republic of China is an amazing country, with an ancient history steeped in wonder and so many modern marvels to explore. This fascinating and unique country is the most populated country in the world, as well as one of the largest by land mass.

Many of the people who live here still abide by their traditional Chinese culture, but the country has always been at the forefront of innovation too, graduating more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students than any other country in recent years.

You probably already know that China is the world’s longest continuous civilization, that its Great Wall is the largest manmade structure on the planet (but contrary to popular belief, is not visible from space), and the Silk Road is the oldest and longest trade route ever; however, did you know that China is also responsible for the creation of our modern decimal and binary systems, algebra, geometry, and the discovery of the human circulatory system?

Did you also know that 1.7 million pigs are consumed daily in China and that one weird delicacy is ‘urine eggs’ which are eggs boiled for 24 hours in the urine of young boys? Neither did we! Here are ten more amazing facts about China that you probably didn’t know:

China has only one time zone

Despite being the third-largest country in the world by square mileage (China is almost as wide as the US) and technically spanning five time zones, the whole country has operated under one single time zone since 1949, when ‘Beijing Standard Time’ was made official by the Communist Party. That means when it’s 6am in Beijing, it’s also 6am across the other side of the country – even though the sun won’t rise for approximately three hours.

Most schools, transport services, and other Government services in the westernmost region of Xinjiang obey Beijing time, while many local businesses stick to their own time. This means kids are walking to school by starlight, while later, some locals are getting caught up in rush hour traffic… at 7pm!

Chinese new moms are meant to ‘sit’ for four weeks

You might have heard that couples in China need to apply for a ‘Family Planning Certificate’ to have a baby, but did you know that after the birth, new moms are customarily meant to stay in confinement for a month?

This tradition – called ‘Sitting the Month’ – involves the new mother resting in bed for a month, not exposing herself to people or any conditions that may cause stress, such as exertion, cold weather, emotional stress, and traditionally, even water!

Being physically wet was thought to pose a health risk to the mother, as she may catch a cold if she’s exposed to these elements through bathing and hair washing. Thankfully, avoiding water is less often practiced these days, but mothers (and sometimes fathers) still regularly participate.

The confinement is designed to give the mother rest and recover from the birth, ensure both her and her baby aren’t exposed to unnecessary threats, improve breastmilk production and strengthen the maternal bond.

Soccer was invented in China

The ancient Chinese not only invented paper, gunpowder, printing and the compass, but they also invented the concept of soccer (or football, if you prefer). The game of ‘cuju’ – which means ‘kick the ball with foot’ – was regularly played during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). The popularity of cuju then spread to neighboring countries and the rest is history!

You can’t access western websites in China

While China is undoubtedly a captivating country with unsurpassed beauty, fascinating history, and amazing people, the current Government don’t really want to dilute it all with western influence, so they have created a state of heavy censorship, banning many western internet sites.

If you were considering a visit to China, don’t expect to be able to browse Google, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or Reddit sites, just to name a few – these have been blocked by what many have dubbed the ‘Great Firewall of China’.

The Government have even attempted to block methods for circumventing their firewall, including blocking the use of many VPNs. Thankfully, it’s still really easy to bypass this firewall using VPNs, but only if you know which ones still work! If you want to know which VPNs to use to get through China’s firewall, visit vpnMentor’s article ‘9 Best (Still Working in 2019) VPNs for China – 3 Are FREE’ and enjoy some internet freedom in China.

The Chinese heavily censor their film industry

There is no film rating system in place in China, but that doesn’t mean it’s a haven for 12-year-olds who want to watch adults only films. Films are censored for the same reasons as the country’s internet.

Instead of ratings, there is a 36-person committee who ensure nothing untoward or inappropriate makes it through to Chinese audiences. When they find something too raunchy, violent, flamboyant or insulting to China, they simply cut the entire scene out of the film before releasing it to the public!

These cuts include the famous nude painting scene in Titanic being removed, a whole minute of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ being cut due to a man-on-man kissing scene and drug use, as well as 13 minutes of ‘Men In Black 3’ being removed because it featured an alien disguised as a Chinese person. If you’re in China and want to watch any censored films, you can use one of the VPNs mentioned here.

Chinese manners are a little different

Many countries think burping after a meal shows that the meal was delicious and is a sign of good manners, while other countries don’t blink an eye at spitting in the streets. There are also plenty of people who don’t think yawning wide or grunting are rude – in China, all of these are totally acceptable while eating!

Even more interesting is the country’s lack of diaper use. Older babies and toddlers who are able to use a potty don’t wear them. Instead, they wear special pants with a split in the rear and when they need to go potty, they squat wherever they feel like it and go. We don’t just mean outside either. It’s acceptable for the youngest Chinese citizens to poop or pee wherever they feel the need to, inside or out!

China is full of cavemen

Not really, but close! Due to inheritance, tradition and sometimes poverty and lack of affordable housing, an estimated 35 million Chinese people live in caves. The majority live in the yellow, porous cliffs and hillsides of the Loess plateau in Shaanxi province. The Government has attempted to move them on but the long-term residents love their cave homes and refuse to budge.

The Chinese do actually eat canine meat and also invented the first ice cream

Most people have heard the rumor that Chinese people eat dogs and this is actually no rumor. In the city of Yulin for one day per year, the residents celebrate the summer solstice by eating dogs bred for this purpose. The dog meat is eaten as a tradition that started 4000 years ago.

Another ancient tradition that started around the same time is the milk-based treats that the Chinese invented, made with yaks milk and rice and cooled with saltpeter (potassium nitrate) and snow poured on the outside of the containers. Yes, these were the first milk-based ice treats most similar to what we now think of today as ice cream.

The Chinese are masters of war

You may think that large gas and chemical weapons are a fairly modern invention, but the Chinese were actually the first to poison people on a mass scale, with incendiary weapons being reportedly used as early as 200BC according to Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’.

There were also reports of arsenic gas bombs being used by the Chinese as early as 1000BC and their war history is littered with similar references and hundreds of recipes for weapons of mass destruction, like the supernatural -sounding ‘soul-hunting fog’. They may have also been the first country to utilize covert spy operations, as they invented kites to gather military intelligence about 3000 years ago.

The Art of War is itself a bible of warfare tactics and many strategies from the book are still used today. While the Chinese have always been ruthless to their enemies, they aren’t completely war oriented – Shanghai was the only port in the world who were accepting Jewish people without visas during the holocaust.

China has the World’s largest army

The Chinese aren’t only masters of war historically, but they are also well-prepared for any future combat. The People’s Liberation Army boasts the largest number of soldiers on the planet, with more than 2 million soldiers. It also has the second largest defense force budget and is almost considered a military superpower.

from Cheapr Travels https://ift.tt/33LFXLZ via IFTTT

[topfygad]

10 Things You Didn’t Know About China 10 Things You Didn’t Know About China

The People’s Republic of China is an amazing country, with an ancient history steeped in wonder and so many modern marvels to explore. This fascinating and unique country is the most populated country in the world, as well as one of the largest by land mass.

Many of the people who live here still abide by their traditional Chinese culture, but the country has always been at the forefront of innovation too, graduating more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students than any other country in recent years.

You probably already know that China is the world’s longest continuous civilization, that its Great Wall is the largest manmade structure on the planet (but contrary to popular belief, is not visible from space), and the Silk Road is the oldest and longest trade route ever; however, did you know that China is also responsible for the creation of our modern decimal and binary systems, algebra, geometry, and the discovery of the human circulatory system?

Did you also know that 1.7 million pigs are consumed daily in China and that one weird delicacy is ‘urine eggs’ which are eggs boiled for 24 hours in the urine of young boys? Neither did we! Here are ten more amazing facts about China that you probably didn’t know:

China has only one time zone

Despite being the third-largest country in the world by square mileage (China is almost as wide as the US) and technically spanning five time zones, the whole country has operated under one single time zone since 1949, when ‘Beijing Standard Time’ was made official by the Communist Party. That means when it’s 6am in Beijing, it’s also 6am across the other side of the country – even though the sun won’t rise for approximately three hours.

Most schools, transport services, and other Government services in the westernmost region of Xinjiang obey Beijing time, while many local businesses stick to their own time. This means kids are walking to school by starlight, while later, some locals are getting caught up in rush hour traffic… at 7pm!

Chinese new moms are meant to ‘sit’ for four weeks

You might have heard that couples in China need to apply for a ‘Family Planning Certificate’ to have a baby, but did you know that after the birth, new moms are customarily meant to stay in confinement for a month?

This tradition – called ‘Sitting the Month’ – involves the new mother resting in bed for a month, not exposing herself to people or any conditions that may cause stress, such as exertion, cold weather, emotional stress, and traditionally, even water!

Being physically wet was thought to pose a health risk to the mother, as she may catch a cold if she’s exposed to these elements through bathing and hair washing. Thankfully, avoiding water is less often practiced these days, but mothers (and sometimes fathers) still regularly participate.

The confinement is designed to give the mother rest and recover from the birth, ensure both her and her baby aren’t exposed to unnecessary threats, improve breastmilk production and strengthen the maternal bond.

Soccer was invented in China

The ancient Chinese not only invented paper, gunpowder, printing and the compass, but they also invented the concept of soccer (or football, if you prefer). The game of ‘cuju’ – which means ‘kick the ball with foot’ – was regularly played during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). The popularity of cuju then spread to neighboring countries and the rest is history!

You can’t access western websites in China

While China is undoubtedly a captivating country with unsurpassed beauty, fascinating history, and amazing people, the current Government don’t really want to dilute it all with western influence, so they have created a state of heavy censorship, banning many western internet sites.

If you were considering a visit to China, don’t expect to be able to browse Google, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or Reddit sites, just to name a few – these have been blocked by what many have dubbed the ‘Great Firewall of China’.

The Government have even attempted to block methods for circumventing their firewall, including blocking the use of many VPNs. Thankfully, it’s still really easy to bypass this firewall using VPNs, but only if you know which ones still work! If you want to know which VPNs to use to get through China’s firewall, visit vpnMentor’s article ‘9 Best (Still Working in 2019) VPNs for China – 3 Are FREE’ and enjoy some internet freedom in China.

The Chinese heavily censor their film industry

There is no film rating system in place in China, but that doesn’t mean it’s a haven for 12-year-olds who want to watch adults only films. Films are censored for the same reasons as the country’s internet.

Instead of ratings, there is a 36-person committee who ensure nothing untoward or inappropriate makes it through to Chinese audiences. When they find something too raunchy, violent, flamboyant or insulting to China, they simply cut the entire scene out of the film before releasing it to the public!

These cuts include the famous nude painting scene in Titanic being removed, a whole minute of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ being cut due to a man-on-man kissing scene and drug use, as well as 13 minutes of ‘Men In Black 3’ being removed because it featured an alien disguised as a Chinese person. If you’re in China and want to watch any censored films, you can use one of the VPNs mentioned here.

Chinese manners are a little different

Many countries think burping after a meal shows that the meal was delicious and is a sign of good manners, while other countries don’t blink an eye at spitting in the streets. There are also plenty of people who don’t think yawning wide or grunting are rude – in China, all of these are totally acceptable while eating!

Even more interesting is the country’s lack of diaper use. Older babies and toddlers who are able to use a potty don’t wear them. Instead, they wear special pants with a split in the rear and when they need to go potty, they squat wherever they feel like it and go. We don’t just mean outside either. It’s acceptable for the youngest Chinese citizens to poop or pee wherever they feel the need to, inside or out!

China is full of cavemen

Not really, but close! Due to inheritance, tradition and sometimes poverty and lack of affordable housing, an estimated 35 million Chinese people live in caves. The majority live in the yellow, porous cliffs and hillsides of the Loess plateau in Shaanxi province. The Government has attempted to move them on but the long-term residents love their cave homes and refuse to budge.

The Chinese do actually eat canine meat and also invented the first ice cream

Most people have heard the rumor that Chinese people eat dogs and this is actually no rumor. In the city of Yulin for one day per year, the residents celebrate the summer solstice by eating dogs bred for this purpose. The dog meat is eaten as a tradition that started 4000 years ago.

Another ancient tradition that started around the same time is the milk-based treats that the Chinese invented, made with yaks milk and rice and cooled with saltpeter (potassium nitrate) and snow poured on the outside of the containers. Yes, these were the first milk-based ice treats most similar to what we now think of today as ice cream.

The Chinese are masters of war

You may think that large gas and chemical weapons are a fairly modern invention, but the Chinese were actually the first to poison people on a mass scale, with incendiary weapons being reportedly used as early as 200BC according to Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’.

There were also reports of arsenic gas bombs being used by the Chinese as early as 1000BC and their war history is littered with similar references and hundreds of recipes for weapons of mass destruction, like the supernatural -sounding ‘soul-hunting fog’. They may have also been the first country to utilize covert spy operations, as they invented kites to gather military intelligence about 3000 years ago.

The Art of War is itself a bible of warfare tactics and many strategies from the book are still used today. While the Chinese have always been ruthless to their enemies, they aren’t completely war oriented – Shanghai was the only port in the world who were accepting Jewish people without visas during the holocaust.

China has the World’s largest army

The Chinese aren’t only masters of war historically, but they are also well-prepared for any future combat. The People’s Liberation Army boasts the largest number of soldiers on the planet, with more than 2 million soldiers. It also has the second largest defense force budget and is almost considered a military superpower.

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