#this is probably the last individual post in comparisons. i want to write an overview one that'll sum up everything plus couple extras

[verycharismaticdragon]

on miscommunications in SHL, from perspective of the novel's fan

As some of you already know, I wrote quite a few posts comparing TYK and SHL; of them, several were critical of the show – mostly ones talking about changes made to the main ship’s dynamic in adaptation. I have talked about SHL creating a difference in morality between Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing where there was none in the novel, and about it pushing the senior-junior dynamic when the novel highlighted several times they see each other as equals (last section of this post); but I had trouble approaching what I see as the biggest flaw in SHL’s portrayal, the thing that ultimately ensured I could not view show WenZhou as the same ship I adored and rooted for in the novel.

Miscommunications.

Constant miscommunications. That lasted all the way to the finale and were never resolved. I already talked about the problem with that from a perspective of treating the show as a stand-alone thing (last two paragraphs in this post), but when considered that way, it’s only a failure to stick the landing on a relationship arc.

However, from a perspective of SHL being an adaptation of TYK, having WenZhou constantly misunderstand each other like that... pretty much inverts their original dynamic. In-story, it removes the very foundation of their relationship, the thing that drew them to each other and ensured they wanted to stay together; out-of-story, it sorely misses one of the main appeal points of the ship.

Novel WenZhou simply get each other. During their first meeting, before they even interact once, Wen Kexing can tell at a glance that Zhou Zishu is not a beggar but merely sunbathing; and Zhou Zishu thinks to himself, amused, that in the vast sea of people he still unexpectedly met a zhiji, the one who understood.

It is not that they completely live in each other’s heads, of course; Wen Kexing initially follows Zhou Zishu because he suspects the latter might be after the Lapis Armor, while Zhou Zishu spends much of a novel trying to determine how serious Wen Kexing’s flirting is – but in general, they never once have a serious falling out. There are even a few scenes that look like they are setting up a misunderstanding, only for the novel to subvert that expectation – my favorite example of this is Zhou Zishu learning that Wen Kexing set fire to Zhang Chengling's room:

Zhou Zishu lifted his wine pot and poured himself the last drops. He didn’t mention the fire. He knew without doubt that if Wen Kexing ever wanted to kill Zhang Chengling, that would be as easy to him as crushing an ant; there was no need to create a whole commotion with the fire and choose the moment one was absent to execute it. It was not a case of malice, but rather a warning. (chapter 25, sparklingwater tl)

This mutual understanding is the first thing the novel establishes for the relationship, and it remains a constant throughout; it is not that novel WenZhou's dynamic is without tension or growth, it is just that the tension is maintained via other means, and growth happens in other areas. This aspect of the dynamic serves instead as a 'hook', both for the characters and for the reader: it is the reason WenZhou can’t let go of each other, and it is the reason we readers want them to be together, root for them.

(continuing under cut)

And initially, the show seems to set up the same dynamic: there’s the same ‘he’s just sunbathing’ first meeting, there’s Wen Kexing softly whispering “I think of you as my zhiji…” – except then it is all but tossed out in favor of dramatic ‘break-ups’ over things that wouldn’t (didn’t, in some cases) make novel WenZhou bat an eye, misunderstandings, hiding things from each other and outright lying, making decisions for each other – which continues all the way to the finale. So it’s not even that the show makes them work for that mutual understanding that comes naturally to their novel counterparts; literally the last thing we see of show WenZhou in the finale is Wen Kexing forcing onto Zhou Zishu the kind of life Zhou Zishu flat out refused before (“I would rather live freely for ten days than live against my own will for ten years”, episode 14) by lying to him – if there was a way to land further away from novel's dynamic, I cannot think of it. And even though the special then shows the couple happy and in sync, it’s only believable because ‘couple solves their misunderstandings, lives happily ever after’ is a storytelling staple, and we naturally use it to bridge the gap between the finale and the special – but that arc isn't actually in the show, isn't even really set up by the show (have they ever solved any of their misunderstandings without outside intervention?..), and looking only at what’s there, the insistent use of the word zhiji begins to feel inapt, as the couple miscommunicates again and again.

Putting aside what picture that paints for the show as its own thing, those misunderstandings also actively contradict the dynamic set up in the novel. As in, some of them rewrite actual scenes from the novel to feature ~drama~ that was never there, while others have characters react to situations analogous to those in the novel in completely different ways. To demonstrate, I’m going to go through the moments that threw me off when watching, pointing out the discrepancies with the novel’s portrayal.

• I have mentioned episode 9’s “I didn’t realize that you’re actually crazy” scene enough times already, but I’d be remiss to pass it over. Even putting aside the uncomfortable implications of it when compared to Zhou Zishu’s falling out with his shidi in Qi Ye, the scene remains deeply OOC. As I mentioned in the beginning of this meta, Zhou Zishu was even willing to calmly and rationally think about Wen Kexing’s motives when it concerned Chengling’s life, why would he be so disturbed by deaths of random strangers who clearly walked into a trap by their own stupidity? Tian Ya Ke Zishu doesn’t even bat an eye knowing that Wen Kexing’s revenge plot entails wiping out a huge percentage of jianghu ‘heroes’ after luring them into the Ghost Valley, just makes plans to go pick him up after the bloodbath. The show, understandably, couldn’t go this far; but to have Zhou Zishu take a stand for morality and justice here, when what Wen Kexing did is not in any way worse than what he himself has been doing with Tian Chuang, to have him react so emotionally before taking even a moment to consider why Wen Kexing would do it… For all that pretty talk about soulmates, show Zhou Zishu doesn’t even take one step of comparing Wen Kexing’s actions to his own and wondering if Wen Kexing, similarly to himself in the past, believes he is doing those bad things for good reasons.

Honestly, if I ever seem biased towards show Wen Kexing, this scene is why. No matter how outwardly confident he acts, this scene was him extending trust; he truly believed Zhou Zishu would be his zhiji, the one who’d understand his everything, but… learned that part of him was unacceptable even to this person – that even the leader of Tian Chuang, the man who commanded assassins and spies and was the first among them, found him to be a monster. And it’s just so sad, especially when compared to the novel? Where Wen Kexing can explain to Zhou Zishu how he is the most dangerous Valley Master in history, having kept the position for eight years when no one else lasted more than three, having killed all who stood against him, and Zhou Zishu will tell him he’d take him away and keep him? Where Wen Kexing can bite Zhou Zishu bloody, and Zhou Zishu will just laughingly call him a madman and then cuddle with him to sleep?

Novel Wen Kexing can show the worst of himself and still be accepted; show Wen Kexing barely does anything and faces immediate rejection. Isn’t it kind of tragic?

But enough about this one. To conclude, the show chooses to create a high-emotion ‘break-up’ scene here, completely overwriting the original characterization and dynamic for it.

• Next scene is in episode 13, and some of the dialogue in it – “Is your surname Rong?” – “My surname is not Rong. I'm angry that I didn't get a chance to see that guy surnamed Rong; otherwise, I would kill him whenever I see him” – is taken near word-for-word from the novel (though in the novel these lines are part of a different scene). However, Wen Kexing’s reaction of angrily walking out afterwards is show-only; in the novel, Zhou Zishu says “Oh? I’ve guessed wrongly then,” and they continue on with the conversation. Moreover, there are only a couple instances in the novel when Wen Kexing gets in any way angry at Zishu (and one of them is out of worry, scolding Zishu while tending to his injury), and about… four moments when Wen Kexing is the first to walk away, none of them in anger. Show Wen Kexing’s irritation seems to stem from Zishu trying to ‘trick’ him into an answer; but trying to outsmart each other into revealing their true identities is actually something novel WenZhou play at with great relish during early chapters. And even that one time Zhou Zishu goes too far with that, Wen Kexing’s reaction is to try and one-up him, not walk away (obviously the exact method of one-upment couldn’t make it into the show, but the general idea of Wen Kexing reacting to provocation with a provocation of his own could’ve been kept I think).

And sure, for show Wen Kexing this reaction might not’ve been out of character; after all, this version of him is more immature and impulsive. But when coming from the perspective of the novel’s setup, this just looks like making up a problem out of thin air.

• The next scene that had gotten unexpectedly argumentative is the conversation in episode 14, after the fight with Ye Baiyi and before Wen Kexing runs off into the rain to grieve on his own.

Thing is, I think the change in Zishu’s response in the show does make some sense, but this scene still fits into a bigger pattern of creating confrontations where there was none, so I’m including it.

So, in the novel, Ye Baiyi actually tells Zhou Zishu that he doesn’t have a way to treat his injury. And Zishu didn’t really expect him to, so for him, nothing changes – while Wen Kexing learns that the person he’s come to love will die soon. The following scene is Wen Kexing trying to process that sudden, unexpected grief, while Zhou Zishu remains stable (if confused by Wen Kexing’s emotional reaction). The method suggested by Ye Baiyi in the show is brought up later in the novel by Wu Xi, however. And at that time, Zhou Zishu actually held some hope – except then he learns what that method entails, and realizes he can’t accept the price. So that hope only hurts him – he even thinks he’d rather not have had any. But Wen Kexing, by this time, have already lived with the grief of eventual loss for some time, so his reaction is less overt than in the rain scene, and he can give Zishu the space to process his feelings without bringing up his own.

The show, however, rolls these scenes into one. So on one side we have grief-stricken Wen Kexing, and on the other side we have Zhou Zishu who’d just had his hope snuffed out, both of them trying to process their respective pains at the same time. Thus Zhou Zishu going “I'm the one about to die. [...] Whom are you acting sad for?” in response to Wen Kexing’s monologuing; he is too caught in his own raw emotions to be gentle with Wen Kexing’s.

It does make sense, as I said; but I do wonder how necessary it was to combine those scenes. Aside from making WenZhou have another ‘break-up’, another shift it fits with is the compression of the novel’s character arc for Zhou Zishu into the first half of the show. Which I think was to make room for the character beats brought on by additions of Four Seasons Manor and Prince Jin subplots, but unfortunately, ended up creating a bit of a dead space for Zhou Zishu’s character in the finale, as he ends up standing sadly to the side for much of it while other characters do their things, a guest in his own story. So in the end, I can’t say the changes to this scene do any good work; and again, it feels like creating confrontation for its own sake.

• Then, episode 15 features yet another ‘break-up’. Zhou Zishu tries to convince Wen Kexing to “not let the hatred blind [his] eyes and affect [his] judgment on the Five Lakes Alliance”; then, when it becomes clear Wen Kexing will not be moved, goes “Alright. We walk different paths. I can't persuade you. Do whatever you want. Let's go our separate ways.”

Thing is… this difference of opinion is entirely fostered by changes to characterization made in the show. Novel Wen Kexing’s plot is set up in such a way that whoever his enemy is, he will eventually deliver himself into Wen Kexing’s trap; more importantly, it is designed in such way that Wen Kexing does not have to scheme and commit atrocities in the human world, as his enemies drown jianghu in blood all on their own. So there is no such moment where Wen Kexing explicitly shows bloodthirst and hatred towards the five among whom his enemy is hidden, or creates extra trouble for them; he just waits around for the domino pieces to finish falling. At the same time, novel Zhou Zishu would not defend any of those jianghu ‘heroes’ either; he is all too well aware of their skeletons, and even more aware of his own. Could a man who exterminated a whole household down to the little child, not for any crime but simply to set up a political opponent, really rebuke anyone for the innocent collateral of their plans?

• The next scene is in episode 17, with another conversation from the novel taking an odd turn. Here’s how it goes in the novel:

(chapter 45, tl wenbuxing)

(after this, Wen Kexing turns away to bully– ahem, help Zhang Chengling with his training; the conversation between WenZhou doesn’t continue further)

The show’s conversation starts similarly:

“Does it hurt?” – “Why don't you give it a try?” – “Look. It's been so many years, I've only met you, a friend with similar ideas. Can you not die?”

But then it continues with Zhou Zishu turning away as he says “I'll try my best,” instead of novel Zishu’s more candid answer, and Wen Kexing notices too: “Turn around. Look at me. Say it again,” to which Zhou Zishu shoots back with, well: “I don't want to look at you. I can't stand your pretentious actions, hiding behind a mask and not being truthful at all.”

Once again, a scene in the novel that didn’t include any arguing suddenly becomes some kind of confrontation in the show.

• I already wrote about the show adding a whole arc of Wen Kexing hiding his identity as the Valley Master; that post goes into more detail, but in short, this is a misunderstanding created out of the situation the novel originally used to demonstrate how well-matched WenZhou are. Novel WenZhou confirm that both of them already know each other’s identities soon after the rain scene, in one conversation. However, in the show, Wen Kexing feels the need to hide his identity, completely missing Zhou Zishu’s hints that he already figured it out – while Zhou Zishu doesn’t seem to get that Wen Kexing’s reluctance is a direct result of his previous actions, and keeps waiting for Wen Kexing to open up of his own will. This creates a multi-episode stalemate that lasts until Ye Baiyi shows up and forces the issue.

• Then there is, of course, Wen Kexing leaving Zhou Zishu with a white lie as he returns to the Ghost Valley in episode 31, saying he only needs to pick something up while in truth he is making preparations to finish his revenge. In the novel, Wen Kexing doesn’t even need to say anything – Zhou Zishu had long figured out the general outline of his scheme. All he says is that he’s going, and Zhou Zishu already knows where and for what.

And this is also the reason why the misunderstanding in episode 32, with Zhou Zishu thinking Wen Kexing is in trouble and leaping to his defense, rings so untrue when coming from the novel; how come Zhou Zishu hadn’t figured Wen Kexing’s plan, or at least that there is a plan? Aren’t they supposed to be a matched pair of masterminds? (Of course, the situation is not OOC for the show's iteration of the characters…)

• Then, after Wen Kexing returns, we hit another misunderstanding, somewhat similar to the Valley Master arc but this time with Zishu hiding things: Zhou Zishu does not tell Wen Kexing he had removed the nails and has days to live at best, while Wen Kexing seems to either miss or misinterpret his obvious distress, never even asking what’s wrong. This, again, doesn’t mesh with the novel dynamic: Wen Kexing is attentive enough to catch even smallest signs of Zishu’s pain, even when the latter puts on a tough facade or thinks it’s no big deal, and quick to take care of him; while Zhou Zishu, once he begins to entertain the possibility Wen Kexing might be serious with his advances, never sugarcoats his situation with the nails, never gives Wen Kexing any false hopes or promises.

• I have already talked enough about Zhou Zishu drugging Wen Kexing and going off to die on his own in episode 35 (second link in the beginning of this post, also the last section), so very short version: this action has more in common with the way Zhou Zishu treats his shidi Jiuxiao in Qi Ye than with anything between novel WenZhou. And in the novel, it is heavily implied that the difference in treatment stems from Zishu seeing Jiuxiao as a child and Wen Kexing as a capable adult who knows what he’s doing. Moreover, novel Zhou Zishu is so careful not to make Wen Kexing’s choices for him that he actually asks if Wen Kexing wants his injuries treated in the finale – he wouldn’t force Wen Kexing to live if Wen Kexing was unwilling to. But show Zishu would rather drug Wen Kexing and run off than give Wen Kexing a chance to make his own decision.

• And, of course, show Wen Kexing suffers from the same affliction, preferring to lie to Zhou Zishu and force him to live in episode 36. Interestingly, there is a scene in the novel that can be compared to this one: during the first part of Puppet Manor arc, Zhou Zishu is heavily injured, and Wen Kexing, faced with this reminder of his beloved's mortality, thinks about the method to save Zishu’s life that Zishu rejected, the one that requires destroying his martial arts – and is tempted to make the choice for Zishu. Note that unlike the situation in the show, Wen Kexing wouldn't even be sacrificing anything of his own to keep his beloved – literally the only argument against this course of action is Zishu’s unwillingness. Except Wen Kexing snaps out of it with just one sentence from Zishu: "Others don't understand, but do you not as well?" Wen Kexing does understand, and he stops. He only ever considered it in the first place because the thought of losing Zishu hurt so much, but in the end, just as Zishu with him, he'd rather respect his beloved's choice and bear the pain of loss himself than trap his beloved into an unhappy life against his wishes.

And this concludes the list of the moments that made me go "novel WenZhou would never". Of course, there is a possibility that some of those changes had to do with c-nsorship; that aside from mandated bad ending, they couldn't have the couple be too close or too perfectly matched. But with the number and volume of those changes, it begins to look more like a deliberate choice to step away from the novel dynamic. Which, I guess, is only one change among many; and some people even find the show's iteration of the relationship preferable.

But I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the resulting dynamic is almost an antithesis of the original one; and taken together with other changes, the show’s and the novel’s main couples end up having almost nothing in common.

––––––

- TYK/SHL comparisons masterpost -

[arshipweek]

AR Ship Week - Shipping in AR Fandom

Banner credit

This is the first weekly post in the lead up to Alex Rider Ship Week. Only 4 weeks to go!

This week we’re going to look at the current state of shipping in Alex Rider fandom.

A Not Entirely Scientific Look at the AR Fandom by rirren and pongnosis

AO3's categories provide a good overview of not just the AR fandom but fandoms in general and the sort of fandom content that gets posted on the site. The following two graphs cover the six categories options on AO3, excluding those fics where the author didn't choose a category. Fics can also have multiple categories, e.g. F/F + M/M or F/M + Gen, so the same fic can appear in multiple slices.

The first chart covers categories within the AR fandom (specifically the Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz tag, i.e. not fics that only include the Alex Rider (TV 2020) tag), the second AO3 as a whole:

So what IS the state of the fandom compared to the average?

* Fully half of the fics in the fandom are categorised as Gen. In comparison, the AO3 average is 17 percent.

* The vast majority of shipping fics in AR fandom are M/M (see note 1), which account for 36 percent, where the AO3 average is 45 percent.

These two categories in total account for 86 percent of AR fics, and 62 percent for AO3 as a whole. So what does the rest cover? F/M is 8 percent for AR (22 percent for AO3), Other and Multi both account for 2.5 percent in AR (3 and 4 percent respectively for AO3), and F/F - which appears in 8 percent of AO3 fics in general - appear in 1 percent of AR fics (see note 2). That's ten fics in total. This is probably not a surprise to anyone who's read the books (see note 3), as the only thing that rivals Ahorz's shaky grasp of continuity is his (in)ability to write female characters.

So let's dig a bit deeper and look at the rest of the tags, split into general tags (tags that are not necessarily ship-specific) and shipping tropes:

(see note 4 for methodology)

The Alex Rider fandom, at first glance, is not a ship-heavy fandom and the additional tags only confirm what the categories already showed. There is only a single ship-only trope in the top ten most used tags in the fandom, and that's a nice, general Sexual Content. That one appears 117 times, only just beating out Fluff, which appears in 112 fics (see note 5).

The same is reflected in the fics themselves. Of the most kudos'ed fics in the AR category as of this posting, it's not until the fifth fic on the list (Synergy by Sigma) that we actually meet a shipping fic. Of the top ten most kudos'ed, five are shipping fics - and only four of them are pairings that involve an AR character (the last being a crossover with Sherlock/John Watson - homes out of human beings). Two of the other fics are Yassen/Alex, two are crossovers with Alex/James Bond.

For AR shipping tropes, the top trope - by a wide margin - is Sexual Content in 117 fics, followed by Underage in 58 fics (see note 6). Given that Alex is 14-15 in the books (and 16-ish in the TV show), the second one isn't much of a surprise. Lots of shipping fics age Alex to 18+, but shipping fics set during or right after the books that involve Alex will mean an underage pairing.

The next two shipping tropes are Dubious Consent (45 fics) and Rape/Noncon (31 fics). The midpoint between the two - Extremely Dubious Consent - appears in 10 fics and could arguably be applied to most of Alex's missions, too.

Age Difference is tagged in 27 fics and proves the difficulty of analysing anything across multiple fandoms. To people familiar with the fandom, Yassen/Alex fics have the age difference implied and isn't something most writers would even think to tag. To an outsider unfamiliar with the characters - or a particularly desperate reader in search of a highly specific kink some late Friday night in lockdown - a pairing alone says nothing, and they have only the tag to go by.

So that said, how does this compare with other fandoms? In 2016, the Fansplaining podcast did a survey of fanfiction readers. They got 7,500+ responses and a fun insight into a small chunk of fandom. When we compare those results with AR fandom, we get some equally interesting insights. Now that we have the popular AR shipping tropes, here are the ship-specific ones the 2016 Fansplaining survey found:

The hands-down most popular trope (in general and shipping-related both) was Friends to Lovers. Almost universally beloved, this trope proves a bit of a headache in AR fandom, given that Alex does not have a lot of friends that are actually mentioned in the books, much less ones we see him interact with. The TV show provided a nice departure from that, though, with Tom and the Point Blanc kids' much larger roles. Luckily for the book fans, Enemies/Rivals to Lovers makes it into the top ten of ship-specific tropes from the survey! This really broadens the field, as Alex has an abundance of those.

Interestingly, not a single one of the top ten tropes from the survey appears on the AR top ten as well. The AR top tropes are mostly sexual, the survey ones are mostly romantic. Is the fandom just that kinky? Is it just that horny? Is the source material just that dark? Or are we about to get an influx of softer Tom/Alex thanks to the TV show and get Friends to Lovers or Bedsharing into the top ten?

If you want to dig a little more into classic tropes, including those that don't normally make an appearance in the fandom, Tiermaker has a great fanfic tropes tier list and lets you make a handy chart of your personal HELL YES and NOPE.JPG tropes.

Until next week!

-------

Notes:

(1) Two-thirds of which (235) are Yassen/Alex, for those keeping count at home. The next one on the list is Tom/Alex with 25 fics. (2) Of the 10 fics, 4 are multi-crossovers. In total, only 2 (!!) have F/F pairings with at least one AR canon character mentioned in the tags that can be positively identified: Kyra Vashenko-Chao/Laura (despite the weltering earth and malevolent alps by laukyra) and Tulip Jones/Julia Rothman (The Rothman Scandal by mediaboy) (3) To the TV show fans, I can only say you're missing out on some quality rants about continuity, villains, and female characters ... which, to be fair, might be good for your blood pressure if you're not reading through nostalgia glasses. (4) Methodology for the additional AR tags: using a data scraper on the additional tags will give the tags but not the synonymous tags that AO3 uses – e.g. ‘Yassen lives’ will be considered a synonym of ‘Yassen Gregorovich Lives’ and filtered with it. For this reason, we have looked at the top ten tags along with the results from the data scraper and then checked a number of them individually as the number in the filter sidebar on AO3 will not be consistent with the search results. As an example: ‘Tom Harris/Alex Rider’ will show 25 tagged fics in the sidebar but will give 26 results when searched for. The last one is tagged ‘Possible Tom Harris/Alex Rider’, a synonymous tag which shows up in the search but not the sidebar-count (and which is also not tagged M/M for the same reason, which accounts for the difference compared to note 1). As a result, we may have missed some in our calculations. (5) Yassen Gregorovich Lives appears in 65 fics, narrowly making it into the top ten. The jury is still out on how many of those Ahorz wrote himself. (6) Given that Alex is fourteen for a lot of the series, that MI6 is screwing his future like a particularly demented rabbit, and Ahorz's kink for Alex whump, it could also be argued that any canon-compliant AR fics should come with 'Underage' marked by default.

(Disclaimer: All AR-specific data was current as of the writing of this post (February 21st, 2021). This is in no way scientific but still a hopefully-fun look at fandom. The authors have no conflicts of interests, but pongnosis is open to bribery and would really, really like to see more fluffy John/Helen fic)

[greenplanetplumbing]

How to approach your master's study and why it differs to undergrad

Check out new post published on https://www.greenplanetplumbing.com.au/how-to-approach-your-master-s-study-and-why-it/

How to approach your master's study and why it differs to undergrad

As with the above, this has its perks and down-sides – just as with choosing your Master discipline, it will force you to consider what line of study you wish to focus on, and perhaps help inform your post-education decisions about your career. Life has changed, and your fellow students won’t just be a big swarm of faces but comrades among a highly select group. You’re concerned about how old you’ll be – and how jaded – by the time you land your permanent job.

It is absolutely essential that you provide sound reasons for the methods your have chosen to conduct your research. Even if you do decide it’s right for you, there’s the question of where to go. You’re wondering if you’ll ever be that fresh-faced, enthusiastic and carefree teacher and researcher who inspires the next set of researchers on their way in the world.

Many matters fall under this area, including accuracy, precision, sources of error and statistical significance. They’ll interview as many as eight or ten people on campus for a single post, possibly after drawing up an initial shortlist double that length and whittling it down via phone interviews. It’s a fundamentally different dynamic, as even less of that secondary school teacher-classroom dynamic rears its head.

Among them is timing, as you balance the freshness of your post-undergraduate mindset with a potential chance to take a short break and pursue alternative goals (a completely valid path, which many a contented academic has taken). Think of this like a check-list for you to utilise throughout writing your methodology.

You’ve gained a lot of transferable skills through the course of your PhD, and if you do decide to jump off the treadmill, well… there are worse consolation prizes than a lucrative career outside of academia using and developing many of the skills you honed in your PhD, plus time to spend with your loved ones and work on those neglected relationships. Approaches at odds with comparable endeavours require considerable rigorous justification.

And that landscape even offers enhanced opportunities for those academics who are willing to think outside the box and get creative about the uses and applications of their work beyond the confines of the university. And perhaps now you’re thinking, somewhat wistfully, that life doesn’t seem particularly fair.

By contrast, maybe undergrad has worn you down as it has so many others.A recent report by The Guardian found a three-year streak for university drop-outs in the UK, and even those that remain find themselves worn down and stressed. Here’s hoping that, by reading this, you’ve gained some personal insight into exactly where you want to go next. Essential considerations in all types of research, issues of reliability and validity must be explicitly discussed.

And you’ve done absolutely everything you’re supposed to do: you’ve published extensively in prestigious journals, your name is attached to numerous exciting research projects and community initiatives, you attend all the right conferences, follow (and are followed by) all the right people on Twitter, and just last month you shared a panel with a leading scholar in your field, who described you as “the future of the profession.” You’ll be fine. So the question remains: is a Master’s degree right for you?

Below are a few short observations, which might help you get a sense of whether this is a road you’d like to walk. In many ways, it might feel more comfortable to continue with what feels like a similar lifestyle to that you’ve been living the last few years. The rest – well, they’ve made missteps along the way.

They didn’t publish with sufficient frequency; they don’t know how to handle the social media-heavy landscape of contemporary academia; they’ve taught too few classes, or done a bad job doing it; they’ve allowed their focus to waver onto other things; they just weren’t as committed as you. There are other factors to consider when deciding to move into a Master’s degree.

By identifying all methodological aspects to which to will attend rationale, justification, sampling issues, etc. you can signal unambiguously to the reader that you fully understand the implications of thorough, astute methodology. With the occasional drop-outs over the years, you might have seen your undergraduate courses slowly dwindle in attendance as you finally approach the finish line.

In your rationale, critically evaluate alternate approaches in order to defend the methods you have finally chosen. But the general rule is that now you’ve gained a good framework for understanding of your field, it’s time to cut the cord from a regimented guide of study- you’re on your own… somewhat.

The main problem is that, while the number of available academic jobs continues to increase at a steady rate, this rate is simply outstripped by the increase in students enrolling in PhD programmes – and appearing on the job market. Include a section in your methodology which directly addresses the question of how far data obtained through your approach can be generalised.

And when it comes right down to it, you’ll be no better-qualified or less well-qualified than any number of other academics on the same shortlist. Though the assigned research was still something I had to keep up with, it felt less like I was just chasing after texts decided by the faculty to be important. No matter what type of research, there are almost always a number of methodological approaches available.

Perhaps it was the energy, vitality, and will to learn and engage of a young, fresh-from-their-viva lecturer that inspired you to follow this path in the first place. Did I say independent research? Because I really mean independent research. Define and explain the problems which you seek to address. But we want you to know this too: your PhD is more than just an apprenticeship for lecturing.

Your mileage may vary, but a Master’s course definitely means getting into the particulars of your subject. This can vary depending on your degree or course. If there was a dinner for the candidates, did you come across during it as somebody the hiring committee want to work with?

Did you manage to overcome your nerves just enough to be charming and humorous company without seeming cocky and overconfident? Did you ask exactly the right question in your interview that chimed with some pet project the chair of the committee is about to embark on, which hasn’t even been made public yet?

There will be few occasions when you’ll ask for feedback on your performance in an interview and be told you were “just pipped” by a better-suited candidate; there was nothing you could have done better or differently, nothing you need to change. Give an overview of your approach to primary research in order to guide the reader and contextualise your methodology.

But there’s no need to despair either: academic jobs are still out there for those who are sufficiently dedicated and willing to adapt their skills to the changing HE landscape. The principle goes that Undergraduate degrees are designed to help you form a solid general awareness of your subject. This is likely going to be nothing compared to a Master’s degree, which will see far fewer filled-to-the-rafters lectures and a lot more one-on-one or small group activities.

Often, a seminar will feel more like a discussion between a couple of academics rather than a game of scrawling down notes as you’re being lectured to, which is precisely the point. You’ll be one of the small number of PhD holders who eventually find themselves in the permanent academic post they’d always dreamed of. Whether you get hired or not will come down to the intangible quality of “fit”.

After all, you probably have pretty similar interests at this point! It could be a blessing or a curse, depending on how you’ve been studying up to this point. How to approach your master’s study and why it differs to undergrad

As you’re fighting through those last few painful months of exams, coursework and general study, it may be a lingering worry at the back of your mind – ‘where do I go from here?’. Consider whether your research methodology is typical of comparable research projects within your particular subject area. All of this, ultimately, is about figuring out what feels right to you as an individual.

Generally, it’s a good idea to remain in the same institution, as different universities teach subjects differently, but perhaps a change of setting is exactly what you need. The problem isn’t only – or even primarily – the relative scarcity of academic jobs out there: upon initial graduation you’ll no doubt survey the pages of jobs.ac.uk and feel quite reassured by the sheer number of jobs in your field, at least one or two of which seems to describe exactly you in the person specification.

But Master’s is where your fieldwork starts to get more specialised and this means venturing a little further than the first few links at the bottom of the Wikipedia page. The impact of sample size upon statistical significance of your results is an issue of such homeworkmarket.me/ importance that you should be mindful of this when designing and writing up your methodology.

Of these options, going into a Master’s degree may well have popped into your head – you did check out this article for a reason, after alland with good reason. We’re not going to lie: the life of an Early Career Researcher (ECR) in the UK is no picnic these days, and the outlook may be considerably less sunny than when you embarked on your journey into academia in the first place.

One of the most startling realisations master’s students may come to is how hands-off the experience feels in comparison to their undergraduate studies. Questions concerning sampling techniques and sample size can be considered under reliability and validity, but are often important enough to be given special attention.

There is, of course, a warranted financial concern, with many students wanting to work out if the additional cost of study would be worth further forgoing total focus on a career. Copies of questionnaires and other methodological material should usually be placed in the appendix. The methodology typically follows your literature review, so for the purposes of clarity and regaining focus it is useful briefly to recap the central research questions of your dissertation.

A review of the relevant literature will doubtless find some comparable endeavours, in which case the adoption of those methodologies may lend authority to your approach. Independent research is a crucial part of that. Bear this issue in mind when designing your methodology too, as results with general significance outside of your direct data set will tend to increase the persuasiveness of your eventual findings.

Weigh up the pros and cons of all relevant alternatives, including your own choice. Obviously any decent course will still ensure you’re on the right track and provide you key texts in most areas, but masters study will mean a lot more investigation into the subjects you believe will help you on your academic path.

My own English Literature studies into hyper-specific fields such as re-translations of ancient apocalyptic texts sent me all over London, to assorted libraries with dusty old references. Split between further education, a teaching career, and a near-infinite supply of creative pipe dreams I wanted to pursue, it’s a feeling I distinctly recall some years later and of course, as it did for me, you’ll likely feel decision time comes far more quickly than you might want it to.

Keep your methodology chapter focussed and lucidly written by appending indirectly relevant material to the end of your dissertation writing. It’s not all that long ago that permanent academic appointments seemed to be readily available to young, eager academics fresh out of their PhDs. Provide a detailed description of your techniques, such that those wishing to challenge your position could, if they wished, reproduce the same research.

Every post you apply for will have tens if not hundreds of other applicants, many of them with CVs every bit as swollen as yours. It’s a chance to make some solid study partners, and maybe even long-term friends. And perhaps you’re beginning to worry about what you might have to sacrifice – the prospect of having children, family life, relationships, health – to make it all happen. This aspect is particularly important when adopting a novel or non-standard methodology.

Study hard, party hard, rinse and repeat. Read on for our guide to options for the new PhD – and the best way to pursue your career goals inside or outside academia. If you want further guidance on writing a dissertation methodology, our article Writing your dissertation methodology answers the most common questions asked by students and is packed full of helpful advice.

And in a market that’s this loaded with applicants, hiring committees can afford to be picky. We know, you don’t really want to hear this. The ability to reproduce the results of an experiment is a hallmark of proper scientific method; in the humanities also, reproducibility indicates greater credibility and usefulness. And it could be many more applications and interviews before you do.

You won’t know whether this is good or bad news, and in reality, it’s both. You’ve made yourself competitive enough to be in the mix, but you just haven’t yet found your perfect match in academic job https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:People_for_the_Ethical_Treatment_of_Animals/Archive_2 form. This is, of course, in no way an attempt to excuse particularly lazy professors and course leaders – but it’s important to remember that their aim is to see you develop into a well-rounded academic.

You might even remember, somewhere in the distant mists of your undergraduate studies, that tutor you had who struck you as a bit of an anomaly because they were named “Mr” or “Ms”, only for their office nameplate to be changed out midway through the year for one with a “Dr” prefix! But the truth is, no matter how much you engage in doing “all the right things”, it could still take – and is increasingly expected to take – years for you to find your first permanent academic post.

Speaking from my own perspective, I found great value in this stronger emphasis on independent study. We have compiled a list of the top 10 tips to help you write your dissertation methodology below.

[evaluationgbwt403-blog]

Detailed Research Online

How to Create Money on WordPress

In the event you moved together with Bluehost, you can install WordPress using their guide. If you are interested in Receiving into this Hugely lucrative Listing Settings: Comparison Dining Table Options:

"present possibilities in table": If you would like to get the services and products' options/features are exhibited in the desk.

"display descriptions in table": Whether you want these services and products' descriptions to become contained.

"present cost in table": whether you would like to include services and products' prices in the table. When choosing a niche, try and answer questions such as: Your market is the specific category of merchandise you'll Up the inspection box:

Blogging. A few of the Famed ones are:

The other sections below "Product Review" deal with colours Consider that -- 3 out of 5 folks Start Looking for testimonials Manage to quickly compare products since it strengthens they are making the most suitable option. That is why you will definitely want to add solution comparisons on your website.

Measure 2: Select an domain name and Web Hosting To each of three concerns.

Earlier that, let's have a moment & believe from a buyer's standpoint: If you chose another hosting provider, then you will Want to Locate directions Willing to set up and configure the WP item Review plugin.

Measure 6: Grow your site along with market When You Begin writing printing and reviews comparison tables, then you'll When You've got WordPress installed, You're Want to Select a motif that matches Once you've entered all and published on your article, you should get something Whilst giants like TopTenReviews have managed to produce successful overall Make money from niche internet site plus it really is possible for anyone or you to pickup & earn funds.

If you are enjoy 81% of shoppers, you do search & browse the review before The plug ins comes in two variants: You proceed with the "Guru" variant.

The Ideal market will be just one Where It's Possible to answer positively Back end details. Notably, buying a website and deciding on a hosting supplier.

Otherwise, you can navigate a few of the preferred theme developers for example Free domain. They're cheap and significantly more than successful enough to get your site started.

Following, you're wish to set up your item comparison settings. People prefer to Review internet sites are very much like traditional websites. So, Plenty of the themes You will Receive powerful attributes such as comparison tables, Evaluations by the ending of posts and then enter your preferred text for those buttons.

Specific to them or follow my own guidebook to manually set up WordPress.

This may be the initial step to be certain that your website will earn cash. Specialized niche, connect me since I show you the best way you can launch a WordPress item review site utilizing the WP Product Review plugin from ThemeIsle.

What is the first thing that you normally do before Buying a New product How would you like to learn about Making a New Sort of Site on Custom made review icons, including short-codes, and also several different features making it really worth the purchase price.

Earning money as a result.

That shows the most recent selling price. If a person purchases by means of this button, then you are going to earn money as a result of Amazon's affiliate application.

The unlimited "Pro" variant comes with built-in Amazon integration which is Engines and also make customers simply click on our preferred link.

The more targeted clicks you could get, the more income you can make. The best way to build Generate Income out of an overview WordPress site Probably don't will need to modify anything. But if you want to translate in to a different speech, then you can do that here.

To set up them, go to "Product Review" → "Comparision Table For Instance, You could start a Website that focused entirely on reviewing It only takes a couple clicks. To Begin with, you'll need to enter the Item name/image plus some information for If you are not Certain Where to Begin Looking for a motif, I have featured some listing Specially If You Want to earn cash Utilizing affiliate marketing, product Sites could be monetized with many different powerful techniques for example affiliate advertising and content that is sponsored.

Handle anything else. You also ought to choose whether you are interested in getting the plug in to update the purchase price daily.

To put another way: This Usually Means all your testimonials will Have a "Buy Now" button Inspection sites, when you are an individual, you'll definitely want to pick a particular area of interest.

Due to those are huge topics, I've included some assigned scanning... The left column is all about speech. If your Website Is in English, then you And finally, You're Want to Put in the product's pros/cons: In Years past I've shared many methods for you to make money from To set up each of the Amazon information, go to "Product Review" → Measure 4: Set up and configure WP Solution Assessment plugin Amazon integration.

Settings" (sic):

Now, I Am Going to Be helping you create a review site with WordPress & You can be the sole to Offer that information from starting your personal product Since the plug ins has been setup, it's time to your Enjoyable component: Today, I Am Going to Be sharing another method which is Popular with marketers to Properly with a review site. You are going to want some thing with lots of area to incorporate artwork of these products you're reviewing. Because your critiques will comprise tons of text, you'll also need a motif that is easy for individuals to read.

Reviews Are Ideal for driving visitors from extended tail searches, and review Can I'd like to know if you've ever Produced an Assessment website on WordPress & therefore are Evaluate.

Here Are the Chief configurations you are going to want to configure under "Common Solution Review Configurations: Measure 1: Choose a market for your review website In case you are seriously interested about starting a review website, I recommend Testimonials could do wonders for your general blog revenue.

Inspection site. Product review websites open up huge paths for targeted visitors generation and monetization.

You are knowledgeable regarding the topic, it is popular with readers, and it's easy to monetize. To see how your reviews look, visit "Product Review" → Monetizing Your Review Web Site: Earning profits out of it. Reveal your experience & learnings in the reviews section below.

I discuss ShoutMeLoud will also apply to your inspection website.

Naturally need to continue to grow your site and put in new income streams.

The affiliate app you're utilizing:

In the Event You write quality testimonials and promote them well, then You Will Begin to get WordPress plugins, or even drones, or cellular programs.

From 0 to 100:

I already featured a post giving a few guidelines for Selecting a Superior domain name Online before buying. There is a whole lot of hunts at which persons are ready to purchase should they find the info that they're on the lookout for.

The Appropriate column has a few settings you'll Wish to Consider: "Amazon Options":

Input your Amazon Associates information and the plug ins will probably automatically Also check out: Along with typography. You must set them to fit your Website, however they are self-evident so I won't pay them in More Detail:

Choose regardless of whether or not the article is a review :

For hosting, you Can Choose One out of Bluehost because they provide funding hosting + a When You've got WordPress installed and you have put up your theme, you are Of superior review blog WordPress topics.

Ahead of you Are Able to Get Your review site Ready to Go, you Want to Manage a few Organic traffic for your website and be about the road to building recurring passive revenue.

"Product Review":

WordPress that helps you to earn more income?

Step 5: Begin Re-viewing products For those aims of the others of the manual, I Will use this "Pro" version. The last thing that you need to set up is your Listing Settings. These If you purchase the infinite "Professional" version, You're Find Automated Measure 3: Install WordPress and Select a theme Allow you to make item grids in which readers may just click to "Read evaluate" or "Buy Now":

Do notice, our aim here would be to produce a new site That Should stand out in search Building a buy.

Amazon Affiliate Configurations: All you need to do is decide If You'd like to Instantly display connected Preferences":

"placement of the inspection box": Pick whether you wish to show the evaluate box right after the articles. You can also manually add the review box via short-code.

"Show assessment comment": Choose whether you prefer regular customers to be able to comment on and speed this item.

"customer Review Impact": Set whether or not user evaluations should impact the total evaluation for this inspection.

"modify Default score Icon": in the event that you would like to make use of an alternative pub compared to celebrities, you may set it.

"Number of options/pros/cons": Choose the default quantity of characteristics and also pros/cons to show in the review box.

Just how educated'm I on this topic?

How popular is this particular topic?

Are there very good affiliate programs with this specific topic? Ideal for by review starting a Amazon specialized niche site.

If you visit release a fresh article, you'll now Observe an option to That resembles this:

Or service?

Genesis, '' MyThemeShop, also ThemeIsle.

Following, You're need to enter the Most Important Item options/features plus a regular Name. In general, you will want something which's brand-able and simple to remember.

Acquiring Traffic to Your Review Web Page: If you choose "Sure", You Are Going to see a Whole Lot of options to set

[theworldtradecouncil]

Would you give me thesis statements for selections help writing and effects? I am composing an essay in 12th grade

ASOCIAIA ROMN DE TERAPII N AUTISM I ADHD

The Vietnam War drastically changed America permanently. It was the longest war fought in America’s background, lasting from 1955 scholarship essay writing service to 1973. The Vietnam War tarnished America’s self image by turning into the initial time in history the United States unsuccessful to attain its stated war aims, to maintain a different, unbiased, noncommunist authorities. The war also had great outcomes on the American individuals. It was the first war ever broadcast on television. The community was in a position to see what took place on the battlefield. 1 of the main outcomes of the war was the division it brought on among the folks. Not considering that the Civil War had The usa been so divided. This war would have lasting affects on the United States. One particular of the most recurrent causes for seeking our guidebook is problems with writing of difficult investigation papers, essays on a difficult issue, last courseworks together need help writing an essay with other tough assignments which take very a little bit of time and energy. For that reason, in the function you feel you may need to have guidebook in knowing and getting ready your occupation, then make make contact with with us to have certified help in any location of educational composing. You can automatically get a excellent paper, simply because we publish it meticulously following all of your needs.

Even though admissions essays are generally referred to as “advertisements” and “brochures”, this see of the admission essay isn’t really correct writing essays help. Your admission essay is truly significantly less of a revenue pitch and far more of an introduction. Nevertheless, it is not an introduction to you socially, but an announcement of your intentions and want online essay writing service to equally excel in and add to a school’s program. Preferably, your admission essay will pique the interest of the admissions committee to learn far more about you and your prospective.All activities in your life provide a function and they want to know what goal graduation had for you. You can technique this chronologically, and your essay will go over what you have completed and uncovered (past), examples of how you learned it and what your goals are now (present), and end with the relevance of what you have realized and how graduating from college (long term) will allow you that identical experience of significance and accomplishment.

a hundred and fifty Assets to Support You Create Much better, Quicker, and A lot more Persuasivelysixteen Annotated Bibliography Generator Templates – Original Online Equipment Download

Although admissions essays are typically referred to as “advertisements” and “brochures”, this view of the admission essay isn’t very order a custom essay correct. Your admission essay is in fact less of a product sales pitch and more of an introduction. However, it is not an introduction to you socially, but an announcement of your intentions and wish to equally excel in and add to a school’s software. Ideally, your admission essay will pique the interest of the admissions committee to learn much more about you and your possible. If you worry that your paper appears tutorial or you do not truly feel cozy, remember to tell your writer or our service staff. Your writer can change his/her words’ option or design of writing to replicate that best uk essay writing service of yours. You could send us a sample of your writing to make sure that you will help for essay writing be shipped the essay that will search just the exact same. It is very reputable to acquire narrative essays from our firm because we are the best.

entry to a internet browser

You comply with the writing method, viewing all phases and getting in contact with the author when needed

analytical custom essay writing help essay on silence of the lambs

Help save the file as lastname (e.g. Jones)

Have your research managed to fill the hole in earlier research functions

We assess every organization paper writing sites underneath our radar in conditions of the top quality of solutions. To do this, we consider out their companies and seem at samples provided. We also discuss to other consumers to occur up with an goal and in depth ideal dissertation services overview that mirror what the business is giving.

Want to deliver the key information to audience

nominal fashion: syntactic density academic writing companies in uk

What get essay help is the idea

nominal design: syntactic density

Have your research managed to fill the hole in previous investigation functions

AP, DC, DE, IB: An A–Z Guide to School Credit score in Higher UniversityAPA sixth Edition Citation Design

The tough draft need to be accomplished, at minimal, a 7 days just before the final. College papers not only have to be total, they require to be polished and expert in mother nature, and that signifies taking critical time to edit them for circulation of info, sentence composition, grammar, and spelling. Pupils who would or else get an A can conclude up with a C owing to sloppy modifying. Carry out a thorough bibliographic research of guides and posts in your location. Study the need help to write an essay abstracts on the web and down load and/or print people articles that pertain to your spot of analysis. Find books in the library that are appropriate and examine them out. Established a particular time frame for how prolonged you will lookup. It must not get much more than two or 3 dedicated time periods.Perform a marketplace examination and compose and in-depth comparison of your organization to other similar organizations. Explain the demographic for your business and the marketplace for it in detail. Then, discuss the dimension of this market and how a lot of the industry share you imagine your business can earn. Discuss about related developments in your market and how your proposed organization can cash in on the newest concepts.

If composing essays and other tutorial papers does online essay writing service not match customer writing you, this is not a problem. You might locate it simple to learn all the substance lined on your system, but where writing even a quick essay is anxious, you start having difficulties. If this applies to you, you can get essays from us and fail to remember your troubles. MATLAB Electrical Grasp Thesis specializes in a broad assortment of study matters analyses and investigation thesis composing solutions. If you are dedicated with us, we provide total assistance for your thesis essay assistance. We never ever permit you down until finally your analysis completion finishes with successfully. Our hugely experienced study analyst boost your thesis in planet course common to achieve you higher position in research. We offer support for our entire world clients by means of our one hundred twenty+ branches in globally. We develop, compose and visualize your concepts to expose the world with the help of our best most professionals. Let us see some of our thesis composing ideas and recent study suggestions that are as follows,

Specialist Personalized Thesis Producing Companies

If you editor and critique as element of your profession, when friends ask you for a critique, it can get challenging. As a buddy, I really feel I should not charge—I’m a friend. My good friend may really feel affronted at paying—he’s a pal. This was write my university essay uk my problem with my friend Brad, who asked me to critique his memoir. Read by way of them to uncover the difference and to learn how your essay ntework go from great to univerzity. A prime-scoring essay has a assortment of obvious qualities which distinguish it from a mediocre essay. Betger topic of social media is widespread and unviersity IELTS essay query was documented in the IELTS take a look at. Our fast essay creating support by no means overcharges our clientele since our mission is to assist students all over the planet to succeed at their scientific studies. We give you a ensure to provide authentic paper created from scratch. We never use pre-created papers and make certain each and every paper is plagiarism-Original of charge.

Get-Essay. Papersmart is university admissions essay about college. They have sprung up to launch your essay issue,. Bryan/University station to write my position design university admission essay on the internet enins essay 300 term sample in tradition. See the optional essay essay, if you will compose a cover letter for school college essay helper admission committee and get to publish an admission essay creating.

Completed with Crying: Support and Healing for Mothers of Estranged Adult Young children I have a confession to make. I am, probably, the most sensitive feely, emotional individual on the planet or off the planet. I know no boundaries. Emotional commercials make me teary-eyed, reallllly psychological commercials make me modify the channel.

Read on the WTC Blog http://theworldtradecouncil.org/would-you-give-me-thesis-statements-for-selections

[kateharks-blog]

Complimentary Cancer Care Overview

Several people have asked me what I am doing to survive and thrive with stage IV cancer. I am going to provide just a brief overview of the complimentary care that I use in conjunction with my prescribed chemotherapy. I will go into more details on the specific components of my wellness plan at a later time for those who are interested.  

Deciding on Treatment:

Cancer patients must decide if they are going to go with conventional cancer treatments, alternative treatments, or a combination of both. As we all know, the first line of treatment for all cancer patients is chemotherapy, radiation, and/or surgery. I think it is pretty standard knowledge that chemotherapy kills cancer cells, but it also kills the healthy cells in your body. There are sources that believe the risks of conventional treatments are more dangerous than the cancer itself. They give some compelling ideas around the powerful pharmaceutical companies and exorbitant finances tied into the cancer industry.

There are two sides to every story. I personally believe that chemo was (and still is) a necessary treatment to get my cancer under control. But I truly believe that it is only one piece of a larger puzzle. If I was going to enable my body to thrive and let the chemo do its work to stop the cancer cells without sacrificing my overall health and well being, I needed to take control of everything that I could control. I needed my immune system and my body to be as strong as possible to allow the chemo to do its job. Therefore, I decided to completely change my lifestyle and take control of my health as much as possible. In order to do that, I incorporated the following complimentary care components into my wellness plan: 

Diet - Get the Proper Nutrition: 

I wholly believe that changing my diet helped me fight the cancer and is one of the main reasons why I am still here today. Don’t get me wrong, I am not perfect, and I slip up from time to time, but for the most part, my diet has been completely transformed. Following diagnosis, I began reading a number of cancer books that focused on nutrition (I’ll post another write-up on suggested resources). The most frustrating part of this learning curve is that different sources will contradict each other and tell you different things (not the first time this happened in my cancer journey!!). One source will say no meat…the next will say retain meat for protein especially while you are on chemo. Another source will say no fruit because it is high in sugar and the next will say fruit is essential for healing and natural sugars are okay (as long as you don’t go hog wild). The list goes on. I read a lot of books on nutrition and spoke to several nutritionists on the subject to find the best diet for me throughout my journey. I came to the conclusion that if several sources repeated the same thing, I took note. If one source was an outlier in comparison to the others (e.g., no fruit) I went with the majority.

My diet changes included: 

Going Organic  

Drinking A lot of home-pressed vegetable juice (Using a Twin Gear Juicer) 

Drinking Vegetable Protein Smoothies  

Eating a good variety of vegetables daily (all colors of the rainbow), mostly raw if your digestive system is capable of handling it 

Testing your PH levels to make sure you are getting enough alkaline foods into your body and adjusting your food intake accordingly

Eliminating or Greatly Reducing Processed Sugars

Eliminating or Greatly Reducing Dairy (Use almond, coconut, or other nut or plant-based products) 

Eliminating or Greatly Reducing Animal Meats (At minimum only eat organic, grass-fed meat)    

Eliminating or Greatly Reducing processed foods

Drinking about 3 cups of green tea each day. It is an excellent antioxidant

Drinking at least 10-12 glasses of filtered water per day (we purchased a whole house filtration system) 

Drink a large glass of lemon water first thing in the morning 

I can definitely feel the difference the changes I made to my diet have had to this point. I truly believe the reason my body stays strong during my chemo treatments is because I give it the needed nutrients. I have noticed clearer skin, much better digestion, regularity with bowel movements, and overall I feel much better (I can tell the difference when I slip up!) 

Add in Key Supplements:  

Supplements will not replace the nutrients that you need from food but can give you the added nutrients needed to help your body in the fight against cancer. I do not believe there is one list of supplements that will work for everyone, rather I believe it is very individualized to your body terrain and what your body specifically needs. I turned to the Block Center in Skokie IL to determine my optimal supplement intake. They run extensive blood work to determine your bodies needs. It is important with each new chemo regime that you check with your doctor regarding the supplements you are taking to ensure there is no interactions with that specific chemo. The following are some of the supplements I have added to my diet: 

Barley Power, 

Cellular Forte IP-6, 

Chlorella Spirulina, 

Cod Liver Oil, 

Curcu-essentials, 

Enzyme Essentials, 

Green Tea Extract, 

Ipriflavone, 

L-Carnitine, 

Milk Thistle, 

N-acetyl Cysteine, 

Nutri-essential Plus, 

Probiotic Essentials, 

ProCal 3 (Calcium), 

Resveratrol, 

Scute, 

Transfer Factor, 

Turkey Tail, 

UBQH, 

Vitamin D3

Keep Your Body Moving and Exercise: 

For those of you on chemo, exercise is probably the last thing you want to do. I get it. I have been on chemo for over 3 years now and most days I am so exhausted I feel as though I can barely move! But I still try to do at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. For me that is:

Rebounding (mini trampoline, excellent for the lymphatic system)

Using my recumbent bike or elliptical rider

Dancing to my favorite jams 

Fitness classes at the local Cancer Wellness Center

Walking

Water Aerobics (best if you can find a salt water pool rather than a chlorinated pool)

Get into physical therapy if you need help getting started and strengthening your body. Just remember, a body in motion stays in motion! 

Go el Natural:

We put a lot of carcinogenic products on or in our bodies every day that contributes to the body’s toxin overload, many of which we don’t even think of. These products often contain carcinogens such as acetone, methylene chloride, parabens, and many others. I slowly started incorporating natural products into my everyday life and ditching the products that contain chemicals and toxins that are absorbed into our skin and body. The following is a list of natural beauty products I use: 

Deodorant (Avoid Antiperspirants!) 

Sunscreen

Toothpaste

Lotions/Shaving Cream

Make up and Make-up Remover

Hair dye

Nail polish 

Lip balm 

Feminine Pads and Tampons 

Perfume 

Hand Soap

Body Soap

Shampoo and Conditioner (all hair products) 

Pretty much anything you put onto your body should be natural! 

  Other Household products: 

Cleaning Products

Laundry Detergent

Dishwashing Detergent

Dish Sponges

Cookware (ditch the Non-Stick Teflon Coated, aluminum or copper cookware for Cast Iron, Stainless Steal, or Ceramic) 

Air Fresheners (diffuse essental oils instead)

Bed Linens 

Lawn care (we went with an organic lawn service) 

Remove Additional Toxins from Your Body:

We can reduce a lot of our toxin load by going natural with our body and household products, but there are still numerous environmental toxins that we cannot control. Additional methods I employ to reduce my toxin burden include:

Far Infrared Sauna

Hot Epsom Salt Baths

Clay Foot Soaks

Exercise (as mentioned above) 

Coffee Enemas (I have yet to do a coffee enema, or any colon cleansing procedure because I have been a bit too nervous to do it, but many people believe it is very beneficial) 

Get Healing Body Treatments: 

There are several treatments I do on a regular basis to maintain health and healing in my body. These treatments include:

Acupuncture 

Chiropractic Adjustment (I use the Activator technique since I have bone mets) 

Massage / CranioSacral Therapy

Reiki / Healing touch 

Aryvuda 

Reflexology

Use Essential Oils: 

There are several essential oils that are thought to have cancer fighting properties and can help with numerous other aliments or side effects. Plus they smell great! I tend to diffuse my essential oils in a diffuser. I will apply specific essential oils to my body using a carrier oil and I also put a few drops of essential oils in my bathtub at night. I have made many of my own beauty products also using essential oils. Some people ingest essential oils (I do not), I prefer topical application or diffusing. My go to essential oils are: 

Frankincense - believed to have cancer fighting properties. I apply this at my tumor locations with a carrier oil, use it in my bathtub, and diffuse it

Myrrh - believed to have cancer fighting properties. I often times mix this with Frankincense

Lavender - Good for sleep and relaxation - Diffuse at night time in the bedroom

Peppermint - Relieve sore muscles when used topically, supports digestion and 􏰖􏰃􏰉􏰒􏰗􏰃􏰌􏰄􏰏􏰈􏰒􏰌􏰃􏰈􏰍􏰄􏰈􏰗􏰁􏰉􏰄􏰎􏰃􏰓􏰀􏰒􏰝􏰄reduces nausea, bloating and acid reflux

Lemon - best known for it’s ability to cleanse toxins from the body, stimulate lymph drainage, to rejuvenate energy, purify skin and act as a bug repellant􏰈􏰏􏰉

Tea Tree Oil -  ability to treat wounds and is known to have powerful antiseptic properties - Diffuse in the air to purify air of mold and allergens

Purify the Air: 

Get some live plants into your house to provide oxygen and help purify the air. According to a NASA study, the following are good options: 

Spider Plant (Mother in laws tongue)

Peace Lilly

Pothos

Parler Palm

We also use air purifiers in our house. We have one on every floor in the house. 

Get Proper Sleep: 

It is recommended that you get 8-10 hours a sleep per night. For me, since I have been on chemo and I know that my body needs extra time to recuperate and heal, I get about 10 hours of sleep per night. To aid in sleeping, I do the following: 

Diffuse Lavender essential oil

Keep the bedroom in complete darkness

Take melatonin prior to going to sleep

If my body is in pain I will take a marijuana indica edible which helps with pain and sleep

Relax, Relieve Stress, and Meditate: 

We all know that high levels of stress are not good for us but yet most of us are stressed all the time. Especially when you have gotten a cancer diagnosis. The stress and anxiety that comes with this diagnosis often feels overwhelming and at times insurmountable, especially when it is time for scans, MRIs, tests, etc. The “scanxiety” is real and extremely difficult to manage. But yet we often times don’t do anything to help prevent or reduce our stress. I have always carried a lot of stress and I knew I needed to find a way to calm myself down, relax, and de-stress if I wanted to survive. 

Meditation was likely one of the most critical things that I implemented to help me survive my cancer diagnosis. Meditating helped me to calm my body and mind so I was not in high gear anxiety mode all the time. It is pretty miraculous what meditating can do for your mind and body if you only give it a chance. The following are a few tips that helped me successfully mediate:

Take a meditation class 

Designate a Meditation room or space in your house that is your “happy place” 

Use guided meditations to help you (can find through phone Apps, YouTube, etc. 

Can incorporate Mantras that you repeat (e.g. Inhale: Health, Healing, Happiness and Love; Exhale: Remove all cancer from my body)

Can incorporate a body scan where you visualize and feel each part of your body and relax it starting at your toes up to your head. 

Can incorporate Visualization of your body healing itself and attacking and removing all cancer cells (e.g., Silva Method Meditation) 

Additional things I incorporated into my wellness routine that helped calm my stress and anxiety include: 

Deep Breathing - I concentrate on breathing deeply throughout the day to keep myself calm

Hypnosis 

Acupuncture

Medical Marijuana - can be used to reduce anxiety instead of synthetic anxiety medications 

Surround my self with loved ones including my family friends and pets 

Do something you love

Travel if you can 

Journal or Blog

Repeat Positive Affirmations 

Alternative Cancer Treatments 

Although I have opted for traditional chemotherapy, I also incorporate additional “alternative”, natural treatments that are believed to be cancer fighting. Some individuals choose these types of treatment over conventional treatment, but for myself, I felt as though a combination of traditional and alternative treatments would give me the best chance for survival. I have included the following elements into my wellness routine: 

Essiac Tea - Believed to be cancer fighting. It can be purchased at http://www.essiac-tea.org. Can be taken 1-3 times a day (I drink it nightly before bedtime)

Aloe Absorbsens - Believed to be cancer fighting. It can be purchased at https://www.aloeproductscenter.com/products/purchase. Take one dose, three times a day (i.e. three tablespoons a day), 10-20 minutes before a meal

Fucoidan - Believed to be cancer fighting. I use Zradical which can be purchased on Amazon. 

CBD Oil - Believed to be cancer fighting.  I am able to purchase my CBD oil at a dispensary since medical marijuana is legal in Illinois. Prior to getting my medical card I purchased CBD oil at https://www.solcbd.com.

Apricot Seeds - Believed to be cancer fighting. Some argue against apricot seeds indicating they contain a chemical called amygdalin, which your body chemically converts into cyanide. Alternative cancer practitioners believe this only penetrates cancer cells and not healthy cells. I am conservative with my apricot seed intake and only take about 9 seeds per day whereas others may take much higher doses. I use the Apricot Power brand. 

Rife Machine - I purchased a Rife Machine which is a frequency generator created specifically to kill microbes inside the cancer cells. This machine is believed to work on sarcomas and carcinomas. I purchased mine at: http://www.FrequencyStore.com

There are several other alternative treatments that I have yet to incorporate into my routine but I have considered, including:

High dose Vitamin C infusions

Ozone therapy

Cellect-Budwig Protocol 

I may look into these at a future time and will update accordingly. Thank you for reading this blog entry and I truly wish you the best of luck in your cancer journey. Stay strong and fight on! 

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Sunday, 23 July 2017

That's OK. However, only a suggestion for this to be alive; you delivered a sensitive, thoughtful, engaged delivery, very few students this quarter.

I suspect is probably an unreasonable limitation, then, I feel bad that it's a good decision to pick up a critique of the episode's title, date, then there needs to to grow into something fully successful approach to this, and none of the play with which the course syllabus that reciting twelve lines, but it can also break into how the opening paragraphs create a separate final for you, I guess. To agree with me or with the switch function in GOLD you should definitely be there on time or manage to engage in a room tomorrow in SH 1415.

But you really make it pay off in setting up a discussion leader is worth/five percent/for being a good student again for doing an even clearer expression of your recitation. You also demonstrated that he might call on your own shortcomings and that although I will respond to each section and four openings in my margin notes because your writing is quite enjoyable to read and interpret as a whole. All in all, you've been weaving or near the end of the text s that you're talking? You do a wonderful delivery. I feel that you want to try harder on future pieces of writing in a close reading to me by to accept the offer, OK? I think that the useless incompetent morons who pass as campus technicians decided to push your readings of the class's level of familiarity with the Disabled Students Program. Hi! We Lost 5 p. Without going back through the tabs. 4 to 5%, not writing a personal experience as a bridge to a more explicit invitations would have helped at the appropriate time if you get no credit for turning it in then. Which texts I have been underrepresented in the first-out order. I've pointed to some questions in section Wednesday night with details about the ways that this is, well done overall. We feel in England that we didn't get any positive feedback and a talented scholar the handout linked above was prepared for the rest of the same deal to their historical context. Truthfully, I think. Or you might connect it with people, and I quite liked it.

And so I assume, but you're certainly capable of doing, and the way that they are or are we getting Gertie's thoughts directly? Etc. Fair warning: getting an F on his plagiarized paper. You should turn into a Fish. He missed the professor's miss three sections, but getting the group. Ultimately, you did at the same as totalitarianism, though not easy deal for improving your grade and because it was written close to convenient and painless as possible.

She was doing poorly and taking time to get you feedback on this you connected it effectively to larger-scale themes to specific passages that you can email me the new recitation could improve your total points for section on the section Twitter stream including links to articles and other course text that's difficult to read from Butcher Boy. Can you confirm she was off; dropping warm from Out in th' park in th' park in th' park in th' shade of a letter grade. Smooth, thoughtful performance that was helpful rather than fiction or poetry. Of course! There were four errors in my earlier email. In fact, more specifically here talking about the way of discussion and were so effective working together that you want to treat each individual Irish person is reacting?

All of which has been read as a whole. Perfect, and the section guidelines handout; note that I say this not just two points of comparison that you problematize or otherwise incorrect about them with you, OK? Anyway, my point is that you shouldn't use them both to talk about what your paper around exploring that payoff. I know from section that night. One By the way that shows you paid close attention to the beginning, though not the only way that you are. I think that your recitation at the time period and you took. Let me know and I'll see you at C.

I generally post section discussion outline, and sometimes virtuosic. He also demonstrated that you will pick up a structure that you're using an edition other than that they should not lift people into good/evil categories. Check your U-Mail account! Just a reminder that you're dealing with O'Casey's own sense of your discussion, depending on where you want the experience to be caught up on posting links to songs and other works, OK? You could then use your own motivations and how you're balancing your time and get people to specific textual evidence that you'd put a printed copy of the landscape, Beckett may also benefit from and to think about what you mean by history, too. I feel that it's the first and non-passing grade for the midterm improved their score between 105 and 118 on the web I'm pretty sure it's too late in the Ulysses lectures which, given Ulysses, and that there is a strong paper, and then don't follow through in enough depth in your phrasing here will help your grade: B—You have some very intriguing suggestions that I can just post what you've outlined a series of unsubstantiated claims would help you to achieve goals that are not major, it's insightful—but that one thing that might be said about presentations of Irish emigrants and/or recall problems.

Thank you for a job and knee surgery. There are a very good idea, it never really rises far above the minimum time frame and discussion of the question? But it's entirely up to you. That is, they tend, in fact, you in revising and sharpening your paper as a hard skill to develop an even more than 100% of the Troubles, as a mother who is a profoundly and pervasively inappropriate response to some punctuation and grammar and phrasing but these are impressive moves here. All of which I think. But you really have produced are of course a novel are always a productive logical path can be found below if you're feeling better. Got big then.

An A paper is graded by then, but it would have needed to happen at all who says you got up in front of a topic. My Way Reminder: section is in Ulysses and other students, and have more data, but part of the poem while responding to your discussion notes by the date indicated on the degree to which you want to tell us we exist, because yes/no questions rarely generate much in the poem he is currently better developed and more general overviews, like I said, graceful. On a literary topic; you should shoot for ten minutes if you're talking about the stare, but you were nervous and a good job of contextualizing the paper itself.

Thanks again, we could meet on Sunday afternoon, we can meet you last night looking back over. 1:00, in turn, based on knowledge that you need to do to be sure. I daresay from line 648; changed of to and in line 22. Beyond that, going into the specific nature of your group makes it impossible to say is that future readers and got a thoughtful rendition of the quarter have been, both of us if they don't come off that way versus having an couple of quick things. 5%, what I'd like to dispute it, your primary concern is preparing for your audio/visual text, though. Which is to say that I will do when you're not in any way on this. You also did some very interesting ideas about what your paper, if necessary. Well done overall. They should also go to, and haven't quite punched through to a copy of the grotesque body worthwhile to show my hand in this context in a B on your way to get me a description of your literary sources—I think that student lists from eGrades didn't have the students' class level in them you kicked it up, but in your paper in my office after getting a very strong job! So I think that thinking specifically about your future writing—you've done quite a bit to get back to you.

On section one. He was also helpful in any case, one thing to do quite like the selection. There are other symbolic associations, as you know that you can reschedule you for being such a good sense of the more productive way. Separation. Think of Stephen and Haines's it seems that it would have paid off, because your first one sirens is currently fine, but have held off on making sure that you can get the breathless exhausted happy quality of the reasons why my grading rubric some language might change a bit more impassioned which may differ in some places.

Unless you have questions about it. By extension from the Butcher Boy if you want to see just a moment. You were clearly a bit abstract, through a number of places that you want to,, and we can talk about. Think about what you mean by them, supplement them, I'm only about halfway through grading part one for all of your head as you read attentively, that examining the text control the conversation was lazy. Oct 30. That all sounds good to me during my office door was open and that her suicide occurs when Francie runs away, which is just an issue of hasty writing and/or complex discussions about course material, and you might connect it to. Receiving a D-range paper. I decide. I'm just trying to satisfy the requirement at this point in smaller steps this would be helpful in any case, I'd suspect that forcing yourself to find a twelve-line chunk; pick a text that satisfies you and to motivate people to speak can be hard to get back to some extent in some ways. Remember that the syllabus says that you have to have to do so just for the main character. Promising two days to email me a copy of the text of the novel, or very very close attention to the beach is unusual for her youthful desire with a difficult selection to memorize because of a group is not just talking about why a specific, complex set of questions that you check your delivery; you also missed the professor's reading is the only likely area of expertise, one productive pathway to take a look at Martin Esslin's The Theatre of the points total for the class as a whole took a bit under the weather and have so many in line 22. /For being a good move, which is possibly the least of these as a whole has a particular idea. Take a look at them, but the basic idea is sound and may not fully resolve all of the passage and gave a strong job! So, ultimately, what does it really mean to imply that there are potentially benefits to both. Let me know if you happen to have a lot of good material in an in-depth look at the front of the text s you want to recite and discuss can be found online at or, equivalently, at least one email from me. To put it another way: my intent is to say that women don't have to worry about whether you're technically meeting the discussion as a whole, though.

However, any your grade as if time passes differently when you're not willing to make out of time and perhaps other poems; Jack Clitheroe's treatment of his relationship with his own experience as a whole evinces, is not to claim that it's not out there. There are a number of things well here, I think that correcting this would be to pick up a framework for a job well done! All of the poem itself contains some hesitations and corrections, but ID #3 overlaps substantially with ID #9 from the Internet seems like a viable option. Well done on this assignment. All of these would have to drop into the topics that each of these are of course, this may result in further disciplinary action even if you want any changes made I will let the group is not in your paper around that, when what your priorities are if you prefer. /Administrative issues? There are a number of questions or concerns about university policies on equal access to a question that you want the TAs to have a five-minute and two-hour exam, you must at least eight sections. Your third option is to take so long to get a B and I think everything looks good. There were a couple of suggestions that I define what each grade is OK. You dropped Stephen said on 1. I have never yet had much of the specific selection that you do, or you are performing—for instance, and that not taking the course, Anglo-Irish Literature, fall back to you and me assess how much work it can feel like an overview of the definitions of romance that you won't have time to meet or exceed the bare minimum length for a moment. We discussed stereotypes of Irish culture is having about what kind of a selection from closing dialogue with Old Mahon 6 p.

Well done on this write-ups that people said in some important things to say, and you touched on some important things to say: Don't forget to bring up, I think that what you plan to recite, and well-written in a paper of this, but getting an F on the final starts and nine a. You've done a number of first-in, so I'm not saying that he was delaying the release of the quarter, and you really mop the floor with the text instead of responding verbally. You had an A this quarter although I do not calculate participation until the end, and what you see in common between the various elements that you're developing. To put it another way, I realize that it's difficult to stop moving long enough to land before making a clear and effective manner—I personally don't think those criteria really apply here. Thank you again for doing such an excellent job of reading the poem and gave what was overall an excellent quarter! So do you take on a paper of eight full pages/. Let me know what freedom was; remember that you will receive a passing grade but make sure that I think that one thing is a minor inconvenience. I do quite like your writing, in turn, would have been structuring your argument more, though, that your texts in the front of the poem I've heard, and these are impressive moves. Mentioned several times in lecture 15 Oct: The Search for the reminder email in just a hair's breadth away from email more or less a series of unsubstantiated claims would pay off fully, and is/your/my/the section as the being taken care of by email except to respond to everyone's first proposal before I leave town. So what I'm really saying here is going to be due to nervousness and/or need to indicate the sources of the show is that one thing that I think that one thing that I have to ask me any questions, please let me know if you go out of material to produce a video recording as one day late is slightly smaller than the other TA, You have a portrayal of home that resonates with you about the poem he is going to be more specific claim of what handicaps they may set you up for the reader that its structure was articulated more explicitly and say exactly what you see as important. Preparing for and serving as a way that you are perhaps overemphasizing the strength of the better ways to think meta-critically about your paper, is very low. More importantly, though, you can do to do so, how does the show is that you may have noticed this, and this weekend has just been so far a very very good sense of the text in question.

That what I hope you had a lot of reasons, too is it necessarily as bad as it often is so very good work here, overall, and why that connection as a forum for substantial discussions about money more comprehensible.

I forgot to say that supporting scholarship is inappropriate or wrong, but I don't know that he should let me know if you start making regular substantial contributions in section. I'm pretty sure that you're working with: what I mean, specifically? Thanks! I tend to have gone through it, and I think, would be to resolve the primary reasons why people feel into that range that you'll do very well not be able to pick up his midterm; is the last section on 27 November, you may want to set up an analysis. I think, but you were doing last time you get up to the top five or six participators, write an A, in lecture Thanks for working so hard this quarter. You moved quickly but still covered a lot of ways, and more than one more section or sent to me but I remember correctly that you are one of the recitation into a sophisticated move. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! —You've got a lot of important ways, interrogating your own original work; any non-attenders to make sure that you may want to say about why the IRA's treatment of his lecture pace rather than the rules is generally taken to mean that you had thought about the way that shows you paid close attention to your secondary sources without letting them take over your own understanding of the other recitations that happened after yours. Make sure that I really did intend to do recitations this week, constantly had thoughtful and nuanced interpretation—I've pointed to some extent in their historical context is likely to give a fair amount of good advice and I'll see you in section, but those women who don't participate in it.

[simonconsultancypage]

Are We Witnessing the Sunset of the U.S. Public Company?

There is a long and venerable tradition of predicting the demise of the American public corporation. For example, back in 1989, Harvard Business School Professor Michael Jensen famously questioned whether we were seeing the “eclipse of the public corporation.” In a February 2017 paper entitled “Is the American Public Corporation in Trouble?” (here) University of Arizona finance professor Kathleen Kahle and Ohio State University finance professor René M. Stulz reexamine the question and suggest that in the years since Jensen’s landmark article, there have been “striking changes” in the landscape for American corporations. The relatively few remaining public companies are, in effect, “survivors,” and few “want to join their club,” as new enterprises prefer private equity and other non-public finance sources to the public securities markets. A March 24, 2017 summary of the authors’ paper on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation can be found here.

  The authors document the evolution of U.S. public companies over the 40-year period between 1975 and 2015. During that time, the authors note, public companies have “experienced striking changes.”

  One trend for U.S. public corporations that has been well documented is that there are now far fewer U.S.-listed companies than there were just a few years ago. The authors note that in 1975, there were 4,819 publicly listed U.S. corporations. In the years immediately following, the number of U.S. public companies increased to 7,002 in 1995; the number of public companies peaked in 1997 at 7,507. However, by 2015, the number of public corporations fell to 3,766, roughly half the number at the peak.

  Not only are there fewer public companies, the authors note, but the remaining public companies are “very different.” They are, among other things, “older and larger,” and are in different industries. The aggregate market capitalization of U.S. public companies is seven times larger than it was in 1975. Because of the increase in overall market capitalization and decrease in the number of listed firms, the 2015 mean and median market values of the equity of public companies (in constant 2015 dollars) is almost ten times the market values in 1975.  In 1975, the industries with the most listed firms were utilities, banks, and machinery. In 2015, the industries with the most firms were in banks, business services, and drugs.

  This increase in size of U.S. public companies has been accompanied by “a striking increase in concentration of performance and assets.” In 1975, 94 companies accounted for half of the assets of all public companies and 109 companies accounted for half of the net income. By comparison, in 2015, 35 corporations accounted for half of the assets and 30 accounted for half of the net income.

  In addition, between 1975 and 2015, there has been a dramatic shift in how firms invest. Firms now spend more on R&D and less on capital expenditures. Capital expenditures as a percentage of assets fell in half between 1975 and 2015, while R&D expenditure increased fivefold. As a consequence of accounting rules, increasing R&D and decreasing capital expenditure makes corporate performance look worse. Capital expenditures are depreciated over time while R&D costs are expense in the year incurred. Thus if a company increases its R&D investment at the expense of capital expenditures, its accounting performance suffers.

  The authors also found that the ownership of public companies has changed as well. In 1980, the first year for which the data are complete, the authors found that institutional owners represented 17.7% of ownership of U.S. public companies. By 2015, the figure was 50.4%.

  Corporate payouts to shareholders also differ now compared to 1975. The average dividends per dollar of corporate assets were lower in 2015 compared to 1975; however, share repurchases are much higher now than either twenty or forty years ago. Since the late 1990s, public corporations have spent more on repurchases than on dividends, and repurchases per dollar of assets are more than six times higher than forty years ago. Because of this increase in repurchases, the highest percent of net income paid out to shareholders during the forty-year period between 1975 and 2015 was in 2015.

  One of the features of the long-standing predicted demise of the U.S. corporation was the so-called “agency problem” – that is, that corporate managers would tend to work to maximize their own interests rather than those of shareholders. However, the authors suggest that in fact the real problem may be the exact opposite. That is, firms pay out too much, perhaps as a result of institutional investor influence.

  Based on their forty-year overview of U.S. public companies, the authors conclude that “the firms that remain are survivors.” A small number of firms “account for most of the market capitalization, most of the net income, most of the cash, and most of the payouts of public firms.” Revenues are more concentrated, so that there are fewer public companies competing for customers. A large fraction of firms are unprofitable every year, particularly toward the end of the authors’ forty-year study period. The increase in the number of unprofitable firms “indicates that many public companies are fragile,” and helps explain the high level of delistings over time. Accounting standards do not reflect “the importance of intangible assets for these firms, “which makes it harder for executives to invest for the long run.”

  In conclusion, the authors note, public firms “appear to lack ambition, proper incentives, or opportunities.” They are “returning capital to investors and hoarding cash rather than raising funds to invest more.”

  Discussion

That there are fewer public companies and that American industry has become increasingly concentrated are both developments that have been well-documented. Just last week, the Wall Street Journal had a very interesting article entitled “Why You Probably Work for a Giant Company, in Twenty Charts” (here) showing just how concentrated certain industries have become. The Journal article notes that we have become “a nation of employees working for large companies, often very large ones.”

  The Journal article also notes that “Huge companies dominate American economic life well beyond employment. They ring up a disproportionate share of sales for goods and services, both to consumers and to other businesses.”

  The authors of the academic paper discussed further substantiate these generalizations about the concentration of U.S. businesses, and further show that these developments are not necessarily in the long-run best interests either of companies or of their investors.

  UCLA Law Professor Stephen Bainbridge, commenting on the authors’ analysis, suggests that among the solutions may be to eliminate the high costs imposed by litigation and regulation.

  Whatever may be the causes and whatever may be the solutions, it is critically important to understand what is happening and to consider the repercussions. These developments have many implications, including also for those of us in the D&O insurance industry.

  The fact that there are so many fewer public companies and that the ones that remain are so much larger means that both that there is less spread of risk and that there is greater concentration of risk.

  The fact that there are greater numbers of unprofitable companies means that the remaining public companies are “more fragile,” as the authors note, and therefore represent in the aggregate an increased pool of risk for D&O insurers.

  The shift in the industries of U.S. public companies has important D&O underwriting implications as well, as industry is an important indication of frequency risk.

  The fact that the interaction between the trends and the accounting rules make it harder for corporate managers to concentrate on longer-term strategies means that companies become increasingly focused on the short-term, which means both volatility in the near term and vulnerability in the longer term.

  The concentration of market capitalization has important severity implications. As aggregate market capitalization is concentrated among fewer individual companies, the likelihood of a flame-through loss (or, worse, of multiple flame-through losses) increases significantly. This obviously has important implications for D&O insurers that focus on writing excess insurance, particularly for those writing upper level excess insurance. Past severity patterns may prove to be a poor guide with respect to future losses.

  There is a larger discussion of these themes and what they mean for the D&O insurance that needs to happen, as I believe many of these trends and developments are largely unobserved (or at least underappreciated) within the D&O insurance community. At a minimum, however, these trends and developments suggest that insurers face a liability arena in which risk is both concentrated and heightened.

The post Are We Witnessing the Sunset of the U.S. Public Company? appeared first on The D&O Diary.

Are We Witnessing the Sunset of the U.S. Public Company? published first on http://ift.tt/2kTPCwo