theberkeleymoose

[theberkeleymoose]

This is a quick edit of a morning climbing trip to J-Tree. I am still practicing editing, so don't be too harsh. My work on camera placement needs a lot of improvement. Overall, I like this cut. #joshuatreenationalpark #jeep #jeep_moose #czinggeler #jeeps #jeepwrangler #gopro #goprovideo #goprohero7 #goprohero5 #bouldering #climbing #metolius #boreal #hangar18 (at Joshua Tree National Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwhhmG9H42tKdn3FKJgm9Ts7peSGblO7YE3AbU0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1wguozs3pokj4

[theberkeleymoose]

Happy Fountain Pen Day everyone. Please, celebrate with me by hand-writing a note to someone special, a letter to family, or maybe even your Christmas list. @cynnjess #fountainpen #fountainpenday #handwriting #christmaslist (at West Covina, California)

[theberkeleymoose]

My Whitney training, so my morning is spent at the gym.

[theberkeleymoose]

Life hacks/Tips Here

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[theberkeleymoose]

Ok, that is just funny.

Autocorrect can go straight to he’ll. 

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[theberkeleymoose]

Leonid Pasternak - The Passion of creating, 1880s

[theberkeleymoose]

Happy Pi Day Everyone!

[theberkeleymoose]

ABOVE AND BEYOND: THE NEW MINIMUM STANDARD

There has been countless number of moments when a parent or teacher has told a student, "Keep the grades up and do your best in sports, Universities will accept you." Honestly, with so many students keeping perfect grades and being captain of this or president of that, it comes down to the particulars of the applicants. It comes down to what you have accomplished.

An example of what I mean.

I worked with a young man a number of years ago. He was not an outstanding student nor was he a stellar athlete. That really worked against him considering the small town in which he was raised. He kept his grades "high enough" to satisfy minimum requirements, but, otherwise, his college application lacked any sparkle--except for one thing.

Photography was a hobby of his, and he put it to good use. The small town which reared him had a proportionally small newspaper. This young man began submitting to the small paper on an irregular basis, then a regular one. By the time the he was 16 years old, this young man was the only photojournalist working for the newspaper. What his photography amounted too was experience and accomplishment. The essay on his application was dripping with enthusiasm--enthusiasm for not just photography, but for everything that he had encountered while "covering the news". He illustrated to the University that he had gone above and beyond what one would consider a prototypical high school career. He also couldn't hide his eagerness to keep learning, growing, and doing. He had accomplished something. That something had elevated what would have otherwise been a questionable application. A glowing letter of recommendation from the editor of the paper didn't hurt either.

P.S., His accumulated portfolio landed him a staff photographer position on the University's paper before his first day of class.

An explanation of "minimum requirements".

Let me first dispel the myth of minimum requirements. We shall take as our example an applicant's grade-point average (GPA). At the U of X, the minimum GPA for admission is 3.8. First-things-first, do not think about this as a GPA of 3.8 or higher. The ". . .or higher. . ." is understood when the minimum is 3.8, which means that a 3.7 or lower is unacceptable. When the applications are processed, one of the initial steps is for the minimum requirements to be checked and confirmed. This is why unofficial transcripts need to accompany the application. The grades are checked to confirm that a 3.8 GPA has been met. Once that box has been checked, grades no longer play any part of admission consideration. That's right, your GPA gets you a checked box, whether it is a 3.8 or higher. A GPA of 4.0 does not get any more consideration than a GPA of 3.8; they both get the same box checked. The only reason for a minimum requirement is to make sure that an applicant met a particular set of criteria, a minimum. Once more, an applicant does not get preferential treatment, they are no more likely to be accepted, if they do better than that minimum. Universities have learned that there are too many factors that go into grades, and that they do not realistically reflect a student's actual knowledge or probability for success.

This being understood, the grades do serve a purpose. They illustrate that a student can perform within a particular environment, that they can maintain standards, that they can develop and grow within a system, etc. Think about it this way: how many of the applications being considered by the U of X are from students with a GPA of 3.8 or better? Answer: all of them. Why should a U of X eliminate one student with a GPA of 3.8 (which was earned at a very difficult school, high standards) in favor of a student with a GPA of 4.0 (coming out of a lax school, low standards). The GPA of 3.8 from the difficult school may actually be the greater achievement. How is the University to know which achievement to favor?

How is a University supposed to know which student would be a better addition to their student body? Answer: accomplishment. 

Stay Tuned...

I have a good deal to say on the matter of accomplishment, but this post began growing and growing. So, please, look for the follow-up posts in which I shall cover what accomplishment entails.

[theberkeleymoose]

I, too, pretend I am a wizard searching the magical archives for missing lore while book-shopping.

[theberkeleymoose]

Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.

Arthur Schopenhauer (via observando)

[theberkeleymoose]

Morning planning and blog writing meeting. Today, I am holding my meeting at a Panera. Some of you might notice the chronodex which I have included on my plan-for-the-day. It is an altered version to fit my planning needs and style. Maybe a chronodex is something to go into in a later post? Anyway, good morning everyone.

[theberkeleymoose]

My apologies to everyone for having been away. I have been deep in other projects. No excuse...I know.

What prompted this post was an article that I read about the most common methods of passing germs. For the most part, I knew what to expect in the area of transmission, but there was one source which shocked me...pens. Once I read that a pen can be a major highway between one person and another, I quickly remembered that I had started this post some time ago and decided that it needed to be updated and completed. A good way to catch the attention of any reader is to begin with GERMS!!!

While I am re-writing this post and eating my breakfast, I am being careful to watch the people around me. Right now, at this very moment, there are four people that have a pen in their hand. I have been watching the carefree behaviour of one woman in particular. She has the pen which the waitress provided for her to sign the check. This woman has placed the pen behind her ear while she was talking to her companion, and she has chewed on the cap. The things which make you go...EEEWW! At some point, the waitress will collect her pen from the table and give it to another customer. If the woman who put the cap in her mouth has a cold, then that cold is being passed to every customer that will come into contact with that pen (possibly for days). Think about that the next time a clerk hands you a pen to sign a receipt.

Here is the challenge; get into, create, devise, take up, develop, grow, etc., the habit of Your Pen.

What I am advising all of you to do is to get a pen, carry it with you at all possible times, and use it. You want to refuse to use pens from other people. You need to use Your Pen.

First of all, what pen would you use? I advise a ballpoint with black ink. Blue ink is acceptable for all forms, but it is not the top rung of the ladder when it comes to professional impressions. Do not use some other coloured ink, not for everyday, common use. It does not speak to a mature nature if you write in pink ink. Fine or medium point? That will depend on the way that you write; your style, the size of your writing, the materials on which you commonly write, etc. I have found that a medium point works the best. If I use a fine point, I have the habit of writing too small. It is compounded by the fact that I rarely write on paper with lines (I use blank paper in a natural colour).When choosing a pen think about it this way; if you were to fill out a college or job application by hand, what would you want the pen and ink to say about you? The use of a ballpoint is obvious, most receipts are thermal printed. That means that there is a finish on the paper which will not allow for quick drying if you were to use an "ink pen" (rollerball or fountain pen). If you happen to have a job where you sign your name on important documents, then it is advisable to go the way of Winston Churchill. He had a high-quality fountain pen with brown ink. This made his signature stand out on the document and made it that much more difficult to forge. Pencil is fine for doodling, calendars, and math homework, but not for a signature. Many organizations and offices, the DMV, for example, will flatly refuse a document signed in pencil. I like and use a pencil quite often simply for the fact that I can erase my many errors, but my pencil rarely finds its way beyond my own notes.

Meet my pen...

It is a Cross pen, though I don't remember the series (sorry Cross). It is a medium point with black ink, matte black lacquer finish with chrome. On most days it can be found in my lanyard, on my collar, in my pocket, etc. It is a decent pen, but by no means is it of the highest quality. There doesn't seem to be much of a point to carry around a pen which cost more that my computer. When it comes to price, I will warn you ahead of time, you should expect to spend $35 to $50. Anything less and you get mainly plastic and low quality. If you spend much more, you get a high quality pen, but its use doesn't seem to support the cost. Any decent stationary store, including the major U.S. chain stores, will help you find a pen that is a good fit for you. Make sure to hold it, write a paragraph with it, and look into refill availability. I have more Cross pens that any other brand. Though, I had a Parker prior to this one, and I liked it just fine. Unfortunately, I dropped it on a snowy day and couldn't find it. Oh, refills...use the manufacturer's refill, not any of the "made to fit" refills. If it is "made to fit", it is cheaper for a reason.

If you take care of Your Pen and have purchased a decent one, it will last you for a long, long time. Refills, even the manufacturer's more expensive refills, are cheaper over a life time than "inexpensive" pens. Also, decent pens go the way of Midori Traveler Notebooks, they get better with age. Hmm...they get better with age?

This is a picture of my first pen - well, it came in the form of a pen set. It is the Townsend collection from Cross. Glossy (or it used to be) black lacquer finish and gold. The set consists in a pencil (0.5 mm 2B) [Don't let teachers, instructors, or Professors tell you that mechanical pencils will not work on electronically graded exams. 2B lead is the same for a mechanical pencil as a wooden one.], ballpoint (medium with black ink), a rollerball (fine with black ink), and a fountain pen (fine with brown ink, thank you Winston). I received this set between high school graduation and starting college...1988. All of these 27 year-old pens, all of them, are still going strong. To this day, I use them on a frequent basis. I actually used the rollerball when I was taking notes for this post. These pens have shared in many of the achievements of my life, they have signed the forms which made many of my decisions permanent, and they have written graffiti on pub tables in at least half-a-dozen countries...they are a part of who I am.

I have discovered that the vast majority of people in the world would never consider a pen to be an integral piece of their life, so they do not care or think much about them. Pay attention! When you talk to a Professor does she use her pen? What about the corporate executives? Did they sign with their pen? Good pens have become a niche market, and they seems to be reserved for those who actually take pride in the fact they write-by-hand.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that you use only one pen for everything. I use the correct pen for the situation; a sharpie, coloured rollerballs, etc. All of the different pens have a time and place. When notes are re-written and organized, then coloured pens would be a better choice than one black ballpoint. If I am sketching for an infographic, then I am using drawing pens. It is the little, everyday situations where Your Pen makes a difference. People notice when I am sitting at a café and a though, of which I need to take note, occurs to me. I grab my pocket Moleskine and my pen...at that moment I am saying something about who I am to them and to myself.

[theberkeleymoose]

A monument to lab rats used for DNA research in Novosibirsk, Russia.

[theberkeleymoose]

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

Jack London (via dehanginggarden)

[theberkeleymoose]

Planning my day and week.