#// going to the geography section and it says it take 3 hours by train to get to a major city but in dancing it took the IT a bus to get to

[m0e-ru]

guy who has the audacity to think they know better than an official written and published magazine about the source's lore and world building

#kommento #// opening up the funbook to read the 'let's learn with nanako' segment and yelling at the beef steak section #// no nanako don't listen to these tour guides steak was popularized for a year NOT multiple years ago. who is writing this thing #// going to the geography section and it says it take 3 hours by train to get to a major city but in dancing it took the IT a bus to get to #// rise's city YOU FUCKING LIARS!!!!!!!!!! #// bancho took three trains to inaba and be arrived there at 4pm I thought it was pretty late but damn was tokyo that far #// okay enough girlcomplaining my kanji dictionaries just crash okay back to it ladies

[coralstudiies]

How do you stay organized and manage time? I love your blog! ☀️

thanks hon :D

hngh ok i honestly organise my schedule through my phone, be it the calender app or this app called Pendo (check it out i think its pretty good). i dont keep a bullet journal because honestly i'd want it to look nice and i dont have time for that!

as for my school stuff like worksheets, tests etc., i organise them in two big 'zip folders'(idk what they're called just google them and add 'school' at the back). one's for math and science, the others for humanities and languages, you get the drift! and for each subject, i clip everything together with a big binder clip. this is because i like to have everything together, and i like my levels of organisation to progress from big to small scale. also the zip folder prevents the papers from becoming dog-eared which sucks imo.

apart from that, i have a binder where i keep some of my own notes and some writing paper which i carry around. this is so that i can study on the go and the notes are usually on recently-learnt topics!

as for my textbooks, i basically just chuck them in the shelf beside my table. this time, because my math textbooks and science textbooks are too thick to fit into one section together, i use one section for math, one for science and one for humanities. we dont really have language textbooks, but whatever relevant materials are slotted in the humanities section. above that, i keep all my past year papers and revision handbooks because i can easily grab them and refer to them if i'm doing timed practice on my own. it's neat and convenient so i don't worry about being too lazy to put it back into place:")

for stationery i just put my pens and highlighters in one jar and my brushpens and fineliners in the other. i have another pencilholder for refills and stuff as well as scissors, rulers etc.

as for managing time, im gonna go back to my phone calender and the Pendo app to schedule my week, month etc. whenever i get notified of an event, say a test, i immediately record it down. i also record the time school ends on that day, and i also plan out dinnertime, breaks, exercise time, homework etc. the remaining time is left for revision. the reason why homework and revision aren't grouped together is because (imo) doing homework isnt the same as revising. i've seen many students who group them together, spend too much time on homework and forget to revise. so that's a pitfall to look out for!

Then within those windows of time, i try to either a. review the day's learning or b. review older content. it's tiring and fricking draining but yknow just do it. i'd rather power through a shit ton of assignments and take a power nap the next day than trudge through my homework pile and end up drained.

another tip is to optimise the time you have during weekends. for me i have piano lessons on saturday morning and training on saturday and sunday night. so i have limited time compared to many people (especially because of the commute) but i really plan ahead during the weekdays. if i know i'm getting rusty at math i set aside maybe 1.5h to practice and review. if i have a geography test coming up i mug for maybe 3-4 hours (because my geog tests are content heavy)

Which brings me to another point, really know your weaknesses so you spend more time on them. dont spend the weekend studying your strongest subjects because you're only as strong as your weakest chain i.e. the subject you really suck at. it's about harnessing whatever limited time you have and making the most out of it to really pull your OVERALL grades up. and it's about being CONSISTENT no matter how dry and arduous it gets. many people fail to manage time because its tiring so they give up. time management is like momentum; if you dont start now it'll be hard to start later especially if your schedule is screwed.

Lastly i'd like to point out that both of these skills are muscles i.e. they need to be practised in order for you to master them. the more you organise, the better you get at organisation. same goes for time management!

hope that helped!

#coralstudiies #asks #time management #organisation

[cheswirls]

tether notes 1/3

long overdue, sry abt that.

pt. 1

why is there no change to the mines after 15+ years of destroying an environment?

i modeled the sinnoh region of tether almost exclusively on the hokkaido region of japan. from the layout of cities like sapporo, abashiri, and muroran, to geography like lake saroma northeast of veilstone and the hidaka mountain range for lower mt coronet, and especially, to the isolationism. i kept it trie to pokemon in the fact that sinnoh has no railways, unlike its real-life counterpart, which has plenty for traversing its vastness. a big part of hokkaido is how empty it is.

[on that note, though i mention both, i used muroran photography to model veilstone instead of abashiri, as its a proper port town. not super significant, jsu thought i’d bring it up, since muroran is sandgem’s counterpart.]

hokkaido is vastly underpopulated in ratio to its size. its mostly due to climate, and nature. things are far less technologized there. outside of sapporo, you won’t find very many glowing billboards and fancy casinos and active nightlife. you have to ride a train for hours to reach the next big town. the mountain range cuts the northern region in half.

when compared to this, little villages out in the middle of the wilds are far more isolated than towns. especially when they’re remnants of indigenous tribes. it’s sad, but it’s pretty standard process in the world nowadays -governments don’t care about the native people much. it’s prevalent in the united states, and if you’ve ever read commentary from fma’s mangaka arakawa, you’ll know the same is true for japan. the ainu are isolated to hokkaido. they aren’t looked after much.

so, even though it’s been a direct result of oreburgh’s mines’ negative effects, it’s still a matter of most of the sinnoh region not even knowing the village existed, and even if they did, not paying it mind. the wilds of sinnoh are difficult to traverse, and it’s more logical to take a boat to your destined city instead of traversing through them. that’s why so many of the big towns in sinnoh are located on a shore. for others, like jubilife and hearthome, there are airports that cater to people. and, for real life hokkaido, there are the trains.

i really wrote abt the mining incident in reference to bangladesh. in hokkaido, once all the prevalent mines started having accidents, the japanese government was quick to shut them down. in other eastern countries, especially bangladesh, the government is notorious for doing nothing abt the insane amounts of river pollution caused by factory waste. writing the river scene was heartbreaking, but learning about the trash rivers that prevail in countries with vast amounts of pollution, of the ones that run stark orange with mining waste, that was more difficult than anything i’d written for tether. 

so it comes down to being a mix of two things. one, sinnoh’s government viewing the production of the mine and the money it brings over the safety of the nature that surrounds it. and, two, no one noticing the damage anyway. it’s not like it ever affected oreburgh. or, maybe it did, but they installed the fresh-air vents to keep the mines clean, like the changes made in pokemon platinum suggest? the oreburgh mines are the sinnoh region’s majority of energy, after all (you can argue for sunyshore, but i’d say solar power only stretches so far from the source) so even if there’s a scuffle of it here or there, keeping it active is important.

also. my take of the pokemon world has always been a little gritty. so there’s that.

why hancock as champion?

i ask myself this question everyday. i don’t even like boa. why did i include her, if in name only? what was i thinking? oh well. it’s already been done.

[side note, again. if boa’s in charge of sinnoh, considering her, erm, personality, is it hard to believe nothing was ever done abt the mine pollution? aka does she care abt anyone but herself hm hm ]

pt 2.

i introduce a pokemon known as driftzel rather early on. it’s luffy’s, and it’s an in-progress pokemon, a concept i thought would be interesting to use. you can see what driftzel looks like here. it also links to the blog i got the idea from. instead of it being like a natural evolution, though, the idea in tether is more of a middle evolution for pokemon with two lines. so, there aren’t any for three-line evolutions. i was originally going to introduce ricaru, an evolution between riolu and lucario, but i moved away from that idea somewhere around writing part 4.

herbalist!law is the solution i came up with in lieu of him being a doctor. i had so much fun with the berries. when i was doing my maps for each part of tether, i had separate maps marking out the locations of berries in the games and which ones law collects along the journey to veilstone. 

hearthome is the only city i didn’t base on a real world counterpart. i think because i had too much to work with already. the cathedral, the contest hall, the gym. all the architecture. the poffin house. i didn’t wanna change anything abt hearthome, and more importantly, i wanted to portray part of japan’s hospitality here, too. it does extend all the way to hokkaido, yes. people are nice, and friendly, and happy to have travelers, just as depicted in all the games. 

yes, all of ace’s pokemon are named after spade pirates. except for isuka, because i couldn’t resist. yes, striker is a spade pirate, it was his ship. 

[in reference to the night walk between hearthome and solaceon] remember to bring a compass, when you’re in a region with a giant magnetic mountain range at its center, because it will be a lifesaver.

Law can see how uneasy Luffy still is, but as they walk further from the coast, he eases up, so he chooses not to ask

^ in platinum, the opposite shore houses the hallowed tower where you can encounter spiritomb. sensing the presence of an evil spirit leaves luffy on edge, thus their dodge to avoid it.

why are lunar wings, an event-only item, brought up in hearthome?

you’re right. lunar wing is a rare dppt item, and you can only get it after encountering cresselia on fullmoon island. my inspiration came from an episode of the dp anime, where a stall in canalave was selling the feathers as homage to the game event. actually, to go further, the same thing happened in the darkrai movie, which is where i got most of the insp. especially for the charms made out of them -look at the picture here!! i figured, with the sinnoh region i was depicting being a place of mostly friendly and peaceful pokemon, cresselia was more generous with her feathers. they make for popular items, and if they work in keeping the bad dreams away, whats the harm? plus, they’re in hearthome, a hotbed for tourists and foreign activity, because they’d sell best there. a good luck souvenir from sinnoh? sign me up.

but they are still lunar wings, and they do work, as shown with chimchar. i really wanted a piece of practical merchandise i could show off, and once i got the idea for chimchar’s introduction, i tweaked the hearthome scene to include the feathers. if you pay attention, though, you’ll note that law no longer has restless sleep after luffy’s secured a lunar wing.

the solaceon ruins was a place i wanted to explore so badly, but it just didn’t make sense within the continuity of the story, especially when i decided to go the northern route and introduce tsuru out of the fog. my original ideas were split between that, and law/lu cutting through the mountainous area of the ruins as a shortcut to veilstone. i was really captivated with exploring the uncharted areas of sinnoh’s map, and i think at this point i had established enough, so i decided they would stay on paved routes this time. but! i did want to bring it up, which is where carmel comes in.

in the games, there are houses on the outskirts of solaceon, nestled between the trees, and very close to the ruins. there’s one house where a little boy will give you ball capsule stickers. that’s the basis for mother carmel’s house. she lives there with anana, the first of the captive granddaughters to be introduced. 

anana is creepy in canon. you can’t die that. i used carmel’s canon portrayal to match, and then the scene becomes a match of who’s creepier -the ruins or this old lady? the atmosphere around the ruins is weird. there are unknown there, so the space is distorted. it’s an old place. it’s quite possibly connected to giratina and the distortion world, since there are unknown present. it’s supposed to be eerie and strange and off-putting. it’s supposed to feel like a place where a wandering child can disappear into quite easily. though, maybe carmel’s just inattentive.

The trees out here are tall, towering over them in shades of deep green and dull orange, a byproduct left over from spring’s bloom

i mention orange trees in a section of the woods just past solaceon. they’re not orange from fall, though, they’re naturally so. oran trees! any off-colored trees mentioned -assume they’re berry trees. also another berry thing i had fun with, deciding which was a bushel and which was a plant and which was a huge tree. 

i had way too much fun depicting the fog forest. i actually listened to a lot of pkmn soundtrack while writing tether, and for this part, this santalune forest remix was on constant replay. getting turned around, not being able to see your map, hearing the sounds and calls of wild pokemon, and then getting so lost in it that you begin to hear what isn’t there. not being able to see in front of you, barely able to dodge attacks and sabotage from wild pokemon, and feeling like youre going insane from myriads of different tunes clashing together. the road between solaceon and the dragon tamer’s house is terrifying, and i wanted to use this to depict the dangers of traveling in the pokemon world. though most sinnoh pokemon thus far had been shown to have good intentions, it can’t be said about every pokemon. 

not to mention the big drop you have before the bridge, right when you get out of the fog! not really even out of it, as it sticks around near the dragon tamer’s house. could you imagine encountering something like that in real life? imagine how many accidents there would be.

so i had a bit of trouble in deciding if i wanted to use tsuru or not. this was fairly early on in wano, and i knew i wanted to use tama, but who to pair her up with for grandmother/daughter matches was iffy. looking back at my list, i had lots of other picks for the dragon elder. gloriosa, shakky, kureha, rouge, gerth, even! carmel, too, at one point was a pick, since i planned this part out early on into the story. i actually had marine tsuru on the list as well! in the end, i think i decided on wano tsuru bc of all the dragon tie-ins thus far. if i were to go back, now, i think i might change it to toki and hiyori, possibly. or, tsuru and hiyori. not that i dont love tama, though, i do. 

i had a small list of grandkids, too, depending on who was the grandmother. anana, rebecca, tama, marguerite, and a few choices for marine tsuru (the standout was, apparently, isuka. then i repurposed the name for ace’s talonflame. tashigi was another pick, but in the end in wanted little girls.) at another point i thought about hiluluk and chopper, and had another grandfather/son combo that i can’t remember anymore. those were scrapped early on, since i wanted all girls. i also thought abt chimney and kokoro, but i wanted them on a more coastal city, to mirror water 7. 

there were two things i really wanted to happen in tether. one was a pokemon joining a team. and another was an evolution. part 2 fulfills one of those w chimchar, the pokemon i always wanted luffy to have, and the one i never knew i needed him to earn. also, giving pokemon their own personalities is really cute.

also, just before this scene, i take a skip, marking the second time an indefinite amount of time has passed between scenes. i realized while writing the time through mt coronet that i was writing more passively than actively, and this was speeding up things more than i liked. it’s why i took a break and depicted hearthome for a couple days, so that things were happening more in the moment. still, i hope at this point it’s gotten across that it’s taken a long time to travel to veilstone. moving across the entire region is a long journey, after all.

introducting aura, a movie concept.

so. aura was the main reason i wanted tether to take place in the sinnoh region. it’s actually mentioned in the games once, and that’s from riley, one of the sinnoh quartet, on iron island. in the movie where the concept is introduced, it’s brought with a lucario, another region. in the anime, riley has an active role in aura. but, for those who’ve just played the games, or know next to nothing abt pokemon, i tried to explain my best in-story. 

aura takes the place of conquerors haki in this pokemon verse, basically. you’re born with the sensitivity to it, so it’s not something just everyone can unlock. it’s rare, and it’s widely unknown. like law says, in sinnoh it’s considered an old myth. outside of sinnoh, it’s hardly known at all. so finding others to learn from is difficult. most people go their whole lives without even knowing what it is, just considering it natural luck that they can perceive things than others cannot. luffy meeting shanks, and learning that they both are sensitive to aura, is an incredible thing. having someone to teach you how to manipulate aura rare, and pretty amazing, when you think of the chances. but luffy and shanks live in different regions, and luffy has his own life. it’s been a long time, training, and as he expresses in part 2, he’s still not as far as he wants to be.

aura guardians, what shanks is, are almost unheard of. with great power comes great responsibility. and with great power comes the desire to obtain it. aura guardians are secret for a reason -if someone found out a person had an incredible power, and had the desire to, would they not seek it out for themselves? even to other aura users, revealing themselves wasn’t wise. protect yourself first. it’s a motto you’ll see come into play later.

with that said, and with one of the last things luffy mentions in part 2: could that have something to do with why shanks has gone missing?

#tether #im writing pt3 notes today #when i finish ill post them and pt3 to ffn

[havekiddoswilltravel]

Discover Lancaster County’s Amish Countryside With Kids

Trip Report - Part 1

Day 1 in Amish Countryside post 24 hours in Hershey, PA

 We (my friend Sarah (Stay At Home Mom? Yeah Right!) and I and our combined five kids ages 10, 10, 7, 5 and 5 left Hershey Park at approximately 2:00 p.m. and headed to Discover Lancaster. We wanted to start our trip by collecting area brochures and information about family friendly activities and Discover Lancaster provided just that. 

Pro tips:

-          Don’t wing it. Start your trip by spending time on Discover Lancaster’s website and plan a detailed itinerary that meets your family-group’s needs. Provide children with background information regarding the Amish - Mennonites prior to your trip. This link will help answer questions that they may have.

-          The best way to take in Lancaster County is to drive back roads between the attractions listed in your itinerary. Our favorite interactions with the Amish people, culture and way of life was during these moments.

-          Keep a cooler in your car with water. We traveled in July and it was pretty hot and humid. The water bottles that I kept in my back pack and in the cooler came in handy as we kept a pretty busy schedule.

Our Itinerary was as follows during our 2 night trip to PA:

Day 1:

- Crayola Experience- Easton, PA

- Hershey, PA - Chocolate World & Hershey Park

- Julius Sturgis Pretzel Company Tour

- Shady Maple Smorgasbord

Day 2:

- The Amish Village House Tour

- Cherry Crest Adventure Farm

- Miller’s Smorgasbord

- Stragsburg Rail Road - Thomas the Train fans, should check out their Day Out with Thomas - a 9 day event held September 15 - 23, 2018. 

- AAA Buggy Ride at Kitchen Kettle Village

Trip report:

Pin for later:

-          Julius Sturgis Pretzel Company Tour (Informative, budget and family friendly activity while in Lancaster, PA): we were scheduled for a 4 p.m. tour and arrived 15 minutes early to check in and look around the factory store. We took advantage of our early arrival to enjoy some still hot soft pretzels that were the best I’ve every eaten. We then went on a 25-minute tour outlined below:

o   The Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery is located in historic Lititz, Pennsylvania, in the middle of beautiful Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Visitors can tour the original pretzel bakery, get a hands-on lesson in pretzel twisting using a playdough mixture, observe our bakers twisting old-fashioned soft pretzels by hand, and shop for delicious treats and souvenirs in our bakery store.

-          Things to note about the tour. If you’re not a foodie, history, architecture, geography and - or culture lover then this tour is not for you. If you’re any of those things, you will have a blast and find great value in this experience. Make reservations in advance, as it would not be fun to drive there and have it be completely booked. The tour is popular with the aforementioned demographic groups, thus don’t underestimate the need for a reservation. It’s a pretzel bakery tour and as our tour guide informed us, it is warm in the tour area. It wasn’t so hot that it was unbearable, but definitely felt like we were in a factory. The tour is not expensive and worth the cost for an opportunity to learn about the history, meaning and pretzel making process in a full immersion experience. You get an “Official Pretzel Twister” certificate at the end and my kids thought that was way cool.

-          After the Pretzel Bakery tour, we headed to  Shady Maple Smorgasbord . This was our fist time eating (or better yet, experiencing) a smorgasbord and this is it was like nothing we’ve ever seen.

-          Things to note about Shady Maple Smorgasbord: They are closed on Sundays and holidays and thus, you should visit their website for a list of holiday closings.

-          Smorgasbord Hours – Breakfast: 6 am – 10 am; Lunch: (Mon. – Fri.) 11:00 am – 3:15 pm; Dinner (Mon. – Fri.) 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm; Saturday Dinner: 11:00 am – 8:00 pm.

-          Pricing: all meal pricing includes beverages and service fees. Special pricing is available for groups of 20 or more. We did in fact witness full busloads arriving and it didn’t even create a crowd. You get a free meal on your birthday. You may not take food home from the buffet and there is a sign that says that if you do so it’s considered shoplifting. So, go hungry.  We actually skipped lunch on the day that we ate there.

-         Shady Maple Smorgasbord Review: The building is huge; the dining room is huge and the food stations are huge. Huge pretty much sums up the entire shady maple experience. All non-alcoholic beverages and dessert are included in the price. I consider myself a foodie. I can go on a 7-night cruise and never step foot in a buffet. I’m usually not the target audience for large quantities of food and large seating capacity (Shady Maple seats 1200 and an additional 1,000 in the convention side). However, I found value in both of our smorgasbord experiences while exploring the Amish countryside for several reasons. First, we were on a tight schedule in terms of getting a lot of site seeing into a 24 hours period and having pre - planned ready to eat food options that would satisfy the eating needs of 5 children and 2 adults was convenient. Secondly, the size of these smorgasbords and the diversity of food offerings was an experience all its own. Lastly, the kids are still talking about being able to have slushies and sweets, as we don’t usually have either of those things. My favorite was actually the peach cobbler and a cup of black coffee.

Pro tip: There is a large farm market with a wide array of local produce within waking distance of the restaurant. We would love to return in September (9/19/18), as they are having a Whoopie Pie Celebration with free samples and games. 

We ate in the Ball Room section  of the restaurant, and as you can see it is roomy and not crowded. 

-          In the basement, you will find a 40,000 + square feet gift shop which we entered for 2 minutes and left, as we had no interest in one of our 5 young kids breaking something. It would be fun to explore without kids. Next time we visit, we will be sure to spend time in the gift shop and farmers market.

Day 2:

The Amish Village House Tour

-          Our day started with a house tour at The Amish Village. The guide was informative, interactive and engaging and the house tour itself was the perfect way to set the back drop for the remainder of our day in Lancaster County. After the formal house tour, we went downstairs to the summer kitchen or kettle house where the canning and & butchering would be done. After the tour, we explored the bank barn (pigs goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits and horses), the one room school house, the general store and several traditional buggies (family carriage, courting carriage and spring wagon) on our own.

-          The country store features Amish – made crafts and souvenirs. They had a nice collection of handmade Amish farmhouse items that would go perfectly with our farmhouse decor at home, thus I picked a few up.

My reclaimed wood barn door table is now perfectly adorned with this memento from our adventures in the Amish Countryside.

-          Don’t miss an opportunity to take a picture in front of a quaint covered bridge.

-          There’s an Amish Farmland View Trail which we didn’t take because we were short on time. Based on the number of buggies that we saw go by, it seemed like it would be a worthwhile experience if you have more time in the area.

Click here to read additional posts from our road trip to PA.

Vlog of our first day in the Amish Countryside - Julius Sturgis Pretzel Tour (only pictures are permitted during the tour) and dinner at Shady Maple Smorgasbord. 

Vlog of our house tour at The Amish Village.

Disclosure: We were hosted by Crayola Experience, Hershey Park, Discover Lancaster, Shady Maple Smorgasbord, The Amish Village, the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Company. Cherry Crest Adventure Park, Miller’s Smorgasbord and Strasburg Rail Road during our amazing PA road trip. 

#roadtrip #familytravel #pa #amishcountry #theamishvillage #juliusturgispretzel #discoverlancaster #lancasterpa #amish #travelwithkids #blackfamilytravel #nature #history #teachingkids #homeschoolresources #tripreport #shadymaplesmorgasbord #blackkidsdotravel #blacktravelmovement

[driftwork]

Two weeks of an engineer’s life...

He loved the dawn, the transition from dark into grey light, it had stopped raining. The stillness of the air. The silence that the triple glazing that was between him and the birds waking up outside and beginning to sing. That he couldn’t hear the morning commuter jets flying over above the clouds. This, it was time to sleep again. He opened the window in the bedroom and fell sleep listening to the early morning.

11.30 AM. He arrived at Heathrow at 9.30. The flight was supposed to leave for W. at 11AM. Arriving at the airport and checked to find that the flight was going to have a 12 hour delay. After some discussion he went back into London by train, leaving the car parked in the long stay car park. Charting Cross Road, lunch in Soho, joined the meeting with the Judge about about a migration case, agreed a few next steps. Looked over the plans for a couple of other cases, agreed to pay for the next sections so that two cases could go forward. Went to Foyles and bought a couple of books for the flight, (two slim philosophy books an a large hardback Angels' ). It's strange and irritating to have to travel to the centre of the city, spending time in London when you supposed to be sitting in a plane. He travels to the airport in a Taxi, reading. He phones the office and explains that he'll be late to arrive in W. and could they contact them please... Plane takes off at 9pm. He buys an upgrade to Business class.

The next day in the evening night is falling, the high park rises up the hill and looks almost jungle like, in a place like this which is so overgrown that it is scarcely walk-able by human beings, only in such a place can you say that darkness flows over the land, breaking in, night is falling. The veranda he stands on is the only place that is lit. It is loud, birdsong, insects, something is screaming, shrieking. Underlying this cacophony is the sound of machinery, alarms blare out in the distance. He could hear voices in the woods, the language was unrecognizable [...] "To oyla ta ksiazka, ktora pozyezyliscie mi prezeslego roku?" one asked, the other replied "Whilst no howers enrich the day, and if thou dost a cuckold prove..." [...] and the voices faded away as they went deeper into the woods. The alarms are 300 to 400 metres away at the closest, If he concentrates on the birdsong the alarms sound more distant and vague, as if he was at home in the garden in the dark. Human machines are always a little abstract in these places.

The next morning, a day late he will go to a white office to begin working on engineering a new system. The white office is like an airport lounge, chairs in rows facing outwards over what would be the runways but here its the cirty it overlooks, behind them old sofas and comfortable chairs, things arranged rather geometrically, a psycho-geometry of preciseness. The colours are relaxing greys and creams. The office is a non-place, a place between places, he has been in 100s of offices like this, familiar and unpleasant but bearable because of its emptiness. Through that door to the outside could be any of the cities he's spent time in this century. He reads the briefing paper summary sheet again, folds it and drops back into his bag. He collects an espresso from the machine, some water in a plastic bottle. A contented place he decides as he walks through the room following his guide, a passage of uncertainty. He puts his stuff on the table. "Hello" There are always moments of silence before beginning such a project, they will talk about their current fashionable methodology, he will remain silent about such things and manage their expectations. It always seems silent before and after the meetings, which will continue for five days, or is the silence ever present, something screams close by, a movement in the undergrowth, he hopes that he can capture the stream in the first day rather than later in the week. Which stream ? Which movement will he follow ? The atoms fall and swerve and eventually meaning will emerge dissolving the uncertainty.

A week passes:26 hours of meetings, 9 hours of evening meals, 3 or 4 hours of video calls. The most beautiful part of a new project starting is the gradual resolving of the indeterminacy, the weak and empty spaces vanishing before the decisions and the investigations so that by the last morning the world has become determined again.

On the Friday evening it is almost too dark to write, the screen illuminates the keyboard as he types. Has everything been written down sufficiently now ? That's a strange expression he thinks reading 'sufficiently now' Because if anything has not been written down, then it will emerge later and the thing will cross the line of thought and be added and so on and so on... There is a point somewhere in the future where nothing will be added. It is too early to say when that will be he thinks. When to stop writing he wonders. Listening to the loudness as his fingers type and type. He cannot see his notes in the black notebook now, his notes now are arriving in a stream of consciousness. He pauses. Mother used to turn the hall light off only when it had been dark for quite a while, only occasionally was he aware of this. Her reason was of the political-economic variety, but in the political there was something else behind it. The idea that with age choices change in meaning, some become less important, others more so.

Saturdaydaydayday, evening in P. half a day waiting in the airport for the flight home. The runway in N.W. The end of the runway is invisible in the mist. He takes a photograph of the point at which the plane is supposed to leave the concrete and fly up and over the mist. The concrete merges with the sky. There are slums besides the runway he sees. How did he miss them on arrival he wonders. Perhaps he was less attuned to seeing things when he was traveling here. The low buildings of the planet of the slums look like they have been sewn together with string and plants. From the distance, through the glass of the airport buildings, the classic postmodern big sheds, they look wonderfully constructed, multiplicity in the shape of a slum. Close up he knows its hell. You could say its an urban apocalypse except that the rural life they've left behind was even more terrible. What must it be like living so close to noise of the jets taking off and landing all the time, a machine that they'll never see from the inside where he stands waiting to be called. The dreams of their children are still capable of imagining being on the jets. Moving the slum dwellers away from the runways would be a luxurious act given they forced them off the land only recently. The plane is called.

They are flying over some desert or other, the planet of the slums is fading behind him. They are serving drinks before lunch, the stewards in their uniforms offering champagne or... he asks for a Margarita. Below small patches of green are appearing, from this altitude they are tiny, soon though they merge into fields of green and forests. Fields of unknown crops. The planes exhaust raising the temperature of the planet as it breathes carbon into the air, two tons for him alone. Plants naturally return to the earth as compost, just as sheets of metal become buildings. Different fragments of industrialization. Not yet homogenized though they are in process of being returned to their raw materials, they are being mediated back out of this in-between state, between life and death. They are approaching the ocean. The vast blue sea, dotted with clouds above them space. Heading towards the night. The industrialization creating the slums far behind them, they haven't been delayed by by by the local psycho-geography but instead are undigested like food just after a long meal. As the dusk approaches he begins to feel sleepy.

He looks at a picture of the slums again. What does the poor's rich culture of patchwork, their use of corrugated iron sheets, have to do with the patchwork of fields they have left behind ? Some he knew would object to this correlation, the observation of those at the bottom of the deepness of the class society, that he is flying across at 40,000 feet. Ignoring the faces of the slum dwellers. His plane has risen and left them behind, as far behind as the darkness on the veranda with its loudness, birdsong, insects, something is screaming, shrieking a few thousand miles behind him. Thinking of the patchwork roofs is no different than thinking about the models he is drawing up on his computer that will turn into systems of exchange value. The patchwork is no different from the political economy of the systems. He falls asleep reading Serres Angels book, he doesn't feel like an Angel though he suspects he may be one.

London on Tuesday: meeting with the men in in black suits who will decide whether the project goes forward. They had been in the office for hours by the time he wandered in at 11AM for the first of the debriefings. Before that in a MacDonald's thinking about drinking the coffee he'd bought, Lou Reed was playing ‘what’s good without you ?’ He smiles at some child in MacDonaldosan shades.

#everyday practices #fiction #engineering story

[americandreamphotoessay781]

professional writing services

About me

Writology Professional Writing Services Reviews

Writology Professional Writing Services Reviews However, with us, you are assured to get a excessive grade since it's what we mainly concentrate on. Our dissertation service is thought throughout the industry as the go-to service for students from totally different academic backgrounds. Sometimes, college students face difficulties even after they hand in their analysis paper or essay to the trainer. Chat with professional writers out of 450+ and choose the most effective one for you. Writers need a minimum of 3 hours to complete a short essay. If you need assistance with a more complicated lengthy paper, contact us beforehand. Your writing assistant will have more time for evaluation and will produce a superb piece. We worked very hard to search out the best essay writers experienced in any topic, even essentially the most complicated like Physics, Engineering or Informational Technologies. Because academics have too strict necessities and expectations for written homework. Our writers carry out each order on time and examine it for plagiarism with the assistance of particular applications. We come extremely beneficial by our previous prospects, which says everything you need to know about the quality of our papers. That’s proper – all of our writers have a tutorial qualification of their subject, all the method up to PhD level. The paper will be crafted in accordance with the main points you provided within the order form. So will probably be completely appropriate for your professor to grade it. You’re the one who units the urgency, desired high quality, quotation style, variety of pages, and every little thing else concerning the paper. You can ask the author to present a particular argument and they're going to try this. In fact, your lecturers gained’t even suspect you employed somebody to write the essay for you. It shall be written in accordance to their instructions and will probably be one hundred% plagiarism-free. Sure; the worth is good and all, but what quality do you get for it? There are a couple of ways you can ensure a writing service is legit and able to offer the quality you need. For our detailed price list, you can take a look at our ‘Prices’ section. You can try customer testimonials about our dissertation writing. You will discover that each one of our clients don't have anything but praiseworthy things to say about us. As is clear from varied testimonials, even uni college students who must submit a top-notch dissertation that should address multiple issues are quite impressed by our dissertation writing experience. Writing a thesis, dissertation, guide, or even journal article could be a long, and often very lonely process. It’s very simple for even the strongest author to grow too near a project during which they’ve invested a significant period of time. There isn't any limitation as to what you will get at this essay writing firm. It’s what permits us to pick the perfect essay author for your order if you make it. We know exactly what our essay writers are trained to and experienced in doing. College paper writing is difficult even without tight deadlines. The assignments are more sophisticated than before, the research process is time-consuming, and there is just too many of them for a pupil to handle alone. At the end, writer produces final variant, cites all used sources, proofreads, also edits the text before delivering it. If for some cause you are not satisfied with an task, there is a chance to request free unlimited revisions or ask another editor for enhancements. Alternatively, in accordance with our customer satisfaction coverage, you might request a refund, when you assume that directions were not followed. Do not hesitate over requesting help as we've writers for quite a lot of subjects who're prepared to work on your essay for Geography, International Law, Sociology, Philosophy, Culture, Ethics, and other courses. 450 devoted writers are ready to finish your essay in as shortly as 3 hours. When you don’t understand a math drawback and somebody solves it for you, you possibly can determine it out by trying on the steps in the direction of the answer. The author will ship 100% unique content material by your deadline.

[worthyourweightinfanfiction]

I haven’t posted much about my life for the past month or so, mostly because it’s been a busy time. I started an accountancy apprenticeship in November and the first week was pretty rough - the previous accountancy apprenticeship was a higher level, and the girl who’s mentoring me was part of it, but no-one told her i was doing a level 3 and had no previous experience in accountancy. I’m a month in and I’m still in over my head. I don’t know if I can do it - a lot of what I’m learning doesn’t make sense to me. I thought it might just be the way my mentor is explaining it to me, but I’ve just had my first day of the training section of the apprenticeship (they send me to a college for one day a week) and the morning was fine, but in the afternoon they taught us something I’d researched myself the day before, and somehow I left knowing less about it than I did when I went in. 

I’m struggling with it a lot and I don’t know if it’s just because it’s a huge adjustment or if it’s not the right job for me

I went from being unemployed and having no real experience of work (I finished education in June and I’d been looking for work ever since) to working 35 hours a week in a completely new field, plus homework etc. so of course that’s going to be hard - every day so far I’ve been so tired that it’s the hardest thing in the world to keep my eyes open and I keep literally nodding off, like, my head will drop and then I’ll pull it back up. The first week was the worst for that but it’s not improved much in the month since then, and it’s at all times of the day. 

I hate not having any work to do because I feel like I’m going to get in trouble for slacking off, but my social anxiety makes it really hard to start interactions with people, so I can’t just ask them for more work because it’s so hard - in any other situation, I’d ask if there was anything else they needed doing, but since their job is to train me, giving me more work to do is using up their time rather than saving it.

I hate getting given work that I don’t fully understand as well - it’s so complex that there’s not really anything that I’ve fully understood so far. It’s a bit worse now my mentor is giving me actual proper work to do because if I screw up it has actual consequences and I can’t take ages with it - even worse, if I screw up, there’s a chance she won’t notice and will submit it, and it’s all submitted under her name so she could get in trouble. 

There’s one thing she gave me last week that I just don’t understand - we work for the city council so they’re not allowed to have any leftover budget, so what I’m supposed to do is put the leftover money back into the forecasted budget for the year. So say, for example, I claimed that a building would spend £100k on electricity this year, but then there’s £8k budget leftover at the end of the report for that building, I’d then have to add that budget to one of the expenses, eg. electricity, so I’d claim that the amount they would spend on electricity this year would actually be £108k

Honestly now I’ve written it out I understand it a bit better, and ultimately the monthly budget forecasts don’t mean very much once the next months budget forecast comes out. I don’t fucking know

I really dont. i wish there was some way of knowing what you’re supposed to do for a career. Like a school, when it comes to the time to choose which subjects to do for GCSE or A Level (I’m not sure what the equivalent is in other countries, they’er the exams you do when you’re like 15 and when you’re 17/18) if you got shit grades at geography and great grades at history, it was right there on paper that you should choose history, not geography. If you loved physics and hated art, even if your grades were similar, you’d know to take physics if you had to choose between the two. With careers, there are too many options, I can’t even just choose a few and give them all a try because it’s so hard to get a job these days, let alone a few jobs in different sectors for short amounts of time.

I forgot how helpful writing this stuff out is, my brain feels a little bit less messed up, like I’ve explained it to myself or something

Ideally, I’d like a job that either pays well or has progression opportunities that pay well, that I’m good at or can learn to be good at, that I’m reasonably comfortable doing (more difficult than it sounds with my mental health but usually just means I can’t work in a call centre because the idea of calling people up all day makes me want to Literally Be Dead), and that I enjoy, but I know that in this market that’s extremely difficult and that beggars can’t be choosers.

Either way, I have to finish this apprenticeship whether I like it or not. Seeing as no-one at work seems to know anything about my apprenticeship, all I know is that I have at least a year left of the level 3, and if i want to continue after it, there’s a level 4 that I can do. I have to stay until the end of the level 3 at least.

#personal #personal post #havent seen one of these in a while have you?

[harryseducation]

Education and The Law

The Law on home education in England

Home education is legal throughout the UK, although the laws in the four areas of the UK (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) are not exactly the same.

It is simply where a parent takes responsibility for their children’s education rather than registering them with a school.

Education is compulsory but not necessarily by attending a school.

“According to the 1996 education act in England and Wales, it is parents (not the state) who are responsible for providing their children’s education ‘at school or otherwise’. Their education must be suitable for the age, ability and aptitude of each child. The same wording is used in Northern Ireland. Scottish law says that ‘every child has a right to an education, and it is the duty of the parent of every school age child to provide that education, either by sending the child to school, or by other means.”

Home educators in the UK do not have to be trained teachers, nor do they need any special qualifications to educate their children.                          

The law requires that all children are to be educated from the start of the school term following their fifth birthday all the way through until they are 18. At this older age the child must be in education, employment or training.

Education at home does not mean you are bound by school hours or term times.

A child educated at home is more likely to receive one-on-one contact and there are no times lost from moving to class to class, disruptions, assemblies, fire drills and so on.  A home educated child is more likely to receive the parents full attention as there are not 20+ other children to attend to.

Some children do not fit in the school system, like my son, Harry, he could not cope in school, completed next to no work for his last six months there, and so fell behind his peers. He has learnt so much more since being educated at home. He is eager to learn now that he can.

You do not require a private tutor to come in and teach your child, however if you wish to have a tutor for some subjects you are allowed to do this.

You do not need to keep a log of what you have done with your child, however many families do like to keep a blog, website, facebook or twitter page, youtube channel or scrapbook in order to keep some sort of record of what they have been doing and/or to show family and friends.  

I have all of the above! I want to show off all the things we do together as a family and share our experiences with others. I find that my children remember in more detail some of our experiences when they can look back at the pictures and things we have collected along the way.

It is also a great way to connect with friends, family, other home educators, and others when they show an interest!

Education Act 1996 (England and Wales)

“Duty of parents to secure education of children of compulsory school age: The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable— (a) to his age, ability and aptitude, and (b) to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.” (Section seven)

This means that education must be suited to the abilities and aptitudes of the particular child and not some programme. So, what does “efficient” and “suitable” mean?

Efficient and Suitable

Efficient has been broadly described as an education that “achieves that which it sets out to achieve” and A suitable education is one that “primarily equips a child for life within the community of which he is a member, rather than the way of life in the country as a whole, as long as it does not foreclose the child’s options in later years to adopt some other form of life if he wishes to do so”. (Mr Justice Woolf in the case of R v Secretary of State for Education and Science, ex parte Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass School Trust. 12 April 1985.)

You are not required to:

* teach the National Curriculum * have a timetable * have premises equipped to any particular standard * set hours during which education will take place * have any specific qualifications * make detailed plans in advance * observe school hours, days or terms * give formal lessons * mark work done by their child * formally assess progress or set development objectives * reproduce school type peer group socialisation * match school-based, age-specific standards.

The Department of Education does recommend the following weekly teaching hours for children in a school, as well as those receiving an education at home 21 hours for children aged 5 to 7         (4.2 hours a day) 23.5 hours for children aged 8 to 11    (4.7 hours a day) 24 hours for children aged 12 to 18     (4.8 hours a day) for 38 weeks of the year.

Now, if like us, you work through the schools holidays and some weekends then that daily teaching time could effectively be lower. However, with Harry and many other children educated at home, they don’t do less just because they can, they tend to cover more than they would at school. In fact, with IGCSE’s, many home educated children complete a two year course in much less a time due to having more time to study.

It is worth remembering that whilst these amount of hours are recommended, children in school receiving the same amount of hours do not get full on one to one help and supervision. They do more than one subject each day so time is wasted when changing books or moving to another classroom or even school area.

A child at home has, more often than not, immediate contact with the educator for guidance, so lessons/learning time tends to last longer than they would at school. There is no, or little, moving around from lesson to lesson area, and the child is not fighting for the attention to get help in order to complete work.

Children learning at home can work at a slower pace if needed.

The opportunity to learn more on a subject than you would at school is greater too.

In a school setting the teacher allows a certain amount of time for each activity or set piece of work, this allows each pupil a chance to ask for help, allows some pupils more time than others need, and ensures that the work gets completed.

However, at home, there are less children and so what may take an hour in a school setting may only take 15 minutes at home. This means a child educated at home is able to complete more work in that same time frame.

The opportunity to learn is all around us so it is important to not worry too much about sitting at a table all day in order to learn. We took a trip to the beach recently and the children took some activity learning sheets on the train with us, they did not see it as learning until we got home and I told them to place it in their learning folders.  They also had a talk with the life guard on duty, again they did not think of it as learning until they realised they had learnt from it.

Have fun with learning!

What do I have to teach?

Compulsory subjects at school are as follows

English                                 Maths Science Design and Technology Computing History Geography Art and Design Music Physical education, including swimming Ancient and modern foreign languages Citizenship (keystage 3&4) Sex education  (keystage 3&4)

The Government says that If your child attends school at a later date it is advisable to be aware of what is taught in schools for each year group (the national curriculum) so that they are not at a disadvantage with their peers. I can assure you that this is not always the case. A child can enter or re enter school at any stage without prior knowledge of what schools have taught in the year groups they have been at home for.

The National curriculum does not need to be followed at home as it does in school, however some home educators do loosely follow it, examples can be found on these sites

Government website for National curriculum and National curriculum

The National Curriculum sets targets for what each year group should have knowledge of. This is then interpreted by the teacher in the form of lesson ideas and projects in the classroom.

For example if a target for a year 3 pupil states ‘introduction to decimals, basic understanding of decimals’ this would mean that the teacher will teach the class of year 3’s basic decimal understanding. The teacher will possibly print some worksheets or use the whiteboard and the children will write in their maths books.  So, if you were following the curriculum at home you could go online and print some worksheets off or go into a store such as wh smith and buy a workbook for age 8-9 and the book will cover basic decimal understanding for that age range.

With so many readily available workbooks and worksheets, lesson ideas and information sites online, it is so easy to find work suitable for your child.

There are lots of workbooks based on the curriculum that you can find in shops like Waterstones, Wilkinson and WH Smith. We use a variety of workbooks. The workbooks cover a small age range and cover the Governments guidelines. A workbook will save you having to find the same resources to print off online.

How much will an education at home cost?

There are no funds available for home educators but it really does not have to be  expensive.

There are plenty of websites that offer free worksheets, lesson plans, and online work.

You may wish to purchase second workbooks or share and swap with other educators. A book labelled workbook does not need to be used in way of writing in the book, you can practise more handwriting by asking the questions and getting your child to write the question in a different book as well as the answer.

You could also use it just as a guide and modify the questions.

Local Authority

The Local authority will write to you once they have received notification from your child’s school that they have been removed from the register.

You are under no obligation to invite them into your home or to meet them in a neutral place, such as your local library, to provide them with any information regarding how you will educate your child at home. You may send them an educational philosophy.

Many home educators do allow visits, but there are many more that do not. Now this is where lot’s of home educators have positive and negative contact with their local authority. Some families have a great relationship with their local authority, others do not. Education Act 1996

“(1) If it appears to a local education authority that a child of compulsory school age in their area is not receiving suitable education, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise, they shall serve a notice in writing on the parent requiring him to satisfy them within the period specified in the notice that the child is receiving such education.” (Section 437) How these formal enquiries are to be conducted is further laid out in the 1996 act. They are also addressed in the government guidelines to LAs re electively home educated children, published by the DCSF (now renamed DfE) in November 2007 which advise that:

2.8 “Prior to serving a notice under section 437(1), local authorities are encouraged to address the situation informally. The most obvious course of action, if the local authority has information that makes it appear that parents are not providing a suitable education, would be to ask parents for further information about the education they are providing. Such a request is not the same as a notice under section 437(1), and is not necessarily a precursor for formal procedures.”

*The authority therefore has no duty toward a home-educated child unless it appears to them that a child is not in receipt of a suitable education. In such a case, the parent will need to ask, “Can it reasonably appear to the local authority that my child is not in receipt of a suitable education?” (Bear in mind that, if they have no information at all, the LA can make that assumption.) It is reasonable to ask if the authority has cause to think the education is not suitable so that you can address their concerns directly.

If the local authority has no information concerning the educational provision of a child in their area, they have the right (but not the duty) to make enquiries of the parents to ascertain whether they have a duty toward the child (eg: provision of school place, or section 437 duty.)

The guidelines state:

2.7 “Local authorities have no statutory duties in relation to monitoring the quality of home education on a routine basis.”

Summary 2

LAs must respect the wishes of parents in relation to the education of their children.

LAs have a duty to act only if it appears to them that a child is not receiving suitable education

Government guidelines advise LAs to first address the situation informally While LAs can ask for information, they have no duty to monitor home education ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Children Missing Education:

You may hear from your local authority that they need to speak to you because they have to keep a register of “Children Missing Education.” (CME)

Government guidelines state:

2.6 “Local authorities have a statutory duty under section 436A of the Education Act 1996, inserted by the Education and Inspections Act 2006, to make arrangements to enable them to establish the identities, so far as it is possible to do so, of children in their area who are not receiving a suitable education. The duty applies in relation to children of compulsory school age who are not on a school roll, and who are not receiving a suitable education otherwise than being at school (for example, at home, privately, or in alternative provision.) The guidance issued makes it clear that the duty does not apply to children who are being educated at home. ”

Repeat: children missing education register - The guidance issued makes it clear that the duty does not apply to children who are being educated at home

The Role of the State: Child Welfare

As a home educator, you may hear from your council that they have a welfare or safeguarding duty in relation to your home-educated child. Education Act 2002: states:

“(1) A local education authority shall make arrangements for ensuring that the functions conferred on them in their capacity as a local education authority are exercised with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.” (Section 175)

The thing to remember about this is that the duty applies only when carrying out the functions conferred on them.

*There is no general duty to check child welfare conferred on them.

*Local authorities do not have a duty to ensure the safety of your child.

The Home Education Legal Guidance for Local Authorities states, in relation to this:

2.12 “Section 175(1) does not extend local authorities’ functions. It does not, for example, give local authorities powers to enter the homes of, or otherwise see, children for the purposes of monitoring the provision of elective home education.”

2.15 “As outlined above, local authorities have general duties to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (section 175 Education Act 2002 in relation to their functions as a local authority and for other functions in sections 10 and 11 of the Children Act 2004). These powers allow local authorities to insist on seeing children in order to enquire about their welfare where there are grounds for concern (sections 17 and 47 of the Children Act 1989).  However, such powers do not bestow on local authorities the ability to see and question children subject to elective home education in order to establish whether they are receiving a suitable education.”

Summary 3 CME does not apply to children who are being educated at home Local authorities have no general duty to check child welfare Local authorities do not have a duty to ensure the safety of your child There is no duty to monitor elective home education There is no power to question children to establish whether they are receiving a suitable education

#Home.Education #learning #fun #education #nature #socialising #home education #unschooling #life

[ladystylestores]

11 Best Hikes In Wales To Experience – Hand Luggage Only

You could say I’m biased about Wales. You wouldn’t be wrong either. Wales is an absolute beauty and having lived there for so many years, I’ve gotten to know and explore this beauty first hand. Indeed, some of the best hikes in Wales once completed will leave you equally as biased as I am about Wales’ beauty!

If you’re looking to hike in Wales you’ve actually got so many options. We’re talking coastal hikes, moderate hill climbs right up to more strenuous mountains jaunts.

Some of the best hikes in Wakes last about an hour or two while others involve rather arduous slogs over several days.

Long story short, when it comes to hiking in Wales, there’s something for everyone. With that said, let’s jump right into the very best hikes in Wales you absolutely need to experience.

1.) Dolgellau to Barmouth

Now, while there’s no official hike name for this beautiful Welsh hike, the route from Dolgellau to Barmouth is on the signed route of the Mawddach Trail and is an easy 9 mile hikes here.

It is also possible to do this route by cycling and, as it is very flat, it’s really suitable for all ages and abilities.

There are good views except for the few stretches when the route is closed in by trees, which has its own separate appeal – not to mention, providing respite on a sunny (or perhaps even rainy) day.

A major highlight of this route is crossing the railway bridge as you approach Barmouth with its sweeping views over River Mawddach. If you’re knackered by this point, there are regular buses at Barmouth that can take you back to the start point.

2.) Pen-y-Fan

This is actually a fairly easy one! At just under 3,000 feet high it is the highest mountain in the Brecon Beacons National Park.

This probably makes you think it’s gonna be a harder one to hike but fret not, it’s a summit that attainable even if you don’t want a strenuous hike.

It is worth noting that in addition to the ‘easy’ route, there are also some difficult routes up this mountain so if you’re looking for a challenge, you’ll definitely find one here too.

To do the easiest route, start by leaving your car at the Storey Arms (although it sounds like it, it’s not actually a pub). Do not use the first trail as that is more strenuous.

Instead, walk another 400 metres along the road to what is called by local climbers as the ‘granny trail’ that is the easy route and suitable for families or hikers looking for a less strenuous climb.

Suffice to say, this is easily one of the best hikes in Wales for such a wide range of abilities.

It is very important to note that the weather at the top can change very quickly. More than likely, it can also be much colder at the top so be prepared with the right clothes and gear before you set off.

3.) Pembrokeshire Coastal Path

This is very easily one of the best hiking routes in Wales, possibly in all the UK. The full length of the hike is 180 miles so I am not suggesting you do it in one go!

Some people have but most do it in stages. For beginners, take the section from Tenby to Saundersfoot, it is full of spectacular views with many little detours to secluded coves and viewpoints.

It will take 2-3 hours but could easily be completed faster if you spend less time to take in the views. Personally, I’d stop to take in the views, they’re so worth it and probably one of the biggest reasons why you’d go on this hike to begin with.

4.) Snowdon

At 3560 feet above sea level, Mount Snowdon is the highest point in Wales and on a clear day, you can see as far as Ireland across the Irish Sea! The climb up the mountain, while long is actually easily done.

There’s a very clear path all the way. It is about 6 or 7 miles and you should allow yourself about 6-7 hours for the trip.

You can ride back down on the Snowdon Railway for some spectacular views if you are too tired to walk back down or, what I’ve found to be my new personal favourite, ride up on the train and then hike down.

5.) Llanberis to Cwm Idwal

On this hike, you can begin with a visit to the National Slate Museum in Llanberis to see the importance the industry once held in this part of Wales.

Of course, totally understand that you might be keen to start your hike straight away but it’s worth popping in, even if just for a few minutes to understand the geography of the area and how it shaped the economy of the local area.

Once you’re done there, or indeed, if you decide to skip it altogether, you can start the 4 miles hike up to Cwm Idwal, passing the eerie but fascinating former slate quarries on the way up (ergo why you should have popped into the museum first ).

It should take you no more than 3 hours as you view a fantastic hanging valley, created during the Ice Age.

6.) Chepstow to Tintern Abbey

This hike is just inside Wales, as you walk up the first section of the Offa’s Dyke long-distance footpath that continues all the way up close to the Wales/England border to where you meet the sea in North Wales.

Begin in the old town and then on leaving Chepstow you quickly enter the forest as you climb high above the river. On the way, you will pass caves, discover ancient steps and eventually find yourself in the village of Tintern.

In Tintern, you really should take the time to visit the Abbey here! It is amazing and so worth the visit. 

Heading back, you can easily catch a bus from Tintern, taking you back to your starting point. Expect the hike to take around 3-4 hours on this moderate hike of around 6 miles.

7.) Ceredigion Coastal Path

Having spent many a summer in Ceredigion, this is easily one of my favourite hikes in Wales! My first experience of it was actually driving past this coastline and always been amazed by it before deciding to tackle the hike.

You could hike the complete route in about 5 days although a less strenuous option is the walk from Aberaeron to New Quay. (The fish and chips in Aberaeron is amazing – if you can be sure to treat yourself to some). It is about 7 miles, well marked and a little steep in places.

Care should be taken as it can be very slippery in wet weather. The views are worth the effort of those steep climbs and if you are lucky you may see dolphins in the sea.

8.) Marloes to Broad Haven

This is an undulating coastal hike of around 10 miles that begins in the village of Marloes and takes you across sandy beaches, onto cliff top paths and around small inaccessible bays as you make your way along the north Pembroke coast.

9.) Llyn Peninsula

This is a pretty hike along the coast of Mid Wales through an area owned by the National Trust. One of the best parts as of this hike is the amazing views of the sea and mountains, local wildlife, beaches with rock pools!

It’s also one of the more flexible hikes, making it one of the best hikes in Wales for hikers of all abilities, not to mention how there’s something of interest for people of all ages along this hike. Even a brief jaunt along it will show you why it’s such an easy favourite for families.

To get started, you can park your car in Morfa Nefyn and walk to Porth Dinllaen. It is about ten miles there are back. At the midway point, you can reward yourself with a well-earned drink at the Ty Coch Inn before carrying on your scenic hike.

10.) Llangollen to Prestatyn

This hike is actually the final northerly leg of the Offa’s Dyke long-distance trail though don’t be fooled – this section will probably take two days to complete.

For your efforts, you’ll be rewarded with epic views of the Clwydian Range with pretty little towns like Ruthin to stop off in and rest before carrying on your hike.

If you book ahead, several of the hotels and guest houses in Ruthin will meet you at the trail to save you walking into the village.

If you’re looking to treat yourself here, book into the Ruthin Castle hotel. Fun fact – it’s where Prince Charles stayed in before his investiture as Prince of Wales the next day at Caernarfon Castle.

On the second day, this hiking route will take you past ancient Iron Age hillforts before your descent to the seaside at Prestatyn.

11.) Glyndwr’s Way

This long-distance hike (it is 135 miles in total) connects the Brecon Beacons to Snowdonia through Mid Wales.

Suffice to say, it’s not only one of the best hikes in Wales but one of the longer ones which perhaps makes it best tacked in sections.

A relatively easy section for you to try, it is a loop beginning and ending at Knighton. The route of this 12-mile loop takes you over moors and farmland, along mostly empty trails and gives you a good introduction to the longer route of the Glyndwr’s Way.

WANT TO EXPLORE MORE OF WALES? The post below has the lowdown on the very best places to visit in Wales!

11 Best Places In Wales To See

Source link

قالب وردپرس

from World Wide News https://ift.tt/3gadfth

#World Wide News

[photographeront]

How Much will it cost to Start a Photography Business

Now come on, I know you have seen those types of photographers before. The glorified house wife or college student with a new DSLR camera claiming to be a “professional photographer”. Fact of the matter is they are claiming to be a pro and probably don’t even know how to start a photography business at all. Yes they have a camera, a Facebook page, and tons of portfolio of images, that are more than likely friends and family if you do a little bit of research on social media, but they haven’t done the due diligence to learn “How to start a photography business.”

Not only is this a risk for you and your family, this is a substantial risk for the photographer. I mean what happens if you want to get a copy of your pictures a couple years after they were taken, if they aren’t a true photography business will you be able to get your pictures then?

We are saying all this because it takes a serious financial investment to start any business, even a photography business. Fact of the matter is, your customers and potential clients aren’t going to take you seriously, until you think long and hard about taking your business seriously.

So with that in mind, you are probably have a few questions.

How much is it going to cost to start a photography business?

What do I need to know before jumping into a Photography Business?

How much do I charge for a session?

How do I price my services?

In this post I am going to cover What it really costs to start a Photography business, the right way and get paying customers through your doors. See the links at the end of the article for the answers to the rest of the questions.

Lets start with your photography gear. You are going to need four basic elements here.

Camera Bodies

Lenses

Flashes

Tripods

Cameras

When it comes to cameras you usually fall into one of the two major brands when you start shooting seriously. We will cover both here just to be safe. Don’t worry about picking up the kit lenses as they are no where near pro quality.

For our Canon Shooters we recommend getting two Canon EOS 5D Mark II 22.3 MP DSLR Camera Bodies ($1900)

For the Nikon Shooters, we recommend the Nikon D610 Full Frame 24.3 MP DSLR Camera bodies ($1500)

Now you may ask why two camera bodies? Quite simply put, for one you never know when a camera is going to fail and you don’t want to be stuck in the middle of a shoot with no camera. That would be horrible. Two, it is always nice to have one camera with a zoom lens 70-200 for those shots from the back of the church, and one camera with a 35 f/2.0 for those wonderful close-ups handy at all times. Saves you time and help you capture those awesome impromptu shots.

Lenses

This is where it can get expensive as good glass is pricey, but well worth it when you start shooting professionally. The images are much more crisp and clearer.

Nikon Cameras

Nikon 35mm f/2.0: $350

Nikon 50mm f/1.8 Lens: $299

Nikon 85mm f/1.8 Lens: $499

Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 $2400

Canon Cameras

Canon 50mm f/1.4 $350

Canon 40mm EF f/2.8 $150

Canon 85mm EF f/1.8 $399

Canon 100mm EF f/2.0 $500

Canon 70-200 f/4L $600

Flashes

For Nikon Shooters we recommend the Nikon SB-700 at least 2 of them ($329 each) and the Canon Cameras the SPEEDLITE 600EX-RT ($499 each)

Tripods

As far as tripods go we recommend having one good sturdy studio quality tripod and a lightweight travel style tripod that you can take with you on your photo shoots. Both recommended tripods work on both Nikon and Canon.

Studio Tripod – Manfrotto MT055CXPRO3 055 Carbon Fiber 3-Section Tripod ($480) Lightweight tripod – Manfrotto BeFree Compact Travel Carbon Fiber Tripod ($350)

Other Gear

You’ll also need to pickup a camera bag, reflectors, several high speed memory cards, flash triggers, a few light stands, etc. The cost of these items depend on what you want to spend and your style. ($500-$2000) Check our our blog for several different reviews on the camera gear you need.

Basic Business Needs

This part of the post is dedicated to the business items you need to get taken care of in order to be considered a legal business entity. The prices listed are estimated as the actual cost will vary on your specific location, business type, and associated fees.

Incorporating your business or LLC: $125

Annual Accounting Services: Year-end tax filing and a couple of consultations throughout the year. $300

Financal Tracker: Spread sheet system or Quick books $150

Insurance for your Business: $600 per year

Product Samples: $200-$1000 It always helps to have photos or samples up for your customers to see. Especially a variety of them, a lot of times it helps solidify you as a professional photographer and also gives them an idea of what they can purchase. Legal Fees & Photography Contracts – This is the most widely priced service based on geography. Attorney fees can range anywhere from $150 an hour to over $1000 an hour. If you are having them create contracts for you, you can expect to pay between 4-5hours per contract if they are starting with a blank slate. If you have an existing contract and would like them to edit it, time frames should drop down to around an hour.

Because of the complexity, I personally would purchase photography contracts through Rachel Brenke, a lawyer who is also a photographer. She has a lot of different contracts available here at this link on the lawtog.com. By purchasing these contracts you would just then need an attorney to review them for you.

Photography Contracts from Rachel Brenke: $60-$450

Attorney Fees: $400-$2000

Computer & Software

Now onto the Techy side of photography, I personally recommend getting a iMac or Macbook Air with an external monitor. The iMac is a great computer, but I have found time when I owned one that I wish I had the capability to take it with me. That is why I have personally switched to a Macbook Air with an external dock and monitor setup. This allows me to have the benefits of a large external monitor and a laptop at the same time. When you compare the two, the extra cost is totally worth it.

21″ iMac Computer: $1299

13” Macbook Air – $1199

27” External Monitor – $199

1TB Backup Hard Drives: $59 each. Total cost: $120

Screen Calibrator: $149

Photoshop: $120 per year

PhotographyWebsite

Having a well laid out and professional looking website is a must have for sure. You don’t want to skimp here by getting a free website or free wordpress theme to put on your site. Invest some money into getting a professional website developed for you. There are several affordable website designers out there that provide you with a high quality website for a reasonable price.

Website

Domain & Hosting: $72 per year

Website Design: $500-$2500

Photography Hacks: Saved the Best for Last

Now this next section isn’t what most of us would call needs, but it definitely will give you an advantage on getting your photography business up and running quickly.

Many people especially new photographers start a business with out a business plan or any idea of how a business actually runs. There is a lot more to it than just taking great pictures.

How are you going to get new clients?

How are you going to attract the type of clients you want to work with?

Once you have booked a shooting, how are you going to get them to buy your products? Do you have upsells and advantages for them to buy more easily?

How are you going to price your services?

How are you going to process payments? Etc

Most times potential photographer entrepreneurs or solopreneurs do one of two things. They either one, spin their wheels for weeks or months, trying everything to see what sticks or two, they give up because they never get enough steam to keep the business a float.

That is why I have put together a list of courses, ebooks, and trainings below that can help you cut through all the fluff and get down to making money today!

Photographer’s Pricing Guide Workbook: Have confidence that your pricing is actually making you the money you expect it to be making. $149 (or get it bundled with the Easy Client & Money Manager for $229).

Marketog: Looking to find a way to lure clients in with very little money at all? Then this is the course for you. Marketog covers everything you need to know about today’s style of marketing and why it works so well. Don’t waste your time with other programs or courses grab this one NOW. $799

Matt + Katie In-Person Sales Guide: Matt & Katies Gudie teaches you how to maximize your sales after you have booked a new client. They go over step-by-step how to increase your sales without feeling like a crummy used car salesman or too pushy. $249

Drum roll please! We have reached the end of this post and it is time to tally up the total costs of Starting a Photography Business. Now I know some of these components can vary from city to city but I feel like this is a good representation. Granted there probably several things on your list you may feel like you need, but I tried to keep this list as simple as possible.

Total Costs of starting a Photography Business – $14,000 – $20,0000

So for less than $15,000 you can start a photography business that will make you money everyday and get one more step closer to the flexibility entrepreneurship provides you.

The post How Much will it cost to Start a Photography Business appeared first on Photographer on the Net.

from Photographer on the Net http://photographeronthe.net/how-much-will-it-cost-to-start-a-photography-business/

[thedailyjoyfulstruggle]

An Open Letter

“Dear Mr. Walsh, 

I never agree with you, however, I can usually ignore you. This time, I can’t. 

To be clear, I am not opposed to homeschooling. It is a wonderful option for some families. I would even consider for my own children.

Here are a few critiques of your article on public schooling:

1. “Some teachers have selfless motivations in pursuing a career in education, but some are more motivated by the discount on their college loans, and the exorbitant number of vacation days, and perhaps by the fact that they can’t think of anything else to do. Every job has perks, and in every job you have people who are more interested in the perks than the job.”

If anyone gets into teaching for “the perks” they are in the wrong field. Most jobs get a few weeks paid vacation a year that you can take at ay time, others allow their workers to make overtime pay, and still others offer stellar maternity/paternity leave packages. Teachers get a few months of summer but when the first day of teacher training starts, everything must be ready. If a teacher leaves their work for the entire summer, it’s highly unlikely they will be prepared for the following year. As a secondary ELA teacher, I must have the following tasks completed by August 14: have a whole year plan for 4 sections, have the first 6 weeks planned in detail for 4 sections, read (or re-read) any and all texts I will be using during the year, write/edit syllabi, review field notes to make adjustments and improvements to my courses, decorate my classroom, take care of my infant son, maintain my home, teach summer school and hopefully spend some time with my family. So, the idea that I receive an “exorbitant number of vacation days” is ludicrous. For the second time in two years, I will take no less than 4-10 weeks of unpaid time because my “exorbitant number of vacation days” are only applicable to my maternity leave if I deliver my baby in the summer months. Teachers in my school district receive 5 sick days and 5 personal days. If you have a child, those are the only days you can be paid for maternity leave; which means that before and after maternity leave, I have no paid days off until June. I could go on about the “perks” of teaching but I’ll spare you, lest you begin to sin with envy. 

2. “The Objective is not served by teaching kids about literature, so they don’t teach literature anymore. It isn’t served by teaching kids how to write well, so they don’t teach them how to write well anymore. It isn’t served by teaching grammar or geography or history or civics, so they don’t really teach any of that anymore.”  While I agree that public schooling has lost much of the space for creativity, deep thinking and valuing the beauty of literature in favor of high stakes testing and the overall standardization of education, I don’t agree with your blanket statements. I know for a fact that I am not the only teacher in the US who works to teach students the craft of writing, exposes them to literature of all types and gives them time to practice their craft by hand. I can’t speak for geography or history or civics. I can say this, teaching grammar to secondary students who weren’t read to outside of school as children, is really difficult, but I teach. 

3. “Writing has declined to such an extent that now the average American communicates in abbreviations and pictures. Incapable of expressing his emotions through the written word, he is reduced to conveying his happiness with smiley faces, like a primitive tribesman attempting to communicate with an explorer from the first world. Tweets and text messages look like slightly advanced hieroglyphics. It seems we have come full circle, from the cave wall to the Facebook wall.”

It seems that your ideas about literacy and language are mostly informed by the idea that Standard American English of the current day is the best and only way to use language. Sadly, your use of the English language would be horrifying to our forefathers. English, like all language, has evolved into what it is today with people like you resisting all the way. Yes, there is a time and place for using what we call “proper English” but language changes with the times. Using emojis in a casual texting conversation is a current form of literacy, not a regression into caveman times. 

4. “Well, that’s not entirely fair. They do learn how to masturbate. And they learn about sodomy. And they learn about transvestites. And they learn a bunch of other things that may or may not have been included in an actual curriculum. The curriculum is, after all, only a part of the problem. Not even the biggest part.”

To blame public schools for a kid who uses porn, which is prohibited in public schools (I know this because I work at a disciplinary campus where we have had students punished for months for this offense) is like blaming the restaurant you ate at one time for your obesity. Obviously, the student's parents aren't doing anything about it at home, nor are they aware of their child's internet viewing habits.  Again, with 10 hours of video games/Netflix: A student only spends 8 hours a day at school, so, even if they spent every minute at school playing video games, there are still two hours of screen time that parents are responsible for. What's more likely happening, is that student goes to school and then spends all his/her time at home playing video games and watching TV. This also explains the decline in literacy; increased screen time means less time exploring outdoors and reading books. If a student enters a situation with strong morals and ethics from home, they are more likely to be able to make judgements calls. Also, exposure to things like pornography is not limited to public schools, it happens in Catholic schools when young people have cellphones with unlimited internet access. It’s up to parents to teach their children what’s right, to show their kids the truth about who Jesus is and to bring them up in good faith so they can enter the world and know who they are. Public schools can’t and won’t do that. Nobody and nothing can be a substitute for a child’s family. 

5. “The first and most crucial thing preventing it from being saved is that it has molded a nation of people who do not think it needs saving. Saving the system would mean a complete restructuring from the ground up, and such an effort would require the cooperation of a great many people. But only a small number of people see any real problem with any of the things I’ve outlined. It is difficult to confront the errors in the system that made you, and most people are not interested in trying.”

Spend 1 hour at a teachers convention, a PTA meeting, a group of parents, or people who have been to school at all.  You will see that your assumption is painfully inaccurate. 

Also, aren’t YOU a product of the public school system? There is no way you are that great an exception. 

6. “Until such a system is in place, all we can do is make other arrangements for our children. We cannot save the system by ourselves. I’m not convinced that the system can or will be saved at all. At this point, all we can do is save our children.”

You write on the premise that every child who comes to school, comes from a home where they are fed, given attention and taught morality. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. For students who come from low socio-economic backgrounds, school is a blessed relief. School is the only place they get attention and food. School is the only place they have access to books because mom and dad can't/won't take them to the library. School is also a place where they are taught values, often for the first time. So, to say that public school system is "the root of all evil" and that “we need to deliver your precious children from it” is an ideology that completely ignores the poor. Many children are blessed beyond belief with one or both attentive parents and a semi-stable home life. These children and their parents have the option to scrap the system and stay home to learn. For other children and their families, this is simply not the reality. Both parents might work multiple jobs and can’t stay home to teach the kids (school often serves as free child care), one or both parents do not speak English well enough to teach curriculum in English, one or both parents have not received proper education, one or both parents have addictions and are not present (either in mind or they are in and out of jail), etc.  So, when you make arguments like this, it really comes across as, "Save my kids but screw all these poor people." 

If that’s your opinion, fine, but you had better turn in your pro-life card. 

#education

[double-birds-blog]

Mike Matheny, a Right-Wing Billionaire, and an Islamophobic Grill Salesman Have a Plan to Change the World

By Chase Woodruff

There is a crisis among America’s youth, a clear and present threat menacing our most precious hearts and minds, and the men of the BASE Foundation are determined to stop it, even if they’re not entirely clear on what it is.

“I’m concerned, quite frankly, about the culture of youth sports in America,” said Rick Sems, a local bank executive and the foundation’s new president, last week. He was speaking to a small crowd of donors at Ballpark Village, at a fundraising event emceed by Cardinals broadcaster Mike Claiborne.

If you’ve never heard of the BASE Foundation, don’t worry—you’re far from alone. It’s a small St. Louis-based nonprofit that offers a program, Baseball and Softball Education (or BASE) Training, designed to teach young ballplayers good sportsmanship; by its own account, a few dozen kids per year have completed the training since the organization was founded in 2006. But the BASE Foundation has plans to get much, much bigger, and soon.

“We’re talking about young lives,” said the next speaker, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, who is involved with the foundation’s new project in a visible but publicly unspecified role. “We’re talking about changing the culture that we live in through sports.”

“As we create something that helps these kids, we’re changing the world that we live in.”

That “something,” it turns out, is the POWERplex, a $55 million youth sports facility in suburban St. Louis’ Chesterfield Valley, a few hundred yards from the levee that once broke to submerge the valley under 20 feet of water and a mile down the road from the property Matheny once went bankrupt on. Plans for the POWERplex include a permanent 225,000-square-foot sports dome, a smaller temporary dome to be raised every winter, and a 2,500-seat outdoor stadium—in addition to a hotel, restaurants, office and retail space, an urgent care center, a 300-seat auditorium, and other amenities. If all that doesn’t sound quite ambitious enough, don’t worry—it’s just phase one, with an as-yet-undetailed second phase scheduled to follow soon after.

The POWERplex is a joint venture of the BASE Foundation, the Buck Innovation Group, and Big Sports Properties, which is to say it’s the brainchild of broadcaster-turned-nonprofit-executive-turned-consultant Dan Buck, the man behind all three entities.

“What the BASE Foundation is going to achieve in the next three years,” said Buck at last week’s fundraiser, “is going to be truly one of the most remarkable things we’re going to ever see in American sports.”

To hear Buck tell it to the Ladue News in 2015, it was an on-air rant about the evils of Section 8 housing vouchers—“this multibillion dollar program…that just holds people down and disincentivizes work,” he says of the rental assistance that keeps millions of low-income families in their homes—that led the president of one of St. Louis’ most well-known charities to ask him to ditch his broadcasting career for nonprofit work. One way or another, Buck left his KTRS hosting gig in 2003 and went on to spend eight years as CEO of the St. Patrick Center, a Catholic organization that provides services to the city’s homeless.

Buck later joined SSM Health Care as vice president of philanthropy, before leaving in 2015 to start his own consultancy, the Buck Innovation Group, or BIG. The group’s mission, according to its website, is “to improve your business results and organizational performance through improved process, bold innovation and new idea development.” It’s unclear whether any businesses ever took BIG up on the offer; its only known project to date was The Manly Man Show, a product-showcase infomercial that ran for five episodes on Fox Sports Midwest last year.

Buck filed articles of incorporation for the BASE Foundation in Missouri in 2006, and has been pitching BASE Training to local youth teams ever since. By all appearances, it consists principally of material that teaches kids such lessons as how to “Honor the R.O.O.T.S. — Rules, Officials, Opponents, Teammates, and Self.” It’s difficult, however, to find much public record of the organization’s activities before last year; Buck only registered the domain for its website in December 2015. The IRS granted 501(c)(3) status to a separate “Base Foundation,” a Delaware nonprofit registered under the NTEE code for “Amateur Sports,” in July 2016.

Since plans for the then-unnamed POWERplex—and yes, the name is indeed an acronym for “Performance, Opportunity, Winning, Education, and Recreation”—were announced last October, the BASE Foundation has undergone some dramatic changes; its board has expanded to sixteen members, including Sems as president and local sports-development Sisyphus Dave Peacock as chairman. Buck no longer appears to be involved with the foundation in an official capacity; his name has been scrubbed from its website.

It’s unclear when Buck and Matheny’s paths first crossed, but there’s no doubt that it was a match made in heaven. Matheny, of course, had made the leap up to big-league managing after a post-retirement stint coaching Little League, during which time he’d authored a long, fastidious neighborhood listserv post that later became known as The Matheny Manifesto. Buck told the Riverfront Times last year that the book-length version of the Manifesto, published in 2015, “will be brought to life through a curriculum-based classroom program that will take place at this facility.”

If you’ve never had the pleasure of reading it, rest assured that the Manifesto is the perfect holy text for the BASE “curriculum”: headstrong, urgently written, and almost entirely devoid of substance. Mike Matheny has a message, and you may not like the message, but you need to hear the message, and the message is…players should hustle, and parents should be good parents, and Wouldn’t It Be Tight If Everyone Was Chill to Each Other.

A similar fervid, overdetermined vagueness permeates what little information about the BASE Foundation’s philosophy is offered on its website. For one short introductory paragraph it is relatively straightforward in describing the crisis it sees in youth baseball: a “great game…being disrespected on multiple levels,” from “angry parents” to kids’ “lack of respect” to “a glaring problem with ballplayers unable to control their negative emotions.” But if you’d like virtually any other details regarding the organization that wants to raise $55 million to open one of the largest indoor youth-sports facilities in the country—testimonials, perhaps, or sample materials, or evidence for its claim that sports psychologists helped develop its program—you’re out of luck.

The question that hangs over all of this is so obvious that not even Matheny can ignore it: “People ask me, why would you be involved in this? Why is there a need?”

“And the why is,” he said, gesturing beyond the donors gathered at Ballpark Village, “as you look out those windows and you see that stadium, the truth of the matter is, this is the greatest baseball city in the world. And when you have the greatest baseball city in the world, you should have some of the greatest baseball facilities in the world.”

This is an admirable sentiment; it would be terrific if young ballplayers in St. Louis had access to great facilities. It would be terrific, for example, if Ozzie Smith Field, near Vashon High School, had proper grading and drainage so that a little rain didn’t turn its infield into a swamp. It would be terrific if many of the other such fields in North St. Louis, built with funds from Cardinals Care and opened with feel-good ribbon-cutting ceremonies, didn’t soon similarly fall into disrepair due to a lack of resources.

There is a theoretical version of the BASE Foundation that, rather than waging a nebulous war on a supposed crisis of poor sportsmanship, is engaged in a battle actually worth fighting: reaching underserved kids in impoverished, predominantly black neighborhoods in North St. Louis and North County, providing resources and stability to communities that often lack them, helping reverse the decline in African-American participation in baseball in a city where the sport is a lingua franca, a civic religion.

That’s not the version the city is going to get, and as is often the case in St. Louis, the proof is in the geography. Chesterfield is about as far west as the suburban sprawl of West St. Louis County goes, less than four percent black in a metro area that’s nearly 20 percent black overall, and reachable by public transit from communities like Ferguson or Florissant only through an hours-long odyssey. Building the POWERplex within city limits, or even in a more central County location, could have sent a strong message about the degree of inclusivity and civic unity it aims to achieve; its planned address sends an equally strong message in the other direction.

Don’t assume, though, that this was simply the invisible hand of the market guiding Buck and his associates to the most efficient possible location. The most conspicuous speaker at last week’s fundraiser was Mark Harder, the St. Louis County Council Member representing District 7, which includes Chesterfield and other similarly lily-white suburbs like Ballwin and Wildwood.

“I know what you want to hear tonight,” Harder told the crowd. “All I can say at this point is that I’ve been working with [County] Executive Steve Stenger and the County staff on a multimillion dollar package to upgrade the infrastructure to this property.”

He’s referring to water and sewer service, which currently don’t extend to the area of the floodplain where the POWERplex is planned; according to journalist John Hoffmann, Buck had initially told the Chesterfield City Council it would take $4 million to cover these infrastructure costs, then revised the estimate to $13 million. Harder’s comments would seem to contradict Buck’s repeated assurances that no public funds would be directed towards the project—as well as his public confidence that POWERplex is a done deal.

Obtaining County funds isn’t the only hurdle the POWERplex has left to overcome, either. The Army Corps of Engineers must conduct testing on the floodplain before approving the construction plans. And in order for Chesterfield to move forward with a plan to purchase the land and lease it to the BASE Foundation, Buck must secure an initial round of $23 million in binding financial commitments.

While it’s light on details regarding exactly what the program, you know, does, the BASE Foundation’s website is positively overflowing with information on how you can help them reach that $23 million goal. For the price of $200,000, up to nine “Field Founders” will get one of the facility’s turfed fields named after them. “POWERplex Heroes” will receive a place on the “Heroes Wall” in exchange for a $100,000 commitment, and the “Champions Walkway” will feature both large bricks (honoring $30,000 commitments) and small ones ($5,000). A mere $1,500 gets you on the “All Star Wall of Gratitude,” while $100 is only good enough for the “MVP Video Monitor.”

It’s important to emphasize that these are not investments that the BASE Foundation is asking for, but charitable donations. Dan Buck would like very much for some very rich people to give him enormous sums of money, please—not to provide adequate facilities and equipment to young athletes in low-income areas, not to help bridge the tragic divide between kids growing up in North St. Louis and those in West County, but precisely to exacerbate it. He’d like to devote his life to reciting banalities about sportsmanship to bored 12-year-olds, and he’d like to do it at a lavish suburban sports complex with a zip line and a climbing wall—for which his for-profit LLC, Big Sports Properties, will serve as property manager.

Cardinals Care has chipped in with a $500,000 contribution, but the largest donors to date have been the Sinquefield family, who have become notorious figures in Missouri politics over the last decade by spending heavily to promote right-wing economic causes. Matheny is a close friend of Rex Sinquefield, having lent his support to another of Sinquefield’s pet causes, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis. In honor of the family’s $6 million donation to the POWERplex, young athletes who play at the facility will be taught at the “Sinquefield Center for Human Development.”

If his views on Section 8 housing weren’t enough of a clue, Buck’s political leanings came across quite clearly in a call-in appearance on a local radio show in late 2015, as flagged by the Riverfront Times last year. In voicing his opposition to allowing Syrian refugees to enter the country, Buck called the Koran “frightening” and Islam “an entire religious doctrine that promotes jihad against the founding religion of our nation.”

And as the donors at Ballpark Village bid on big-ticket items in a charity auction—“The IRS always believes a thousand dollars,” Buck cajoled the crowd—there was little doubt what kind of room the speakers were playing to.

“In the words of our president, this is going to be huge,” said Harder—one of the County Council’s two Republican members—as he wrapped up his remarks, prompting laughter and applause. “Let’s go POWERplex!”

I don’t have kids and have never coached youth sports; my only prolonged exposure to that world came as a young player, years ago. So maybe I’m wrong to doubt that the “culture of youth sports in America” is in crisis. Maybe I’m wrong to think that kids are still kids, and parents are still parents; that people love their kids, and sports are a competitive environment, and sometimes that can lead to friction and drama and angst; that the way to deal with this is for adults to be adults, and to communicate with each other, and to try to be good parents to their kids; and that slideshows full of ham-fisted acronyms and trite platitudes about sportsmanship are neither necessary to address this nor capable of making much difference.

Maybe I’m wrong, also, to see the BASE Foundation’s worldview as not merely ancillary to but thoroughly the product of the reactionary politics of its backers. Maybe I’m wrong to think that J.D. Vance-style moralizing about “culture” and “character” isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on; that the best way to make a positive impact on young people’s lives is to provide material aid to the kids most in need of it; that if you want to “change the world,” you should do that; and that if you want to build and run a fancy sports complex in an affluent white suburb, you should just say so.

The clock is running on the POWERplex, with proof of the initial $23 million in donations due to the city of Chesterfield by June 1st. There’s the matter of the County infrastructure funding, and the Army Corps of Engineers study, and then, if all goes well, the hard work of turning big promises and glitzy architectural renderings into reality. But I don’t doubt Dan Buck can pull it off, if for no other reason than that in the world we live in, those who are in a position to ask favors of men like Rex Sinquefield and Mike Matheny and Dave Peacock rarely fail. One way or another, I think, Buck will get a chance to prove me wrong on all of this. Then again, maybe I’m wrong about that, too.

[letmelogon3]

Guide to going to con on a budget

I’ll give examples based on Nine Worlds 2017, 2016 and 2015 but the tips will also help with other cons. My top two tips are BUY EARLY and GET CASHBACK If you are not already a member of topcashback please join via my referral link http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/LETMELOGON3 Join by 14:00 3rd April 2017 and get a bonus £5 T&C's (New TopCashback Member) To be eligible for the £5 sign-up bonus, the new member should must sign-up via the referrer (existing members) referral link. To then be awarded the bonus, the new member must first reach the threshold of £10 in payable cashback. The sign-up bonus will be redeemable via the member’s account and can be withdrawn using BACs. There is no cut-off period by which you must earn the £10 payable cashback to ‘release’ your £10 sign up bonus, provided the member sign-ups within the promotion dates. Event Ticket prices get more expensive the closer you get to the event, past adult weekend prices have ranged from £75 to £130 depending on when in the year you got your ticket so there are big savings to be made from buying early and not on the door. I was so eager to get my 2016 ticket that I booked as soon as I saw a tweet saying they were on sale and at 10:49PM on the Thursday evening I was pretty much just going off my 2014 experience as 2015 was yet to really get started. In fact I got the first ticket sold for 2016. Nine worlds tickets are non-refundable but are transferable so you can occasionally pick up a cheaper ticket on nine worlds facebook or twitter feed from someone who can’t come anymore. http://con-or-bust.org has provided tickets to nine worlds in the past and will do again this year. Con or Bust helps people of color/non-white people attend SFF conventions. A not-for-profit organization whose mission is to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction. Con or Bust isn’t a scholarship and isn’t limited by geography, type of con-goer, or con; its goal is simply to help fans of color go to SFF cons and be their own awesome selves. Accommodation Accommodation (off site) While staying on site would be my preference the savings you can make by staying off site can be big enough to make a little bit of travel (15 minute each way for example) worth it. I like to start off by putting the con location in to google maps to see where it is then I go to http://www.trivago.co.uk enter the con location and date then switch to map view so I can see the prices near to the event. And for London events like ninewords the transport for London journey planner (https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/) is very good, Enter event location and accommodation location to see how long public transport will take to get you from one to the other. Accommodation (con rate link) Use the con rate link after you have used a cashback site link and you sould be able to get both the con rate and get cashback too. If you are not already a member of topcashback please join via my referral link http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/LETMELOGON3 Accommodation (on OR off site) Once you have found somewhere to stay the first thing to do is check if the OFFICIAL site has a “best price guarantee” for example the 2015 nine worlds con hotel would undercut another website offering “the same booking” in the con hotel by 25% AND the 2016/2017 nine worlds con hotel will undercut another website offering “the same booking” in the con hotel by 10% IF the “best price guarantee” gives you a refund after you have made a booking then make the original booking via a cashback site to get cashback as well as have them undercut the competition. IF you have to contact them direct and miss out on cashback only do that if the undercut % is higher than the cashback % you can get from booking with the competitor. OFFICIAL sites may also have members rates! For example if you spend a couple of minutes joining Accor Hotels “LE CLUB” for free, you get 10% off standard prices on their site. Unfortunately it did not knock 10% of the special con rate for 2016 nine worlds. Anyone that has Tesco clubcard points there are several hotels where you can triple up the value of your Tesco vouchers. While Novotel is one of them, unfortunately the vouchers can’t be used at Novotel in conjunction with promotions like the special con rate for 2016 nine worlds which is a real pity as I have £60 that could have knocked £180 off my stay. GET CASHBACK Having picked your hotel, get the best % rate. A few of the booking sites (usually: booking.com, laterooms, hotels.com, expedia) often have the same room price so it is worth seeing which one is currently paying back the highest % If you are not already a member of topcashback please join via my referral link http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/LETMELOGON3 I earned £25 cashback on a 4 night stay at con hotel 2016 and £31.98 on a 4 night stay at con hotel for 2016 And of course one more way to cut your accommodation costs is to share a room with someone. If an £85 room costs the same whether there is one person OR two people staying in it then you can save £42.50 a night just by sharing. So grab a friend, partner, relative, ect or if you can’t find someone you know that is willing to go you can try and find someone else that is going to the con and share with them. Some cons have a dedicated section for room sharing Nine Worlds suggests posting on their twitter or Facebook feed. Travel Plane Flying can be cheaper than trains and that’s even with advance tickets. There has been a news story “Blogger says flying via Berlin was cheaper than Sheffield to Essex train” http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/jan/27/blogger-claims-to-save-772-from-sheffield-to-essex-by-flying-via-berlin My own search for trains and planes from Glasgow to London (12 weeks away) shows the cheapest train will be £60 for a pair of advanced single tickets and the cheapest flight at £28 return. OK you have big heavy luggage that a budget airline may charge you a small fortune for to put in the hold well for about £10 you send it as a parcel to the hotel or back home. £28+£20=£48 so still £12 cheaper than going by train and the flight is 3-4 hours shorter than a train ride I recommend using http://www.cheapflights.co.uk/ to find a flight Once you’ve found your flight give topcashback a check to see if you can get any cashback as well If you are not already a member of topcashback please join via my referral link http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/LETMELOGON3 Train Train ticket pricing is a very strange thing, a pair of advanced single tickets is often cheaper than a return ticket AND it can be cheaper to travel on the exact same train at the exact same time by splitting the journey over a few tickets rather than using ONE ticket to get you from A to B Advanced singles are normally released about 12 weeks before the date of travel, so buy 12 weeks before your return date to make sure they don’t sell out. For really popular routes or travel dates that are more than a few days apart buy the outward leg first when that hits 12 weeks then get the return leg once that hits 12 weeks. It is worth entering your trip into BOTH of these ticket spiting sites and making a note of the stations and times of the cheapest. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/split-cheap-train-tickets/ http://www.splitticketing.co.uk/ For cashback I recommend using East Midlands Trains on topcashback.co.uk If you are not already a member of topcashback please join via my referral link http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/LETMELOGON3 While other train ticket sellers may offer a higher rate the benefit can be wiped out by booking and card fees and East Midlands Trains has no fees at all if you collect tickets from a train station. Rail cards come in several verities: 16-25 (16-25 year olds), Senior (60+ year olds), Family & Friends (one of two named adults and a 5-15 year old), Two Together (BOTH named card holders), Disabled Persons (http://www.disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk/are-you-eligible/) The Family & Friends rail card is by far the best value as up to 4 adults AND 4 children can use this card on the same trip £30 Rail cards are valid for one year and will save you 1/3 on your fares so if you spend more than £90 in a year you will save money. The Disabled Persons rail card is £20 so if you spend more than £60 in a year you will save money. Tesco clubcard points can be doubled up for tickets from redspottedhanky.com (which has a £1 booking fee) or for rail cards. Coach http://www.nationalexpress.com/ you can buy coachcards (£10 for senior, disabled, young person) that give you 1/3 off ticket price OR £8 for family that gives you a free child ticket when you buy an adult ticket Buy 4 or more tickets and you get a 25% group discount Unfortunately the 2 offers don’t stack, 4 £30 tickets with coachcard would cost you £80 not £60 They also offer UNLIMITED travel passes: 7 days (£79), 14 days (£139) and 28 days (£219) so if you can’t get a coachcard or want to make a few other trips close together this could be a good buy. http://uk.megabus.com/ offers fares for as low as £1 but you may need to spend some money to get to your nearest pickup point as they don’t have as many locations as national express. Tesco clubcard points can be doubled up for: Megabus tickets, National Express tickets, Young Persons Coachcard and Senior Coachcard GET CASHBACK You can find both Megabus and National Express on topcashback.co.uk If you are not already a member of topcashback please join via my referral link http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/LETMELOGON3 Oyster Card With the rise in the number of contactless credit and debit cards now could be the perfect time to switch from oyster to a contactless card. I got my £5 refundable deposit and the £1.30 credit on my card paid in to my bank account and it was super easy, you don’t even need to get the card back to them. 1. Sign in to your online account 2. Select the Oyster card you would like to be refunded and click on 'apply for a product refund' 3. Follow the instructions Login here https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/entry.do Car Parking Car parking at the con hotel for nine worlds 2016 “Novotel London West offers over 240 on-site car parking spaces (charged at £1.50 per hour for hotel residents)” so that’s £36 per day. Using this website http://en.parkopedia.co.uk/ I’ve found a 4500 space car park at Westfield Shopping Centre 1.3 miles away that charges £9.50 per 24 hours or if you take a little effort to join their “Express Parking” then Monday to Friday is £6 per 24 hours and weekends are £8 per 24 hours. So if you check in Thursday afternoon and check out Monday morning you can save over £100 Food Bring some food with you Snack items are an important part of a con diet (Well a con with so many good panels that you can’t tear yourself away to go and get some food) as they are something quick you can have between panels or during if it’s the right food, no-one’s going to want to hear a crisp packet rustle or the crunch as you bite a crisp, jelly babies on the other hand are a nice quiet food