Kamis, 30 November 2017

How Many Eskimo Words for Snow?

An image of a snowman in a field to illustrate the concept of Eskimo words for snow.

Since we’re heading into the snowy part of the year, at least in North America, it seems like a good time to address a long-standing language myth: that Eskimos have a vast number of words for snow.

The idea was popularized by the now well-known amateur linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, and especially after it made its way into popular anthropology textbooks in the 1960s and 1970s. Whorf himself wasn’t terribly specific. His number was approximately five Eskimo words for snow, but somehow the story was so compelling and romantic that it got out of control and grew bigger and bigger, like the fish that got away, with writers claiming 50, 100, and even 400 Eskimo words for snow. 

This idea has been debunked multiple times by modern linguists—first by Laura Martin at Cleveland State University and then by others—but it shows up again and again in the popular press and online. Every day people tweet about Eskimos having 50, 100, and more words for snow because whether it’s true or not, it seems to be a useful cliché to emphasize that something is important to a group of people. 

Eskimos have 50 words for snow, but Americans have 13 words for one type of sandwich (referring to the submarine, hoagie, hero, grinder, and so on).

Or that something should be important.

Eskimos have 100 words for snow. I wish we had 100 words for love. 

The concept is so widespread that Kate Bush titled her 2011 album “50 Words for Snow,” and Glen Whitman coined the term “snowclone” to refer to phrases that fit the pattern described by linguist Geoffrey Pullum in 2003: If Eskimos have N words for snow, X surely have M words for Y. As in “If Eskimos have 200 words for snow, Seattleites surely have 100 words for coffee.”

The problem is that, well, there are multiple problems with the concept of Eskimos having tons of words for snow.


What Is an Eskimo, Really?

First, linguistically, Eskimos aren’t exactly one thing. The people you may think of as Eskimos live in a broad region that covers parts of Canada, Alaska, Greenland, and eastern Siberia, and they speak at least two different languages—Inuit and Yupik—and those languages have multiple dialects. 

Just as we talked a few weeks ago about how English and many other languages trace back to a common language called Proto-Indo-European, Inuit and Yupik trace back to a different common language called Eskimo-Aleut. So saying Eskimos have 100 words for snow is kind of like saying Europeans have 100 words for monarchs. It might be telling you something broad about culture, but it isn’t really telling you much about language.

What Is a Word, Really?

The second problem is “What is a word?” That may seem like a picky question, but it matters because the Inuit and Yupik languages make words in different ways from how we make words in English. For example, these are what are called agglutinative languages, which sounds like the word “glue” because the words share the same Latin origin. Agglutinative languages “glue” meanings together (technically, morphemes). Agglutinative languages you might be more familiar with include Japanese and Esperanto.

Dave Wilton explained agglutination well in an Oxford Words blog post with respect to the so-called Eskimo words for snow. He wrote,

“The West Greenlandic word ‘siku,’ or ‘sea ice,’ is used as the root for ‘sikursuit,’ ‘pack ice,’ ‘sikuliaq,’ ‘new ice,’ ‘sikuaq,’ ‘thin ice,’ and ‘sikurluk,’ melting ice.’”

But it’s not that West Greenlandic has so many more words for describing snow than English, it’s just that West Greenlandic expresses ideas by gluing meaningful units of language together into one word whereas English uses more phrases and compounds. We express all the same ideas—sea ice, pack ice, new ice, thin ice, and melting ice—we just do it a little differently given the way our language is constructed.

Think of it this way. Start with a lexeme. That’s essentially a unit of meaning. It’s the word you see when you look up something in the dictionary. For example the verb “look” is a lexeme. Then you have different ways of inflecting it—different forms of the lexeme. We have a few in English. In this case, “looked,” “looking,” “looks,” and so on. But the Inuit and Yupik languages are highly inflectional. According to an article by Anthony Woodbury, a linguist at the University of Texas at Austin, one Yupik noun lexeme can have more than 280 inflectional forms

Are you going to start with the lexeme for “snowflake” and then call every single one of those 280 inflectional forms a separate word? That doesn’t make sense, but it’s one way that people misunderstand how many words there are for “snow.”


How Many Words for Snow?

So you’re probably still wondering, “If it’s not 50 or 100 or 400 words, how many is it?” Well, Woodbury lists 15 that are present in a Yupik dictionary published in 1984, but he hedges that depending on how you look at it this is just a ballpark number. It could be 12; it could be 24. But it’s definitely not 100.

You’ll find five words for types of snow particles:

• Snowflake
• Frost
• Fine snow or rain particles
• Drifting particles 
• Clinging particles

Five words for types of fallen snow:

• Fallen snow on the ground
• Soft, deep fallen snow on the ground
• Crust on fallen snow
• Fresh fallen snow 
• Fallen snow floating on water

Three words for snow formations:

• Snow bank
• Snow block
• Snow cornice


Two words for meteorological events:

• Blizzard
• Severe blizzard

The ‘Language Determines Thought’ Myth

Sometimes, the “hundred words for snow” myth is used beyond a cliché and is instead used to argue that because Eskimos have so many words for snow, they conceive of snow in ways that we can’t even begin to imagine—that your language determines or limits your thoughts. 

I’m aware of at least a few other arguments like this that have also been debunked. For example, multiple languages have just one word that covers both the color blue and the color green. Researchers sometimes call these “grue” languages, “grue” being a portmanteau of “green” and “blue,” but people who speak these grue languages can still distinguish between blue and green. They recognize that they’re different colors even though they are covered by one word, in the same way that we recognize that light blue and dark blue are different colors even though we’d sometimes call them both just “blue.” There are some subtle differences—people who speak languages that distinguish between green and blue find it easier to accurately pick a bluish-green color they’ve seen earlier out of a group of swatches because it’s easier to remember something you have a distinct name for—but it’s not that they are better at recognizing or conceiving the difference between blue and green.

And finally, Whorf himself also put forth an argument that the Hopi language didn’t have words for time, and therefore the Hopi people had a different concept of time from Europeans, but this also has been proven wrong.

Languages are just different. They don’t determine what we are able to think about or are not able to think about. I can think about snow floating on water even if we don’t have a specific word for that in English.

We do seem to want these snowclone-like clichés though. While I was researching Eskimo words for snow, I came across other similar ideas: 

  • Trobriand Islanders of Papua New Guinea have many words for yams.
  • The Hanunó'o language of the Philippines has many words for rice.
  • Australians have many words for sand. 
  • Arabs have multiple words for camel.

So when you’re out skiing or snowboarding or sledding or just shoveling your driveway this winter, notice that the snow is heavy and wet, or light and fluffy, or mashed potatoes like my stepmom calls the snow on the ski slopes in the afternoon sun, but don’t believe the people who try to tell you that Eskimos have 100 words for snow.

Additional Sources

Pullum, Geoffrey. “The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax.” 1991. University of Chicago Press.

Safire, William. “On Language; Let a Simile Be Your Umbrella.” New York Times, February 11, 1996.

Trask, Robert Lawrence. “Language: The Basics.” 1999. Routledge, London and New York.

Wierzbicka, Anna. “Understanding Cultures through Their Key Words: English, Russian, Polish.” 1997. Oxford University Press.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.



Make a Promise to Your Future Book

a picture of a library shelf with an empty space for your future book

What follows is an excerpt from Jack Gantos’ fabulous new book “Writing Radar.” Jack is an award-winning children’s fiction author, and now he has a new book called “Writing Radar” that’s something of a “how to” book to help children get started writing creatively and seeing themselves as writers. Like most things from Jack, it’s funny and interspersed with stories, so the story leading up to the excerpt  is about how he stole his older sister’s journal when he was a kid.

After my run in with Betsy, I restarted my journal mission – and this time I did it the right way no funny business.

Here's what I did, and what I'm about to tell you is exactly what I want you to do.

I made a deal with myself and took an oath that would change my entire life.

After school I was in the library helping the librarian, Mrs. Hammer, reshelve books. She has a last name that made her sound tough, and she was. She had been fired from two other schools for "abusive behavior." I wasn't sure if that meant abuse of kids or abuse of books or both, but I knew that when she hit a kid with a book both kid and book suffered. But she also had a big heart and protected me from all the wicked kids who never read but just sharked around the library looking for trouble. So I was happy to help her out whenever she asked.

Well, I had a book cart full of returns I was reshelving. You can probably guess that the G section was my favorite reshelving territory. That day I did what I always did. As I pushed my book cart I ran my fingers across the spines of the G authors until I came to my future book slot, the one with GALDONE on one side and GEORGE on the other. I could imagine my book, with my last name, GANTOS, fitting snugly on the shelf between those two authors. Of course I didn't have a book with my name and title on it to reshelve between GALDONE and GEORGE, so I shoved in the next best thingI stuck my hand between those books and wiggled it back-and-forth until I opened up a dark, vacant slot. As I stood there a powerful feeling came over me, and I lowered my head.

My father always told me that a man's handshake is as good as his word. And so with my hand pressed between those books I whispered an oath and promised myself that I would begin to write a bookno matter how hard the taskand I’d trust and believe in myself and I wouldn't be a quitter and my book would someday fit exactly where my hand was now.

I placed my other hand over my heart. "I give my word of honor," I said gravely, and then slowly shook hands with that empty slot.

Once I removed my hand I quickly finished up my library work. I waved goodbye to Mrs. Hammer and marched out the library door and down the street to the stationary store while thinking deeply about my oath and what I had to do to keep it.

I had saved my chore money, and at the store I bought an inexpensive new journal. It was a small black book that was an artist sketchbook. There was no lock on it. The pages were unlined and unnumbered for drawing, and the binding was strong because I dropped my books a lot. The black book came with no directions or rules. Whatever I wrote inside of it, good or bad, was up to me. The sharp tip of my pen was now the boss of every word in the dictionary, and it felt good to be the boss of something as amazingly powerful as the entire English language. All I had to do was to tell each word where to line up. That sounded easy enough, but I suspected it wasn't easy. Words always have a mind of their own.

As it turns out, my writing oath became one of the most important promises I ever made to myselfand it was a promise I kept. So I want you to go to your library and find exactly where your future book with your name on it will fit on the shelf. Then I want you to shove your hand into that slot and promise yourself that you, too, will write a book and that someday it will be on the library shelf for some reader to check out and take great pleasure in reading.

Yes, I want you to do that. Not just for me, but for yourself. Now, do it!

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

cover image of jack gantos book writing radar

 


How to Write a Case Study in 5 Steps

illustration of computer, research papers, and book reflecting case study research

Writing a case study for a college course can be a challenge. Although there are different types of case studies, you can count on two things to remain the same—they require analytical thinking skills and a great deal of research.

When composing a case study, you’ll likely be asked to explain a problem or situation and to then illustrate a potential or implemented solution. You should generally include these basic elements:

  • An explanation of the problem or situation being analyzed.
  • A description of the solution (or proposed solution) and its implementation.
  • A summary of the results and an analysis of the effectiveness of the solution.

The five steps that appear below are designed to take you from your pre-writing preparation all the way through to submitting your case study.

How Do You Write a Case Study?

  1. Conduct Research
  2. Begin By Summarizing the Situation and Why It Is Important
  3. Detail the Solution That Was Implemented
  4. Analyze the Results of the Solution
  5. Cite Any Source Material

1. Conduct Research

A case study is analytical in nature and can require plenty of research. This means that a large portion of the work is done before you start writing your study. Your case study should tell the story of your case from beginning to end, so you will need a thorough understanding of the different factors at play.

Say you plan to write about a city that was successful in reducing excess waste, specifically through recycling. Your first step will be to gather relevant information about the situation. For example, you may investigate the following topics:

  • What are the laws or policies related to this scenario, and when were they put in place? Have they affected the situation positively or negatively?
  • What are the important data points in both current and historical terms?
  • What have city officials and other influential figures said about the situation?

Depending on how in-depth your assignment is, you might rely on articles, other case studies, or even interviews with people. Gathering as much information as you can will help you analyze why the solution worked or did not work.

2. Begin Your Case Study By Summarizing the Situation and Why It Is Important

What are the conflicts or risks in the given scenario? Ensure you clearly lay out the basic facts of the problem or situation being addressed so the reader will understand why the solution was needed. This is where the statistics you gathered will help supplement your explanation, and you can describe the context of the situation either historically or in comparison to other similar situations.

3. Detail the Solution That Was Implemented

Describe changes in strategy or the laws of the city or state that aimed to reduce the problem. Include context for when and how the changes occurred: what was the process, and who were the main players?

Also make sure to include information on the time or cost involved in implementing the solution. And, if there were complicating factors, don’t leave those out. Explaining how unexpected complications were handled can also be important.

4. Analyze the Results of the Solution

Did it have the intended effect on the situation? If the solution could be a model for similar cases, explain the wider usefulness of understanding its impact. If the results were mixed or created results different from what was expected, what were the factors affecting that outcome? How could a more effective solution be found?

5. Cite Any Source Material

In a reference list at the end of your case study, it is vital to cite any source material you used in your writing. This includes articles, books, other case studies referenced, or any people you may have interviewed to gather information. Keep track throughout the research and writing process of all resources used—you will thank yourself later.

Lora Wegman is a contributing writer for Varsity Tutors, a live learning platform that connects students with personalized instruction to accelerate academic achievement.



5 Reasons Kids Should Send Written Thank You Notes

kid writing a thank you letter to grandma

With today’s technology, reaching out and connecting with friends, family, and work colleagues and customers is easier than ever. In the instant click of a button we can send an e-mail, text, or photos to our neighbor or to someone across the world.

Because of the ease of communicating electronically, most people tend to rely on connecting this way rather than the good, old-fashioned way of sending a hand-written note or letter. While this is certainly acceptable, there are still many occasions where a written note is not only appropriate but also very much appreciated—and one of those cases is a thank you note.

Here are five reasons to encourage family members to send a written note of thanks via snail mail, not through cyber space.

  1. It’s Unexpected.
  2. It Teaches Gratitude.
  3. It Reinforces Good Manners.
  4. It Teaches Not To Take Things For Granted.
  5. It Feels Good.

Let's dive deeper into each.

1. It’s Unexpected.

People love to know that they are appreciated, but in today’s hectic world, the kind gestures that people do for one another can easily go unnoticed. Sending a written note of thanks or appreciation shows your gratitude and can also encourage the person who helped you to want to help you, or better yet someone else, again in the future.

2. It Teaches Gratitude.

Let’s face it, we live in a very consumer-driven, materialistic world. Today’s kids are bombarded with advertising touting the latest, greatest gadgets, designer sneakers, must-have tech products, trendy clothing styles, and even gotta-have school locker décor! When kids send a written thank you note to grandparents, classmates, babysitters, and even their pediatrician, it reinforces the importance of feeling gratitude, laying a solid foundation for being appreciative all through their young and adult lives.

3. It Reinforces Good Manners.

The practice of writing personal thank you notes helps kids develop critical social skills that are essential to maintaining strong relationships. Basically, when kids are taught to physically thank another person for a gift (or experience) that they’ve received, it’s also reinforcing good manners. Please and thank you have long been the magic words—a written thank you takes this to a whole new level.

4. It Teaches Not To Take Things For Granted.

If a family member, friend, or coworker takes time from his busy schedule to give a gift to someone in your household, that means they think highly enough of your child to make this effort. Writing a thank you note isn’t just a nice thing to do, it also helps kids learn not to take these relationships for granted. Guide them in an age-appropriate manner. A three-year-old isn’t going to handwrite her own note, but she can draw a little picture, to which you can add a couple of sentences of appreciation. If your child starts young, writing thank you notes will become a wonderful habit, and will instill a deep sense of appreciation for both the gifts received and the people who gave them.

5. It Feels Good.

Who doesn’t love to receive mail that is personal and not another bill or catalogue? Sending notes of appreciation can be done out of genuine caring for another person, not just because they’ve given you a tangible gift. Is there an office staff member in your child’s school that lights up the room with a warm and friendly smile and always makes your kids feel safe? Do you have a favorite employee at your deli who knows exactly how you like your cold cuts sliced? Does your mother-in-law love spending time with her grandkids to give you a little break now and again? These types of examples can also warrant a thoughtful, written note of appreciation by you or your child. Not only will they be surprised and delighted to receive it, you will feel terrific knowing how special you made someone feel—just because!

Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you'll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life, and you'll find that you have more of it. --Ralph Marston

For more ideas visit Mighty Mommy at quickanddirtytips.com.

Image of a child writing a letter © Shutterstock



How to Treat Head Lice

head lice treatment

School is officially back in Fall session, and that means our children return to the germ breeding ground. You’ve likely already experienced one, two, or even three bugs in your household by now since September. It’s a rite of passage of sorts. There’s no escaping it…sorry. I have two rambunctious five-year-old identical twin girls who take turns spreading the germs in our family. I completely empathize, believe me.

Like us, you and your family have likely already been plagued this season with the common cold or flu virus, or possibly pink eye or whooping cough (a current epidemic in many parts of the country)—all previously covered House Call Doctor topics. But there are other bugs in the kingdom, and one in particular that can make our skin crawl (no pun intended): head lice.

A five-year-old spunky little girl was brought in by Dad for possible head lice. The school nurse had called the parents and asked them to pick her up “right away” when the teacher spotted nits in her hair after finding her scratching away at her scalp.

I want to go back to school!” She says with excitement and fervor in my office. She tells me she loves school because she “gets to learn new things.” Hard to keep such enthusiasm contained at home. Should she stay home or go back to school?

Dad is frustrated, as he had to take off from work to tend to this issue. The school will not allow her to return until she’s been treated, the nits eradicated, and a note to provide “proof” of this visit for the school.

That’s quite a tall order. After all, head lice doesn’t kill. There’s no long-term health effects. Let’s compare that to the flu, which kills up to 50,000 people in the U.S. alone. Strict rules as such do not exist for the flu or other more serious illnesses when they really should. Some perspective.

Does this sound familiar? Many of you with kids have surely experienced a similar scenario.

What is Head Lice?

“Pediculosis capitis” is the fancy medical term used to refer to head lice. It’s caused by the louse Pediculus humanus capitis, which lays up to 10 eggs (or “nits”) a day at the base of the hair shaft. Contrary to belief, they are transmitted via direct contact with the lice or nits. Head lice do NOT jump like fleas, or fly like bees. Simply sitting next to another child at school is not a common mode of transmission. It’s not nearly as contagious as you might think, compared to say the flu virus, measles, or chicken pox—all viruses with potential for significant complications.

They also can theoretically be transmitted via sharing combs, brushes, hats, or bedding. But solid evidence to back up these claims are lacking thus far.

Kids are particularly susceptible, but it can affect anyone regardless of age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Hygiene is irrelevant. Anyone can contract head lice if they are exposed. End of story.

Diagnosis of Head Lice

It is best visualized using a fine-toothed comb while inspecting the base where hair meets the scalp. Live lice and nits are often visible to the naked eye. The lice are 2-3 mm in length, and are often white, gray, or less commonly darker in color.

No special tests are required for diagnosis—your doctor should be able to diagnose it simply based on exam.

The Head Lice Controversy

How can we get rid of head lice? Believe it or not, eradicating them is not typically complicated, and certainly more efficient than the common cold or flu viruses,

One of my personal responsibilities as House Call Doctor is to interpret the medical jargon and information in order to better inform my listeners so that you are equipped with the best evidence-based information. Like the super over-hyped “pink eye,” head lice is up there with being one of the most stigmatized yet rather benign infectious processes.


As I’ve shared with all of you prior, sometimes these more benign medical conditions are blown up way out of proportion in the media and community. Sure, head lice sounds gross; especially because they can be physically visualized, unlike microscopic bacteria and viruses. But there are many more ominous and more common bugs out there to be worried about than head lice.

But by all means…don’t ignore it either.

Treatment of Head Lice

Here are the top ways to treat head lice:

  1. Topical Permethrin: Believe it or not, treatment for head lice is available over-the-counter (OTC); ask your pharmacist to show you the appropriate OTC formulas. Instead of applying it in the shower, use the sink in order to avoid skin exposure elsewhere. Permethrin should be the main active ingredient. And do not use any hair products, like shampoos or conditioners, prior to the application of the solution. Apply to dry hair and leave on for a minimum of 10 minutes, then rinse. Repeat in one week.
  2. Oral Medications: If the above treatment fails, which is often due to re-exposure or improper use, there are oral prescription drugs available to treat head lice. Examples include malathion and ivermectin. They do carry some notable , less desirable side effects.
  3. Antibiotics: The generic antibiotic, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim or septra) is an affordable and perhaps most effective option for more resistant head lice. It’s contraindicated in those with sulfa allergies, however.
  4. Wet-Combing: For those who wish to avoid medicated solutions, this is an option. Apply olive oil, vinegar, or hair conditioner and slow comb through using a fine-toothed comb. Repeat numerous times, up to 30 minutes. And repeat for every 3-4 days until your last visible nit sighting. This may be rather time-consuming for older kids, but a possible consideration in younger children with little hair.

Let’s halt the propagation of archaic medical practices and protocols in schools.

When to Return to School?

Similar to pink eye, where schools erroneously require a “doctor’s note” and “antibiotic drops” (despite the fact pink eye is a virus) in order to return to school, those with head lice are often advised by schools to return to school once nits are no longer visible.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AFP) both agree that the “no nitz” school policies should be eradicated. Kids should not be kept from attending school for having nits in their hair. Head lice is not a health hazard. And it requires direct contact with the hair/scalp in order for transmission.

The Bottom Line

  • Head lice do not pose adverse long-term effects or health complications, other than possible short-term psychologic distress and anxiety from societal pressures and over-hype.
  • It doesn’t mean your child is “dirty.” Personal  hygiene is not a factor in contracting head lice. Anyone can get it.
  • First line treatment is readily available, typically effective, is over-the-counter and doesn’t require a doctor’s visit.

In a nutshell, the only reason to see your doctor may be due to uncertainty around the diagnosis, or unfortunately, more often due to a school requirement, contributing to unnecessary missed school days, missed work days, and wages.

Let’s halt the propagation of archaic medical practices and protocols in schools. It’s time we dispel common medical myths and revise clearly outdated school policies that cause more harm than good. 

Share your ideas and learn more quick and dirty tips with us on the House Call Doctor’s FacebookTwitter, and Pinterest pages! If you learned anything here today, or simply enjoy all-things-medical, you can also listen and subscribe to the House Call Doctor podcast on Apple PodcastsSpotifySoundcloud, and Stitcher.

Please note that all content here is strictly for informational purposes only.  This content does not substitute any medical advice, and does not replace any medical judgment or reasoning by your own personal health provider.  Please always seek a licensed physician in your area regarding all health related questions and issues.



Selasa, 28 November 2017

Finding Creativity in the Kitchen with Science and Intuition

Kitchen creativity book by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page

Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page are the team behind the new book Kitchen Creativity: Unlocking Culinary Genius—with Wisdom, Inspiration, and Ideas from the World's Most Creative Chefs. Here, they share three ways to boost your own kitchen creativity:

1. Keep a kitchen creativity journal. Whether it's a notebook or a dedicated file on your phone, have a designated place to store thoughts, feelings, daydreams, photos, and other ideas for reference later. Take your ideas seriously, and write them down. As Getting Things Done author David Allen says,"Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them."

2. Pay attention to what you pay attention to. Amid all the distractions we're faced with, certain things still grab your attention. Notice which chefs, restaurants, dishes, and other ideas captivate you (versus the countless others you skip over, unmoved). If you track them, you can analyze them to discover the patterns that unite them, and learn about what's important to you.

3. Finally, take action on your best ideas, and make them a reality. After you start using this book to help multiply the quantity and quality of the ideas you generate, never forget the end game is to create the future. Don't just write your best ideas down. Do the work. Make them happen! The world is waiting to taste what you create next.

Excerpted with permission from Kitchen Creativity: Unlocking Culinary Genius—with Wisdom, Inspiration, and Ideas from the World's Most Creative Chefs (c) 2017 Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. All rights reserved. Published by Little Brown.



How to Stock an Emergency Food Supply

emergency food supplies

Niamh writes: "In light of several recent natural disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires), disaster preparedness is front of mind. What types of food would you recommend to have on hand as part of your personal disaster preparedness plan?"

You are not the only one, Niamh! I got many emails from listeners asking for advice on putting together an emergency food supply. Emergency supplies are intended to get you through in the event that you temporarily lose power, water, and/or access to fresh food. Aiming for a perfect balanced diet under those circumstances is probably unrealistic. But you don’t want to be relying entirely on leftover Halloween candy, either.

How Much Food Do You Need?

Experts recommend having a three-day supply of non-perishable food and water for each person in your household. Don’t forget to include in your tally others, such as elderly parents or neighbors or college aged kids, that may rely on you in an emergency. Figure about 2000 calories per person per day.

You also want to have at least one liter of clean drinking water per person per day. This may be less water than you are used to drinking. For this reason, it’s good to avoid salty foods and other foods that may make you thirsty.

How to Stock Your Emergency Food Kit

The ideal foods for an emergency kit do not require cooking. This rules out things like pasta and dried beans, even though they are both nutritious and non-perishable. If canned foods are in your kit, make sure to store a non-electric can-opener with your emergency supplies. Dehydrated foods such as dried fruits and vegetables are lighter and more portable than canned, which can be an advantage in the event that you need to decamp.

Here’s a list of good candidates for your emergency food supplies:

  • Canned fish, such as tuna, salmon, or sardines. Tuna and salmon are also available in shelf-stable pouches.
  • Beef or fish jerky
  • Dried or canned fruit
  • Dehydrated or canned vegetables
  • Canned beans
  • Unsalted nuts and seeds
  • Whole grain crackers
  • Protein and/or energy bars
  • Milk or nondairy alternatives in shelf-stable packaging

Fortunately, many of the foods in your emergency preparedness kit are also on my list of the most nutritious foods for the money, which means that you won’t have to cash in your kids’ tuition fund to stock your pantry. But resist the temptation to save money by buying foods from open bulk containers. Manufacturer-sealed packages are better protected from air, moisture, and contamination and are less likely to spoil.

I hope it will be a long time (or never) before you need to use these foods. But even non-perishable foods get old eventually. Every couple of years, rotate your emergency stock into your regular pantry and replace it. Store your emergency supplies in a cool, dry place and do what you can to prevent rodents and insects from raiding your stash.

Additional Tips

If the power goes out, you will not be able to keep foods refrigerated or frozen for long. But you will probably have a fair amount of food in the fridge and freezer. Before breaking into your dried and canned goods, eat your refrigerated firstbut only as long as you can maintain them at food safe temperatures. Keep a non-electric thermometer in your fridge and freezer to monitor temperatures.

Once your fridge or freezer climbs above 40 degrees fahrenheit, the clock is ticking, especially on highly perishable items like milk and meat. If you are able to heat foods, cook and eat raw meats before they spoil. Cook and eat frozen meat and vegetables as they thaw. Open your fridge and freezer as quickly and infrequently as possible to keep the food cold for as long as possible. It helps to have a mental picture of what’s in the fridge. Decide what you’re going to remove before you open the door.

I hope that none of you will ever be in a situation that requires it but having a plan for emergencies is an excellent policy. An emergency food supply is just one aspect of a disaster preparedness plan. You’ll find more resources at http://ready.gov.

Image of emergency food supplies © Shutterstock



Senin, 27 November 2017

The End of Net Neutrality: What It Means For Science (and You)

image of cables and lock symbolizing net neutrality

How would you describe the internet to someone from, say, the 18th century? Nearly 4 billion internet users, half of which are in Asia, access everyday what amounts to an accumulation of all of human knowledge to date. The internet, a network of interconnected smaller networks, allows that knowledge to be transferred across large distances quickly to whomever wants to access the information.

Net neutrality is the idea that all information traveling across the internet should be treated the same, no matter who the user is, what the content of that information is, what website hosts that information, or what platform or application is being used to access the information. Any such restrictions are completely human-constructed: the technology itself that makes the internet possible does not care what kind of information it sends zooming around the globe.

However, under the leadership of Chairman Ajit Pai, a former lawyer for Verizon, the Federal Communications Commission which sets the rules of net neutrality here in the US, is set to vote to end net neutrality in just a few weeks. Why would anyone want to end net neutrality? And what does this mean for science and for innovation?

How does the internet work?

To understand the importance of net neutrality, let’s first look at an overview of how the internet works. When you visit a website like quickanddirtytips.com, your computer (or phone or tablet) sends a request to connect to that site through your personal connection to the internet to your internet service provider, or ISP. Your ISP then sends along your request to another server and then another and possibly another until it reaches a domain name server that recognizes the name of the website you are trying to reach. Domain name servers act like address books or virtual operators, connecting users with the websites they seek.

Once the request reaches the proper server that hosts the data files for quickanddirtytips.com, the information sought by the user is divided up into packets and sent back over the network. Those packets do not always have to travel the same route allowing them to maneuver around clogged or slow areas of the network and get to you, the user, most efficiently. However, to finally reach you, they all must pass through your ISP. Your device then assembles the packets back together like pieces of a puzzle to display the website for you.  

You may have noticed that even in this very simplified description, your ISP is the key to your connection to your internet as it has ultimate control over what information you can access and how fast you can access it.

What happens to the internet without net neutrality?

Under the framework of net neutrality, your ISP, whether it’s Comcast, Verizon, or AT&T, is required to treat all internet content equally. Without net neutrality, your ISP can control what content you are allowed to see. They can charge you as the user extra fees to access certain sites or they can require that those hosting the websites pay more money so their content is not slowed or blocked entirely from reaching users. So no matter how much money you pay, you may still not be able to efficiently access the sites you choose.


The end result is that internet users are not the ones deciding which websites and webtools are successful; the ISPs decide. For example, Comcast could slow down access to Netflix so much that users would be forced to instead use the streaming service Xfinity owned by Comcast. Even worse, ISPs could decide to block access to websites or even refuse to deliver email that express dissenting viewpoints. Free Press has documented a timeline of net neutrality violations for more examples.

If ISPs are allowed to charge users varying amounts of money to access different websites, we could end up with a tiered pricing similar to cable television. Users would pay a base fee of say $50 to connect to the internet but would then have to pay $5 more per month to access search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing, then another $5 more per month to access social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, and then another $10 per month for certain news sites. And if you want to access Hulu or Netflix or Amazon for video streaming? That’ll be another $10. For a real-life example of how this pricing can look, check out the internet service provider Meo which is already doing this in Portugal.

What does the end of net neutrality mean for science & innovation?

Proponents of ending net neutrality argue that regulating ISPs (by requiring that they treat all information on the internet equally) amounts to “micromanagement” and prevents internet companies from investing in improvements for their networks. It is certainly true that as we become increasingly bandwidth-intensive in our use of the internet, we will need to look for costly expansions of our infrastructure to make those connections possible. But even the internet companies themselves admit that net neutrality has not hurt their self-investment.

Without net neutrality, libraries and schools that do not have extra cash could get slower internet service.

We likely have far more to lose in the way of technological innovation without net neutrality. Do you have a great idea for a new app? You may have to compete monetarily with established internet powerhouses like Facebook for users to access your app whether or not your design is the best. Startups and small businesses will likewise have a harder time getting their information to potential users if they don’t have the money to put themselves on the same playing field as larger companies. Under the framework of net neutrality, the search engine provided by Google was able to rise in popularity as users were given the choice and many preferred it to Yahoo.

Without net neutrality, libraries and schools that do not have extra cash could get slower internet service. If such favored access had been in place in the early years of Facebook, the social media giant may not exist today as it was originally run from a college campus. Further, ISPs could pick and choose which brands of phones or computers will receive faster service, meaning that you won’t get to pick which gadgets or personal assistants you want to use. Without a consumer-driven market, technology companies will have little motivation to innovate and develop new products.   

Without net neutrality, science may also suffer. Providing results of scientific research, research that is often funded by federal grants, to the public relies on fair access to the internet. At the heart of the scientific method is drawing a conclusion after taking in all available information. If ISPs are not required to treat all websites and information equally, they could choose to allow access only to websites that present one side of a story or hide any results they deem negative. ISPs could be susceptible to pressure to hide information on behalf of companies offering large sums of money or even the government.

Sites like the Public Library of Science, a nonprofit publisher of scientific results, have come out in strong support of maintaining net neutrality. Amazon, Netflix, Google, Etsy, Vimeo, Reddit, and NPR all support net neutrality. The United Nations recognizes restricting access to the internet as a violation of human rights. The vast majority of US citizens are also in favor of a free and open internet: 73% of Republicans, 80% of Democrats and 76% of Independents are in favor of keeping the FCC’s Open Internet rules.

Despite this overwhelming support for net neutrality, the FCC is expected to vote to end it on December 14th. If you’d like to have your voice heard on this issue and its potential impact on science and innovation and even sites like this one, you can call the FCC or call your representatives.

Until next time, this is Sabrina Stierwalt with Everyday Einstein’s Quick and Dirty Tips for helping you make sense of science. You can become a fan of Everyday Einstein on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, where I’m @QDTeinstein. If you have a question that you’d like to see on a future episode, send me an email at everydayeinstein@quickanddirtytips.com.

Image of Net Neutrality Lock © Shutterstock



The Top 10 Productivity Tools For the Holidays

productivity apps on smartphone

It’s not easy finding holiday presents for geek friends when you’re a cybernetic teenager. Thomas should know. In his first adventure trying to fit in to his school’s computer club (other than being the computer’s confidant), he’s decided to get all his human friends presents for the holidays, and asked me what my favorite tools are, hoping for some good ideas. 

He was so earnest, how could I refuse? Today I’m going to share the tools I use on a daily basis, sometimes dozens of times a day. I reached into my SCOTTeVEST and…and…

(Before we begin, to be clear, these are actually the tools I use on a day-to-day basis. I haven't been asked to promote them. I do have affiliate relationships with some of them, but I entered into those because I loved the product, not the other way around.)

1. SCOTTeVEST. Pockets galore.

My top item is a bunch of items: my clothes from SCOTTeVEST.com. These are extremely well-made clothes that are wired for everything. They have pockets galore—my travel vest has 23 pockets—engineered so from the outside, no one can tell you’re carrying your cell phone, MP3 player, earbuds, power pack, eBook reader, glasses, notebook, four pens, camera, camera SD card, full-size water bottle, paperback book, and keychain. Especially if you travel, SCOTTeVEST is the best. nerd. ware. ever!

2. 1Password. Password manager.

1Password is a password manager that is designed from the ground up for security. It generates secure passwords when signing up for websites, and then will auto-fill those passwords when visiting the sites again later. The passwords stay sync’d between your smartphone and your desktop. There are versions of 1Password for every device in existence.

It has a travel mode, which will automatically remove designated keyrings from your mobile device if you’d rather not have your passwords on the phone when crossing a border. It also has family plans, which can be configured to give your loved ones access to your keyring if the worst happens and your cape gets caught in a jet turbine while you’re flying by, waving to the passengers.

3. ScheduleOnce.com. Easy calendar scheduling.

ScheduleOnce.com is a must for anyone who schedules a lot of meetings. It connects directly to one or more online calendars. You give people a simple scheduling link. They can then book themselves directly onto your calendar at a time that works for you both. No more endless back-and-forth. You just give them the scheduling link, they visit it once, and you’re done. I don’t know how anyone can live without it.

4. ScannerPro app by Readdle. Document scanning.

ScannerPro is an iPhone app that lets you take pictures of documents, correct for perspective or distortion, turn them into black and white, and then save them as images or PDFs. It can password-protect the PDF and has a very attractive interface for organizing your documents. Scanner programs in general have revolutionized receipt handling, and Scanner Pro is one of the best I’ve tried. And I’ve tried a lot of them.

5. Signal communicator.

Signal provides secure, end-to-end encrypted conversations that can be set to disappear after a designated amount of time. I’m not saying we’re living in a creepy, post-apocalyptic dystopian surveillance state, but just in case we are and don’t know it, Signal gives you the kind of privacy you used to have in the good old days in your living room. Before the Amazon Echo and Google Home started broadcasting every word you say to central servers where they can be subpoena’d and used to lock you up without a trial or other form of due process. Signal exists for all smartphones and desktops.


6. Yoink! Drag and drop savior.

Oh, Yoink! How I love thee! Yoink is an app for Mac desktop computers and for iPads that helps streamline drag and drop. When you start dragging something, a little drawer appears near your mouse. You drag the item onto the drawer and it then docks against the side of the screen. Then you go to your destination and drag the items out of Yoink into their final destination. I use Yoink about a million times a day. When someone sends a mail attachment, just drag it to Yoink. Collect all your attachments, and then later you can go to your project folders and drag each attachment to the folder where it belongs. The developer, Matthias at Eternal Storms software, is very responsive and will be donating some free Yoink licenses which I’ll be sending out over the @GetItDoneGuy twitter account.

7. Affinity Photo. Photoshop-killing image editor.

Affinity Photo is photo editing software that’s available for Mac, Windows, and iPad. It’s as advanced as Photoshop, but written from the ground up in 21st-century technology. It’s much easier to use than Photoshop, though still has a learning curve. They provide hundreds of free tutorial videos online teaching you how to use it. It can do sophisticated toning, blending, and RAW file processing for a tiny fraction of the cost of Photoshop. Plus, it’s a one-time purchase, so once you have it, they can’t jack up the price and hold your business hostage. Whether I have a sophisticated or simple photo editing task, Affinity Photo is my go-to app.

8. SpiderOak. Backup software.

SpiderOak One backup software is my main backup software. SpiderOak was designed from the ground up with “zero knowledge” encryption. That means that the good folks at SpiderOak might be evil fascist dictators, and it won’t matter, because your backup is encrypted before it ever leaves your computer, in a way that makes it impossible for it to be decrypted by anyone but you. It runs in the background and uploads files when you change them. 

I do all my writing using iA writer.

9. iA Writer. A distractionless Markdown editor.

iA Writer is a simply, distraction-free editor for your favorite writer who uses Mac OS. It lets you compose a text document using plain text and including Markdown formatting if you wish. Markdown is a way to notate headers, bold, italics, and tables when typing text. You can click here for my episode on using markdown. iA Writer allows you to concentrate solely on your writing, and has a preview mode that shows you what the markdown will look like if you’re choosing to use markdown formatting. It runs on the Mac and iOS, and is fully iCloud compatible, so you can edit your files on Mac or your iDevice and changes automagically appear on the other one. I do all my writing using iA writer.

10. Serial Box. Books!

And last, but not least, Serial Box! Serial Box is an app. And it’s a book. Or rather, it’s a lot of books.

Groups of writers get together and plot out a season’s worth of novellas all set in the same fictional universe. You purchase a season of a book, and you get monthly installments. In an astonishingly wonderful twist, the app lets you read or listen to extremely well-produced and voice-acted audiobook versions of each book. It’s all synchronized, so you can switch back and forth between the text and audio versions. Because the books are serialized novels, they have story arcs that span each chapter, and also the entire book. So far I’ve purchased and read the entire first season of Tremontaine, and am halfway through season two of BookBurners. Serial Box is my platform for leisure reading, reading at the gym, and on public transportation. It’s a fantastic idea for both the listeners and the writers!

Thomas looked up after I finished my list. “These will make really good gifts for my geek friends!” he happily exclaimed. And of course he’s right. I can only humbly assume that my Top 10 List of must-have tools is probably, well, astonishingly fitting for anyone who’s…just like me. And hopefully, they’ll be just good enough to help Thomas span that gap between awkward adolescent cyborg and real live teenager. However, we have a ways to go. Right now he’s happily explaining Yoink! to his best friend. The toaster.

I’m Stever Robbins. Follow GetItDoneGuy on Twitter and Facebook. Want great keynote speeches on productivity, Living an Extraordinary Life, or entrepreneurship? Hire me! Find me at http://ift.tt/1l2uWN6

Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!



Minggu, 26 November 2017

7 Ways To Save Money During the Holiday Season

holiday family shopping

The holiday season is a long-anticipated time of the year, especially for families with children (young and old alike). The warm glow of twinkling lights and glitzy decorations, the delightful smells of gingerbread and peppermint wafting through our homes, the festive tunes playing everywhere you go. It’s indeed the time for everything merry and bright—oh, and it's expensive!

The holidays have always been my favorite time of the year, especially while raising eight kids over the past 24 years. I begin listening to Christmas music long before Thanksgiving (feel free to roll your eyes!) and can’t wait to deck the halls as early as possible (just ask my kids, they say I become obsessed with the season). To me it is indeed “the most wonderful time of the year,” but it’s also the time of year where our finances can take a hit. 

Here are 7 ways you can save some serious cash this holiday season.

  1. Tip #1: List It
  2. Tip #2: Buy Discounted Gift Cards
  3. Tip #3: Refrain From Extras
  4. Tip #4: Give Experiences Instead of Stuff
  5. Tip #5: Save On Free Holiday Shipping
  6. Tip #6: Purchase a Family Gift
  7. Tip #7: That’s a Wrap

Here is more information about each.

Tip #1: List It

I’ve long been a list person, even before I became the busy mother of eight kids. I never leave home without my master list notebook which I have sectioned into categories such as “Housekeeping Projects,” “Grocery Items Needed,” “Menu Recipes and Ideas,” “Appointments,” etc. One of my categories is also “Holiday Gifts.” I printed a template I found on Realsimple.com and use it all year long but especially when I start my Christmas shopping. Write down everyone you want to buy a gift for. It’s OK to put a dollar amount next to each of their names.  I also list the people who I will tip for the holidays like our rubbish removal people, mail carrier, dog groomer, etc. because it’s important to have a complete handle on all the money you’ll be spending, particularly if you are committed to sticking to a budget.

Tip #2: Buy Discounted Gift Cards

There are always people on your gift list that might be a little more tricky to shop for than others. You may be itching to give your babysitter an adorable hooded vest adorned with sequined snowmen, but deep down you know it will never see the light of day in her cutting edge, trendy wardrobe. When you’re not sure what to buy, gift cards are always a safe bet. I purchase a handful every holiday season, but I never pay full price for them!

There are multiple places you can pick up discounted gift cards at a reduced price. In fact, you can decide between pre-owned and new gift cards.

Pre-owned discount gift cards exist because sometimes people receive gift cards they don't want. For example, they might not prefer the brand of that gift card or the store might be too far away. People can sell their unwanted gift cards for cash offers that are less than the face value of their cards. Gift card resellers then sell these cards for a little bit more but still less than face value.

New gift cards on sale are simply gift cards that are sold for less than face value. Additionally, sometimes merchants offer bonuses for buying a full-priced gift card rather than discounting the initial activation such as a second free gift card, or a great coupon for a future purchase. There are several reputable places you can purchase both pre-owned and new gift cards. Check out giftcardgranny.com, cardpool.com, and ebay.com.  

Tip #3: Refrain From Extras

During the frantic season of the holidays, it’s so easy to splurge on little extras that can ultimately crash your budget. Treating yourself and “the girls” to an unexpected lunch with a bottle (or two) of wine, grabbing a new pair of “must have” boots for yourself, paying for those cute matching snowmen sweaters for you and  your kids—you get the picture.

Cutting back on those extras can have a big impact on your bottom line, but this also takes some discipline. If you commit to sticking to a holiday list as mentioned in tip #1, you will be better able to stay on track and resist those tempting but unneccesary purchases. That money could have paid for a few stocking stuffers so before you splurge on those little extras, be sure it’s really worth the price.


Tip #4: Give Experiences Instead of Stuff

Shopping for eight kids each Christmas can be daunting. Though I love to shop, the older my kids got, the more tricky and expensive their wish lists became. 

Several years ago we implemented giving them experiences rather than stuff, and it has been a huge success. Now we give experiences such as a weekend getaway to an indoor waterpark, tickets to events and concerts, passes to museums, day trips on the train to Boston, and gift cards to their favorite restaurants that they can choose to use with us or friends.

Tip #5: Save On Free Holiday Shipping

If you love the convenience of online shopping like I do, be sure to take advantage of “Free Shipping Day” which takes place on December 15. Free Shipping Day is a one-day event held annually in mid-December. On the promotional holiday, consumers can shop from both large and small online merchants that offer free shipping with guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve. With over 400 businesses that participate, you are sure to save big bucks on gifts for the entire family, and you can enjoy being at home baking gingerbread men with your kids rather than hassling with long lines and traffic.

The days following Christmas are also ideal for getting a jump-start on purchasing decor and wrapping goods for next year.

Tip #6: Purchase a Family Gift

Once our kids started getting older (we’ve had five teens at a time!) we moved away from lots of individual toy purchases and instead invested in one large gift for the family. One year we upgraded our entertainment center (new flat screen HD TV along with a Bose music system), another our computers, and one year upgraded everyone’s cell phones. This eliminated a lot of frivolous purchases of items that ultimately no one really wanted anyway, and resulted in improving our family’s overall lifestyle with a major product that they could really enjoy all year long. I poll the family in early fall to see what everyone would like to see as an upgrade in our home and that gives me plenty of time to look for a great deal. This year our family room is getting a makeover with a brand new leather sectional and phone docking stations. (The gift that keeps on giving!)

Tip #7: That’s a Wrap

After this year’s holiday season settles down, take a few moments to review your spending and make plans for next year. Did you manage to stick to your gift list? Did you have too many impulse purchases? Were you constantly tempted to buy a little something for yourself each time you hit the mall? I take notes in my “master list notebook” to refer to the following holiday season. For instance, two years ago I found a trendy, affordable gift shop hidden away in town that I purchased most of my stocking stuffers at. Their gift assortment was eclectic, fun and very affordable. I made note of it so that the following year I could return and have a one-stop shopping place for stockings, teacher’s gifts, etc.

Also, if you’ve got the time, energy and storage, the days following Christmas are also ideal for getting a jump-start on purchasing decor and wrapping goods for next year. I also use this time to purchase one very inexpensive but unexpected New Year’s gift for each of my kids. It’s been a tradition of ours for years now, and my family looks forward to receiving that “one last gift” at the end of the holiday season.

How do you keep you save money during the holidays? Share your thoughts in the comments section at http://ift.tt/1zMEe2L, post your ideas on the Mighty Mommy Facebook page. or email me at mommy@quickanddirtytips.com. Visit my family-friendly boards at http://ift.tt/1wyJKr5



Kamis, 23 November 2017

How to Deal With Difficult Family on Thanksgiving

A wise person once said “dysfunctional family is redundant.”  I know my extended family includes its share of characters and I’m sure yours does, too.  

You spend most of the year (hopefully) insulated from family shenanigans, but when everyone from alcoholic Uncle Milt to judgy cousin Carrie is devouring turkey around your dining room table, it can get a little dicey.  

To that end, here are 7 tips for dealing with difficult family members on Thanksgiving (or at any family gathering, for that matter):

Tip #1: Practice Socially Acceptable Avoidance

I don’t usually advocate for avoidance, but if it’s just to get you through the holiday weekend, I’ll cut you yards of slack.  Socially acceptable ways to get out of the house entirely to avoid family are to volunteer at a community Thanksgiving for the less fortunate, run a turkey trot 5K, or even get started on your holiday shopping (be sure to tell family you’re looking for presents for them).  

If you must stick around, focus on judiciously avoiding the one or two people you know you’ll have a hard time with.  When Aunt Dottie sets her sights on you, go see if folks in the kitchen need a hand, offer to head out for more ice, or round up a group for a brisk walk and get out of the house.  In the end, do whatever works.  Again, avoidance doesn’t work in the long run, but used wisely, it can get you safely through until it’s time for pumpkin pie.

Tip #2: Find a Buddy

Find a like-minded relative (you’ll spot her also trying to suppress eye rolls) and agree to look out for one another.  For example, rescue your cousin from getting cornered by Uncle Rick (after all, you really need help with these mashed potatoes); in return, ask her to suddenly, urgently need your assistance when your sister tries to ask you for money.

Tip #3: You Don’t Have to Serve Booze

A straightforward, though perhaps controversial, method to cull the drunken behavior is not to serve alcohol.  You run the risk of Uncle Milt heading off to the liquor store for a bottle of Jack, but your message will be clear.

If you’re feeling brave, you could also talk to the usual suspect beforehand.  Explain that you’d love to celebrate Thanksgiving with him or her, but the person they become when they’re drinking is simply not welcome.


Tip #4: Don’t Take the Bait

Is there a relative who always gets a rise out of you? Decide that it takes two to tango and don’t engage with them.  Make an executive decision not to talk about politics with Grandpa anymore, gently change the subject when your cousin asks why you’re still single, or leave the room when Uncle Larry brings up the midterm elections.

Tip #5: Don’t Make a Day of it

If you’re hosting, consider serving dinner later, like 6pm, and ask people to arrive equivalently late, say, around 4pm.  Then you only have to get through 5-6 hours rather than an entire day.  

See also: Family Coming Into Town? Don't Stress Out!

 

If you’re a guest and dread being at your sister’s house all day, justify showing up late (or leaving early) by doing something socially acceptable from Tip #1, like volunteering at the local hospital or hitting the stores early, making it clear you’re looking for the perfect Christmas present for your sister’s children.  Or just make it known ahead of time that you’ll be late or have to leave early - no explanation needed.

Tip #6: Bring a Friend

If your family errs on the side of good behavior when there’s a stranger among them, bring one. A work friend with family far away, your friendly French neighbor who wants to try a real American Thanksgiving, or another fresh face may improve your family’s conduct. Needless to say, if your family would let it all hang out even if the Queen were coming, spare your friend the ordeal.

Tip #7: Plan a Post-Thanksgiving Gathering with Friends

Before Thanksgiving weekend, plan a night out (or a night in - whatever your style) with your friends for the week directly following Thanksgiving.  Plan to debrief, tell all the crazy stories, and shake your heads in disbelief together.  That way, you’ll experience the Thanksgiving day political diatribes, drunken singing, and other ridiculousness not as a migraine the the making, but as fodder for your night out.

After it’s all over, congratulate yourself on being functional.  You may not be able to choose your family, but you can choose a shrewd strategy or two to keep you sane.  With some practice, you may even consider showing up for the next family gathering.

How will you make it through Thanksgiving? Post your survival strategies in the Comments section below or on the Savvy Psychologist's Facebook page.

Please note that all content here is strictly for informational purposes only.  This content does not substitute any medical advice, and does not replace any medical judgment or reasoning by your own personal health provider.  Please always seek a licensed physician in your area regarding all health related questions and issues.



‘Publishing House,’ ‘House Style,’ and More. Why Are Businesses ‘Houses’?

Image of houses to illustrate publishing houses, fashion houses, and so on

A few months ago I was on Derek Lewis’s podcast, The Business Book Podcast, that gives advice to people writing business books, and then just a few weeks ago, Derek asked me a question that piqued my interest. He wrote, 

“Why do we say ‘house’ in many business and professional settings? For example, ‘House of Dior,’ ‘house style,’ ‘house salad,’ ‘a major publishing house,’ etc.? I hazard the guess that it's because virtually all businesses used to be home-based businesses, but I can't find anything anywhere on the subject.”

'House' Is a Very Old Word

Well, like the word “dead,” which we talked about recently, “house” is an especially old word that goes back to Old English. Some of the earliest citations in the Oxford English Dictionary are from some of the most famous old manuscripts in the English language: “Beowulf,” the West Saxon Gospels, and Bede’s “Ecclesiastical Histories.”

The use of the word “house” to describe a place of business or a building used by people for nonresidential reasons also goes back to Old English though. It doesn’t appear to be a later addition after “house” the residence.

The OED notes that many compound words—such as “almshouse,” “bathhouse,” “lighthouse,” and “slaughterhouse”—use “house” to make compounds that describe the purpose of a structure. 

There are even Old English citations that resemble the more specific examples in your question such as “publishing house” and “House of Dior.” 

“Printing house,” for example, first appeared in the mid-1500s, about 75 years after William Caxton introduced the first printing press in England. The first instance of the phrase “style of the house” looks like it appeared in 1871, and “house style” was first put in print in 1905.

Casinos started being referred to as “the house” in 1776.

Is Random House Really Random?

Finally, an interesting tidbit I came across while researching all these uses of “house” is that supposedly Random House, the publisher, was not based on someone’s name--there was no Mr. Random. Its name comes from the meaning of the word “random” because in 1927, one of the founders said they were “going to  publish a few books on the side at random," and since it was a publishing house, they decided to call it Random House. I find that funny and charming. 

And since Random House merged with Penguin a few years ago to make Penguin Random House, I thought it would be fun to also look at how Penguin got its name, but the story there is a little less exciting. The founder wanted a logo that was “dignified but flippant” and his secretary suggested a penguin

When Did People Start Living in Separate Houses?

Anyway, back to the main question. Like Derek, I couldn’t find an exact answer as to why what we think of as a word for a residence is also used to describe so many different kinds of business entities. I can tell you that it doesn’t seem like the residence meaning arose first to be followed by the business meaning—they seem to have emerged at the same time. And like Derek, I suspect it has at least something to do with the close intermingling of home and work life before the industrial revolution. 

I know almost nothing about the history of architecture, but Wikipedia has an interesting article about the evolution of housing design, and it says that most dwellings were communal and quite lacking in privacy during the fifteenth century and earlier. Supposedly, it wasn’t until the late 1500s that homes were built with corridors that had rooms off them with one door so that people weren’t passing through each other’s rooms all the time. It’s pretty interesting. 

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Mignon Fogarty is Grammar Girl and the founder of Quick and Dirty Tips. Check out her New York Times best-seller “Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing” and her 2018 tip-a-day calendar.



The Origin of Black Friday and Other Black Days

The words "black Friday" to illustrate the origin of black Friday and other black days.

Across the United States, those who are not too replete with their Thanksgiving feast will be braving the crowds in order to secure themselves one of the bargains associated with Black Friday, the day following Thanksgiving, which is often regarded as the first day of Christmas shopping in the United States. Even on the Thanksgiving-less shores of Britain, we are starting to see this tradition sneak in. Hunting down bargains is all well and good, but we are much more interested in hunting down the histories of words. Which other “black days” have been marked through history, and does “black” used in this way always denote negativity?

Black Friday is seen as a day of huge profit in the world of retail, enough for some to have theorized that its origin is the day’s ability to take a company in debt, or in the red, and pull them back into the black. This origin story may make this the first “black day” where the black is seen to be bringing positive associations, although an earlier theory holds that the name is a reference to the congestion caused in city centres particularly in Philadelphia. This is nonetheless a step away from the disaster and ruin that has typically been carried by “black” in this context. 

When Was the First Black Friday?

Though those working in customer services may wish that this year will be the last time we mark Black Friday, when was the first Black Friday? The earliest evidence for the term found by researchers at the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is from 1610. It will surprise no one to hear that this Black Friday had very little to do with sales, or Thanksgiving. The first Black Friday did not refer to a specific Friday, but rather was used in schools to refer to any Friday on which an exam fell. It is something of a comfort to know that, even in the 17th century, exams were regarded with that same familiar dread.

We have found no evidence from before 1951 of Black Friday referring to the day following Thanksgiving, and in this instance its sense was markedly different to how we use the term today. In this context, instead, the day was associated with staff absences from factories following the Thanksgiving holiday. The first citation found for Black Friday in the sense of the start of the Christmas shopping season comes ten years later, in 1961.

Which Other Fridays Have Been Black?

The moniker has been attached to a number of different Fridays in the years between 1610 and 1951. The next one noted in the OED is Friday 6 December 1745, which was the date that the Young Pretender’s landing was announced in London. The Young Pretender was hardly a welcome visitor, but the extent to which his proximity caused panic across the capital is a matter of debate, but this panic—real or a tool of political spin—nonetheless earned the day its dark title.

The next date to be designated a Black Friday noted in the OED was again one of widespread panic: Friday 11 May 1866, saw the failure of the London banking house Overand, Gurney, & Co. On the very next day, it was reported in the Times, with some clairvoyance, that “The day will probably be long remembered in the city of London as the ‘Black Friday.’” This is the first sense of Black Friday with strong financial associations, and it seems these only grow stronger into the 20th century.

The third (and last) Black Friday listed in the OED happened just three years later, on Friday 24 September 1869, when the introduction of a large quantity of government gold into the financial market precipitated a day of financial panic on Wall Street. The mid to late 1860s saw the beginning of a dramatic climb in use of the term Black Friday in both British and US varieties of English, showing the impact of these events on the language.

This is the last Black Friday to be found in the OED, but not the last day to have gained the title in popular use. The majority of those following Black Friday of 1869 echo the sense of financial ruin, or the associations “black days” also carry with loss of life.


Spreading Around the World

In recent years, we can be fairly sure which of these many Black Fridays is the subject of discussion in our New Monitor corpus, as the term sees almost no use through the year, and then skyrockets in November, petering out rapidly in December, and so coinciding with only one Black Friday on the calendar. Interestingly, this holds true even for British English, and Englishes in other parts of the world, where Thanksgiving is not celebrated. Though the term is much more common in US English than in British English, its use in the United States appears to be declining: November 2015 saw only two thirds as many instances of Black Friday in our corpus as November 2012. In contrast, use in British English is seeing a year on year increase, more than doubling between November 2012 and November 2013, and then seeing more than a 50% increase again between November 2013 and November 2014. It looks like the Brits might be catching up…

Black Monday, Black Tuesday, Black Wednesday…

Of course, Friday is not the only day to have found itself blackened. In fact, there is not a day of the week that has not earned its dark stripes through some disaster or other. The first day evidenced to have “black” prefixed to it was a Monday, more specifically Easter Monday; a quotation referring to Easter Monday as Black Monday has been found as early as 1389. There are a few competing theories for what caused the day to be so named. One historical theory holds that the name refers to a severe storm on Easter Monday in 1360, which led to the deaths of many soldiers of Edward III’s army during the Hundred Years’ War. A different historical theory purports that Black Monday is a reference to the massacre of English settlers in Dublin by the Irish on Easter Monday 1209. The name may be unrelated to either event, and may instead be linked to a general belief in the unlucky character of Mondays, possibly influenced in this case by the view that misfortune will naturally follow a celebration like that of Easter Sunday.

The next Black Monday, first quoted in the OED as far back as 1735, echoes our first Black Friday; this was school slang referring to the first day of term following a vacation. The mindset of the pupils bleakly returning to the classroom is readily recognizable and easy to imagine.

A third Black Monday—and the final one to have been noted in the OED—is affixed to a specific date: Monday 19 October 1987, which is the day of a world stock market crash. This reflects the wider trend of days of great financial disaster being marked as “black.” Black Wednesday is used to refer to the 16 September 1992, when there was a great surge in sales of the pound. And the Wall Street Crash of 1929 was so disastrous as to leave two days painted black in its wake: Black Thursday, 24 October 1929, which marked the first day of panic selling on the New York Stock Exchange; and Black Tuesday, the following week, which is widely regarded as the day the stock market crashed.

The most recent day to be referred to as Black Saturday in the OED was Saturday 4 August 1621, when the articles of Perth were ratified while a brutal storm cast its shadow over the day. Almost a century earlier, the first Black Saturday—and also the first “black” day in the OED attached to a specific date—took place on Saturday 10 September 1547, denoting the day of the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, which saw Scotland catastrophically defeated.

The Advent of Cyber Monday

Though not a “black” day in itself, Cyber Monday follows Black Friday both on the calendar, and in word formation. Cyber Monday takes the traditional bargains of Black Friday to an online environment, but does it leave behind the last remnants of negativity that Black Friday is carrying? Perhaps not: of the first ten noun collocates of cyber that our Oxford English Corpus finds, only two are either positive or neutral (security; café). The other eight (including criminal, attack, and bullying) are all negative. This suggests that cyber might not be carrying the happiest connotations along with it, though it is doubtless an improvement on the memories of failed battles and financial collapse that cling to Black Friday.

Given the cyber nature of Cyber Monday, it might be expected that it is more international than Black Friday. So far, this does not seem the case: use of Cyber Monday in our New Monitor Corpus is still overwhelmingly US in origin, although its use in United States English seems to be in decline, while its use in other varieties is climbing. This mirrors the trends we saw earlier with Black Friday, suggesting that taking place online is not a major factor in making Cyber Monday a globally recognized event. If it continues to follow on in the footsteps of Black Friday, we may find ourselves fighting it out digitally as well as in the shops in order to grab the best bargains for Christmas.

A version of this article originally appeared on the OxfordWords blog and is published here with permission.

Rebecca Hotchen is an editor for Oxford Dictionaries.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.



Rabu, 22 November 2017

How to Beat the Holiday Blues

The holidays aren’t a cheerful time for everyone.  Believe it or not, more people suffer from depression this time of the year than any other.  Whether it’s the cold, gloomy weather, the yearning for our passed loved ones, financial stress, or family discord, it’s not always “the most wonderful time of the year.”

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How Do You Know If You Have the Holiday Blues?

Doctors in training use a mnemonic called “SIG E CAPS” to help them remember the signs and symptoms of depression and to determine if someone is clinically depressed.  This doctor secret is a great way to determine if you suffer from any of the following symptoms of depression during the holidays:

S = Sleep

Do you find yourself needing to sleep more than usual during holiday time? Do you nap during the daytime when you didn’t before?  Or, alternatively, do you find it difficult to fall asleep, or do you wake up during the night?  Those with depression often suffer from sleeping difficulties, whether it’s more or less sleep.

I = Interest

Do you find yourself not enjoying activities you used to enjoy, like setting up the holiday decorations?  Do you find pleasure in your usual hobbies?  Do you lack the desire to be with others or to go out and do things (like shopping) the way you used to? People suffering from depression admit that they lack pleasure in previously enjoyable activities. The fancy doctor term for this is “anhedonia,” or the inability to feel pleasure

G = Guilt or Feelings of Worthlessness

Do you feel guilty or blame yourself for family discord arising during the holidays?  Do you feel as though you have no hope? Do you feel worthless?  It’s very common for those with depression to have these thoughts.


E = Energy

Are you fatigued or tired all the time?  Do you have difficulty getting out of bed?  Do simple activities, like baking your famous pumpkin pie wear you down (well, so baking is not so simple for all of us -- especially me -- but you get the idea)? Fatigue is so common in depression that every time I have a patient in my office with this complaint, one of the first questions I ask is whether they feel depressed.  More often than not, this question quickly depletes the box of Kleenex I keep in the exam room.

C = Concentration

Are you finding it difficult to focus at work, especially with all the seemingly too-cheerful holiday decoration and spirit?  Do you find your brain wandering while watching your previously favorite holiday show, A Charlie Brown Christmas?  Those with depression often find themselves having difficulty concentrating.

A = Appetite

Do you overdo it on the turkey and pumpkin pie at dinner?  Or do you find it difficult to even nibble on the stuffing?  Some with depression find themselves eating too much and gaining weight (especially around the holidays), and others have no appetite at all and actually lose weight.

P = Psychomotor Changes

Do you feel that you are moving at a slower pace throughout the day than usual?  Are you finding it difficult to stay at the mall long enough to do your holiday shopping?  Or, alternatively, do you feel like you have to be the holiday energizer bunny and constantly be on the go to keep your mind busy and distracted?  Depression can cause us to either be less active and slower than usual (“psychomotor retardation”) or more wound up (“psychomotor agitation”).

S = Suicidal Thoughts

Do you often wonder what it would be like if you were no longer living?  How would people react? What would they say?  This is the most important and urgent symptom of depression to discuss with your doctor.  While it may be normal to think “what if,” it’s NOT normal to have a plan or the real desire to hurt yourself or anyone else in any way.  If you are having ANY suicidal thoughts, please contact your doctor immediately, or call 911.

The above 8 symptoms, along with a depressed mood (the 9th symptom) help determine if you suffer from the holiday blues.  However, to be diagnosed with clinical depression, patients typically suffer from at least 5 out of the 9.

How to Beat the Holiday Blues

Here are my 5 Quick and Dirty Tips to help combat the holiday blues:

1.  Seek Your Doctor:  If you have any of these 9 symptoms, please make sure you see your doctor right away.  Your doctor will likely run a blood test to make sure it’s not something else that can mimic depression, like thyroid disease for instance.  And they can help treat your depression, whether it’s with medication or not.

2.  Support: Talk to your family and friends.  Discuss what is going on in your mind, and how you are feeling this time of the year.  They may be able to empathize.  If you’ve lost a loved one, they likely share the same feelings.  If you are having financial stress, they may be able empathize as well, especially during this economic crisis.  Surround yourself with people who are supportive of you, and confide in them often.

3.  Counseling:  Counseling is very therapeutic.  Talking to an unbiased third party that is not involved in your life can be quite helpful in placing your thoughts and feelings into perspective.  I think this is especially important for those without good family/friend support.  Ask your doctor for a referral.

4. Avoid Alcohol:  It’s tempting to want to gulp down a few extra glasses of wine to wash away the sorrows.  But instead of washing, it only masks them temporarily.  Not to mention that drinking alcohol during the holidays is a great contributor to the weight gain many of us experience during the winter months. Try to limit your alcohol intake.

5.  Find a Stress Outlet:  Find a healthy way to relieve stress.  Whether it’s reading a good book, an evening with your buddies, listening to classical music, meditating, yoga, or exercising, finding an outlet for your stress is crucial to dealing with depression.  Keeping a journal can also be a good stress reliever – there’s something greatly therapeutic about transferring your thoughts through the pen and onto paper (or through the keyboard onto your laptop for you techies).

Again, I want to stress that if you have thoughts of hurting yourself or anyone else, please get help immediately.  The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number is 800-273-8255 and their web site is http://ift.tt/tGgEv3.

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Please note that all content here is strictly for informational purposes only.  This content does not substitute any medical advice, and does not replace any medical judgment or reasoning by your own personal health provider.  Please always seek a licensed physician in your area regarding all health related questions and issues.

Sad Woman image courtesy of Shutterstock