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Back-To-School 2020: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
September 17, 2020 by Counter Markets
By Kerry McDonald
September feels a lot different this year, as the usual back-to-school buzz is tainted with uncertainty.
Many schools have reopened for in-person learning with social distancing stipulations, although most larger, urban school districts remain remote-only for the foreseeable future. Some schools opened then quickly closed.
Pandemic pods continue to sprout, as families try to figure out ways to balance learning and working while offering their children much-needed social interaction. More families are choosing independent homeschooling, but that too looks unfamiliar this fall with many libraries and museums closed and in-person homeschool classes and activities less abundant.
It's the start of a very strange academic year for everyone.
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically disrupted every layer of the education sector, from early childhood through higher education. Some of this disruption is good and will hopefully lead to lasting change in expanding families' education options. Some of it is bad, such as creeping government control. Some of it is just plain ugly. Here are a few highlights of the good, bad, and ugly in back-to-school 2020:
The Good: Less Regulation
The pandemic prompted government officials to loosen regulations in some sectors, notably healthcare, to allow individuals and organizations to more quickly adapt to virus-related circumstances. For instance, some states lifted licensing requirements that prevented healthcare workers licensed in one state from working in another.
Now in education, we are seeing similar deregulatory patterns that will hopefully remain post-pandemic. In Pennsylvania, part-time program providers, such as summer camps and sports camps, can expand their offerings. Previously, these providers were limited in the type and duration of programming they could offer. Similarly in Massachusetts, afterschool programs can now offer daytime programming, and licensed daycare providers can immediately begin providing care to older children.
States that loosen such regulatory restrictions will help more families to access care and learning options this fall, but these recent actions expose a much more important question: Why did these regulations and restrictions exist in the first place? It seems like common sense that an afterschool program should be able to offer daytime programming and that summer camps should be able to offer camps and classes during the other three seasons as well. Parents should applaud these deregulatory actions while being reminded that their states should never have imposed these regulatory hurdles in the first place.
The Bad: More Regulation
Even as states attempt to reduce regulations in some areas of education, they are adding more regulations in other areas. For example, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts may have rolled back some of the constraints on education providers, but they also added new layers of regulation, specifically for parents participating in "learning pods." In Pennsylvania, pod families must now comply with various regulations, including developing a COVID-19 safety plan, an evacuation plan, and a fire safety plan while also completing related state forms. In Massachusetts, pod families are expected to limit the number of pod participants, ensure certain student-adult ratios, and register their pod with their local officials. They can hire a tutor, but pod parents can't get paid.
The absurdity of these pod rules goes without saying, particularly when you consider that in many cases these pod families are already friendly and may gather together socially. Now, the government seems to feel the need to monitor the health and safety of these playdates.
It is important to point out that these new pod regulations apply to students who are currently enrolled in a school and, therefore, are forced to comply with the policies and procedures of that school or district. In these instances, pod families are often connecting in small groups to allow their children to participate together in a school's remote learning program. For the thousands of families who have opted-out of schooling for independent homeschooling this year, the opportunity to gather with others for playdates, pods, co-ops, activities, and classes is much less restrictive.
The Ugly: Hide Your Nerf Guns
The added regulation on pod families reveals the desire of school and state officials to maintain control of children's education—even when it occurs online at home. This might explain why a 12-year-old boy in Colorado was suspended from school last week for playing with his toy "Zombie Hunter" Nerf gun on his couch during his remote schooling.
According to The Washington Post, the boy's teacher notified the school's vice principal, who notified police officers. The police then showed up at the boy's home and told the boy's father that if the child "brought a toy gun to school, they could file criminal charges."
The boy, of course, didn't bring a toy gun to school—he was in his own home playing with what was obviously a plastic Nerf gun—but that didn't change the school's policies toward toy guns. The Post reports that the school issued the following statement about the incident and the child's suspension: "Safety will always be number one for our students and staff. We follow board policies and safety protocols consistently, whether we are in-person or distance learning."
This is a crucial reminder for parents. Just because your children may be learning at home, if they are still enrolled in a school they are fully in the clutches of school authorities and their often-arbitrary regulations. Nerf gun owners beware.
It is just the beginning of what is sure to be a wild season filled with good news, bad ideas, and ugly revelations about American education. Hopefully, the positive changes and trends continue, as parents demand more autonomy and freedom from pointless policies.
Source: FEE.org
Kerry McDonald is a Senior Education Fellow at FEE and author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom (Chicago Review Press, 2019). She is also an adjunct scholar at The Cato Institute and a regular Forbes contributor. Kerry has a B.A. in economics from Bowdoin College and an M.Ed. in education policy from Harvard University. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and four children. You can sign up for her weekly newsletter on parenting and education here.
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As an exceptionally hot and humid summer crawls into August, we think this is a perfect time to focus on the architecture of Havana—specifically, on the arcades that for centuries have kept habaneros cool, shaded, and sheltered from the tropical rains.
This spring, Coral Gables-based architect Ángel C. Saqui posted Havana Arcades, the City with the Most Beautiful in the World, a 7-minute video narrated in English by Saqui himself.
Saqui begins the video by recalling his childhood home on Galiano Street, also known as the Avenida de Italia, in the center of the city.
"Galiano had continuous arcades, starting at El Malecón, by the waterfront," Saqui says, going on to trace a wide loop of arcades that includes the Paseo del Prado and the Enfanta [10 de Octubre] Avenue.
An arcade on the Plaza de la Catedral, near the Havana Cathedral.


The recent appearance of guidelines for mobile marketing from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising completed a welter of recent codes, laws and guidelines applicable to this marketing channel.
With an increasing number of advertisers and agencies considering mobile marketing by text/SMS and now MMS, within their promotional mix, the IPA Digital Marketing Group has launched guidelines to ensure IPA members utilise best practices.
The IPA "Guidelines to mobile marketing" were issued on 20 March 2003 with little fanfare and equally little publicity. They are short and to the point and are designed for use by IPA members in connection with either their own campaigns or when working with mobile marketing agencies or mobile network service providers.
The guidelines open with a non-exclusive list of statutes and codes which impose requirements on mobile marketing campaigns. This includes the Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999, the Data Protection Act 1998, the ICSTIS Codes of Practice and their Guideline no 20 on reverse billed premium rate SMS as well as the British Codes of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing.
A little strangely, it starts with the topic "Unsubscribe" rather than best practice in building or using a database for the purposes of running a campaign in the first place.
It requires that IPA members offer the target audience of their SMS campaigns the opportunity to unsubscribe from receiving further SMS messages throughout the campaign period. This should be accompanied with the offer of a simple and clear means to place the instruction to unsubscribe. "For guidance," it goes on "allow your target audience to text in the word STOP as an instruction to remove their mobile phone number from the campaign database and to cease the broadcasting of campaign SMS messages to that mobile number".
At a later point in the same section it talks about providing details of how to unsubscribe after every 5th SMS message.
The guidelines then go on to deal with "Opt-in" in a section under that heading. In one part of this it recommends that where mobile numbers are being collected and will be utilised by third parties, the target audience must be provided with a separate opt-in to receive SMS messages from those third parties. For example, recipients should be requested to text "YES" to receive messages from the campaign advertiser and also to text "3rd" as confirmation of their agreement to receive messages from third parties.
The guidelines also make it clear that the intended use of any mobile numbers and data captured is made clear prior to collection either by SMS or using online/offline media.
In the third "Unsolicited messages" section it recommends "avoid sending unsolicited SMS messages to your target audience. Always seek an opt-in with your first SMS message before sending further SMS communications."
So far as minors are concerned it requires database marketers to ensure that verifiable parental consent is collected before the commencement of the relevant campaign.
In the "Premium rate SMS" section there is included a guideline that "where using premium rate SMS as a route to enter a competition, this should be considered as a "payment to enter" and you will therefore need to provide a free means of entry or a skill-based element and an independent judge in order to meet the requirements of the Lotteries and Amusements Acts 1976".
This is correct up to a point, but it is a CAP Code, not a legal requirement that independent judges are used, and the section omits to clarify that where any element of skill is involved in winning a competition, success must as a matter of law depend "to a substantial degree" on the exercise of that skill, regardless of whether the event is pay to enter.
SMS competitions continue to be covered in a separate "SMS competitions and prize draws" section. This requires that "clear and simple means" to request terms and conditions for competitions and prize draws are provided. For example, to text the letters "T&C" is a practical means to request basic terms and conditions in a single SMS message.
Separate sections deal helpfully with topics such as "Creativity and mobile", "Ring tones and logos", "Inbound SMS messages" and "Outbound SMS messages", "Mobile SMS vouchers", "Campaign charges" and "SMS campaign reporting".
A final "SMS data collection" section requires that when collecting personal data by SMS "the party collecting the personal data" should be clearly identified. It might also be mentioned that if the party collecting the data is not actually the "data controller" (the entity which has ultimate control over what is to happen to the data collected) then the data controller should also be identified.
With (1) the launch just a few days before these guidelines of the new 11th Edition of the CAP code of Advertising, Sales, Promotion and Direct Marketing, with significant new provisions dealing with the SMS marketing and (2) up and coming changes to the laws affecting SMS marketing courtesy of the EU Communications Data Protection Directive, the timing for launch of these guidelines was not perhaps ideal. In the light of these other developments it is likely that before the year is out substantial changes will need to be made. However, in terms of practical tips on content and compliance best practice for mobile marketers, this is certainly helpful and worth a look by mobile marketers outside the IPA membership.


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Q: Bitbake: force one task of a recipe and all following I want to force-recompile a package, like that:
bitbake -f -c compile mypackage

However, I also want all following tasks to be executed (like install, package, etc.), just as if I had called bitbake mypackage from a completely clean state. Can this be done in one step, rather than the following two?
bitbake -f -c compile mypackage
bitbake mypackage

Or as an alternative solution, can I somehow "taint" the compile-task, such that executing bitbake mypackage does everything from compilation onwards?

A: This is exactly what -C is for:
bitbake -C compile mypackage

This will run mypackage:do_build and force mypackage:do_compile to execute.  Strictly speaking, it taints mypackage:do_compile (so that it has to execute) and then executes mypackage:do_build, which is exactly what you wanted.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Hi all. I suggest that the format of the bulk download data be changed (or an additionally formatted dataset be added) to facilitate data science related work - which is presumably what most people would want to do with the bulk data. The new format would have columns: Quarter (YYYYQ), Ticker, SimFinID, IndustryCode, -IndicatorNames-. The indicator names here would each be separate columns. Their values would be the average value over that quarter. Is there any appetite for this? I expect that's what most people expect when they come from a data science perspective. I tried to create this myself from the narrow format data but it's hard due to the enormous number of NAs on each date.
what do you mean by "enormous number of NAs on each date"? are you referring to the stock prices that are updated daily while all the fundamentals are only updated quarterly? so you would want some stock price average for the period or something else?
Hi tflassbeck, thanks for your reply and Merry Christmas.
Yeah, I realised that was the issue recently. I think what I need to do is split the data (narrow bulk download data) by rows where the Indicator is stock price or common shares outstanding etc (the more densely populated ones) then proceed with separate treatments (such as averaging stock prices over the period etc) from there before joining the two again.
I don't know if something like that sounds reasonable or useful to others, it's just a brief suggestion. I'll continue to try to preprocess the data myself in the meantime anyway.
Hi- I am currently trying something similar. Did you suceed?


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[Piano v1] Chapter 8: Princess, Revolutionist
Ah, I remember playing the bass of Stand by Me on my bass clarinet back in the days when I was in my school's concert band.
I grabbed my bass and escaped from the classroom immediately after school, heading straight towards the roof. Once I got there, I saw a girl in her uniform sitting on the wired fence, looking towards the sky. Her hair was caressed by the winds, and she seemed to be in a pretty good mood. It was Kagurazaka-senpai.
"Isn't that a little too slow, young man? The after-school bell already ended."
"No, it's Senpai who's too early......"
Lessons were still ongoing, so how could she get here before the bell finished ringing?
"The melody of the time signal at the factory opposite of us overlaps with the chimes of our school at this time, resulting in a coincidental and intriguing polyphony. I really hoped you could listen to it, young man."
"Haa." Speaking of which, it's a little too dangerous for you to be sitting at such a high place, right?
Senpai jumped down from the fence and landed right in front of me.
"Have you decided to join our club?"
"Well......" I removed the bass that was slung across my shoulders and leaned it against the fence. I was slightly hesitant with my words. "I'll need your help to learn the bass, but as for joining the band......"
"Why?" Senpai arched her beautifully-shaped brows.
"Because I just want to win back that classroom so I can listen to my CDs. I'm not playing the bass for Senpai's sake."
"But you came here quickly according to my instructions."
"That's simply because I'll need Senpai's help if I want to teach Mafuyu a proper lesson."
"So by needing my help, you're referring to me teaching you how to play the bass. You're using me just like I'm using you, right?"
The way she put it was rather blunt, but I still nodded my head honestly. If it meant winning against Mafuyu, I couldn't care less about my image.
A smile appeared on Senpai's face.
"Mmm, I see. You no longer have the expression of a loser."
Her smile wasn't as theatrical as usual—instead, it was an extremely natural smile. I was shocked.
"Isn't this fine? I've already predicted that you'll be joining us anyway. So let's begin!"
Senpai squatted down and took out a bunch of stuff from the backpack on the floor: a mini-amplifier with batteries in it, the cables for the amplifier, and replacement strings for the bass.
"...... But, why do we need to practice on the roof?"
"Young man, what do you think is the first step in training for the basics of bass?"
She directed the question at me as she took the strings out of a bag and unwound them.
"Hmm—isn't it practicing the finger crab walk?"
It's a sort of repetitive practice of the basics. The player sets a fixed tempo and begins pressing on the frets in order—moving from the index finger to the little finger—then plays out each scale in order. Because the left hand moves horizontally inwards little by little, some people call it the finger crab walk. Sounds noobish, but it covers the basics of guitar playing. However, Senpai shook her head.
"There's another thing that needs to be done before that. It's the reason why I called you up to the roof."
Senpai pulled the string tightly by its ends.
"I've set up a tightrope from here to the roof of the opposite dormitory using a string. You shall walk on it to the other side of the building."
I was stunned. I nearly dropped the bass as I was taking it out from its case.
"...... Eh?"
"You can't be a bassist if you can't entrust your life to the strings. I'll be here praying for your safety. You'd probably die if you fell off, so you better prepare yourself mentally first."
"No, no no no, what the heck are you talking about?"
"My my," Senpai shrugged.
"To become a bassist, it is necessary for you to undergo special training that puts your life at risk. You mean you don't know? Even the most famous bassists of Japan had undergone all sorts of training with their lives on the line. For example, they'd knock their head repeatedly with a tin can, or expose themselves to the blazing fire of a gas explosion...... and so on."
"So the famous bassists of Japan whom you're referring to...... are?"
"The deceased Ikariya Chosuke." [TLNote: Wiki page here]
"The Drifters is a comedy group, isn't it!?" I slammed the bass case against the ground. [TLNote: It's the Japanese band/comedy group, and not the English one.]
"The Drifters is a band as well! They were the opening act for The Beatles' concert. That's really rude of you, young man."
"I know that, so stop trying to change the subject!"
"The thing about the tightrope was obviously a joke. The first thing you should do is change the strings of the bass. Since the instrument has been in the store for quite a while, the elasticity of the strings has gradually slackened."
T-This person is just......
I didn't think there was any point in saying anything, so I just changed the four strings in silence.
"The real reason for me calling you up to the roof, is that!"
Kagurazaka-senpai pressed against the fence and pointed downwards. Without even looking at where she was pointing, I understood what Senpai was referring to—as the sounds of the guitar entered my ears. The classroom that Mafuyu practiced her guitar in was right beneath us.
Then again, I had taught her how to soundproof the room with the towel, so why could I still hear the sounds of her guitar? The carefree melody was Ravels' <Pavane for a Dead Princess>. Was it due to the shock of our classmates addressing her as 'Princess'?
"It was seven days ago."
Kagurazaka-senpai leaned her back against the fence and gazed into the sky.
"I was skipping classes starting from the very first period, and stayed here till school was over, listening to the sounds of the streets."
What's this person in school for?
"Then, the sun gradually began to set, and just when it felt like it was about to rain, the sound of that guitar came. It was Book II of Bach's <The Well-Tempered Clavier>. However, she skipped the fugues and played only the preludes. I was so pissed I didn't notice it was already raining—I sat down and continued listening."
"You'll catch a cold like that......"
"All she played were the preludes, right up to No. 24 in B minor—it was sweet torture. Then, I heard the door opening, so I snuck a peek at the room and saw a beautiful girl walking out. Her hair was a clear maroon color—it was just like frozen maple syrup. That was enough for me to fall for her."
The bass slipped off my knees and fell to the ground.
"Urm...... Senpai?"
"Hmm?"
"But Mafuyu's a girl?"
"So what? I like beautiful things. In my eyes, gender doesn't matter. Why do you think I allowed Aihara Chiaki to join the band as our comrade? Because she's cute."
"Please don't say such shocking things nonchalantly."
"In any case, I never expected her to be able to play the drums that well in less than a year."
"Chiaki would cry if she heard that from you."
"No problem. I'll tell Comrade Chiaki about my tastes unreservedly."
"So everyone really does think you're someone who'll get her hands on whatever she wants?"
I was shocked speechless. I never thought she'd be a person like that. I should just learn bass by myself—it's still not too late for me to turn back. I began to tune my bass while thinking of that.
"However, Ebisawa Mafuyu didn't listen to a single word I said. Also, based on my detailed observations, for some unknown reason, you're the only person in this school whom she'll converse with."
I jumped in shock and lifted my head.
What appeared before me was that destructively cute smile of Senpai's, which she had only used once that week.
"Therefore, young man, I need your strength."
I had no idea why, but I couldn't look straight into Senpai's eyes—all I could do was shift my gaze back to the bass in my hands. That was the first time someone had said that to me in my entire life. No, wait a second, calm down and think about it properly. Senpai said herself that I'm just a pawn to be used by her.
"So your actual plan is to gather a bunch of cute girls, right? It's not really about the band."
I voiced the doubt within me, but all Kagurazaka-senpai did was tilt her head and look at me with her eyes blinking repeatedly.
All these conversations I had with her weren't just hallucinations of mine, right? That thought suddenly flashed past my mind.
"Young man, do you know why humans are born into this world?"
What's with the sudden question? How could I possibly know!
"The answer's simple. Humans are born into this world for love and revolution."
Suddenly, the wind breezed past us, lifting Senpai's long hair. I nearly fell over, despite only feeling a faint gust of wind on my shoulders. Why's she saying all this? Do I harbor some misunderstanding about what life is all about? These questions appeared in my mind for a very brief moment.
"Lev Trotsky...... you probably don't know about him, do you?" [TLNote: Or better known as Leon Trotsky]
I no longer had the strength to shake my head.
"He was the second-to-last revolutionist! He fled to Mexico after losing to his comrade, Joseph Stalin, in a political battle. He died before witnessing the start of the revolution of the world. However, his misfortune was not because Stalin was not by his side......"
Senpai took my bass away from my hands blankly and plugged it into the amplifier.
"His misfortune was that Paul McCartney was not by his side. The last revolutionist, John Lennon—he was lucky to have had Paul McCartney next to him."
Senpai suppressed her overwhelming emotions and began to pick the strings with her nails. A series of intense and out-of-tune sounds blared from the amplifiers, stimulating my ears. I couldn't understand at all—how could the thick strings of the bass produce such a high-pitched sound? She was playing the prelude of The Beatles' <Revolution>. It's the song of revolution written by John Lennon, and it's a song that's widely misunderstood.
"Love, revolution and music are inseparable in my life. The strength to push for the never-ending revolution; the strength to find the Paul who belongs only to me; and the strength to convert these thoughts into songs that I sing—there is no difference between the three. Young man, are you satisfied with the answer I gave you?"
Is your answer even directed towards my question......?
"Ah, I'm totally clueless about what you're trying to say."
Just as I was about to voice some of my thoughts, Senpai knitted her brows and shook her head, mumbling, "My, my."
"Can't help it then. To put it in simpler terms you can understand, it's like this: aside from gathering a bunch of cute girls, I'm serious about forming a band as well."
"Then just say that right at the start!" I banged the case yet again.
"It's better to be a little more poetic."
"You always treat others as idiots as well, don't you Senpai? And stop with that proud look of yours—I'm not praising you."
"Young man, your reactions are quite interesting. Come here."
Senpai was smiling bashfully. Come here? Be slightly more polite, will you!
"Well then, let's modify the bass. I'm quite troubled by your knack for going off-topic." Me? It's my fault? Just as I was about to speak, Senpai suddenly returned the bass to me.
"We'll have to create the sound before you practice. See, I've brought all sorts of pickups here. You have your tools handy, right?"
Senpai took out a few guitar parts from her backpack. A pickup is something that captures the vibration of the strings. By changing these parts, the tone of the instrument can change significantly. Other modifications include changing the internal wiring and etc., with the most extreme being punching holes in the guitar itself.
"....... You mean, we're going to modify the bass right now?"
"That Aria Pro II of yours is a cheap bass, but I specially chose it in consideration of the timbre of Ebisawa Mafuyu's Stratocaster. However, that's not enough. This bass is unable to create the tones that offer a perfect response to her guitar."
Senpai pointed beneath the fence. A series of glamorous rapid strummings of the guitar, played by Mafuyu, came from that direction. I see, so that's the reason for summoning me to the roof?
Senpai and I repeatedly pondered on how to modify the bass. It was really interesting, and it just so happened that I was good at it as well.
"...... The sounds of your bass are already comparable to those of the bass of Greg Lake."
After two long hours, Kagurazaka-senpai took the completed bass—amid the heaps of wood shavings, metal bits, and pieces of snipped strings—and said that with praise. I was slightly embarrassed by that.
"Why don't you work on my Les Paul as well? I want to make its tone slightly richer."
"No way, I don't have the guts to work on that high-end guitar."
Senpai cracked a laugh and began clearing the tools and rubbish.
"Try to connect your bass to the amplifiers as often as possible when you're practicing, so you can feel the sounds with your body and recall them when you're playing in an actual performance."
I nodded my head and, once again, plugged my bass into the mini-amplifier. The clarity of the bass was totally different from how it was when I first bought it. This was to match the clean timbre of Mafuyu's guitar, which she played with a mechanical precision. If you ask me, I'm quite confident in my modifications as well.
Since the moment Senpai unreasonably forced me to buy this bass, I had never quite felt the instrument was mine. However, now, it really felt like the bass was covered in my sweat from the last ten years of use—I could use it comfortably. It was my partner that I had created from scratch. I could finally begin practicing.
"Of course, I won't be making you practice basic things repeatedly. It's something necessary, but you can practice that on your own at home. It may be quite sudden, but I'd like you to play a song for me right now."
Senpai placed a hand-written score right before me.
"Do you know this song?"
I nodded in reply. There was no title on the score, but after a glance, I knew straight away.
"I won't deny that the melodies of a bass aren't that attention-grabbing. There are almost no songs that people can recognize purely by bass alone; however, there is one exception, which is this. Therefore, I think all bassists should start with this song, and end with this song as well."
The song is Ben E. King's <Stand by Me>. Bum, bum, badabum, bum...... that's the bass rhythm—it's true, two verses are all it takes to revive the tune in your memory.
"Then pace yourself to the metronome and play the song! Keep playing till night has come and the stars are up, alright?"
After she was done singing the lyrics, Senpai gave a wave before opening the door and leaving. I heaved a sigh, sat down on the floor and picked up the guitar.
Though Senpai was always surprising me, I had never once thought she'd make me play a song this soon.
Hey! Ain't you gonna Stand by Me?
About an hour into my practice, something suddenly felt out of place. Initially, I couldn't pinpoint what that feeling was.
It wasn't until I lifted my fingers off the strings and stopped the metronome, that I finally realized—
I could no longer hear the sound of Mafuyu's guitar. I lifted my head and shot a glance at the clock on the wall of the walkway—it was almost six. Mafuyu would usually play till it was about time for school to end, so she shouldn't be home yet. Perhaps she went to the toilet or something?
I increased the tempo of the metronome slightly and started playing from the beginning again. This time, I hummed the lyrics as I played.
However, the rhythm of the lyrics is different from the rhythm of the bass, which made it difficult for me to play. My fingers stopped playing yet again, due to that out-of-place feeling I had felt earlier.
The door of the roof should be closed, and yet, it was slightly ajar. I leaned my bass against the fence and walked to the door. Upon opening the door, I saw a frightened Mafuyu standing on the other side. She took a step back, but missed the steps and nearly fell backwards down the stairs. As her hands were waving wildly in the air, I quickly grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her back up.
"...... What are you doing here?"
After much difficulty in steadying herself, Mafuyu brushed my arms off her shoulders. She turned her head away quickly and answered,
"It felt really noisy up here."
I glanced at the bass behind her in slight shock. She heard that? But I didn't make much sound to begin with.
"Why are you practicing in a place like this?" Mafuyu glared at me. She seemed to be rather unhappy.
"Didn't I teach you the method to soundproof the room using the towel?"
"If I did that, I wouldn't be able to escape fast enough if something appeared in the room."
If something appeared in the room?
"It's....... when something...... appeared in the room...... or things like that."
Mafuyu lowered her head while speaking vaguely.
"Ah, things like centipedes or cockroaches?"
"Wa! Wa!" Mafuyu cupped both her ears and stomped on my foot a few times. It hurts! What the heck are you doing!
She turned the situation into something rather stupid, so all I could do was head back to my bass. For some unknown reason, Mafuyu was following me.
"Urm...... What?"
"It's out of tune."
Mafuyu puffed her cheeks and pointed at my bass rather unhappily.
"Eh?"
"The third string is too flat. I was really uncomfortable when I heard it just now. You mean you didn't notice?" I checked my tuner, and it was indeed slightly out of tune. She could hear it from three floors beneath me? She's that good?
"Let me borrow it."
Just as I was trying to tune it, Mafuyu suddenly snatched my bass away. She quickly gave the tuning pegs a few twists to tune the instrument, then passed the bass back to me.
"Thanks for helping me tune it! I'll pay you ten yen each time you do that, so please help me out in the future."
"Idiot."
I suddenly remembered something, and began playing <Stand By Me>.
"What is this song? I've heard it somewhere before," Mafuyu asked. Impressive, it was exactly as Senpai said. As a girl who had been carefully nurtured under the influence of classical music, this was probably the only song Mafuyu could recognize just by the bass alone.
"It's a song called <Stand By Me>."
"...... What is the song about?"
"What's it about huh? Hmm...... It's a story about how a person was walking along the railway, when suddenly, he found a corpse next to it."
Mafuyu knitted her brows.
"...... Are you talking nonsense again?"
"No, I'm not lying." Though that's a summary of the movie with the same name, and not the lyrics of the song. [TLNote: Talking about the film 'Stand by Me'.]
Not long after, Mafuyu sat next to the door of the roof and listened to my raw bass techniques. Then again, how long are you planning to stay around here? It's really tough for me to play when you're around, so please go back already? Perhaps it was because Mafuyu was staring at me, but I played the notes wrong quite a few times.
"Are you happy?"
Mafuyu suddenly mumbled those words. I stopped moving my hands and lifted my head.
"...... Are you happy playing the bass?"
I had no idea how to answer her sudden question.
"Hmm, it's not too bad. It's rather nice to be able to gradually play the songs that I like."
Mafuyu didn't seem the least interested. All she did was stare at the floor.
I asked her the same question, "You're not happy when you play the guitar?"
"Not the least bit."
"If you're not happy, why don't you stop playing then?"
"Why don't you just die?"
I gripped hard onto the neck of my bass and took a deep breath. Alright, it's fine, don't get angry. There'll be no end to this if I take every word of hers seriously. I have to be more mature than that.
"If you're not happy, then why do you still coop yourself up in the practice room every day to play the guitar? Just go home and play your piano already!"
"It's none of your business."
It has plenty to do with me! You've snatched my place of rest away from me, no?
"Then...... can you not lock the door with a padlock? You go straight home right after school on Fridays, right? Can you let me use the classroom on that day?"
"How did you know I go straight home on Fridays? Pervert!"
That has nothing to do with me being a pervert or not. I can easily see that with my own eyes.
"No! Don't ever come close to me!"
Our conversation ended like that.
I continued practicing quietly, but Mafuyu had no intention of leaving. She was walking to-and-from the door, hesitating on whether she should head back downstairs. What's she doing?
"— Princess?"
Mafuyu jumped in shock and turned around.
"Are you calling me that as well?"
"Then how do you want me to address you? Ebisawa?"
She shot a glance at me angrily.
"Mafuyu?"
This time, she shifted her gaze diagonally downwards and nodded her head while biting her lips slightly. So she more or less accepts it if I call her by her own name? But it's quite difficult for me to address her that way!
"Just tell me honestly if there's something you want to say. I told you that yesterday, right?"
"Why are you acting all high and mighty?"
Do you have any right to be saying that to me? However, just as I was about to stare back at her, Mafuyu looked somewhere else. It was as though she was saying something awkward—she murmured softly,
"...... There's something moving behind the cabinet with a buzzing sound."
Hmm? Ah...... so that's the reason she came here?
"Don't you have the insecticide?"
"I sprayed it in the room before running out of there in a hurry."
Man, that's not the way you use insecticide! These aren't those boron insecticides where you smoke them to death.
"It won't work if you don't spray it at the insect directly!"
"You're asking me to do something like that?"
Mafuyu said that as she clenched her teeth with tears in the corners of her eyes; her body was trembling slightly. Is that the way to ask a favor from someone? Then again, if I leave her alone, Mafuyu will never use that room again, which means victory will be mine?
"If you don't like it either way, how about returning the room to me like a mature lady?"
"You scumbag!" Mafuyu said to me while holding back her tears, "Whatever, I get it. I will do it myself."
Mafuyu slammed the door, and from the sounds of her footsteps, it sounded like she was walking downwards. Go ahead and try your best!
I continued to play <Stand by Me>.
Still, I was quite curious about how it ended, so I looked down through the fence.
Mafuyu was standing rigidly outside the practice room, with her left hand clenched into a fist. After staring at the handle of the door for quite a while, she reached out for it, but stopped almost immediately, as though all the strength in her body was drained out of her. She stood there motionlessly, and her back was trembling nonstop. She looked really pitiful, so I switched off the power of the amplifier, placed my bass down, and got up.
So that buzzing sound wasn't actually caused by an insect. After reaching the courtyard downstairs, I walked into the practice room. When I tried shaking the cabinet, something that was stuck behind it suddenly fell on the floor with a *pa*. It was actually the front cover of Iron Maiden's first album. The buzzing sounds were probably made by the rustling of the pages on the front cover, caused by the vibration of the cabinet due to the sounds of her guitar. [TLNote: Iron Maiden's an English heavy metal band]
I originally thought I had lost the front cover of the album forever, and was thus really happy when I managed to get it back. I delightedly showed Mafuyu the cover, which features the grotesque image of a zombie—needless to say, she sprayed the insecticide at my face while crying and yelling at the same time.
Posted by zgmfx09a at 11:49 PM
Labels: sayonara piano sonata, translations
Mafuyu, my waifu
Dear God, you're a monster
new chapter arrive too fast ^^
Keito December 8, 2011 at 11:43 PM
Mafuyu-chan. かわいい〜
I don't what you think but that fellow is overly interested in getting a room back.
Hum, when will they learn? :P
keito, i swear if i ever see that ":P" of yours again...
Wing December 9, 2011 at 10:19 AM
Lol at the ending, too funny xD.
Thanks for the chapter, too fast in a way o.O.
Dear @ zgmfx09a,
Thank you so much for translating this book!! ^^ I can only imagine how many hours must have gone into doing so. Personally, I'm not sure whether I'd have the patience to do that sort of thing, were it up to me.
I thought I'd let you know of two minor spelling mistakes: "Take a deep breathe" should be take a deep breath, and "coup yourself up" should be coop yourself up.
But other than that it was almost perfect!! All of your chapters are always such enjoyable reads. Thank you so much for all your hard work; I really appreciate it and I'm sure all your other fans do too. As do all your fans, I really look forward to your next releases!! =) <3

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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You are here: Home / *BLOG / Around the Web / A Long History: Tech Tools Today
A Long History: Tech Tools Today
December 4, 2014 By GISuser
Tech gadgets we enjoy today are sleek, easy to use, fun and, of course, useful in many ways. From GPS to texting to Snapchatting, we are connected to the world in so many ways. Some of the tech tools we use are much like the ones used since the first recordings of human history.
The compass has an a massive impact on the modern world today. We'd be…. well, lost without it. For all the technology that we are surrounded with, the compass has been used the same basic ways since its discovery by the Venetians in 1274. The only difference is the package. From GPS devices like TomTom to apps for your handheld mobile phones, the compass has been one old tech device that we still are unable to go without. Arguably, no other device in the history of humans has had a longer-lasting effect on exploration, transportation and cultural development than the compass.
Today's digital compasses uses two internal devices to operate — a magnetometer that measures changes in the magnetic field of the Earth and an accelerometer, which tracks the movement of your mobile device. iPhone's Compass app works just like a magnetic-needle compass, using data from both these functions to pinpoint the exact orientation of the mobile phone as you move it around.
What the compass has done for exploration of land and sea the satellite phone has done for telecommunication. It was only 30 years ago that a satellite phone was only affordable to the rich, selling for thousands of dollars. They weren't as mobile either, as they were big and bulky. In the coming years, as wireless phones became all the rage. Even though mobile devices of all kinds have flooded the market, sat phones still have a vital use today.
Working off of satellites orbiting our planet rather than cell towers, sat phone owners have the ability to make and receive calls and send and receive data from pretty much anywhere in the world. Used on boats, hiking trips, exploration excursions and simple vacations, these phones work off the grid, providing protection from viruses and hackers and assuring a connectivity. Today they are also equipped with solar recharging features, giving them yet another one-up on other mobile devices.
That tiny device resting on your belt, quietly counting your steps, recording your pace, is a tech tool that has arguably been around for more than 200 years. The pedometer is one of the simplest and most motivational tech tools we use then and now. Some say the great Leonardo da Vinci had sketches of a pedometer in the 15th century. Others say Thomas Jefferson was the inventor. Others point to the Swiss watchmakers, the inventors of the self-winding watch. Wherever it originated, it didn't really catch on until the 1930s, when a popular radio program, "Jack Armstrong: All-American Boy," campaigned a pedometer called the "Hike-O-Meter.
Today's pedometers can be the simple digital device that fits in your palm and on your belt and records your steps, or it can be downloaded as an app on your mobile phone, collecting not only the number of steps you take a day, but also the calories you've burned, distance traveled and average pace. It has evolved into a digital fitness assistant.
Just when you thought the bling that set men apart faded away, the watch has made a comeback in useful tech tools. Since 1812, when Breguet created the first wristwatch, people have enjoyed bringing time along wherever they go. But as devices like mobile phones advanced, the use of watches became irrelevant and obsolete. That is, until some geeky engineer had the bright idea of making watches "smart," just like a mobile phone. What used to have numbers and two hands now can hold pretty much your entire life on your wrist.
From texts, to calls, to emails to fitness results to music, a smartwatch has reinvented not only the use but the fashion of wristwatches, with industries like Apple, Pebble, Sony, Samsung and Qualcomm all coming out with new styles of smartwatches. Though its intended purposes (telling the time) is now only one of many features, the wristwatch has proven to be one timeless tech tool that can take a licking and keep on ticking.
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Should You Invest in the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Health Care ETF (RYH)?
Sector ETF report for RYH
By Zacks Equity Research January 5, 2022
Launched on 11/01/2006, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Health Care ETF (RYH) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Healthcare - Broad segment of the equity market.
An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.
Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Healthcare - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 10, placing it in bottom 38%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $984.22 million, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Healthcare - Broad segment of the equity market. RYH seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Equal Weight Health Care Index before fees and expenses.
The S&P 500 Equal Weight Health Care Index equally weights stocks in the health care sector of the S&P 500 Index.
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.40%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.51%.
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Healthcare sector--about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Anthem Inc (ANTM) accounts for about 1.93% of total assets, followed by Merck & Co Inc (MRK) and Centene Corp (CNC).
The top 10 holdings account for about 18.11% of total assets under management.
The ETF has lost about -1.19% and is up roughly 21.23% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 01/05/2022), respectively. RYH has traded between $253.50 and $321.86 during this last 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 0.89 and standard deviation of 21.14% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 65 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Health Care ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, RYH is a sufficient option for those seeking exposure to the Health Care ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.
Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Health Care 25/50 Index and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) tracks Health Care Select Sector Index. Vanguard Health Care ETF has $17.11 billion in assets, Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF has $34.98 billion. VHT has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLV charges 0.12%.
Infrastructure Stock Boom to Sweep America
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Alice Brady (New York, 2 november 1892 - aldaar, 28 oktober 1939) was een Oscarwinnende, Amerikaanse actrice.

Carrière
Alice Brady maakte kennis met de filmindustrie in 1914 via haar vader, een belangrijke producer in het theater. Ze werd al gauw beroemd en speelde in de tijd van de stomme film in meer dan vijftig van die films. Toch was ze vooral te zien in het theater.

Na 1923 was ze fulltime actrice in het theater en nam afscheid van het leventje in de filmindustrie. Toch kwam ze in 1933 terug en speelde in de ene film na de andere. In 1936 werd ze genomineerd voor een Oscar voor haar rol in de film My Man Godfrey en in 1938 ontving ze een Oscar voor haar rol in In Old Chicago. Echter, ze heeft nooit iets van haar Oscar gezien. Een dief ging voor haar het podium op om het beeldje in ontvangst te nemen, voor haar absentie. Er werd nooit meer wat van de dief vernomen, net zoals van de Oscar.

Nog voordat ze een kopie kon krijgen, stierf ze op 28 oktober 1939 aan kanker. Ze zou vijf dagen later 47 jaar oud zijn geworden.

Externe links

Amerikaans acteur
Amerikaans filmacteur

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia