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#like there was some old school sliding scale type levels and stuff
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Re:Coded was an experience
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amor-immortalem · 3 years
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My Adoring Fan Chapter 8
chapter 7
Arella was busying herself with housework that needed to be done. From picking up scattered toys that their youngest hadn’t put away before his brother had taken him out for the day to finishing up laundry from the previous night- she needed something to do to distract herself from worrying too much about her husband. It was just one of his bad days where he couldn’t focus on things very well and the world just didn’t feel real to him. He had moved past the incident that brought their oldest child into their life but the effects of the trauma he endured still plagued him from time to time. It was rare for an episode to be this bad however. He hadn’t had one on this scale since their twins were four. He would get better in a few days; all he needed was rest.
As she turned to pull the clothes out of the dryer, she could hear her phone ringing. Reading the caller id, she sighed as she picked up.
“Azalea, you had better be ringing me for a nonsense reason and not because you’re in Lord Diavolo’s office and I need to come down to get you.” Arella said in a whisper. With the condition he was in today, the last thing she wanted was Mammon hearing her and getting himself worked up.
“Well... at least I’m not in the office this time... but I did get kicked outta homeroom.” The girl said. “Can ya come pick us up... please?”
“Who is ‘us’, darling?”
“Me, ’Relius, Max, and Zulima. We had a good reason this time, Mum, I promise.”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes. Let me see if Dad needs anything and then I’ll be on my way.” After they said goodbye and hung up, Arella stared at her phone. “My stars, I wonder what happened for Aurelius, Max, and Zulima to get kicked out of class as well.” She went into the bedroom to check on her husband. “I have to go get the twins, Zulima, and Max from RAD. Do you need anything before I leave?” She asks as she rubs his shoulder.
Mammon only shakes his head as he looks at the clock. “It’s 8:30 in the morning. What the hell happened?” He starts to sit up but Arella just places a hand on his chest.
“Just stay in bed and rest, Dear. I don’t know what happened exactly, but I’ll handle it when I find out, okay?”
“Fine.” He lets out a sigh. “Let me know when you find out, please.”
“I will. I’ll see you in a bit. I love you.”
“Love ya too, Treasure. Drive safely.”
After that brief exchange, Arella grabbed the keys and left for RAD.
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“So, I want you to tell me exactly what got the four of you kicked out.” Arella asks as she drives them back to their home. “And no lies, please.”
“Well,” Azalea started wondering where exactly she should start, “It all started when I came into class a half-hour late... apparently the old hag took exception ta that. She called me out on bein’ late ‘n I mouthed back ‘n next thing ya know she’s calling me a brat ‘n stupid ‘n forgetful ‘n a delinquent ‘n spoiled- which ta be fair, she’s not wrong ‘bout some of that stuff... but then she took it a step further by callin’ me a half-breed ‘n tryin’ ta take my cane claimin’ it was a weapon so I couldn’t have it on my person ‘cuz -ya know- all the fights ‘n shit I get inta.”
“And then when we tried to stand up for ‘Zay,” Zulima began, “She turned her sights on us.”
“She called us trash and abominations on top of calling us that stupid slur too.” Aurelius leans his head against the passenger side window.
“She said she’s going to write all four of us up saying it was her word against ours so it’s probably going to be wildly fabricated.” Max says as she wrapped her arms around herself. “I have most of the exchange recorded, if you want to listen to it Mrs. Morningstar.”
“I would love to hear it, Max, thank you.” Arella stopped the car, having arrived at home. “We’ll listen to it now.” Max pulled out her D.D.D. and played back the audio. About half way through, Arella’s jaw dropped in surprise. “And she speaks to the three of you this way on a regular basis?” The three half-demons nodded. “And what about you, Max?”
“This is the first time she’s ever said anything like this to me.” The human frowned.
“And it’ll be the last time too if I have anything to do with it. Azalea, is this why you were always late to your homeroom hour last term, honey?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “I’m tired of bein’ berated ‘n called slurs and insults for an hour... I bet if she was the teacher in any of m’classes, I would have flunked them...”
“We all are,” Zulima says as she hugged herself tighter. “And whenever we try to defend ourselves or each other, she takes it out on us in the one other class we have with her. She almost failed me in world language claiming an airhead like me couldn’t have written such a high-level thesis in Latin of all languages, Auntie. I worked so hard with Uncle Satan on that thesis too! I felt so horrible.”
“And me in potions as well,” Max sighed. “And she gave me the wrong ingredients so I would be assured to fail.”
“I was this close,” Aurelius pinches his fingers together as he talks, “to flunking her Curses and Hexes course last term. I’m telling you, Mum, she’s an absolute witch of a demon. I think if Lord Diavolo hadn’t looked into it himself after I talked with Uncle Lucifer that I would have failed. Her excuse was that when it came to the end of term exam, mine was the last that she graded and she ‘accidentally’ used the wrong key.”
Arella had a look of realization on her face. “I know exactly who this teacher is. She absolutely hated me and your father. She was our curses and hexes teacher too.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “She never did anything too extreme because we shared a class with three of your uncles and if word ever got back to Uncle Lucifer, she knew there would be hell to pay.”
“So she takes it out on us because of you and Dad?” Aurelius looks over at his mother. “That’s pretty shitty.”
“Not to mention, she’s a racist and a xenophobe on top of it all,” Zulima growled in disgust. “How ugly.”
“Let’s go in now. Please be quiet when you walk in. Dad’s having one of his episodes and it's really bad this time so let him rest. I’ll make lunch in a bit.”
All of the kids nodded as they got out and headed into the house. Immediately Azalea pulled max around giving her a tour of the house while Zulima went up to Azalea’s room to make herself comfortable and wait for Aurelius to stop by his room to grab some spell books so the three of them could work on their magical studies together since there wasn’t really anything else to do.
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As the house tour came to a close Max and Azalea climbed the stairs headed up to the second level where the bedrooms were located.
“You’re having a much better time with the stairs now; I’m starting to notice.” Max says quietly.
“Yeah, I still have trouble with the ones in my room though. With these, the steps are more closed off where the ones in my room have that opening between each step, ya know? With these types of stairs, I can jus’ slide my foot forward until it hits the base of the next step and that way, I can know how far my foot is out and whether it's safe ta step up without bein’ afraid I might slip.”
The human nodded. “Yeah, I get it. Makes sense.”
As they passed through the hall and by Azalea’s parents’ room, Mammon called out to her. “’Zalea come in here please. I wanna talk to ya ‘bout what happened at school.”
“Are ya sure? I know yer havin’ one of them bad days...”
“It’s fine. C’mere please.” Mammon says as he sits up on the bed and runs a hand through his hair.
Max hands Azalea her D.D.D. figuring Mammon might want to hear what was said before heading straight down the to her girlfriend’s room where the other two teens were waiting on them.
“Please tell me you didn’t get yourself and the others kicked out of class because of a fight.” The demon asks as his daughter climbs up next to him on the bed.
“I didn’t. Not this time. The teacher just had a stick up her ass ‘cuz I was late for homeroom... And then things escalated from there. Ta be fair, I kinda had some fault in it ‘cuz I got mouthy with ‘er but still she said somethings... And she then told me ta get outta her class... The others stood up for me ‘n that’s why they got kicked out too.”
“What kinda things?”
“It’s easier if I jus’ play the audio Max took of the exchange.” The half-demon unlocks the phone and plays the audio for her father. She watches him carefully just to see his reaction. It’s not any different from her mother’s except she can feel anger rising within him.
“I can’t believe she’s still workin’ for the school... If I’m rememberin’ her voice correctly, I know exactly who that is and she was decrepit when yer uncles and I were students there. There wasn’t nothin’ I could do right with ‘er. And this has been every day since ya entered this year?” Azalea only nods at his question. “I’m sorry ya gotta go through that, kiddo. We’ll take care of this for ya. Ya know none of that horrible stuff she said ‘bout y’all is true, right?”
“Yeah... but it still bites when people say it.” Azalea leans her head on Mammon’s chest, tucking herself up under his arm as he pulls her into a side hug. “Like all we’ve ever done is just exist and both demons and humans won’t even let us do that! There’s always somethin’ they got a problem with! It's unfair. We’re not demon enough to live here in the Devildom and not human enough to live in the human world. It’s like we don’t belong in either realm. Like we don’t get to be.... happy.”
Mammon would only hug his daughter tighter as he tucked her head under her chin. He wanted things to be different. It always broke his heart to hear his own children- even his nieces and nephews- talk like this. It all stemmed from the oldest generation of demons too- the ones that had existed even before he and his brothers had lost the war, fell from grace, and became demons. The ones that remembered what it was like long before Diavolo started pushing for peace between the three realms, long before the exchange program. Just like the humans they looked down upon, they were just as resistant to change, passing down their ideology to their offspring and so on and so forth as time went on. And the Devildom was doing just that- changing in many ways. From the exchange program that started over 20 years ago that was still going to this day to the advances in technology that put them on par with the human world... as much as the elderly demons might protest it, they couldn’t stop it. Once they all had kicked the bucket, the Avatar of Greed hoped things would get better. They had to.
And the youngest generation was proof of this- unpoisoned by their great grandparents’ and grandparents’ beliefs, Mammon could see how eager they were to accept the changes and the fact that half demons were becoming more frequent among the Devildom's elite- even if his kids themselves couldn’t see it themselves just yet.
As they sat in silence, the demon began purring- not in a way that showed contentment, but rather a deep rumbling purr that resonated through his chest that was often used when a demon was comforting themselves or their young when they were hurt or scared or ill or just upset in anyway shape or form. For his children, it often calmed them enough to put them to sleep for at least a few hours- more if they were sick and needed the rest. It always worked most for Azalea even back when she a baby, especially when she was this worked up and upset about something. He misses those days. The days when the twins and even Cyrus weren’t yet aware of things like racism or discrimination or hatred. Part of Mammon wishes all three of them could have just stayed that age forever.
As the half-demon was falling asleep, she tucked herself closer to her father mumbling a soft “Love you, Papa...” before she was out completely.
“Love ya too, my little Magpie.” He smiles softly before yawning and settling back down for a nap himself.
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bodyguider1 · 3 years
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Tips For Picking The Perfect House Plan
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It helps to follow a personal meal plan if you are following any type of diet for the purposes of losing weight.
A personal meal plan:
1. ...can help you to stay focused on your diet and reduces the likelihood that you will deviate from your weight loss efforts.
2. ...is useful for planning out what you will be eating each day. This way you can avoid the temptation to deviate from your diet due to being hungry and not having food available or not having a plan for where you can eat.
3. ...serves as an excellent educational tool, as it helps to guide you as to how to eat healthy and how to stay on track.
4. ...helps you to build accountability to yourself for the diet. You can track your progress and see where you are successful and where you are faltering with your weight loss journey. Too big, too little. Too fancy, too plain. With myriad options for house plans available today, it's hard to know where to begin.
Consider the following issues and ask yourself some telling questions. The answers will help you decide on a design that's just right for your family as well as your budget and lot. Click here the rock meal plan
Square one
The real estate agent's mantra "location, location, location" rings true even when you're building from scratch. From privacy to orientation, your lot is likely to influence which plan you choose.
"Theoretically, it's best to start by finding a lot because then you'll have a clear idea of what square footage will and will not fit on the property," says Robert Martin, Architecture Editor at Southern Living. "It's a dangerous proposition to try to gooseneck a house into a lot that's really not ideal for that plan."
The property owner can seek a variance to exceed the "building envelope," the allowable area that a home can occupy on a lot. However, the process is often lengthy and there's no guarantee that permission will be granted.
Local zoning boards and community organizations often require a house be set back a certain distance from the street. Before purchasing a corner lot, find out if front-yard setback regulations apply to the lot's front and side-street boundaries. This could substantially reduce the area available for a home's footprint. Easements as well as natural features, like rock outcroppings and mature trees, may also influence where the house can be located.
"Some communities promote close neighbors, and some communities promote more breathing space," Martin says. "It's not wise to use up every square foot of building space because you'll have less of a yard."
If the lot is located in a suburban neighborhood, consider the placement of windows - take care that they will not align exactly with neighbors' views. Driveways should also be taken into account to make sure that there's plenty of room for parking and turning around.
Streets and topography may be the main determinates of a house's orientation, but it's also a good idea to consider sun exposures when possible. A homeowner might reorganize a floor plan to take advantage of morning and afternoon light. Martin says that covered porches that face a southern exposure can help block out heat and sunlight.
Remember that plans are not necessarily "as is." Builders can use a reverse set of plans (sometimes called a mirror image) to better site a house. It's also possible to hire an architect or modification service to personalize a plan. Ask if reproducible prints or electronic CADD files are available for the selected plan. Either will make the alteration process quicker and easier.
Complimenting your lifestyle
Before delving into the thousands of plans available today, evaluate your current living situation. Look around and ask what works and what doesn't.
Consider which features matter most to you and which floor plan best accommodates your family's lifestyle. "Does the floor plan live the way you live?" Martin asks. Are you an empty nester who's ready to downsize? A single-level ranch home might be your answer. Is this a house where you expect to raise a family? Check out plans that feature great communal spaces as well as a private master suite. Would you live outside 12 months a year if you could? Pick an airy floor plan with plenty of porches and more windows than wall space.
When you decide on a house plan, you're also choosing a way of life. Do you host dinner parties often, or do you only step inside the dining room on holidays? Today, many families forego a dedicated formal dining room. Instead, a casual eating nook connected to the kitchen accommodates week-night meals, Little League pizza parties and all their entertaining needs. If you work from home or have school-aged children, an office or study may be a necessity. Think about the rooms and how you and your family will use them.
Marrying the old and the new
Magazines and TV shows often tempt us to start decorating from a blank slate, but few people have the luxury to fill a house with new furniture. Keep your existing furniture and aesthetics in mind. It takes a special talent to make a mid-century modern couch work in a Colonial manor house.
The main thing to keep in mind is how the arrangement of furniture will influence the overall feel, flow and function of a room. How will your prized possessions work and look arranged in the new space? Scale is key. A soaring, two-story ceiling can easily dwarf low, horizontal furniture. To avert the Alice-in-Wonderland effect, make sure the plan has strong, vertical architectural elements like a chimney and tall windows. Similarly, an overstuffed couch, two armchairs and a media cabinet might make a small living room look cluttered.
Tip: To help visualize your current furniture in a new space, make a scale model of each item - simple rectangles, squares and circles cut out of construction paper will do. Slide the stand-ins around the floor plan to see which configurations will work. Make sure there will be enough room to walk and adequate clearance for doors to open.
Know what you're getting
Be aware of what is and isn't included in the blueprints before you purchase a plan. Most blueprints suggest electrical plans designed to meet national standards. However, varying interpretations and the fact that codes are subject to change mean that the placement of switches, outlets and light fixtures is ultimately subject to local building codes. Heating and plumbing plans are usually not included, so you will need to consult with subcontractors. A local builder or engineer should review the plan to ensure that it complies with all building codes and subdivision restrictions.
Due to concerns over energy costs, safety and other factors, some cities and states require a licensed architect or engineer to review and seal, or officially approve, a blueprint prior to construction. Do your homework. Contact to a local building official to see if such a review is necessary in your area.
Taking the plan from blueprint to dream house
A builder may provide a ballpark estimate of construction costs from a study plan, but he or she should consult the working drawings to give a more accurate figure. Many variables can affect the bottom line, including the choice and availability of materials, labor costs, choice of finishes and degree of detail. Ask several contractors for competing bids.
If you've got the vision but not the bankroll (at least at this time), it may be wise to choose a plan with bonus space that can be built out as finances allow.
Be sure to allot a portion of your budget to landscaping and finish details. Architects and interior designers recommend that you don't skimp on the seemingly small stuff. Higher-quality trim and building materials may trump extra square footage. "Good, insulated windows may be costly initially," Martin says, "but over the long run, they're going to save you money on your power bill." Crown moulding and custom cabinetry can make a stock plan feel like it was designed specifically for your family. After all, it's the personal touches that make a house feel like a home.
5. ...should be customizable to some degree. This will give you some flexibility and freedom to eat what you choose rather than being forced to eat something that is not appealing to you.
A good example of a rock solid, healthy and reliable weight loss diet plan would be one that requires you to not only generate your own customized personal meal plan and adhere to it, but also, at the same time integrate a great deal of flexibility in terms of the dietary options at your disposal. It should, also, ideally account for some leeway to occasionally cheat on the diet, within a certain degree of limitation.
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liliannorman · 3 years
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Student scientists want to help all of us survive a warmer world
This has been a year full of the unexpected. COVID-19 has forced people indoors, closed schools and killed more than 220,000 Americans. Besides the pandemic, there have been hurricanes, wildfires, protests and more. Behind some of these upheavals, though, is an unfolding event that shows no sign of stopping: climate change.
Climate change is contributing to many of the disasters that have been changing lives around the world. Here we meet students who have been using science to help people better understand and deal with the effects of our changing climate.
Their research helped place them among 30 finalists at the 10th Broadcom MASTERS. MASTERS stands for Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars. It’s a research program open to middle-school investigators. Society for Science & the Public (which publishes Science News for Students) created the event. Broadcom Foundation, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., sponsors it.
Some of the kids developed systems to help keep people safe as climate change makes life more unpredictable. Others developed ways to save precious resources, such as water and oil. And one student applied lessons from a study done in a cereal bowl to model melting glaciers.
Fighting fire and flood with science
Like many Californians, Ryan Honary, 12, has personal experience with wildfires. A student at Pegasus School in Huntington, he was with his father at an Arizona tennis tournament when he saw wildfires raging across his home state on TV. “The hills that were burning looked just like the hills behind my house,” Ryan recalls. “I called my mom and asked if she was okay.” Once he knew that she was, he asked his dad why wildfires got out of control so often. “We’re planning to send people to Mars but we can’t detect wildfires,” Ryan says.
That’s when Ryan decided to create a way to detect wildfires early — before they get out of control. He linked together a series of Raspberry Pi computers. Some of these tiny units were fitted to detect smoke, fire and humidity (how much water is in the air). Their sensors relayed data wirelessly to another Raspberry Pi. This slightly bigger computer served as a mini meteorological station. He estimates that each sensor would cost around $20, and the mini stations would cost $60 each.
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Ryan Honary shows off his wildfire detectorH. Honary
Ryan brought his entire system to a park and tested it by holding the flame from a lighter in front of each sensor. When these sensed a fire, they informed the detector. It then alerted an app that Ryan built for his phone. While creating that app, Ryan talked with Mohammed Kachuee. He’s a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles. Kachuee helped Ryan use machine learning to train his app with data from the large 2018 Camp Fire. The app took lessons from how this fire had traveled over time. Using those data, the app “learned” to predict how flames at future events might spread.
Someday, Ryan hopes his sensors might be deployed throughout his state. “Five of the worst fires in California just happened in the last three months,” he notes. “So it’s pretty obvious that global warming and climate change is just making the fire problems worse.”
Stronger hurricanes are another symptom of a warming climate. Heavy rain and storms can produce sudden floods that appear and disappear locally within minutes. One such flash flood provided a memorable experience for Ishan Ahluwalia, 14.
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Ishan Ashluwalia had a tire roll on a wet treadmill to create a warning system for when a car might slip. A. Ahluwalia
It was a rainy day in Portland, Ore. “My family was driving on a highway,” recalls the now ninth grader at Jesuit High School in the city. “We were driving at the speed limit.” But a sudden sheet of water on the road made the car swerve. It was hydroplaning. This occurs when water builds up beneath a tire, he explains. With no friction, the tire slips “and the car slips as well.” This can lead to accidents.
Ishan was surprised that there was no system in a car to sense when tires were about to slide. So he went to his garage and put a small tire on a treadmill. He hooked the wheel up to a computer with an accelerometer inside. As the treadmill moved and the wheel rolled, he ran water down the belt to make synthetic rain. The computer then measured the friction between the wheel and the belt as differing amounts of rain fell.
Then, like Ryan, Ishan used machine learning. “In middle school, my science teachers really helped me get the project off the ground,” he says. But the next step was to talk to an engineer who works at nearby Oregon Health and Science University. With that engineer’s guidance, Ishan trained the system he built to associate different types of weather with how much water was on the road. It could then link those water levels with a car’s ability to maneuver.
If installed in a car, Ishan says, this system might offer a notice in green, yellow or red to warn people when they faced a risk of losing control of steering or braking. It also could help people drive more safely as heavy rains and flooding become more common.
Saving water and stopping snails
Just as it’s possible to have way too much rain, it’s also possible to have far too little. Pauline Estrada’s home, in Fresno, Calif., is in one such drought-prone region. The eighth grader at Granite Ridge Intermediate School saw nearby farmers watering their fields. In dry regions like hers, no drop would be wasted. So she sought a way to help growers predict when their plants truly needed water. Right now, Pauline says, farmers measure soil moisture to see if their plants are thirsty. But, she notes, that doesn’t show if the plant itself is suffering.
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Pauline Estrada made this rover seen in a farm field. Her so-called Infra-Rover scans plants to determine if they need water. P. Estrada
Luckily, this 13-year-old had a rover lying around. She had built the robot vehicle from a kit. The teen also built an infrared camera. It makes images at light wavelengths the human eye can’t see. Infrared light often is used to map heat. A hotter plant is a drier plant, Pauline explains. When a plant has enough water, she says, “it lets water go through its leaves.” This cools the air on the surface of the leaf. But if the plant is dry, it will hold in water, and the leaf surface will be hotter.
Pauline attached the camera to her rover and drove it around pepper plants that she grew in pots. Sure enough, her roving camera could spot when these plants needed water. Then, with the help of Dave Goorahoo, a plant scientist at Fresno State University, she ran her rover around pepper plants in a farm field.
Her Infra-Rover currently scans only one plant at a time. Pauline hopes to scale up her system to observe many at once. She also plans to work on a system to predict when hot plants will need water — before they get parched. “It’s important to not waste water during climate change,” she says. Water them when they need it, she says, not before.
Explainer: CO2 and other greenhouse gases
Once those crops are grown, they’ll need to be shipped to hungry people the world over. Many will travel on huge cargo ships powered by large amounts of fossil fuels. In fact, cargo ships account for three percent of all carbon dioxide emitted into the air each year.
Those ships would burn less fuel if they encountered less friction at sea, known as drag, reasoned Charlotte Michaluk. The 14-year-old is now a ninth grader at Hopewell Valley Central High School in Pennington, N.J. A scuba diver since sixth grade, Charlotte knew that one source of drag was stuff growing on the hulls of ships. Barnacles, snails and other organisms contribute to this biofouling. Their lumpy bodies increase drag, making ships work harder and burn more fuel.
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Charlotte runs water down a ramp to determine how much drag it creates. She hopes that better materials will help ships use fewer climate-warming fuels to sail the seas. C. Michaluk
Charlotte opted to design a new, more slippery coating for a ship’s hull so that fewer creatures would be able to hitch a ride. She tested different materials in the aquatic version of a wind tunnel. Charlotte loves woodworking and crafting. “My family knows where I’ve been in the house based on my trail of crafting materials,” she says. She designed a ramp that she could coat with different materials. Then she measured the force of the water flowing off different metal and plastic coatings to calculate their drag.
One material proved really good at reducing drag. Called PDMS, it’s a type of silicone — a material made of chains of silicon and oxygen atoms. Charlotte also tested some surfaces that had been based on mako shark skins. The sharklike drag-limiting scales, known as denticles, worked well at cutting the ramp’s drag.
But would they also prevent other creatures from latching on? To find out, Charlotte went hunting for small bladder snails in local streams. She put the snails in her water tunnel and observed how well they were able to cling to different surfaces. PDMS and the fake mako skin prevented snails from sticking.
“Biofouling is a really big problem,” she says. Affected ships will consume more fossil fuels. And that, she explains, “contributes to global warming.” She hopes her discoveries might someday help ships slip more easily through the water — and save fuel.
Eyes on ice
It might seem like a kid from Hawaii wouldn’t spend a lot of time thinking about glaciers. But Rylan Colbert, 13, sure does. It started when this eighth grader at Waiakea Intermediate School in Hilo first saw news of an experiment on how dams might collapse. Those tests had studied how piles of rice cereal collapsed in milk.
The cereal was puffed rice. But Rylan was soon thinking about ice. “I think I had shaved ice [a popular treat in Hawaii] the day before and I was thinking about it,” he says. “And that led me to thinking about glaciers” and how their collapse might affect polar regions.
Rylan decided to study if shaved ice would collapse into water as the rice cereal had in the study he had read about. For a little guidance, he emailed Itai Einav. He’s a coauthor of the rice cereal study at the University of Sydney in Australia. Einav emailed back and became “kind of my mentor,” Rylan says.
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Rylan Colbert next to his tiny shaved ice “glacier.” To model a cold environment, he kept his science project in the refrigerator. S. Colbert
Using a refrigerator in his father’s lab at the University of Hawaii, Ryan filled beakers with a layer of gravel. Then he added a layer of shaved ice to serve as his model glacier. “The density of the shaved ice was about the density of freshly fallen show,” he says. That’s really important, he says; it simulates how glaciers develop. “That’s the start of the process.”
He set a microscope on its side in the fridge to monitor exactly what happened. “To simulate global warming, I pumped water under the shaved ice and it compacted,” Rylan notes. He tested water pumped in at -1° Celsius (30° Fahrenheit) and then again at 8 °C (46 °F). That warmer water simulated a warming ocean.
Ice with warmer water below it compacted seven percent faster than ice atop very cold water, Rylan showed. He hopes his research might help people understand how glaciers form (or don’t), as the world warms.
Doing more scientific research around climate change is key, he believes. Eventually, he says, “it’ll hit home with somebody and they’ll say, ‘Hey, let’s stop this.’”
Pauline hopes that more research also will prompt more action. “We should take all measures to prevent [climate change] as much as possible,” she says. “At the rate it’s going, it’s going to destroy the planet.”
Student scientists want to help all of us survive a warmer world published first on https://triviaqaweb.tumblr.com/
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marinette-sky · 7 years
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Cigarettes and Leather Chapter 2
(A/N: Okay, so this one took ALOT longer to write than I thought, but here it is finally! In this chapter, I really tried to focus on establishing a base plot and deepening the characterization of Marinette and Adrien as to give some insight on how their relationship right now works out. Like I said, this will be a slow-ish burn so its not like I’ll have them all over each other in the span of a chapter but that don’t mean stuff can’t happen inbetween. Anywaaaays enjoy!)
Marinette bounced uncomfortably in the Victorian styled arm-chair she currently occupied, refusing to acknowledge the almost languid male sitting diagonal of the desk in front of them. Although they had been called into Mr. Damocles office at the exact same time via intercom, Adrien had shuffled into the room a few minutes after her; the strong fragrance of cigarettes still clung to his person as he settled heavily into the twin chair beside her.
She could still feel the ghost of her pinched face when he had first walked in smelling like a cigarette factory (although the scent had died down considerably since then).
Marinette sighed for what had to be the billionth time in her young life.
She could tell he was watching her from the corner of his eye, every so often sliding his gaze over her figure in hopes of catching her attention. Instead of humoring him and his little game, she instead focused all her energy in studying the countless re-scaled drawings of owls decorating the walls of their room, attempting to look extremely interested in the symbolic gesture of knowledge that each framed piece of art represented.
Wisdom and Common Sense…something I failed to maintain yesterday before my anger got the best of me.
They had been in there for an estimate of ten minutes, yet M. Damocles had been watching them in complete silence the entire time, occasionally typing something into his tablet. In fact, the only reaction they received from him was an occasional sigh when Adrien no doubt had made some kind of gesture in his direction (the dumbass, he was going to get them in deeper trouble). She nearly jumped out her skin when she felt Adrien bump his foot with hers, chuckling when she turned beet red at the strange look they gained from the principle.
But, it wasn’t like she could help her reaction; Mr. Damocles was just naturally the type of person one could not help but feel anxious to be around.
No matter how badly Marinette wanted to approach the subject of their misconduct, she was terrified of what would flood from her mouth if she dared to speak directly to such a reproachful adult. Their principle just exuded the aura that he knew all, and once you got talking to him, it was incredibly difficult to stop until all your secrets were laid on the desk up front for him to inspect and sort out.
With all the pictures of owls on his walls, he reminded her of one most of all just because he acted so wise. Even the most enduring person in their school could not resist his heavily pressured silence and aged, but cold stare.
Out of nowhere, Mr. Damocles gave them both a scare as he laid his tablet on the desk with a little of a too forceful thump, now staring straight ahead at both of them with his infamous no-nonsense glare.
He suddenly didn’t look so old and worn anymore, his orange eyes hardening with the resolution of a young admirable. Stiffening, Marinette chanced a side glance in her classmate’s general direction only to find that even Adrien started a bit at the change in hid demeanor, shifting in his chair uncomfortably and coughing to hide his expression of trepidation.
Marinette has never seen Mr. Damocles give Adrien that glare, or at least a look of such authoritative intensity.
Her disquiet only intensified when he fixated that same glare on her, worse than the one he had given to Adrien.
“U-Uh sir, I can explain…if you-…or not?” Marinette began out of pure panic, feeling heat travel up the back of her neck from anxiety. This only caught the attention of their principle even more, raising his bushy, grey eyebrows that indicated a silent dare to continue. I fucked up. I shouldn’t have done that.
After a few moments of deliberation, she clamped down on her bottom lip to keep from making any other sound.
Satisfied that he had both of their undivided attention, Mr. Damocles delved into his lecture.
“Mme. Dupain-Cheng and M. Agreste…do you know why you’re both here with when you’re supposed to be in class, getting an education?” Mr. Damocles stroked his beard thoughtfully, or so she thought. Maybe it was just him demonstrating who was in charge here.
“Yes, sir-”
“Was it because of yesterday?” Adrien quickly interjected her response, sounding begrudgingly respectful despite not using an honorific after the question. The principle gave him a pointed look, narrowing his eyes in careful calculation.
Marinette could have smacked Adrien on the mouth for that one, filing the thought on her mental checklist for later.
Mr. Damocles, with eyes still narrowed, nodded as an answer before continuing.
“What happened yesterday between you two was unacceptable behavior, but even more so because it was on school property. I am very disappointed in you both, and you especially Mme. Dupain-Cheng.” The heroine felt her stomach plummet in shame, and stared down at the patterned carpet to avoid seeing her own disgrace reflected in his gaze. As Ladybug, she couldn’t help but feel like she failed France in some way for being on the receiving end of a punishment.
I’m supposed to be a role model for all the people who look to Ladybug for inspiration, but here I am now, getting scolded by an adult.
“From what I saw on the cameras, I understand M. Agreste was the one who instigated the incident but you, Mme. Dupain-Cheng, escalated it to an act of violence. Violence against another student is prohibited here, as expressed in your Dupont Policy Student-Handbook.” She knotted her hands in her lap, feeling even worse as he said it out loud.
Maybe I can balance out the bad deed with a good deed? Like make night patrols longer…
“I am not permitted to question where you learned such an offensive technique, but I am legally required to ask this of M. Agreste-” Marinette was only half-listening by then, lost in thought.
I could do that, but how would I explain why I want to make them longer to Chat Noir without telling him what happened?
“…would you like your parent or guardian to press charges against Mme. Dupain-Cheng for her actions?” He said it so nonchalantly, like it was just an everyday query, that she almost missed the weight of the words.
Almost.
What did he just say?
“…?” For once, she was speechless.
She whipped quickly around in her seat to stare at Adrien, dread clawing at the back of her throat. He, too, looked surprised at the offer, but his sculpted features smoothed over into a look of cogitation. His jade eyes met her pleading gaze, the mischievous glimmer in them dimming a marginal amount.
WHAT THE HELL?
Honestly, Marinette would not put it beneath the pampered brat to sue her parents for all they were worth, just to have something entertaining to do when he wasn’t off terrorizing the city with his posse or spending his father’s money. What transpired between them yesterday may have put them on a more personable level with each other, but not to where they were ‘buddies’.
The entirety of the situation hit her like a freight train, and not the good kind of impactful feeling.
Marinette was on her feet so fast that the room went out of focus for a few moments, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut to keep her surroundings from swirling.
How could he really just ask Adrien ‘No Fucks Given’ Agreste that question?
“M. Damocles, you can’t be serious! He laid his hands on me first, so I had a good reason for my ‘actions’!” The principle flinched at her unanticipated outburst, tensing his shoulders in a way that made it look like he was warning off an attack.
Or, in his case, an angry teenage girl.
“Mme. Dupain-Cheng, I understand where your anger comes from, but what you did was unjustified. He merely grabbed your wrist, whereas you-” Mr. Damocles began calmly, lacing his fingers together to rest on surface of the tablet he had been using up until then. But, before he could, Marinette slammed the palms of her hands on his desk with the unintentional force of Ladybug; her eyes blazed with blue fire, burning holes into the man in front of her.
“I was defending myself! I didn’t know if he would stop at grabbing my wrist, or if he would have done something worse!” Vibrations rattled across the wooden frame of the table, and even Marinette could feel the force of the tremors in the floor beneath their feet. Realizing her mistake, the look of spite on her face quickly dissipated into one akin of disbelief and regret.
Mr. Damocles almost appeared fearful for a few moments, before an expression of stone grated into his facial features. She felt herself flinch under such a harsh gaze, simultaneously aware of the emerald stare drilling into her back with surprise and curiosity.
“Damn Marinette.” She heard Adrien mutter under his breath, as she was provoked into a staring contest with their principle.
“I suggest you take a seat again, Marinette, before I issue a punishment worse than the one I planned on giving you two.” The adult commanded in a quiet tone, closing his eyes and relaxing his shoulders. Ouch, she thought to herself, embarrassed. He used my first name…
Marinette bowed her head apologetically, and complied with his request without another word.
Tikki is going to kill me for this one.
Silence ensued for a full minute before Adrien decided he had the balls to speak up.
“Uh, yeah, hey? Just wanted ta’ let you guys know I don’t have any interest in pressin’ charges against the pretty lady beside me.” Adrien spoke informally to their principle, earning a sharp glare in return for his lazy dialect but also a look of poorly concealed relief at his concession. Marinette didn’t have it in her to feel offended at the rather, ahem, flattering nickname.
Oh no, she had bigger issues now…
“Well, isn’t that good news, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng? No need to panic after all.” He smiled complacently, nodding to the both of them.
Oh my god, I’m an idiot.
Marinette felt like slinging herself into the sun at her over exaggerated reaction. Well, partially over exaggerated; hitting the desk could have been avoided.
She just nodded robotically, staring nervously into her hands. Their principle would never see her as the ‘good student’ again.
“Monsieur, if you don’t mind me asking…what is our punishment?” She asked without looking up, instead peeking at Adrien through the curtain of her bangs. Of course, he had already been looking at her for quite some time, so their eyes ended up meeting in mutual expectation of…well, something.
“Excellent question, mon cher! Since Mr. Agreste has so graciously decided not to press charges against you, or even the school for that matter, I contend the both of you to attend a special unit after school for the rest of the week from the time that class ends to 6:30. Mme. Bustier will surely find something to keep you two busy.” His words pressed down on Marinette like a dumbbell in comparison to the airy feather tone of voice he suddenly took on.
Petty man, he did that on purpose , She couldn’t help but think angrily to herself, glad that the principle missed the scathing look that crossed her face meant solely for him.
Just then the afternoon bell chimed over the intercom, filling the small room with a sound that indicated it was lunch break (finally).
Not even a few seconds had passed before she felt someone gently grip her forearm, pull her up from her seat, and made to stand on shaky knees. Marinette’s hands went instinctively to her purse before she realized it was Adrien who had put them both on their feet, obviously ready to leave.
“Well, if we’re done here, M. Damocles, we would love to be excused to lunch.” Adrien offered a polite, but dazzling smile at the adult, showing off the entire top row of his pearly whites. He almost seemed friendly, but Marinette knew better; it was just a rouse to get them the hell out of there before the principle could assign a worse punishment then a special unit discipline class.
“Yes, yes, you may now leave. I trust you will both attend the after school classes without fail.” Mr. Damocles was already typing away at his tablet once again, as if he had never ceased the action in the first place.
“Yes, monsieur.” They both said in unison, and Marinette felt herself backing away before fully turning to face the door to leave, hyper aware of a firm hand guiding them both towards their exit.
Once they were both outside the office, Adrien took his hand off her arm and turned on his heel to stare her square in the eyes.
She didn’t like the dangerous smile spreading on his lips.
“Well, that was probably the damn funniest meeting I’ve had with the old man in a fuck while.” Adrien let out a chuckle, amusement dancing in his forest eyes as he looked at her like she was some type of open book to flip through and indulge every word written down on her pages. A shiver ran down her spine at that thought, a little intimidated by the fact that he might be doing just that.
“Maybe for you, Adrien. I was so disrespectful to him, more so then you. I’m surprised he didn’t call my parents then and there.” Marinette was sure that’s who he was emailing as they left, and she was sure as the grass was green there would a punishment waiting for her at home as soon as she walked through their bakery entrance.  
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone else besides myself slam his desk like that. It was pretty damn cool of you.” Adrien gave her an almost appraising look, causing all previous thoughts of her impending punishment to vanish. She felt a blush settle on her cheeks at the strange compliment, an almost giddy sensation tugging at her stomach.
“I-If you say so.” She tried to summon her past feelings of anger towards him for getting them into this entire mess, but it was to no avail. If there was one thing Marinette couldn’t do (especially with her other persona being Ladybug), it was holding a grudge. Chloe being the exception.
They had both began their almost awkward trudge back to class, the tension in the air somewhat tangible as memories of yesterday played over freshly in their thoughts. Their footsteps were drowned out by the sound of noisy third years and second years flying past them to either crowd on the lunch benches outside the entrance or race home to eat. One of the poor premières turned the corner on the stairs a little ways ahead and ran smack into Adrien, who in return loudly cursed at the poor sap before he told them “get the hell out of his sight”. Marinette hadn’t realized she stopped to wait for him until he glanced up from smoothing out his leather jacket, smirking slightly.
“You know, ya never did finish tellin’ me what you were thinking yesterday darlin’.” Adrien began walking again, theatrically propelling himself around the handrail on the bottom of the first floor staircase till he was a good five steps above her. Marinette felt herself visibly bristle at his sudden inclination, dark eyebrows knitting together in disbelief. How could he even remember?
A little voice in the back of her head was telling her to remain indifferent with this oncoming conversation, and Marinette was never one to disregard her instincts.
“Why are you so interested?” He would definitely laugh out loud if she told him she didn’t think he was that bad of a person. Maybe it was fate that Alya interrupted them so she wouldn’t have to bear the embarrassment of telling Paris’s most renown delinquent that “he was a pretty swell guy, you know, if you ignored his criminal record”.
Yeah, right.
“I like to know what cute girls with pig-tails think of me.” More students rushed by them, but this time they were people their age who knew Adrien’s face all too well. A wide girth of space was quickly created with the flow of terminales speeding down the steps as to avoid the un-fortuity of bumping into them.
“Then go ask Lila if you want a nice opinion.” She replied hotly, face pinking at his obvious reference to her appearance. It was a half lie-half truth, because her opinion wasn’t exactly tactful, but Lila’s was sure to be flattering. She was going to say something else to him, but a few familiar faces from her advanced art class passed by them on their way so she waved to them instead.
By the time they reached the top of the stairs to the second floor—dedicated only to terminales—the warning bell had rung to indicate lunch time had officially begun.
“Lila flirts with me all the damn time, so what she has t’say is irrelevant.” Adrien made a point of walking directly besides her as they came into view of their homeroom, attention focused solely on their continued conversation. “I want to know yours.”
“Ask me later, and maybe I’ll tell you.” Marinette could feel the left side of her pig-tail catching on the static material of his jacket, which meant he was far closer to her than anticipated. This was not to mention that the scent of cigarettes and leather were overpowering her nostrils to the point where she felt like she was suffocating.
Is the air warmer now or is it just me?
“Or you can tell me now, darling’.” Those nicknames of his were really starting to rub her the wrong way. Whether it was the good kind of wrong or the right kind of wrong, she couldn’t tell.
“Stop bothering me about it already, or I won’t tell you at all.” They were a few paces away from the door, so hopefully their little discussion that mostly brought her annoyance with the world up a few notches would end as soon as she opened it.
Marinette had been reaching for the door handle when Adrien leaned over and whispered to her in a way that caused her to freeze up on the spot.
“Fine, then I’ll just assume its somethin’ dirty for now.” He said this almost huskily, but that could have also been all the cigarettes he’d smoked until then catching up to his voice. Marinette, with a defensive protest already spry on her lips, did a three-sixty on her heels only to meet two vibrant green eyes filled with sly contempt.
She scrunched her nose in distaste, the freckled skin on the bridge of her nose pinching together.
Tricky bastard.
If anyone passing by noticed how Adrien leaned down to level with Marinette’s irritated scowl, or saw the way his the corners of his mouth pulled into an easy smirk while his hands went to rest in his jacket pocket, no one dared to breath a word of it.
“It’s the opposite of what you’re thinking, so don’t flatter yourself.” Marinette rushed to say, hands fiddling with the strap of her satchel purse in a nervous tick. Stop fidgeting, Marinette.
“Then just tell me already, and I’ll stop pesterin’ you.” His expression said ‘asshole’ but his tone of voice gave away his own curiosity. The lilt in his voice almost reminded her of the different side of Adrien Agreste she had witnessed yesterday, .
Her thoughts immediately softened as she briefly recalled how bashful that Adrien was. She wished he would act like that all the time so he would at least form better relationships with the people in their class (and maybe even her).
Marinette really did like that side of him much better than the front he put up.
Maybe if I tell him now, he’ll—
Loud, harsh laughter that came from within the classroom bombarded her eardrums, disrupting her train of thought. Following the sharp noise was a series of indecipherable conversations that sounded like words of disproval.
Albeit it was muffled, the heroine knew just who the laugh belonged to, and what the sounds of refute meant.
“If I tell you, than you have to promise not to speak to me in class about it. I think Chloe would have a fit if she saw me talking to you like this.” Upon hearing the voices of her classmates resonate from inside the room, Marinette decided it would be best to just tell him now so she wouldn’t catch more hell for it later.
God knows I’m already in enough trouble, I don’t need more from a certain someone.
“You shouldn’t give two shits about what she thinks, but I’ll take the deal.” Adrien nodded, straightening up again. There was a small look of boyish triumph relaying across his face, and Marinette couldn’t help but think he looked scruffily cute.
His scowl may make him look handsome, but when he is not trying to scare everyone he almost looks normal.
“Since you want to know so bad, I’ll just say it outright.” Marinette breathed in a little, banishing the thoughts from her head all the while steeling herself from the laugh that was granted to follow the confession.
“I was just going to tell you that after what happened yesterday, I don’t think you’re such a bad person.” She quirked her mouth into a wry smile. “Quite the opposite, actually. It’s nice to know you have a sweet side.”
There. I said it.
Marinette peered earnestly at him with baited breath, waiting for him to let out an incredulous chuckle and maybe even scoff at her interpretation.
Instead, she was greeted with a completely deadpan expression.
Or rather, a face that attached to a male who didn’t know how to react.
Adrien absentmindedly took out his lighter and started fiddling with the cap, fingers ghosting over the ignition spring. It seemed like it was a nervous tick of his, or at least an action that indicated he was feeling unrestful. His green eyes, which were now partially shaded by his mess of gold hair, shifted away from her face and to something in the distance behind her, but Marinette didn’t sense anyone approaching them.
“You didn’t think I was capable of being nice up until then, huh?” Adrien said after a good long moment of deliberation. “Interesting.” He almost appeared upset by the revelation.
Was he upset with her over that? Really??
“What do you mean? I meant it as a compliment, sense you always seem so…you know, you do have a reputation of upsetting anyone who talks to you besides your clique.” In her defense, his people skills were not the best in world, or at least from what she has seen so far. On top of that, the bad choices he makes does not really help the kind of impression people get when they see him and know about what he has done through rumors spread around.
Adrien merely shrugged, grunting with what she surmised to be a half-assed noise of agreement.
“I guess you’re right.”
“I was trying to compliment you, Adrien, I swear.”
“I get it, dammit. You don’t have to keep saying that.
“I just don’t want you to misunderstand.”
“Hm, Gotcha toots.” He wasn’t even looking at her by then, but instead began to turn away even though their classroom was right there.
Oh no, he’s pissed.
Marinette bit her lip, perplexed but also slightly annoyed at how he took her intended compliment. Yeah, she guessed it was a little rude for someone of is personality, but he couldn’t really deny it either. Plus, he got offended a bit too easily for someone of his background (seriously, what is his deal?).
As Adrien started to walk away, a package of cigarettes already in his hand, Marinette called out to him.
“Where are you going?” She asked, despite the obvious.
“To smoke.” He didn’t even pause, or look at her.
“But class is right here. You need to check in with Mrs. Bustier.” Even Marinette felt silly for her flimsy excuse to continue their previous conversation as she said it, and Adrien wasn’t going to hear it.
“Oh fuckin’ well, she can wait. See yah later, darlin’.” His voice carried over the sound of a door behind her opening, but the female didn’t even flinch when she felt the door bump her in the hip. Everything happened so fast, Marinette didn’t even know what to think.
“Oooh~ Adrikins! I knew I heard your voice out here! Wait up!” Chloe cooed in a honey-sweet voice, blatantly pushing Marinette aside to chase after his receding figure. She watched the very short skirt Chloe had on wave in the breeze she created as she caught up to him, latching onto his arm like some parasite.
How fitting. Marinette thought gloomily. For Chloe to show up and make me feel worse with just her presence.
She continued to feel strangely disappointed even as she entered the classroom and was greeted warmly by her friends, the interaction she had with Adrien replaying over and over in her head for the rest of the lunch hour.
I never said they would get along like old pals immediately. They’re still young and dumb, and Adrien won’t be like an under-sensitive greaser. He has feelings too, and Marinette is known to say the wrong things to people *cough*like all the time in the show*cough*. Anyways, expect stuff and pining in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!
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Closter Nj Real Estate Office
Have a robust potential buyers record
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Let's have a look at.
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proper-liberal · 6 years
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Optimal Housing Tax Policies: Part 1
For years, I have been thinking about how housing tax policies by the multiple levels of government affect house prices across Canada, but specifically on the City of Vancouver (CoV), Metro Vancouver (MVan) and the Province of British Columbia (BC). 
In Part 1, I plan to list out all of the various housing policies that I can think of that are relevant for the housing market in these jurisdictions with an explainer on what the policies are for. Some of the housing policies will be applicable to Toronto (TO), the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and the Province of Ontario (ON). Part 2 will be about my recommendations for each policy! But to make sense of it, you should read Part 1 first. 
Let’s begin with the easy stuff that seems totally normal because we’ve all grown up with these laws and think they have always been there (but the reality is they were all enacted with some intended purpose, which of course has been long forgotten and is no longer relevant). I will source, what I think are decent, definitions from the interweb (mostly wikipedia!) where necessary with my own modifications.
First up:
1) Property Tax - “A property tax is an ad valorem [based on value] tax on the value of a property, usually levied on real estate. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located.” 
Pretty self-explanatory. Everyone who uses property (aka every human, except the homeless) pays directly or indirectly (renters for example) property tax to the municipal and provincial governments. Property tax rates are broken down into sub-categories that are used for funding specific services. For example, in the City of Vancouver, there “mill rate” (aka the property tax rate per $1,000 of “assessed value”) is made up of the following sub-categories: General Purpose Levy, Provincial School levy, Translink Levy (MVan’s mass transit system), BC Assessment levy, Metro Vancouver levy and Municipal Financing Authority levy. These six levies total up to a mill rate of $2.55489 per $1,000 of assessed value. That means, if you have a $1,000,000 home in the CoV, the property tax will be $2,554.89. (http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/residential.aspx). 
It’s important to note that different cities and provinces and states fund different services from property taxes, which makes it harder to compare mill rates across different regions. For example, Seattle’s mill rate is about $10.10 per $1,000 in assessed value, or nearly 4x that of the CoV. But Washington State likely has lower State Income Tax than BC does, making them less comparable.
All real property types pay property taxes. However, since owners of, say, office towers don’t vote in local elections, the burden of taxation is heavily weighed upon commercial users of property and away from residential users, who happen to care a lot more about how much they pay in property taxes and will vote in their own self-interest. But too high of property taxes on commercial property, such as retail, office and industrial, can and does lead to higher vacancy rates as businesses close down and find lower cost jurisdictions to establish in. The landlords are still liable for property tax even if they have no tenants to derive income from to pay the tax. 
2) Goods and Services Tax (GST) that are levied on newly completed or significantly refurbished housing units.
Many people find out the hard way that when they buy a residential housing unit, whether a condo or a new house, the Federal government of Canada (GoC) levies a 5% tax on the contracted purchase price between the developer and the buyer. This can often leave the myopic people in a bind as completion approaches if they haven’t saved enough to pay the 5% levy. 
It’s important to note that “substantially refurbished” units technically are liable for GST levies, but there is ambiguity on what the definition of “substantially refurbished” is. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) probably prefers to keep it vaguely worded so they can apply the tax at their discretion. 
In BC, there is a 36% GST rebate (36% * 5% = 1.8% off, so a total of 3.2% of purchase price) on housing units below $350,000. The scale slides from 36% to 0% rebate on properties above $450,000. Anything above $450,000 is levied the full 5%. 
In Ontario, the GST was replaced with the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) and has its own system with rebates that I’m not aware of. 
3) Property Transfer Tax (PTT)
As the name suggests, the PTT is a tax on the value of the property when the title is transferred from the seller to the buyer. The buyer is liable for the PTT. In other jurisdictions, they call it Land Transfer Tax (ON), or Stamp Duty (UK, HK, Singapore, Australia). 
In BC, the PTT is a progressive tax that is based on the contract price of the Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA) between the buyer and seller. First Time Buyers (FTB) who buy housing units below $475,000 are exempt from PTT with a sliding scale to $500,000, above which the full PTT is charged. Newly built homes below $750,000 don’t have PTT because the buyer has to pay GST. There are some other exemptions for newly built homes (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/property-taxes/property-transfer-tax/exemptions/newly-built-home-exemption)
The PTT is calculated with these thresholds:
1% on the portion of the price under $200,000
2% on the portion of the price between $200,000 and $2,000,000
3% on the portion of the price between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000
5% on the portion of the price over $3,000,000
For example, a $799,000 condo would be $13,980 ($2,000 + $599,000 * 2%)
Here’s a calculator: https://www.bcrealestatelawyers.com/ptt-calculator/
The recent BC NDP budget added the 5% band on above $3,000,000 housing units. 
4) Development Cost Charges (DCC) and Community Amenity Contributions (CAC)
These two types of charges are specifically for new developments in MVan municipalities. DCCs are governed by the Metro Vancouver Regional District, the entity that organizes the drainage and sewerage system across the region. The DCCs go towards covering the cost of integrating newly developed housing units into the drainage and sewer systems. DCCs are a fixed cost per unit, which are higher for homes than apartments. Also, the Fraser Valley has much higher DCCs than the Vancouver ones, probably because the density north of the river allows for economy of scale, and the system south of the river requires massive investment. The DCCs will be increasing effective May 1, 2018. http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/liquid-waste/consultations/development-cost-charge-program/Pages/default.aspx
Community Amenity Contributions, on the other hand, are “in-kind or cash contributions provided by property developers when City Council grants development rights through rezoning,” as per the City of Vancouver’s website. The CACs go towards: parks, libraries, childcare facilities, community centres, transportation services, cultural facilities, and neighbourhood houses (social housing). CACs are different in various parts of the city and municipalities, meaning some parts of the city have higher costs to develop than other, holding everything else equal. For example, if a developer wants to rezone for a 6-storey building in the Cambie Corridor, they would have to pay to the CoV $68 psf of “net additional” square feet. This cost gets directly passed onto the future consumer of the properties being developed.
Here is the link: http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/community-amenity-contributions.aspx
5) Home Ownership Grant (HOG) and Property Tax Deferral Program
The Home Ownership Grant provides a subsidy of $570 off of each property tax bill for people who live in their principal residence. There is an extra $275 grant for seniors (over 65) and other grants for disabled people. To qualify for the HOG, you must be a Canadian citizen, be the registered owner of the home. 
As properties in BC have risen in value over the years, the government of the day continues to raise the threshold on which the housing units no longer qualify for the HOG. For example, in 2015, the threshold was $1.2m, meaning people with their principal residences below the threshold qualified for the HOG. But in 2016, there was an outcry because house prices in MVan rose so much that the threshold was raised by 33% to $1.6m. Yes, in Metro Vancouver, millionaires, whose wealth rose in the year by up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, cried to the government that it was unfair that they should have to pay $570 in property tax. Of course, the renters, lacking in political power and knowledge of what’s happening with the HOG, receive zero benefit but do have to shoulder some of the increased property tax cost, as owners of rental units don’t receive the HOG and thus just recover it from renters through raising rent when possible. Here’s the link: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/property-taxes/annual-property-tax/reduce/home-owner-grant/regular
The Property Tax Deferral Program is an old program that was set up in a by-gone era when more than 20% of seniors lived in poverty (today it’s like 6%-8% in BC - and even lower for homeowners). The political compromise was that people over the age of 55 were eligible to defer the property taxes due each year at an interest rate set each year (currently 1.2% plus $60 fee for first year, $10 per annum thereafter). Effectively, the deferral program can be renewed each year until the housing unit is sold or is no longer the principal residence. Taxpayers of BC are protected because a restrictive lien is placed on the title of the land, meaning the housing unit can’t be sold until the debt is paid. Here is the link: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/property-taxes/annual-property-tax/defer-taxes/regular-program
6) Foreign Buyers Tax (FBT)
The FBT was brought in abruptly on July 25, 2016, and effective one week later by the BC Liberal government. It applied a 15% (now 20%) ad valorem tax for foreign national, foreign corporation or taxable trustee if the property being acquired was in Metro Vancouver. The BC NDP government expanded the areas to the Capital Regional District (Victoria), Nanaimo Regional District, Fraser Valley Regional District and the Regional District of Central Okanagan. 
It is a tax on top of the PTT (mentioned above) and GST (mentioned above) for new builds. So, a foreign national buying a new build condo in Downtown Vancouver would have to pay 20% + 5% + 2% = 27% of tax on top of the contract price. This compares to 5% for British Columbians, 7% for British Columbians buying a place valued above $750,000, and 7% for numbered BC companies (holdcos) owned by British Columbians. There are some exemptions for the FBT. Here’s the link: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/property-taxes/property-transfer-tax/understand/additional-property-transfer-tax
7) City of Vancouver’s Empty Home Tax (EHT)
The City of Vancouver has had an extremely low vacancy rate for many years now, which is a significant contributor to the “Housing Crisis” in the region. The EHT was brought in by City Council in 2016 and is to be paid for the first time in 2018. The idea of this tax is to discourage people who own second homes in the City of Vancouver from holding them empty for more than 6 months of the year, and to encourage them to put their units up for rent. The tax rate is 1% of assessed value. 
The City required every housing unit owner (principal and rentals) to “declare” if the housing unit is their principal residence, or if it is leased to a tenant. The deadline was early February 2018, but was extended to March for people who didn’t realize the deadline was approaching. The administration costs to set up the EHT was $7.5m, and it is estimated that it will cost $2.5m annually to continue the tax. The amount levied in the first year is between $17m and $30m from 1,200 to 2,300 (depending on the result of disputing the tax). The highest amount levied was $250,000 on an empty home. Here’s the link: http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/empty-homes-tax.aspx
In this post, I’m concentrating on tax policies that affect the housing market while purposely leaving out the controversial so-called “Speculation Tax” because I wrote a whole blog post on it previously. And in Part 2, I will address each of these policies listed above. Nevertheless, the recent BC NDP budget provided a long list of non-tax policies that could and probably should be addressed in another blog post. Here’s the link to the “Homes of BC” document from the Budget: http://bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2018/homesbc/2018_Homes_For_BC.pdf
Cheers for now.
0 notes
careergrowthblog · 7 years
Text
Tackle Workload. This bandwagon actually matters.
Image: Business Horse Power
Everyone is talking about workload and rightly so.  It’s even becoming a line of enquiry for inspections.  The folk up at Wizard of O HQ are banging on about it – because they are the new Good Guys –  and Headteachers now have an extra incentive to make sure they are doing something.  This time, happily, this bandwagon is something we can all agree is necessary.  Even though real terms budget cuts mean schools have fewer admin staff to make people’s lives easier and teachers have MaxPlus timetable loadings and bigger classes – making workload potentially harder to manage – there is still plenty that we can do.
Some workload issues require a major culture shift; some simply need us to rebalance the trade-off between the benefits of autonomy  and the benefits of working collaboratively within an agreed system; others need us to stop doing certain things altogether.
Here are some workload reduction approaches you might want to consider:
Marking
Change marking expectations explicitly and publicly.  Change all the language around marking  to feedback.  Make it clear that only specific pieces of work will be teacher marked.  Keep the marking very lean and very selective.  Introduce whole-class feedback as the default method replacing teacher red pen in books and don’t make your book scrutinies into marking-checks.  They are for looking at standards and progress.
During testing periods – like mock exams – cut back on the scale of each exam and be clear that test marking will replace other forms of marking during that period.
Remember – the learning impact of marking is very very low. If your main reason for maintaining an intense marking culture is parental expectations, then just tell them you’re changing things and explain why.
Planning
In my view, there is way too much duplication of effort across schools – and the nation (See this Reinventing the Wheel post).  If you are taking workload seriously you can make a big difference – and support setting standards – by making sure that every unit of work has one central scheme of work with one set of default resources: questions, reading, worksheets, slides etc. This then provides everyone with a backbone to deviate from if they choose to; if they have time.  But – it means that, at any time, you can use the standard materials without having to create anything extra most of the time.
For this to work, because teachers often don’t like using other people’s stuff, you need to produce as much of this as you can collaboratively with everyone contributing and, thus, developing important curriculum design skills.  Agree on the format and standards and don’t be too precious about sharing or about using materials other people have produced.   If you invest in this this year, it will make future years so much easier, replacing the culture of teachers scrabbling around making their own resources, making tests, planning good learning sequences etc.  This should all be there for you, allowing you to focus on how to deliver the lessons.
Reports
This is simple:  Ditch writing subject comments.  It’s a massive, massive workload burden with very little gain in terms of learning – alongside all the nonsense of creating ‘meaningful’ comments and the tedious, laborious proof-reading that is required.   If you do one overall tutor comment per year and report all subject progress through codes and grades, it cuts workload massively.  My son’s schools did this last year; it worked well. The Head wrote to explain and that was that.  It makes total sense.
Forms
Every time you make pro forma and think – it will only take a minute – multiply that by 100 and then ask whether you really need the information.  Are you asking because you genuinely want the information or is it really a form of control.  Keep information requests to an absolute minimum in the most streamlined format.
Duties
I don’t think schools can run safely without teachers doing duties. It’s always going to be part of the deal.  However, I recommend that staff consider switching to duty weeks instead of weekly duties.  I have used this system in some previous schools and staff were very positive about it.  Duty weeks generate a rota where you do a duty every day for a week – thus making plans to allow that to be a focus – but then do no duties at all in the other weeks.  Give it some thought.
  Data
The answer here is: Cut it right back.  You just do not need to collect so much data centrally at departmental level or whole-school level.  My challenge:  if you halved the number of data drops, what difference would it make?  Do it – try it – and see if you really, really need more data to know what is going on with students.
Meetings
Make every meeting count. One meeting per week can feel difficult to achieve if you factor in parents’ evenings, open days and all the rest – but it isn’t so much the number of meetings as the quality of them.  I suggest that most meetings should be designed around collaborative planning and CPD – and that’s about it.  Of course there is a need for open-ended discussion and for sharing information but most meetings should help to reduce workload by being productive rather than adding to it by leaving everyone with a list of tasks and no time.
I wish I had followed some of Andy Buck’s advise from Leadership Matters – having more meetings standing up, quickly agreeing a plan and then using the time saved to do the actions. Avoid dustbin syndrome:  setting an hour aside for a meeting and then filling it.
Always live type notes and minutes during a meeting. It’s so easy to do and saves hours of faffing afterwards.
Protect Tutors
Ever been a form tutor?  It’s busy.   I remember the old days of collecting trip money but there is still a lot to do, especially if there is a programme of PSHE or reading to support and tutors have a role in backing up behaviour and rewards systems.  Alongside the day-to-day attendance monitoring and pastoral care, that’s about enough isn’t it? So, if you hear some say ‘we could get tutors to do it’, just stop them. They’re already busy.  There is a graveyard of failed initiatives across the system that have relied on tutors finding magic minutes.
Emails
Teachers  like freedom and trust when it comes to emails – but this needs to be balanced against workload.  I think email systems should have a gate-keeper who has a workload reduction brief.  Allstaff emails should only be sent by a small group – perhaps including the Head , a couple of deputies, the business manager and staff association rep?  This means you don’t get bombarded and you can control the culture about emails that require quick responses.   Personally, I prefer to manage my email when I want to in my own time – but I recognise sending emails out of office hours can be seen as stress-inducing. I think this needs serious consideration . Email traffic can be ludicrous and tackling it is a good place to look.
Cover
I imagine that most schools have moved toward a ‘rarely cover’ situation.  If not, then that is certainly the way to go. Aim for Zero Cover.  We’ve come a long way since the days of checking the cover board daily.
However, there is still scope for staff to help each other and the SLT to balance a healthy ‘family first’ culture, opportunities for CPD and keeping the cover budget under control.  This requires agreeing to cover each other on a reciprocal basis to oil the wheels of the system.  If you always expect supply cover, it simply means that fewer things can happen – because the money isn’t there.  In terms of workload, I find that it is much easier to liaise with a colleague than to set cover work and pick up the pieces after a lesson that has had supply cover.
And then there are these things:
It’s worth looking at this and holding O to their word.
Tackle Workload. This bandwagon actually matters. published first on http://ift.tt/2uVElOo
0 notes
careergrowthblog · 7 years
Text
Tackle Workload. This bandwagon actually matters.
Image: Business Horse Power
Everyone is talking about workload and rightly so.  It’s even becoming a line of enquiry for inspections.  The folk up at Wizard of O HQ are banging on about it – because they are the new Good Guys –  and Headteachers now have an extra incentive to make sure they are doing something.  This time, happily, this bandwagon is something we can all agree is necessary.  Even though real terms budget cuts mean schools have fewer admin staff to make people’s lives easier and teachers have MaxPlus timetable loadings and bigger classes – making workload potentially harder to manage – there is still plenty that we can do.
Some workload issues require a major culture shift; some simply need us to rebalance the trade-off between the benefits of autonomy  and the benefits of working collaboratively within an agreed system; others need us to stop doing certain things altogether.
Here are some workload reduction approaches you might want to consider:
Marking
Change marking expectations explicitly and publicly.  Change all the language around marking  to feedback.  Make it clear that only specific pieces of work will be teacher marked.  Keep the marking very lean and very selective.  Introduce whole-class feedback as the default method replacing teacher red pen in books and don’t make your book scrutinies into marking-checks.  They are for looking at standards and progress.
During testing periods – like mock exams – cut back on the scale of each exam and be clear that test marking will replace other forms of marking during that period.
Remember – the learning impact of marking is very very low. If your main reason for maintaining an intense marking culture is parental expectations, then just tell them you’re changing things and explain why.
Planning
In my view, there is way too much duplication of effort across schools – and the nation (See this Reinventing the Wheel post).  If you are taking workload seriously you can make a big difference – and support setting standards – by making sure that every unit of work has one central scheme of work with one set of default resources: questions, reading, worksheets, slides etc. This then provides everyone with a backbone to deviate from if they choose to; if they have time.  But – it means that, at any time, you can use the standard materials without having to create anything extra most of the time.
For this to work, because teachers often don’t like using other people’s stuff, you need to produce as much of this as you can collaboratively with everyone contributing and, thus, developing important curriculum design skills.  Agree on the format and standards and don’t be too precious about sharing or about using materials other people have produced.   If you invest in this this year, it will make future years so much easier, replacing the culture of teachers scrabbling around making their own resources, making tests, planning good learning sequences etc.  This should all be there for you, allowing you to focus on how to deliver the lessons.
Reports
This is simple:  Ditch writing subject comments.  It’s a massive, massive workload burden with very little gain in terms of learning – alongside all the nonsense of creating ‘meaningful’ comments and the tedious, laborious proof-reading that is required.   If you do one overall tutor comment per year and report all subject progress through codes and grades, it cuts workload massively.  My son’s schools did this last year; it worked well. The Head wrote to explain and that was that.  It makes total sense.
Forms
Every time you make pro forma and think – it will only take a minute – multiply that by 100 and then ask whether you really need the information.  Are you asking because you genuinely want the information or is it really a form of control.  Keep information requests to an absolute minimum in the most streamlined format.
Duties
I don’t think schools can run safely without teachers doing duties. It’s always going to be part of the deal.  However, I recommend that staff consider switching to duty weeks instead of weekly duties.  I have used this system in some previous schools and staff were very positive about it.  Duty weeks generate a rota where you do a duty every day for a week – thus making plans to allow that to be a focus – but then do no duties at all in the other weeks.  Give it some thought.
  Data
The answer here is: Cut it right back.  You just do not need to collect so much data centrally at departmental level or whole-school level.  My challenge:  if you halved the number of data drops, what difference would it make?  Do it – try it – and see if you really, really need more data to know what is going on with students.
Meetings
Make every meeting count. One meeting per week can feel difficult to achieve if you factor in parents’ evenings, open days and all the rest – but it isn’t so much the number of meetings as the quality of them.  I suggest that most meetings should be designed around collaborative planning and CPD – and that’s about it.  Of course there is a need for open-ended discussion and for sharing information but most meetings should help to reduce workload by being productive rather than adding to it by leaving everyone with a list of tasks and no time.
I wish I had followed some of Andy Buck’s advise from Leadership Matters – having more meetings standing up, quickly agreeing a plan and then using the time saved to do the actions. Avoid dustbin syndrome:  setting an hour aside for a meeting and then filling it.
Always live type notes and minutes during a meeting. It’s so easy to do and saves hours of faffing afterwards.
Protect Tutors
Ever been a form tutor?  It’s busy.   I remember the old days of collecting trip money but there is still a lot to do, especially if there is a programme of PSHE or reading to support and tutors have a role in backing up behaviour and rewards systems.  Alongside the day-to-day attendance monitoring and pastoral care, that’s about enough isn’t it? So, if you hear some say ‘we could get tutors to do it’, just stop them. They’re already busy.  There is a graveyard of failed initiatives across the system that have relied on tutors finding magic minutes.
Emails
Teachers  like freedom and trust when it comes to emails – but this needs to be balanced against workload.  I think email systems should have a gate-keeper who has a workload reduction brief.  Allstaff emails should only be sent by a small group – perhaps including the Head , a couple of deputies, the business manager and staff association rep?  This means you don’t get bombarded and you can control the culture about emails that require quick responses.   Personally, I prefer to manage my email when I want to in my own time – but I recognise sending emails out of office hours can be seen as stress-inducing. I think this needs serious consideration . Email traffic can be ludicrous and tackling it is a good place to look.
Cover
I imagine that most schools have moved toward a ‘rarely cover’ situation.  If not, then that is certainly the way to go. Aim for Zero Cover.  We’ve come a long way since the days of checking the cover board daily.
However, there is still scope for staff to help each other and the SLT to balance a healthy ‘family first’ culture, opportunities for CPD and keeping the cover budget under control.  This requires agreeing to cover each other on a reciprocal basis to oil the wheels of the system.  If you always expect supply cover, it simply means that fewer things can happen – because the money isn’t there.  In terms of workload, I find that it is much easier to liaise with a colleague than to set cover work and pick up the pieces after a lesson that has had supply cover.
And then there are these things:
It’s worth looking at this and holding O to their word.
Tackle Workload. This bandwagon actually matters. published first on http://ift.tt/2uVElOo
0 notes
careergrowthblog · 7 years
Text
Tackle Workload. This bandwagon actually matters.
Image: Business Horse Power
Everyone is talking about workload and rightly so.  It’s even becoming a line of enquiry for inspections.  The folk up at Wizard of O HQ are banging on about it – because they are the new Good Guys –  and Headteachers now have an extra incentive to make sure they are doing something.  This time, happily, this bandwagon is something we can all agree is necessary.  Even though real terms budget cuts mean schools have fewer admin staff to make people’s lives easier and teachers have MaxPlus timetable loadings and bigger classes – making workload potentially harder to manage – there is still plenty that we can do.
Some workload issues require a major culture shift; some simply need us to rebalance the trade-off between the benefits of autonomy  and the benefits of working collaboratively within an agreed system; others need us to stop doing certain things altogether.
Here are some workload reduction approaches you might want to consider:
Marking
Change marking expectations explicitly and publicly.  Change all the language around marking  to feedback.  Make it clear that only specific pieces of work will be teacher marked.  Keep the marking very lean and very selective.  Introduce whole-class feedback as the default method replacing teacher red pen in books and don’t make your book scrutinies into marking-checks.  They are for looking at standards and progress.
During testing periods – like mock exams – cut back on the scale of each exam and be clear that test marking will replace other forms of marking during that period.
Remember – the learning impact of marking is very very low. If your main reason for maintaining an intense marking culture is parental expectations, then just tell them you’re changing things and explain why.
Planning
In my view, there is way too much duplication of effort across schools – and the nation (See this Reinventing the Wheel post).  If you are taking workload seriously you can make a big difference – and support setting standards – by making sure that every unit of work has one central scheme of work with one set of default resources: questions, reading, worksheets, slides etc. This then provides everyone with a backbone to deviate from if they choose to; if they have time.  But – it means that, at any time, you can use the standard materials without having to create anything extra most of the time.
For this to work, because teachers often don’t like using other people’s stuff, you need to produce as much of this as you can collaboratively with everyone contributing and, thus, developing important curriculum design skills.  Agree on the format and standards and don’t be too precious about sharing or about using materials other people have produced.   If you invest in this this year, it will make future years so much easier, replacing the culture of teachers scrabbling around making their own resources, making tests, planning good learning sequences etc.  This should all be there for you, allowing you to focus on how to deliver the lessons.
Reports
This is simple:  Ditch writing subject comments.  It’s a massive, massive workload burden with very little gain in terms of learning – alongside all the nonsense of creating ‘meaningful’ comments and the tedious, laborious proof-reading that is required.   If you do one overall tutor comment per year and report all subject progress through codes and grades, it cuts workload massively.  My son’s schools did this last year; it worked well. The Head wrote to explain and that was that.  It makes total sense.
Forms
Every time you make pro forma and think – it will only take a minute – multiply that by 100 and then ask whether you really need the information.  Are you asking because you genuinely want the information or is it really a form of control.  Keep information requests to an absolute minimum in the most streamlined format.
Duties
I don’t think schools can run safely without teachers doing duties. It’s always going to be part of the deal.  However, I recommend that staff consider switching to duty weeks instead of weekly duties.  I have used this system in some previous schools and staff were very positive about it.  Duty weeks generate a rota where you do a duty every day for a week – thus making plans to allow that to be a focus – but then do no duties at all in the other weeks.  Give it some thought.
  Data
The answer here is: Cut it right back.  You just do not need to collect so much data centrally at departmental level or whole-school level.  My challenge:  if you halved the number of data drops, what difference would it make?  Do it – try it – and see if you really, really need more data to know what is going on with students.
Meetings
Make every meeting count. One meeting per week can feel difficult to achieve if you factor in parents’ evenings, open days and all the rest – but it isn’t so much the number of meetings as the quality of them.  I suggest that most meetings should be designed around collaborative planning and CPD – and that’s about it.  Of course there is a need for open-ended discussion and for sharing information but most meetings should help to reduce workload by being productive rather than adding to it by leaving everyone with a list of tasks and no time.
I wish I had followed some of Andy Buck’s advise from Leadership Matters – having more meetings standing up, quickly agreeing a plan and then using the time saved to do the actions. Avoid dustbin syndrome:  setting an hour aside for a meeting and then filling it.
Always live type notes and minutes during a meeting. It’s so easy to do and saves hours of faffing afterwards.
Protect Tutors
Ever been a form tutor?  It’s busy.   I remember the old days of collecting trip money but there is still a lot to do, especially if there is a programme of PSHE or reading to support and tutors have a role in backing up behaviour and rewards systems.  Alongside the day-to-day attendance monitoring and pastoral care, that’s about enough isn’t it? So, if you hear some say ‘we could get tutors to do it’, just stop them. They’re already busy.  There is a graveyard of failed initiatives across the system that have relied on tutors finding magic minutes.
Emails
Teachers  like freedom and trust when it comes to emails – but this needs to be balanced against workload.  I think email systems should have a gate-keeper who has a workload reduction brief.  Allstaff emails should only be sent by a small group – perhaps including the Head , a couple of deputies, the business manager and staff association rep?  This means you don’t get bombarded and you can control the culture about emails that require quick responses.   Personally, I prefer to manage my email when I want to in my own time – but I recognise sending emails out of office hours can be seen as stress-inducing. I think this needs serious consideration . Email traffic can be ludicrous and tackling it is a good place to look.
Cover
I imagine that most schools have moved toward a ‘rarely cover’ situation.  If not, then that is certainly the way to go. Aim for Zero Cover.  We’ve come a long way since the days of checking the cover board daily.
However, there is still scope for staff to help each other and the SLT to balance a healthy ‘family first’ culture, opportunities for CPD and keeping the cover budget under control.  This requires agreeing to cover each other on a reciprocal basis to oil the wheels of the system.  If you always expect supply cover, it simply means that fewer things can happen – because the money isn’t there.  In terms of workload, I find that it is much easier to liaise with a colleague than to set cover work and pick up the pieces after a lesson that has had supply cover.
And then there are these things:
It’s worth looking at this and holding O to their word.
Tackle Workload. This bandwagon actually matters. published first on http://ift.tt/2uVElOo
0 notes
careergrowthblog · 7 years
Text
Tackle Workload. This bandwagon actually matters.
Image: Business Horse Power
Everyone is talking about workload and rightly so.  It’s even becoming a line of enquiry for inspections.  The folk up at Wizard of O HQ are banging on about it – because they are the new Good Guys –  and Headteachers now have an extra incentive to make sure they are doing something.  This time, happily, this bandwagon is something we can all agree is necessary.  Even though real terms budget cuts mean schools have fewer admin staff to make people’s lives easier and teachers have MaxPlus timetable loadings and bigger classes – making workload potentially harder to manage – there is still plenty that we can do.
Some workload issues require a major culture shift; some simply need us to rebalance the trade-off between the benefits of autonomy  and the benefits of working collaboratively within an agreed system; others need us to stop doing certain things altogether.
Here are some workload reduction approaches you might want to consider:
Marking
Change marking expectations explicitly and publicly.  Change all the language around marking  to feedback.  Make it clear that only specific pieces of work will be teacher marked.  Keep the marking very lean and very selective.  Introduce whole-class feedback as the default method replacing teacher red pen in books and don’t make your book scrutinies into marking-checks.  They are for looking at standards and progress.
During testing periods – like mock exams – cut back on the scale of each exam and be clear that test marking will replace other forms of marking during that period.
Remember – the learning impact of marking is very very low. If your main reason for maintaining an intense marking culture is parental expectations, then just tell them you’re changing things and explain why.
Planning
In my view, there is way too much duplication of effort across schools – and the nation (See this Reinventing the Wheel post).  If you are taking workload seriously you can make a big difference – and support setting standards – by making sure that every unit of work has one central scheme of work with one set of default resources: questions, reading, worksheets, slides etc. This then provides everyone with a backbone to deviate from if they choose to; if they have time.  But – it means that, at any time, you can use the standard materials without having to create anything extra most of the time.
For this to work, because teachers often don’t like using other people’s stuff, you need to produce as much of this as you can collaboratively with everyone contributing and, thus, developing important curriculum design skills.  Agree on the format and standards and don’t be too precious about sharing or about using materials other people have produced.   If you invest in this this year, it will make future years so much easier, replacing the culture of teachers scrabbling around making their own resources, making tests, planning good learning sequences etc.  This should all be there for you, allowing you to focus on how to deliver the lessons.
Reports
This is simple:  Ditch writing subject comments.  It’s a massive, massive workload burden with very little gain in terms of learning – alongside all the nonsense of creating ‘meaningful’ comments and the tedious, laborious proof-reading that is required.   If you do one overall tutor comment per year and report all subject progress through codes and grades, it cuts workload massively.  My son’s schools did this last year; it worked well. The Head wrote to explain and that was that.  It makes total sense.
Forms
Every time you make pro forma and think – it will only take a minute – multiply that by 100 and then ask whether you really need the information.  Are you asking because you genuinely want the information or is it really a form of control.  Keep information requests to an absolute minimum in the most streamlined format.
Duties
I don���t think schools can run safely without teachers doing duties. It’s always going to be part of the deal.  However, I recommend that staff consider switching to duty weeks instead of weekly duties.  I have used this system in some previous schools and staff were very positive about it.  Duty weeks generate a rota where you do a duty every day for a week – thus making plans to allow that to be a focus – but then do no duties at all in the other weeks.  Give it some thought.
  Data
The answer here is: Cut it right back.  You just do not need to collect so much data centrally at departmental level or whole-school level.  My challenge:  if you halved the number of data drops, what difference would it make?  Do it – try it – and see if you really, really need more data to know what is going on with students.
Meetings
Make every meeting count. One meeting per week can feel difficult to achieve if you factor in parents’ evenings, open days and all the rest – but it isn’t so much the number of meetings as the quality of them.  I suggest that most meetings should be designed around collaborative planning and CPD – and that’s about it.  Of course there is a need for open-ended discussion and for sharing information but most meetings should help to reduce workload by being productive rather than adding to it by leaving everyone with a list of tasks and no time.
I wish I had followed some of Andy Buck’s advise from Leadership Matters – having more meetings standing up, quickly agreeing a plan and then using the time saved to do the actions. Avoid dustbin syndrome:  setting an hour aside for a meeting and then filling it.
Always live type notes and minutes during a meeting. It’s so easy to do and saves hours of faffing afterwards.
Protect Tutors
Ever been a form tutor?  It’s busy.   I remember the old days of collecting trip money but there is still a lot to do, especially if there is a programme of PSHE or reading to support and tutors have a role in backing up behaviour and rewards systems.  Alongside the day-to-day attendance monitoring and pastoral care, that’s about enough isn’t it? So, if you hear some say ‘we could get tutors to do it’, just stop them. They’re already busy.  There is a graveyard of failed initiatives across the system that have relied on tutors finding magic minutes.
Emails
Teachers  like freedom and trust when it comes to emails – but this needs to be balanced against workload.  I think email systems should have a gate-keeper who has a workload reduction brief.  Allstaff emails should only be sent by a small group – perhaps including the Head , a couple of deputies, the business manager and staff association rep?  This means you don’t get bombarded and you can control the culture about emails that require quick responses.   Personally, I prefer to manage my email when I want to in my own time – but I recognise sending emails out of office hours can be seen as stress-inducing. I think this needs serious consideration . Email traffic can be ludicrous and tackling it is a good place to look.
Cover
I imagine that most schools have moved toward a ‘rarely cover’ situation.  If not, then that is certainly the way to go. Aim for Zero Cover.  We’ve come a long way since the days of checking the cover board daily.
However, there is still scope for staff to help each other and the SLT to balance a healthy ‘family first’ culture, opportunities for CPD and keeping the cover budget under control.  This requires agreeing to cover each other on a reciprocal basis to oil the wheels of the system.  If you always expect supply cover, it simply means that fewer things can happen – because the money isn’t there.  In terms of workload, I find that it is much easier to liaise with a colleague than to set cover work and pick up the pieces after a lesson that has had supply cover.
And then there are these things:
It’s worth looking at this and holding O to their word.
Tackle Workload. This bandwagon actually matters. published first on http://ift.tt/2uVElOo
0 notes
careergrowthblog · 7 years
Text
Tackle Workload. This bandwagon actually matters.
Image: Business Horse Power
Everyone is talking about workload and rightly so.  It’s even becoming a line of enquiry for inspections.  The folk up at Wizard of O HQ are banging on about it – because they are the new Good Guys –  and Headteachers now have an extra incentive to make sure they are doing something.  This time, happily, this bandwagon is something we can all agree is necessary.  Even though real terms budget cuts mean schools have fewer admin staff to make people’s lives easier and teachers have MaxPlus timetable loadings and bigger classes – making workload potentially harder to manage – there is still plenty that we can do.
Some workload issues require a major culture shift; some simply need us to rebalance the trade-off between the benefits of autonomy  and the benefits of working collaboratively within an agreed system; others need us to stop doing certain things altogether.
Here are some workload reduction approaches you might want to consider:
Marking
Change marking expectations explicitly and publicly.  Change all the language around marking  to feedback.  Make it clear that only specific pieces of work will be teacher marked.  Keep the marking very lean and very selective.  Introduce whole-class feedback as the default method replacing teacher red pen in books and don’t make your book scrutinies into marking-checks.  They are for looking at standards and progress.
During testing periods – like mock exams – cut back on the scale of each exam and be clear that test marking will replace other forms of marking during that period.
Remember – the learning impact of marking is very very low. If your main reason for maintaining an intense marking culture is parental expectations, then just tell them you’re changing things and explain why.
Planning
In my view, there is way too much duplication of effort across schools – and the nation (See this Reinventing the Wheel post).  If you are taking workload seriously you can make a big difference – and support setting standards – by making sure that every unit of work has one central scheme of work with one set of default resources: questions, reading, worksheets, slides etc. This then provides everyone with a backbone to deviate from if they choose to; if they have time.  But – it means that, at any time, you can use the standard materials without having to create anything extra most of the time.
For this to work, because teachers often don’t like using other people’s stuff, you need to produce as much of this as you can collaboratively with everyone contributing and, thus, developing important curriculum design skills.  Agree on the format and standards and don’t be too precious about sharing or about using materials other people have produced.   If you invest in this this year, it will make future years so much easier, replacing the culture of teachers scrabbling around making their own resources, making tests, planning good learning sequences etc.  This should all be there for you, allowing you to focus on how to deliver the lessons.
Reports
This is simple:  Ditch writing subject comments.  It’s a massive, massive workload burden with very little gain in terms of learning – alongside all the nonsense of creating ‘meaningful’ comments and the tedious, laborious proof-reading that is required.   If you do one overall tutor comment per year and report all subject progress through codes and grades, it cuts workload massively.  My son’s schools did this last year; it worked well. The Head wrote to explain and that was that.  It makes total sense.
Forms
Every time you make pro forma and think – it will only take a minute – multiply that by 100 and then ask whether you really need the information.  Are you asking because you genuinely want the information or is it really a form of control.  Keep information requests to an absolute minimum in the most streamlined format.
Duties
I don’t think schools can run safely without teachers doing duties. It’s always going to be part of the deal.  However, I recommend that staff consider switching to duty weeks instead of weekly duties.  I have used this system in some previous schools and staff were very positive about it.  Duty weeks generate a rota where you do a duty every day for a week – thus making plans to allow that to be a focus – but then do no duties at all in the other weeks.  Give it some thought.
  Data
The answer here is: Cut it right back.  You just do not need to collect so much data centrally at departmental level or whole-school level.  My challenge:  if you halved the number of data drops, what difference would it make?  Do it – try it – and see if you really, really need more data to know what is going on with students.
Meetings
Make every meeting count. One meeting per week can feel difficult to achieve if you factor in parents’ evenings, open days and all the rest – but it isn’t so much the number of meetings as the quality of them.  I suggest that most meetings should be designed around collaborative planning and CPD – and that’s about it.  Of course there is a need for open-ended discussion and for sharing information but most meetings should help to reduce workload by being productive rather than adding to it by leaving everyone with a list of tasks and no time.
I wish I had followed some of Andy Buck’s advise from Leadership Matters – having more meetings standing up, quickly agreeing a plan and then using the time saved to do the actions. Avoid dustbin syndrome:  setting an hour aside for a meeting and then filling it.
Always live type notes and minutes during a meeting. It’s so easy to do and saves hours of faffing afterwards.
Protect Tutors
Ever been a form tutor?  It’s busy.   I remember the old days of collecting trip money but there is still a lot to do, especially if there is a programme of PSHE or reading to support and tutors have a role in backing up behaviour and rewards systems.  Alongside the day-to-day attendance monitoring and pastoral care, that’s about enough isn’t it? So, if you hear some say ‘we could get tutors to do it’, just stop them. They’re already busy.  There is a graveyard of failed initiatives across the system that have relied on tutors finding magic minutes.
Emails
Teachers  like freedom and trust when it comes to emails – but this needs to be balanced against workload.  I think email systems should have a gate-keeper who has a workload reduction brief.  Allstaff emails should only be sent by a small group – perhaps including the Head , a couple of deputies, the business manager and staff association rep?  This means you don’t get bombarded and you can control the culture about emails that require quick responses.   Personally, I prefer to manage my email when I want to in my own time – but I recognise sending emails out of office hours can be seen as stress-inducing. I think this needs serious consideration . Email traffic can be ludicrous and tackling it is a good place to look.
Cover
I imagine that most schools have moved toward a ‘rarely cover’ situation.  If not, then that is certainly the way to go. Aim for Zero Cover. ��We’ve come a long way since the days of checking the cover board daily.
However, there is still scope for staff to help each other and the SLT to balance a healthy ‘family first’ culture, opportunities for CPD and keeping the cover budget under control.  This requires agreeing to cover each other on a reciprocal basis to oil the wheels of the system.  If you always expect supply cover, it simply means that fewer things can happen – because the money isn’t there.  In terms of workload, I find that it is much easier to liaise with a colleague than to set cover work and pick up the pieces after a lesson that has had supply cover.
And then there are these things:
It’s worth looking at this and holding O to their word.
Tackle Workload. This bandwagon actually matters. published first on http://ift.tt/2uVElOo
0 notes
careergrowthblog · 7 years
Text
Tackle Workload. This bandwagon actually matters.
Image: Business Horse Power
Everyone is talking about workload and rightly so.  It’s even becoming a line of enquiry for inspections.  The folk up at Wizard of O HQ are banging on about it – because they are the new Good Guys –  and Headteachers now have an extra incentive to make sure they are doing something.  This time, happily, this bandwagon is something we can all agree is necessary.  Even though real terms budget cuts mean schools have fewer admin staff to make people’s lives easier and teachers have MaxPlus timetable loadings and bigger classes – making workload potentially harder to manage – there is still plenty that we can do.
Some workload issues require a major culture shift; some simply need us to rebalance the trade-off between the benefits of autonomy  and the benefits of working collaboratively within an agreed system; others need us to stop doing certain things altogether.
Here are some workload reduction approaches you might want to consider:
Marking
Change marking expectations explicitly and publicly.  Change all the language around marking  to feedback.  Make it clear that only specific pieces of work will be teacher marked.  Keep the marking very lean and very selective.  Introduce whole-class feedback as the default method replacing teacher red pen in books and don’t make your book scrutinies into marking-checks.  They are for looking at standards and progress.
During testing periods – like mock exams – cut back on the scale of each exam and be clear that test marking will replace other forms of marking during that period.
Remember – the learning impact of marking is very very low. If your main reason for maintaining an intense marking culture is parental expectations, then just tell them you’re changing things and explain why.
Planning
In my view, there is way too much duplication of effort across schools – and the nation (See this Reinventing the Wheel post).  If you are taking workload seriously you can make a big difference – and support setting standards – by making sure that every unit of work has one central scheme of work with one set of default resources: questions, reading, worksheets, slides etc. This then provides everyone with a backbone to deviate from if they choose to; if they have time.  But – it means that, at any time, you can use the standard materials without having to create anything extra most of the time.
For this to work, because teachers often don’t like using other people’s stuff, you need to produce as much of this as you can collaboratively with everyone contributing and, thus, developing important curriculum design skills.  Agree on the format and standards and don’t be too precious about sharing or about using materials other people have produced.   If you invest in this this year, it will make future years so much easier, replacing the culture of teachers scrabbling around making their own resources, making tests, planning good learning sequences etc.  This should all be there for you, allowing you to focus on how to deliver the lessons.
Reports
This is simple:  Ditch writing subject comments.  It’s a massive, massive workload burden with very little gain in terms of learning – alongside all the nonsense of creating ‘meaningful’ comments and the tedious, laborious proof-reading that is required.   If you do one overall tutor comment per year and report all subject progress through codes and grades, it cuts workload massively.  My son’s schools did this last year; it worked well. The Head wrote to explain and that was that.  It makes total sense.
Forms
Every time you make pro forma and think – it will only take a minute – multiply that by 100 and then ask whether you really need the information.  Are you asking because you genuinely want the information or is it really a form of control.  Keep information requests to an absolute minimum in the most streamlined format.
Duties
I don’t think schools can run safely without teachers doing duties. It’s always going to be part of the deal.  However, I recommend that staff consider switching to duty weeks instead of weekly duties.  I have used this system in some previous schools and staff were very positive about it.  Duty weeks generate a rota where you do a duty every day for a week – thus making plans to allow that to be a focus – but then do no duties at all in the other weeks.  Give it some thought.
  Data
The answer here is: Cut it right back.  You just do not need to collect so much data centrally at departmental level or whole-school level.  My challenge:  if you halved the number of data drops, what difference would it make?  Do it – try it – and see if you really, really need more data to know what is going on with students.
Meetings
Make every meeting count. One meeting per week can feel difficult to achieve if you factor in parents’ evenings, open days and all the rest – but it isn’t so much the number of meetings as the quality of them.  I suggest that most meetings should be designed around collaborative planning and CPD – and that’s about it.  Of course there is a need for open-ended discussion and for sharing information but most meetings should help to reduce workload by being productive rather than adding to it by leaving everyone with a list of tasks and no time.
I wish I had followed some of Andy Buck’s advise from Leadership Matters – having more meetings standing up, quickly agreeing a plan and then using the time saved to do the actions. Avoid dustbin syndrome:  setting an hour aside for a meeting and then filling it.
Always live type notes and minutes during a meeting. It’s so easy to do and saves hours of faffing afterwards.
Protect Tutors
Ever been a form tutor?  It’s busy.   I remember the old days of collecting trip money but there is still a lot to do, especially if there is a programme of PSHE or reading to support and tutors have a role in backing up behaviour and rewards systems.  Alongside the day-to-day attendance monitoring and pastoral care, that’s about enough isn’t it? So, if you hear some say ‘we could get tutors to do it’, just stop them. They’re already busy.  There is a graveyard of failed initiatives across the system that have relied on tutors finding magic minutes.
Emails
Teachers  like freedom and trust when it comes to emails – but this needs to be balanced against workload.  I think email systems should have a gate-keeper who has a workload reduction brief.  Allstaff emails should only be sent by a small group – perhaps including the Head , a couple of deputies, the business manager and staff association rep?  This means you don’t get bombarded and you can control the culture about emails that require quick responses.   Personally, I prefer to manage my email when I want to in my own time – but I recognise sending emails out of office hours can be seen as stress-inducing. I think this needs serious consideration . Email traffic can be ludicrous and tackling it is a good place to look.
Cover
I imagine that most schools have moved toward a ‘rarely cover’ situation.  If not, then that is certainly the way to go. Aim for Zero Cover.  We’ve come a long way since the days of checking the cover board daily.
However, there is still scope for staff to help each other and the SLT to balance a healthy ‘family first’ culture, opportunities for CPD and keeping the cover budget under control.  This requires agreeing to cover each other on a reciprocal basis to oil the wheels of the system.  If you always expect supply cover, it simply means that fewer things can happen – because the money isn’t there.  In terms of workload, I find that it is much easier to liaise with a colleague than to set cover work and pick up the pieces after a lesson that has had supply cover.
And then there are these things:
It’s worth looking at this and holding O to their word.
Tackle Workload. This bandwagon actually matters. published first on http://ift.tt/2uVElOo
0 notes