Overallsis in the Employer Insurance Industry

Overalls

overalls

LOVEDAY GROWS MYSTERIOUS

A LADY-LIKE RECREATION

Business English: A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . PRONUNCIATION here PRONUNCIATION We are judged by our speech. If we clip syllables, run words together, or pronounce them incorrectly, we shall merit the criticism of being careless or even ignorant. Yet clear enunciation and correct pronunciation are sometimes difficult. We learn most words by hearing others say them, and, if we do not hear the true values given to the different syllables, we shall find it hard to distinguish the correct from the incorrect forms. Children whose parents speak a foreign language usually have to watch their speech with especial care; Germans, for example, find difficulty in saying and Irish people in saying as in . The exercises in this chapter are given for the purpose of correcting such habits. The words in the exercises should be pronounced repeatedly, until the correct forms are instinctive. th oi oil Train the ear to hear the difference between sounds, as in and in . Don't slide over the final consonant in such words as and . Watch words containing . The dictionary tells us that was originally written , the coming before the and we still pronounce it so, although we write the before the . The word is of the same kind. The dictionary tells us that it was first spelled . Such words should be carefully noted and their pronunciation practiced. just jest going reading wh where hwar h w; w h whether hweder Then there is the habit of slurring syllables. We may understand what is meant by the expression "C'm' on" or "Waja say?", but most of us would prefer not to be included in the class of people who use either. Correct speech cannot be mastered without an effort. In the following exercises watch every vowel and every consonant so that you may give each one its full value. Exercise 10—Diacritical Marks Although an is always written , it is not always given the same quality or length of sound. When we discover a new word, it is important that we know exactly the quality to give each of the vowels in it. For this purpose have been invented. They are illustrated in the following list from Webster's . a a diacritical marks International Dictionary Due to the constraints of HTML, a letter with a tack above such as cannot be displayed. For this reason [+x] has been used to denote a letter with a tack above it. Transcriber's Note: ā as in āte, fāte, lāb´or [+a] " " sen´[+a]te, del´ic[+a]te, [+a]e´rial â " " câre, shâre, pâr´ent ă " " ăm, ădd, răn´dom ä " " ärm, fär, fä´ther ȧ " " ȧsk, grȧss, pȧss, dȧnce a̠ " " fi´na̠l, in´fa̠nt, guid´ānce a̤ " " a̤ll, a̤we, swa̤rm, ta̤lk ē " " ēve, mēte, serēne´ [+e] " " [+e]vent´, d[+e]pend´, soci´[+e]ty ĕ " " ĕnd, mĕt, ĕxcuse´, ĕfface´ ẽ " " fẽrn, hẽr, ẽr´mine, ev´ẽr e " " re´c nt, de´c ncy, pru´d nce e e e ī " " īce, tīme, sīght, inspīre´ [+i] " " [+i]dea´, tr[+i]bu´nal, b[+i]ol´ogy ĭ " " ĭll, pĭn, pĭt´y, admĭt´ ō " " ōld, nōte, ō´ver, prōpose´ [+o] " " [+o]bey´, t[+o]bac´co, sor´r[+o]w ô " " ôrb, lôrd, ôr´der, abhôr´ ŏ " " ŏdd, nŏt, tŏr´rid, ŏccur´ ū " " ūse, pūre, dū´ty, assūme´ [+u] " " [+u]nite´, ac´t[+u]ate, ed[+u]ca´tion ṳ " " rṳde, rṳ´mor, intrṳde´ ụ " " fụll, pụt, fụlfill´ ŭ " " ŭp, tŭb, stŭd´y û " " ûrn, fûr, concûr´ y̆ " " pit´y̆, in´jury̆, divin´ity̆ o͞o " " fo͞ol, fo͞od, mo͞on o͝o " " fo͝ot, wo͝ol, bo͝ok ou " " out, thou, devour´ oi " " oil, noi´sy, avoid´ ā is called long , and is marked with the a macron ă is called short , and is marked with the a breve â is called caret , and is marked with the a caret ä is called Italian , and is marked with the a diaeresis ȧ is called short Italian , and is marked with the a dot ẽ is called tilde , and is marked with the or e tilde wave Exercise 11—Vowels Of the twenty-six letters in the alphabet, how many are vowels? Name them. What are the other letters called? Compare the in and the in . Which has more nearly the sound of in the alphabet? This is called the natural or long sound of the vowel. The other is called the short sound. ă hat ā hate a Drop the from . Explain the result. e hate Name other monosyllables ending in and containing the long sound. e a Explain the difference in pronunciation between , , , , , , , . Pete pet ripe rip hope hop cube cub Find other monosyllables ending in and containing a long vowel that becomes short if the is dropped. e e Monosyllables ending in silent usually contain a long vowel sound, which becomes short when the final is dropped.\Exercise 12 e e Pronounce carefully the following words containing the short Italian a: advȧnce clȧss lȧnce plȧster advȧntage contrȧst lȧst pȧstor ȧfter enchȧnt mȧsk prȧnce bȧsket Frȧnce mȧster rȧfter brȧnch glȧnce mȧstiff shȧft brȧss glȧss pȧss surpȧss chȧff grȧss pȧst tȧsk Exercise 13 Pronounce the following carefully, noting each that is marked: a hälf ideȧ cälm audācious pȧth cȧn't āpricot ȧghȧst ȧsk cătch mȧdrăs ălgebrȧ fäther v[+a]cātion ăgile forbăde dȧnce extrȧ cȧst trȧnce lȧss cȧsket grȧnt āviātion Exercise 14 Pronounce the vowel in the following very carefully. Don't give the sound or when you mean . o feller fella fellow fellow swallow theory borrow potato follow position heroism window original factory donkey pillow evaporate ivory memory chocolate mosquito licorice oriental Exercise 15 The vowel needs particular attention. When it is long, it is sounded naturally, as it is in the alphabet. Do not say for . u redooce reduce reduce picture educate figure produce stupid judicial duty conducive student calculate accumulate endure genuine curiosity Tuesday duration induce regular particular singular avenue tune institute nutriment constitution culinary January revenue introduce opportunity manufacture Exercise 16 Using diacritical marks indicate the value of the vowels in the following. Try marking them without first consulting a dictionary. After you have marked them, compare your markings with those used in a dictionary. pupil different diacritical gigantic alphabet several radiating gymnasium natural letter Wyoming system result eraser typical merchant Exercise 17 Pronounce carefully, noting that in each word at least one consonant is silent, and sometimes a vowel as well. Draw an oblique line through the silent letter or letters in each. through chasten sword island although often fasten daughter wrong soften calf might yacht subtle hasten bouquet gnaw almond naughty honest psalm glisten thumb palm whistle salve should knack salmon chestnut knowledge castle answer folks listen thigh knot right debt honor Exercise 18 Pronounce the following, paying particular attention to the vowels. Distinguish between the meanings of the words in each group. accept bile least prevision except boil lest provision affect carol eleven poor effect coral leaven pure addition descent neither radish edition dissent nether reddish assay emerge pasture sentry essay immerge pastor century baron Francis pillar sit barren Frances pillow set been jest point wrench bean just pint rinse gist Exercise 19 Enunciate the consonant sounds carefully in the following. Distinguish between the meanings of the words in each group. acts close treaties rows ax clothes treatise rouse advice crossed princes rues advise across princess ruse alms formerly prince either elms formally prints ether bodice grays price running bodies grace prize ruin cease lose recent walking seize loose resent walk in chance plaintive sects weather chants plaintiff sex whether does pair news worst dose payer noose worsted (yarn) doze Exercise 20 Pronounce the following, making sure that each syllable is correct. Guard against slurring the words in the last column. been such barrel Did you? gone put faucet Don't you? to with suburb Go on. for tiny hearth Our education aunt and nothing You are far poem office You're not our catch peril We're coming kept toward forbade They're coming says donkey spirit What did you say? rid again semi Where are you going? since against scared Where have you been? sleek honest saucy I want to go. creek savage turnip I'm going to go. where swept roof To-morrow morning boil velvet proof Next month hoist direct hydrant Last Saturday Exercise 21 Enunciate carefully: salary gentleman supple gymnasium because library subtle perspiration ideal wrestle italic clapboards suite vessel insect cupboard thirty friendship orchid archangel tomato judgment hovel candelabra grimy cowardice several extraordinary patron miserable pumpkin civilization omelet guarantee accurate horseshoe hundred gelatine guardian laboratory coupon glycerine delinquent tenacious awkward paraffine secretary measure hurrah portrait audacious February pigeon mercantile conquer cellar history juvenile conquest perfect diamond thousand congress grandmother asylum overalls licorice generally Exercise 22 Be especially careful of the sounds and . Add no syllable to a word and omit none. Consult a dictionary for any word below about which you are not certain: th wh when length diphthong generally where strength diphtheria forget while height anesthetic recognize wharf width betrothal hungry which depth theory geography wheel there theme instead wheeze them arithmetic isolated why eleventh bathe writing whiff twelfth lathe kettle whence thought believe language whet throat bronchitis leisure what wreaths government volume whale paths courteous column wheat months different always wheedle mouths engine once whelp myths English twice whimper breadths surprise arctic whip moths deaf Italian whit bath children picture whither earth cruel often Exercise 23—Homonyms A homonym is a word having the same sound as another but differing from it in meaning. Use each of the following in a sentence to show its meaning. aloud draft fowl principal allowed draught foul principle ascent faint gate peal assent feint gait peel aught canvas great quire ought canvass grate choir bad cereal hew seen bade serial hue scene bale cession kernel soul bail session colonel sole berry cite leased strait bury site least straight boy coarse lesser stair buoy course lessor stare by compliment mite sweet buy complement might suite council feign miner there counsel fain minor their current flour need wood currant flower knead would Exercise 24 Do the same with the following: aisle clause kill sail isle claws kiln sale awl climb key ring all clime quay wring base draught lie serge bass draft lye surge blew dew medal sole blue due meddle soul bough done peer shone bow dun pier shown bread dual pore steel bred duel pour steal bear flue profit stationary bare flew prophet stationery bridal freeze quarts wade bridle frieze quartz weighed capital guilt rest wave capitol gilt wrest waive ceiling heard root wrap sealing herd route rap Exercise 25—Syllabication What is a syllable? Choose a word and notice that every vowel sound in it makes a syllable. Therefore, you never have two vowels in one syllable unless the two are pronounced as one sound. In pronouncing notice carefully to which syllable a consonant belongs; as in , , . dif-fer-ent beau-ti-fy dai-sy Divide the following words into syllables. If you cannot decide with which syllable a consonant belongs, consult a dictionary. paper grocer rotate mystery tomato erect repeat regular vinegar polish general arithmetic If a syllable, especially an accented syllable, ends in a vowel, what is usually the length of the vowel? If the syllable ends in a consonant, what is usually the length of the vowel of the syllable? When a consonant is doubled, the division is usually made between the two letters; as, blot-ter skip-ping remit-tance neces-sary throt-tle span-ning As a rule, a prefix constitutes one syllable; as, pro-long pre-fer con-stant de-fect ad-mit re-ceive se-lect dis-trust e-merge im-merse As a rule, a suffix constitutes one syllable; as, labor-er soft-ly beauti-fy selec-tion mole-cule revolution-ist percent-age fanat-ic When two or more letters together give one sound, they must not be divided; as, math-ematics ex-change paragraph-ing abolish-ing bow-ing toil-ing nation-al gra-cious Can a word of one syllable be divided? Do not divide a syllable of one letter from the rest of the word. The division is wrong. ever-y Exercise 26 Divide the following words into syllables, using the suggestions given in the preceding exercise: accountant dissatisfaction manufacturer reference advertisement economy material repeatedly anecdote employment mechanical salesman annually energetic neighborhood security application environment occupation separate automobile especially opportunity signature beginning establishment organized specification collection expenditure permanent stenography comparison factory preparation suburban competent furniture president superintend confirmation illustration quotation systematic consequence impression realize telephone correspondence improvement receptacle treasurer counterfeit judgment recognition unanimous customer machinist recommend unusual Exercise 27—Accent What is accent? Divide into syllables, indicate the accent, and pronounce the following: expand volume defect interesting mischievous usually incomparable theatre exquisite tedious hospitable generally column inquiry impious In the following words the meaning changes with the accent. Use each word in a sentence to show its meaning. ob´ject subject contrast desert ob-ject´ insult protest extract tor´ment essay conflict compact tor-ment´ transfer compound survey minute (notice the vowel change) refuse (notice the consonant change) Bring to class a list of words that you have heard mispronounced in your classes. Be sure that you can pronounce them correctly. Exercise 28 The following words are frequently mispronounced. Divide them into syllables, mark the accent, and pronounce carefully. municipal exquisite champion accurately interesting gondola inquiry Genoa influence finance inexplicable alias illustrate deficit despicable expert inventory pretense mischievous impious alternate dirigible perfume detail About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Rose Buhlig (2011). Business English: A Practice Book. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/38046/pg38046-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

We are judged by our speech

DOES THE RACE OF MAN LOVE A LORD?

Dedicated to Secret Headquarters in Los Angeles

SUSAN HAS A PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE

Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . The Way of Transgressors Chapter XIII - The Way of Transgressors Davy and Dora were ready for Sunday School. They were going alone, which did not often happen, for Mrs. Lynde always attended Sunday School. But Mrs. Lynde had twisted her ankle and was lame, so she was staying home this morning. The twins were also to represent the family at church, for Anne had gone away the evening before to spend Sunday with friends in Carmody, and Marilla had one of her headaches. Davy came downstairs slowly. Dora was waiting in the hall for him, having been made ready by Mrs. Lynde. Davy had attended to his own preparations. He had a cent in his pocket for the Sunday School collection, and a five-cent piece for the church collection; he carried his Bible in one hand and his Sunday School quarterly in the other; he knew his lesson and his Golden Text and his catechism question perfectly. Had he not studied them—perforce—in Mrs. Lynde’s kitchen, all last Sunday afternoon? Davy, therefore, should have been in a placid frame of mind. As a matter of fact, despite text and catechism, he was inwardly as a ravening wolf. Mrs. Lynde limped out of her kitchen as he joined Dora. “Are you clean?” she demanded severely. “Yes—all of me that shows,” Davy answered with a defiant scowl. Mrs. Rachel sighed. She had her suspicions about Davy’s neck and ears. But she knew that if she attempted to make a personal examination Davy would likely take to his heels and she could not pursue him today. “Well, be sure you behave yourselves,” she warned them. “Don’t walk in the dust. Don’t stop in the porch to talk to the other children. Don’t squirm or wriggle in your places. Don’t forget the Golden Text. Don’t lose your collection or forget to put it in. Don’t whisper at prayer time, and don’t forget to pay attention to the sermon.” Davy deigned no response. He marched away down the lane, followed by the meek Dora. But his soul seethed within. Davy had suffered, or thought he had suffered, many things at the hands and tongue of Mrs. Rachel Lynde since she had come to Green Gables, for Mrs. Lynde could not live with anybody, whether they were nine or ninety, without trying to bring them up properly. And it was only the preceding afternoon that she had interfered to influence Marilla against allowing Davy to go fishing with the Timothy Cottons. Davy was still boiling over this. As soon as he was out of the lane Davy stopped and twisted his countenance into such an unearthly and terrific contortion that Dora, although she knew his gifts in that respect, was honestly alarmed lest he should never in the world be able to get it straightened out again. “Darn her,” exploded Davy. “Oh, Davy, don’t swear,” gasped Dora in dismay. “‘Darn’ isn’t swearing—not real swearing. And I don’t care if it is,” retorted Davy recklessly. “Well, if you must say dreadful words don’t say them on Sunday,” pleaded Dora. Davy was as yet far from repentance, but in his secret soul he felt that, perhaps, he had gone a little too far. “I’m going to invent a swear word of my own,” he declared. “God will punish you if you do,” said Dora solemnly. “Then I think God is a mean old scamp,” retorted Davy. “Doesn’t He know a fellow must have some way of ’spressing his feelings?” “Davy!!!” said Dora. She expected that Davy would be struck down dead on the spot. But nothing happened. “Anyway, I ain’t going to stand any more of Mrs. Lynde’s bossing,” spluttered Davy. “Anne and Marilla may have the right to boss me, but she hasn’t. I’m going to do every single thing she told me not to do. You watch me.” In grim, deliberate silence, while Dora watched him with the fascination of horror, Davy stepped off the green grass of the roadside, ankle deep into the fine dust which four weeks of rainless weather had made on the road, and marched along in it, shuffling his feet viciously until he was enveloped in a hazy cloud. “That’s the beginning,” he announced triumphantly. “And I’m going to stop in the porch and talk as long as there’s anybody there to talk to. I’m going to squirm and wriggle and whisper, and I’m going to say I don’t know the Golden Text. And I’m going to throw away both of my collections right now.” And Davy hurled cent and nickel over Mr. Barry’s fence with fierce delight. “Satan made you do that,” said Dora reproachfully. “He didn’t,” cried Davy indignantly. “I just thought it out for myself. And I’ve thought of something else. I’m not going to Sunday School or church at all. I’m going up to play with the Cottons. They told me yesterday they weren’t going to Sunday School today, ’cause their mother was away and there was nobody to make them. Come along, Dora, we’ll have a great time.” “I don’t want to go,” protested Dora. “You’ve got to,” said Davy. “If you don’t come I’ll tell Marilla that Frank Bell kissed you in school last Monday.” “I couldn’t help it. I didn’t know he was going to,” cried Dora, blushing scarlet. “Well, you didn’t slap him or seem a bit cross,” retorted Davy. “I’ll tell her that, too, if you don’t come. We’ll take the short cut up this field.” “I’m afraid of those cows,” protested poor Dora, seeing a prospect of escape. “The very idea of your being scared of those cows,” scoffed Davy. “Why, they’re both younger than you.” “They’re bigger,” said Dora. “They won’t hurt you. Come along, now. This is great. When I grow up I ain’t going to bother going to church at all. I believe I can get to heaven by myself.” “You’ll go to the other place if you break the Sabbath day,” said unhappy Dora, following him sorely against her will. But Davy was not scared—yet. Hell was very far off, and the delights of a fishing expedition with the Cottons were very near. He wished Dora had more spunk. She kept looking back as if she were going to cry every minute, and that spoiled a fellow’s fun. Hang girls, anyway. Davy did not say “darn” this time, even in thought. He was not sorry—yet—that he had said it once, but it might be as well not to tempt the Unknown Powers too far on one day. The small Cottons were playing in their back yard, and hailed Davy’s appearance with whoops of delight. Pete, Tommy, Adolphus, and Mirabel Cotton were all alone. Their mother and older sisters were away. Dora was thankful Mirabel was there, at least. She had been afraid she would be alone in a crowd of boys. Mirabel was almost as bad as a boy—she was so noisy and sunburned and reckless. But at least she wore dresses. “We’ve come to go fishing,” announced Davy. “Whoop,” yelled the Cottons. They rushed away to dig worms at once, Mirabel leading the van with a tin can. Dora could have sat down and cried. Oh, if only that hateful Frank Bell had never kissed her! Then she could have defied Davy, and gone to her beloved Sunday School. They dared not, of course, go fishing on the pond, where they would be seen by people going to church. They had to resort to the brook in the woods behind the Cotton house. But it was full of trout, and they had a glorious time that morning—at least the Cottons certainly had, and Davy seemed to have it. Not being entirely bereft of prudence, he had discarded boots and stockings and borrowed Tommy Cotton’s overalls. Thus accoutered, bog and marsh and undergrowth had no terrors for him. Dora was frankly and manifestly miserable. She followed the others in their peregrinations from pool to pool, clasping her Bible and quarterly tightly and thinking with bitterness of soul of her beloved class where she should be sitting that very moment, before a teacher she adored. Instead, here she was roaming the woods with those half-wild Cottons, trying to keep her boots clean and her pretty white dress free from rents and stains. Mirabel had offered the loan of an apron but Dora had scornfully refused. The trout bit as they always do on Sundays. In an hour the transgressors had all the fish they wanted, so they returned to the house, much to Dora’s relief. She sat primly on a hencoop in the yard while the others played an uproarious game of tag; and then they all climbed to the top of the pig-house roof and cut their initials on the saddleboard. The flat-roofed henhouse and a pile of straw beneath gave Davy another inspiration. They spent a splendid half hour climbing on the roof and diving off into the straw with whoops and yells. But even unlawful pleasures must come to an end. When the rumble of wheels over the pond bridge told that people were going home from church Davy knew they must go. He discarded Tommy’s overalls, resumed his own rightful attire, and turned away from his string of trout with a sigh. No use to think of taking them home. “Well, hadn’t we a splendid time?” he demanded defiantly, as they went down the hill field. “I hadn’t,” said Dora flatly. “And I don’t believe you had—really—either,” she added, with a flash of insight that was not to be expected of her. “I had so,” cried Davy, but in the voice of one who doth protest too much. “No wonder you hadn’t—just sitting there like a—like a mule.” “I ain’t going to, ’sociate with the Cottons,” said Dora loftily. “The Cottons are all right,” retorted Davy. “And they have far better times than we have. They do just as they please and say just what they like before everybody. I’m going to do that, too, after this.” “There are lots of things you wouldn’t dare say before everybody,” averred Dora. “No, there isn’t.” “There is, too. Would you,” demanded Dora gravely, “would you say ‘tomcat’ before the minister?” This was a staggerer. Davy was not prepared for such a concrete example of the freedom of speech. But one did not have to be consistent with Dora. “Of course not,” he admitted sulkily. “‘Tomcat’ isn’t a holy word. I wouldn’t mention such an animal before a minister at all.” “But if you had to?” persisted Dora. “I’d call it a Thomas pussy,” said Davy. “I think ‘gentleman cat’ would be more polite,” reflected Dora. “You thinking!” retorted Davy with withering scorn. Davy was not feeling comfortable, though he would have died before he admitted it to Dora. Now that the exhilaration of truant delights had died away, his conscience was beginning to give him salutary twinges. After all, perhaps it would have been better to have gone to Sunday School and church. Mrs. Lynde might be bossy; but there was always a box of cookies in her kitchen cupboard and she was not stingy. At this inconvenient moment Davy remembered that when he had torn his new school pants the week before, Mrs. Lynde had mended them beautifully and never said a word to Marilla about them. But Davy’s cup of iniquity was not yet full. He was to discover that one sin demands another to cover it. They had dinner with Mrs. Lynde that day, and the first thing she asked Davy was, “Were all your class in Sunday School today?” “Yes’m,” said Davy with a gulp. “All were there—’cept one.” “Did you say your Golden Text and catechism?” “Yes’m.” “Did you put your collection in?” “Yes’m.” “Was Mrs. Malcolm MacPherson in church?” “I don’t know.” This, at least, was the truth, thought wretched Davy. “Was the Ladies’ Aid announced for next week?” “Yes’m”—quakingly. “Was prayer-meeting?” “I—I don’t know.” “You should know. You should listen more attentively to the announcements. What was Mr. Harvey’s text?” Davy took a frantic gulp of water and swallowed it and the last protest of conscience together. He glibly recited an old Golden Text learned several weeks ago. Fortunately Mrs. Lynde now stopped questioning him; but Davy did not enjoy his dinner. He could only eat one helping of pudding. “What’s the matter with you?” demanded justly astonished Mrs. Lynde. “Are you sick?” “No,” muttered Davy. “You look pale. You’d better keep out of the sun this afternoon,” admonished Mrs. Lynde. “Do you know how many lies you told Mrs. Lynde?” asked Dora reproachfully, as soon as they were alone after dinner. Davy, goaded to desperation, turned fiercely. “I don’t know and I don’t care,” he said. “You just shut up, Dora Keith.” Then poor Davy betook himself to a secluded retreat behind the woodpile to think over the way of transgressors. Green Gables was wrapped in darkness and silence when Anne reached home. She lost no time going to bed, for she was very tired and sleepy. There had been several Avonlea jollifications the preceding week, involving rather late hours. Anne’s head was hardly on her pillow before she was half asleep; but just then her door was softly opened and a pleading voice said, “Anne.” Anne sat up drowsily. “Davy, is that you? What is the matter?” A white-clad figure flung itself across the floor and on to the bed. “Anne,” sobbed Davy, getting his arms about her neck. “I’m awful glad you’re home. I couldn’t go to sleep till I’d told somebody.” “Told somebody what?” “How mis’rubul I am.” “Why are you miserable, dear?” “’Cause I was so bad today, Anne. Oh, I was awful bad—badder’n I’ve ever been yet.” “What did you do?” “Oh, I’m afraid to tell you. You’ll never like me again, Anne. I couldn’t say my prayers tonight. I couldn’t tell God what I’d done. I was ’shamed to have Him know.” “But He knew anyway, Davy.” “That’s what Dora said. But I thought p’raps He mightn’t have noticed just at the time. Anyway, I’d rather tell you first.” “What is it you did?” Out it all came in a rush. “I run away from Sunday School—and went fishing with the Cottons—and I told ever so many whoppers to Mrs. Lynde—oh! ’most half a dozen—and—and—I—I said a swear word, Anne—a pretty near swear word, anyhow—and I called God names.” There was silence. Davy didn’t know what to make of it. Was Anne so shocked that she never would speak to him again? “Anne, what are you going to do to me?” he whispered. “Nothing, dear. You’ve been punished already, I think.” “No, I haven’t. Nothing’s been done to me.” “You’ve been very unhappy ever since you did wrong, haven’t you?” “You bet!” said Davy emphatically. “That was your conscience punishing you, Davy.” “What’s my conscience? I want to know.” “It’s something in you, Davy, that always tells you when you are doing wrong and makes you unhappy if you persist in doing it. Haven’t you noticed that?” “Yes, but I didn’t know what it was. I wish I didn’t have it. I’d have lots more fun. Where is my conscience, Anne? I want to know. Is it in my stomach?” “No, it’s in your soul,” answered Anne, thankful for the darkness, since gravity must be preserved in serious matters. “I s’pose I can’t get clear of it then,” said Davy with a sigh. “Are you going to tell Marilla and Mrs. Lynde on me, Anne?” “No, dear, I’m not going to tell any one. You are sorry you were naughty, aren’t you?” “You bet!” “And you’ll never be bad like that again.” “No, but—” added Davy cautiously, “I might be bad some other way.” “You won’t say naughty words, or run away on Sundays, or tell falsehoods to cover up your sins?” “No. It doesn’t pay,” said Davy. “Well, Davy, just tell God you are sorry and ask Him to forgive you.” “Have you forgiven me, Anne?” “Yes, dear.” “Then,” said Davy joyously, “I don’t care much whether God does or not.” “Davy!” “Oh—I’ll ask Him—I’ll ask Him,” said Davy quickly, scrambling off the bed, convinced by Anne’s tone that he must have said something dreadful. “I don’t mind asking Him, Anne.—Please, God, I’m awful sorry I behaved bad today and I’ll try to be good on Sundays always and please forgive me.—There now, Anne.” “Well, now, run off to bed like a good boy.” “All right. Say, I don’t feel mis’rubul any more. I feel fine. Good night.” “Good night.” Anne slipped down on her pillows with a sigh of relief. Oh—how sleepy—she was! In another second— “Anne!” Davy was back again by her bed. Anne dragged her eyes open. “What is it now, dear?” she asked, trying to keep a note of impatience out of her voice. “Anne, have you ever noticed how Mr. Harrison spits? Do you s’pose, if I practice hard, I can learn to spit just like him?” Anne sat up. “Davy Keith,” she said, “go straight to your bed and don’t let me catch you out of it again tonight! Go, now!” Davy went, and stood not upon the order of his going. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. L. M. Montgomery (2006). Anne of the Island. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/51/pg51-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html. The lead image was generated using HackerNoon's Stable Disffusion Al Image Generator feature, via the prompt "Anne of the Island".

The Way of Transgressors

Opportunities in Engineering by Charles M. Horton is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . WHAT CONSTITUTES ENGINEERING SUCCESS WHAT CONSTITUTES ENGINEERING SUCCESS A graduate of Cornell, in the class of '05, after placing away his diploma where it could not trouble him through suggestiveness, accepted a position with a large manufacturing concern in western Pennsylvania. He was twenty-three years old. He went into the shop to get the practical side of certain theories imposed upon his receptive nature through four long years of study in a mechanical-engineering course. The concern manufactured among other things steam-turbines, and this young man, having demonstrated in school his particular aptitude for thermodynamics—the study of heat and its units in its application to engines, and the like—entered the erecting department. Donning overalls, and with ordinary rule in his hip pocket—as against the slide-rule with which he had worked out his theoretical calculations during his college years—he went to work at whatever was assigned him as a task by his superiors—shop foremen, assistant superintendent, occasionally an engineer from the office. This young man did many things. He helped to assemble turbine parts; carried word of petty alterations to the proper officials: assisted in the work of making tests; made detailed reports on the machine's performance; screwed up and backed off nuts; in short, got very well acquainted with the steam-turbine as manufactured by this company. He knew the fundamentals of machine construction, and an understanding of the details of this particular type of turbine therefore came easy to him. He worked shop hours, carried his lunch in a box, changed his overalls every Monday like a veteran. Usually his overalls more than needed changing, because he was not afraid of the grease and grime with which he came into contact throughout the day. He liked the work and went to it like a dog to a bone. He was applying in a practical way what he had learned in college of a theoretical nature, and finding the thing of amazing interest. He made progress. In time his work was brought to the attention of the chief engineer, and one day, when the president of the company, who was also an inventor of national repute and responsible for the design of the turbine being manufactured by the organization, wanted to make certain bold changes in the design, the chief engineer sent for the young engineer whose work in college in thermodynamics had won for him certain honors, with the result that our hero found himself presently seated opposite the president at a table in the latter's office, engaged in working out calculations on his slide-rule—calculations beyond the powers of the president, because he was not a heavy theoretician. This call was a big advance indeed, for it marked him as a man of promise—a "comer"—in the concern. The president liked the ease with which the young engineer "got" him in the matter of the proposed changes, and quite before either realized it both were talking freely, exchanging ideas, in the field of turbine construction generally. The young man unconsciously was driving home the fact that he was a capable engineer, one who, while still lacking in broad experience, was nevertheless possessed of the proper attitude toward engineering as a whole to compel the interest and attention of his superior. 78 The young man eventually was sent out upon the road as an erecting man. In this work he discovered certain operating faults in the design, and, reporting these faults to the home office, observed that not a few were remedied in subsequent designs. He moved about the country from place to place, setting up and operating steam-turbines, until there came the blissful day when he was called back to join the engineering staff in work covering design. Laying aside his overalls, he emerged as a crisp young engineer in a linen collar and nifty cravat—although not till later did he don a cream-colored waistcoat—and thereafter his hours were seven instead of nine. With a desk and a stenographer he entered upon work of a somewhat statistical character. He followed the designs of rival companies as best he could through their advertising and articles covering their respective designs appearing in the technical journals, and about this time also applied for admission, and was granted it, in the foremost engineering society embracing his particular branch of the profession. He was still making progress. 79 Likewise, he was rapidly becoming an expert in the field of steam-turbines. His work in the shop, together with his experience on the road, both as an erecting man and operating engineer, had eminently fitted him for valuable service in the home office as an engineer overseeing design. His work in charge of design, where his knowledge of what had given service both good and bad in details of construction while he was in the field, was extremely valuable to the designer himself, was rapidly rounding him out as a steam-turbine man. His salary had gone up apace with his progress; he had met the right girl at a club dance in the suburban town where he had taken modest quarters; he was rapidly headed toward success both as an engineer and a citizen. He had been out of school probably six years, and was still a very young man, with all the world practically before him. 80 One day he was asked by the chief engineer of the concern to journey to New York, and read a paper before his engineering society at one of the regular annual meetings, on the subject of thermodynamics in its relation to the company's own product—the turbine. He tipped over his chair in his eagerness to get out of the office and on the train. He realized the importance of this opportunity. He was to appear before his fellow-engineers—the best and most capable and prominent in the profession—and to appear as an authority on his subject! The thing was another step forward. He prepared a paper, basing it on his six years' experience in steam-turbines, and when he reached New York had something of value to tell his brother engineers. The meeting was held in the afternoon, and, dressing for the part, he stepped out upon the platform before a gathering of some eight or nine hundred engineers and delivered himself of his subject with credit to himself and to his organization. Not only that. In the rebuttal, when engineers seated in the auditorium rose to confound him with questions—engineers representing rival turbine concerns—he proved himself quick at the bat and more than once confounded those who would confound him. 81 He was making his mark on the industrial times. His paper was reviewed in the technical journals and almost overnight our young hero found himself recognized as an authority in his chosen branch. He was sought out for other articles by technical editors, his associates in the home plant generously commended him for his work; his salary received another elevation; he called on the girl that night and had her set the date. Then he plugged for salvation—further knowledge as a turbine man—harder than ever. Having won the full confidence of the officials of the company by this time, he was given free voice in all matters having to do with the design of their product, and shortly after his first little boy was born was promoted to the position of assistant chief engineer. He served in this capacity for two years, and then, realizing that he had gone as far up in the organization as it was physically possible to go, owing to the fact that the chief engineer was the president's sister's husband—or something like that—he accepted an offer from one of the rival concerns manufacturing turbines and entered the organization as chief engineer at a salary too big to mention. Our young friend had at last arrived. 82 Yet his success was not quite complete, nor will it be complete, until he sets up, as he assuredly will some day, as a consulting engineer. When he at last does this, when he swings out his shingle to the breeze, he will then have attained to the maximum of possible success as an engineer. Already recognized as being possessed of a fine discrimination in matters of engineering moment, especially in thermodynamics as related to turbines, he has but gone up in channels early laid out for him, and indicated to him, in his college days. His direction even then was clearly marked. All he had to do, and all he did do, was to develop himself in this single direction. He did nothing that would be impossible to any other engineering graduate. Merely he hewed to the line—persisted in remaining in the one branch of the game—met with his reward in time just as any young man would meet with it. There was nothing of phenomenal character, nothing of the genius, revealed in what he did. His way is open to all. And it is a way both worthy and admirable, for to-day this engineer stands high in his profession and is meeting with financial reward in keeping with his position among engineers. 83 There you have in the tracing of one engineer's progress to success precisely what constitutes engineering success. The details may differ, but the principles and the rewards will be the same, whether you enter upon civil or mechanical or mining or electrical engineering. Success in engineering constitutes certain satisfactory money rewards and an even more satisfactory recognition by one's associates and fellows. Success in anything is that. A man must work for them, however. There never was and never will be a rainbow path to the heights. Toil and an abiding faith in one's own capabilities—these make for success. Success makes for happiness, and happiness, as everybody knows, is all there is to this life. 84 I wish all men happiness. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Charles M. Horton (2008). Opportunities in Engineering. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/24681/pg24681-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

WHAT CONSTITUTES ENGINEERING SUCCESS

Opportunities in Engineering by Charles M. Horton is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . ENGINEERING OPPORTUNITIES ENGINEERING OPPORTUNITIES The writer can best illustrate the opportunities for young men which exist in engineering by a little story. The story is true in every particular. Nor is the case itself exceptional. Men occupying high places everywhere in engineering, did they but tell their story, would repeat in substance what is set forth below. More than any other profession to-day, engineering holds out opportunities for young men possessing the requisite "will to success" and the physical stamina necessary to carry them forward to the goal. Opportunities in any walk of life are not all dead—not all in the past. A young man to-day can go as far as he wills. He can go farther on less capital invested in engineering than in any other profession—that's all. The young man's name was Smith. He was one of seven children—not the seventh son, either—in a poor family. At the age of sixteen he went to work in overalls on a section of railroad as a helper—outdoor, rough work. At seventeen he was transferred to the roundhouse; at nineteen he apprenticed himself to the machinist trade. Engineering? He did not know what it was, really. Merely he saw his way clear to earning a livelihood and went after it. He was miserably educated. His knowledge of mathematics embraced arithmetic up to fractions, at which point it faded off into blissful "nothingness"—as our New-Thoughtists say. But he had an inquiring mind and a proper will to succeed. While serving his three years in the shop he bought a course in a correspondence school and studied nights, taking up, among other things, the subject of mechanical drafting. When twenty-two years of age he applied for, and got, a position as draftsman in a small company developing a motorcycle. He was well on his way upward. He spent a year with this company. He learned much of value to him not only about mathematics, but about engineering as a whole as well. One day he decided that the field was restricted—at least, too much so for him—and he left and went with a Westinghouse organization in Pittsburgh. His salary was in the neighborhood of a hundred and ten dollars a month. He remained with the company two years as a designer, and then, having saved up sufficient funds to meet his needs, went to college, taking special work—physics and chemistry and mathematics. He remained in school two years. When he came out, instead of returning to the drafting-room and the theoretical end of the work, he donned overalls once more and went to work in the shop as an erecting man. Two years afterward he was chief operating engineer in a small cement-plant in the Southwest, his salary being three thousand dollars a year. A year of this and he returned East, at a salary of four thousand dollars a year, as operating engineer of a larger plant. Then came a better offer, with one of the largest, if not the very largest, steel-plants in the country, as superintendent of power, at a salary of five thousand dollars a year. When the war broke out, or rather when this country became involved in the war, my friend Smith, at a salary of ten thousand dollars a year, became associated with a staff of engineers brought together into a corporation manufacturing shells. And all before he was barely in his thirties! A young man still, what lies ahead of him can readily be surmised. Smith will follow engineering on salary until he is probably forty, when he will enter upon a consulting practice, and at fifty retire with sufficient money to keep him in comfort the remainder of his days. Nor will he be an exception, as I have stated in the opening paragraph. The profession is crowded with men who have worked up from equally humble beginnings. Indeed, one of the foremost efficiency engineers in the country to-day began as an apprentice in a foundry, while another, fully as well known in efficiency work, began life in the United States navy as a machinist's mate. Automobile engineers, whose names, many of them, are household words, in particular have gone big in the profession and from very obscure beginnings. It is not stretching the obvious to say that the majority of these men, had they entered upon any other work, would never have been heard from nor have attained to their present wealth and affluence. Smith was just one of many in a profession offering liberal opportunities. The opportunities still exist and in just as large a proportion as they ever existed. It remains but for the young man to decide. The profession itself, almost, will take care of him afterward. However, not all of our engineers have gone upward by the overalls route. Nor is it at all necessary to do this in order to attain to success. The high-school graduate, entering a college of engineering, has an equal chance. Some maintain that he has a better chance. Certain it is that he is better qualified to cope with the heavier theoretical problems which come up every day in the average engineer's work. There is a place for him, side by side with the practical man, and his knowledge will be everywhere respected and sought. But a combination of the theoretical and the practical, as has frequently been declared, makes for the complete engineer. Some get the practical side first and the theoretical side later; some get the theoretical side first and the practical side later. It matters little—save only that he who gets the practical side first is earning his way while getting it, while the man who goes to college is in the majority of cases being supported from outside sources while getting what he wants. But in the end it balances. Merely, the "full" engineer must have both. Having both, he has, literally, the world within his grasp. For engineering is—to repeat—the adapting of discoveries in science and art to the uses of mankind. And both art and science reflect and are drawn from Mother Nature. There is still a great scarcity of engineers. All branches feel the need—civil, mechanical, mining, chemical, automotive, electrical—the call goes out. It is a call just now, owing to the vast reconstruction period confronting the world, lifted in strident voice. Engineers everywhere are needed, which in part accounts for the liberal salaries offered for experienced men. The demand greatly exceeds the supply, and gives promise of exceeding it for a number of years to come. All manufacturing-plants, all mining enterprises, of which of both there are thousands upon thousands, utilize each from one to many hundreds of engineers. Some plants make use of three or four different kinds—mechanical, civil, electrical, industrial—some only one. But not a plant of any size but that has need for at least one engineer, and engineers are scarce. Therefore opportunities are ample. To the young man seeking a profession, provided he be of a certain type—possessed of certain inherent qualities, the nature of which I shall set forth in the following chapter—engineering offers satisfactory money returns and—more satisfactory still—a satisfactory life. The work is creative from beginning to end; it has to do frequently with movement—always a source of delight to mankind; a source having its beginnings in earliest infancy, and it is essentially a work of service. To build a bridge, to design an automatic machine, to locate and bring to the surface earth's wealth in minerals—surely this is service of a most gratifying kind. And it pays. The arts rarely pay; science always pays. And engineering being a science, a science in the pursuit of which also man is offered opportunities for the exercise of his creative instincts, like art, is therefore doubly gratifying as a life's work. I know—and it will bear repeating—no other profession that holds so much of bigness and of fullness of life generally. Engineers themselves reflect it. Usually robust, always active, generally optimistic, engineers as a group swing through life—and have swung through life from the beginnings of the profession—without thought of publicity, for instance, or need or desire for it. Their work alone engrossed their minds. It was enough—it is enough—and more. And that which is sufficient unto a man is Nirvana unto him—if he but knew it. Engineers seem to know it. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Charles M. Horton (2008). Opportunities in Engineering. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/24681/pg24681-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

ENGINEERING OPPORTUNITIES

The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . IN PESITA'S CAMP IN PESITA'S CAMP PESITA was a short, stocky man with a large, dark mustache. He attired himself after his own ideas of what should constitute the uniform of a general—ideas more or less influenced and modified by the chance and caprice of fortune. At the moment that Billy, Bridge, and Miguel were dragged into his presence his torso was enwrapped in a once resplendent coat covered with yards of gold braid. Upon his shoulders were brass epaulets such as are connected only in one's mind with the ancient chorus ladies of the light operas of fifteen or twenty years ago. Upon his legs were some rusty and ragged overalls. His feet were bare. He scowled ferociously at the prisoners while his lieutenant narrated the thrilling facts of their capture—thrilling by embellishment. “You are Americanos?” he asked of Bridge and Billy. Both agreed that they were. Then Pesita turned toward Miguel. “Where is Villa?” he asked. “How should I know, my general?” parried Miguel. “Who am I—a poor man with a tiny rancho—to know of the movements of the great ones of the earth? I did not even know where was the great General Pesita until now I am brought into his gracious presence, to throw myself at his feet and implore that I be permitted to serve him in even the meanest of capacities.” Pesita appeared not to hear what Miguel had said. He turned his shoulder toward the man, and addressed Billy in broken English. “You were on your way to El Orobo Rancho, eh? Are you acquainted there?” he asked. Billy replied that they were not—merely looking for employment upon an American-owned ranch or in an American mine. “Why did you leave your own country?” asked Pesita. “What do you want here in Mexico?” “Well, ol' top,” replied Billy, “you see de birds was flyin' south an' winter was in de air, an a fat-head dick from Chi was on me trail—so I ducks.” “Ducks?” queried Pesita, mystified. “Ah, the ducks—they fly south, I see.” “Naw, you poor simp—I blows,” explained Billy. “Ah, yes,” agreed Pesita, not wishing to admit any ignorance of plain American even before a despised gringo. “But the large-faced dick—what might that be? I have spend much time in the States, but I do not know that.” “I said 'fat-head dick'—dat's a fly cop,” Billy elucidated. “It is he then that is the bird.” Pesita beamed at this evidence of his own sagacity. “He fly.” “Flannagan ain't no bird—Flannagan's a dub.” Bridge came to the rescue. “My erudite friend means,” he explained, “that the police chased him out of the United States of America.” Pesita raised his eyebrows. All was now clear to him. “But why did he not say so?” he asked. “He tried to,” said Bridge. “He did his best.” “Quit yer kiddin',” admonished Billy. A bright light suddenly burst upon Pesita. He turned upon Bridge. “Your friend is not then an American?” he asked. “I guessed it. That is why I could not understand him. He speaks the language of the gringo less well even than I. From what country is he?” Billy Byrne would have asserted with some show of asperity that he was nothing if not American; but Bridge was quick to see a possible loophole for escape for his friend in Pesita's belief that Billy was no gringo, and warned the latter to silence by a quick motion of his head. “He's from 'Gran' Avenoo,'” he said. “It is not exactly in Germany; but there are a great many Germans there. My friend is a native, so he don't speak German or English either—they have a language of their own in 'Gran' Avenoo'.” “I see,” said Pesita—“a German colony. I like the Germans—they furnish me with much ammunition and rifles. They are my very good friends. Take Miguel and the gringo away”—this to the soldiers who had brought the prisoners to him—“I will speak further with this man from Granavenoo.” When the others had passed out of hearing Pesita addressed Billy. “I am sorry, senor,” he said, “that you have been put to so much inconvenience. My men could not know that you were not a gringo; but I can make it all right. I will make it all right. You are a big man. The gringos have chased you from their country as they chased me. I hate them. You hate them. But enough of them. You have no business in Mexico except to seek work. I give you work. You are big. You are strong. You are like a bull. You stay with me, senor, and I make you captain. I need men what can talk some English and look like gringo. You do fine. We make much money—you and I. We make it all time while we fight to liberate my poor Mexico. When Mexico liberate we fight some more to liberate her again. The Germans they give me much money to liberate Mexico, and—there are other ways of getting much money when one is riding around through rich country with soldiers liberating his poor, bleeding country. Sabe?” “Yep, I guess I savvy,” said Billy, “an' it listens all right to me's far's you've gone. My pal in on it?” “Eh?” “You make my frien' a captain, too?” Pesita held up his hands and rolled his eyes in holy horror. Take a gringo into his band? It was unthinkable. “He shot,” he cried. “I swear to kill all gringo. I become savior of my country. I rid her of all Americanos.” “Nix on the captain stuff fer me, then,” said Billy, firmly. “That guy's a right one. If any big stiff thinks he can croak little ol' Bridge while Billy Byrne's aroun' he's got anudder t'ink comin'. Why, me an' him's just like brudders.” “You like this gringo?” asked Pesita. “You bet,” cried Billy. Pesita thought for several minutes. In his mind was a scheme which required the help of just such an individual as this stranger—someone who was utterly unknown in the surrounding country and whose presence in a town could not by any stretch of the imagination be connected in any way with the bandit, Pesita. “I tell you,” he said. “I let your friend go. I send him under safe escort to El Orobo Rancho. Maybe he help us there after a while. If you stay I let him go. Otherwise I shoot you both with Miguel.” “Wot you got it in for Mig fer?” asked Billy. “He's a harmless sort o' guy.” “He Villista. Villista with gringos run Mexico—gringos and the church. Just like Huerta would have done it if they'd given him a chance, only Huerta more for church than for gringos.” “Aw, let the poor boob go,” urged Billy, “an' I'll come along wit you. Why he's got a wife an' kids—you wouldn't want to leave them without no one to look after them in this God-forsaken country!” Pesita grinned indulgently. “Very well, Senor Captain,” he said, bowing low. “I let Miguel and your honorable friend go. I send safe escort with them.” “Bully fer you, ol' pot!” exclaimed Billy, and Pesita smiled delightedly in the belief that some complimentary title had been applied to him in the language of “Granavenoo.” “I'll go an' tell 'em,” said Billy. “Yes,” said Pesita, “and say to them that they will start early in the morning.” As Billy turned and walked in the direction that the soldiers had led Bridge and Miguel, Pesita beckoned to a soldier who leaned upon his gun at a short distance from his “general”—a barefooted, slovenly attempt at a headquarters orderly. “Send Captain Rozales to me,” directed Pesita. The soldier shuffled away to where a little circle of men in wide-brimmed, metal-encrusted hats squatted in the shade of a tree, chatting, laughing, and rolling cigarettes. He saluted one of these and delivered his message, whereupon the tall, gaunt Captain Rozales arose and came over to Pesita. “The big one who was brought in today is not a gringo,” said Pesita, by way of opening the conversation. “He is from Granavenoo. He can be of great service to us, for he is very friendly with the Germans—yet he looks like a gringo and could pass for one. We can utilize him. Also he is very large and appears to be equally strong. He should make a good fighter and we have none too many. I have made him a captain.” Rozales grinned. Already among Pesita's following of a hundred men there were fifteen captains. “Where is Granavenoo?” asked Rozales. “You mean to say, my dear captain,” exclaimed Pesita, “that a man of your education does not know where Granavenoo is? I am surprised. Why, it is a German colony.” “Yes, of course. I recall it well now. For the moment it had slipped my mind. My grandfather who was a great traveler was there many times. I have heard him speak of it often.” “But I did not summon you that we might discuss European geography,” interrupted Pesita. “I sent for you to tell you that the stranger would not consent to serve me unless I liberated his friend, the gringo, and that sneaking spy of a Miguel. I was forced to yield, for we can use the stranger. So I have promised, my dear captain, that I shall send them upon their road with a safe escort in the morning, and you shall command the guard. Upon your life respect my promise, Rozales; but if some of Villa's cutthroats should fall upon you, and in the battle, while you were trying to defend the gringo and Miguel, both should be slain by the bullets of the Villistas—ah, but it would be deplorable, Rozales, but it would not be your fault. Who, indeed, could blame you who had fought well and risked your men and yourself in the performance of your sacred duty? Rozales, should such a thing occur what could I do in token of my great pleasure other than make you a colonel?” “I shall defend them with my life, my general,” cried Rozales, bowing low. “Good!” cried Pesita. “That is all.” Rozales started back toward the ring of smokers. “Ah, Captain!” cried Pesita. “Another thing. Will you make it known to the other officers that the stranger from Granavenoo is a captain and that it is my wish that he be well treated, but not told so much as might injure him, or his usefulness, about our sacred work of liberating poor, bleeding unhappy Mexico.” Again Rozales bowed and departed. This time he was not recalled. Billy found Bridge and Miguel squatting on the ground with two dirty-faced peons standing guard over them. The latter were some little distance away. They made no objection when Billy approached the prisoners though they had looked in mild surprise when they saw him crossing toward them without a guard. Billy sat down beside Bridge, and broke into a laugh. “What's the joke?” asked Bridge. “Are we going to be hanged instead of being shot?” “We ain't goin' to be either,” said Billy, “an' I'm a captain. Whaddaya know about that?” He explained all that had taken place between himself and Pesita while Bridge and Miguel listened attentively to his every word. “I t'ought it was about de only way out fer us,” said Billy. “We were in worse than I t'ought.” “Can the Bowery stuff, Billy,” cried Bridge, “and talk like a white man. You can, you know.” “All right, bo,” cried Billy, good-naturedly. “You see I forget when there is anything pressing like this, to chew about. Then I fall back into the old lingo. Well, as I was saying, I didn't want to do it unless you would stay too, but he wouldn't have you. He has it in for all gringos, and that bull you passed him about me being from a foreign country called Grand Avenue! He fell for it like a rube for the tapped-wire stuff. He said if I wouldn't stay and help him he'd croak the bunch of us.” “How about that ace-in-the-hole, you were telling me about?” asked Bridge. “I still got it,” and Billy fondled something hard that swung under his left arm beneath his shirt; “but, Lord, man! what could I do against the whole bunch? I might get a few of them; but they'd get us all in the end. This other way is better, though I hate to have to split with you, old man.” He was silent then for a moment, looking hard at the ground. Bridge whistled, and cleared his throat. “I've always wanted to spend a year in Rio,” he said. “We'll meet there, when you can make your get-away.” “You've said it,” agreed Byrne. “It's Rio as soon as we can make it. Pesita's promised to set you both loose in the morning and send you under safe escort—Miguel to his happy home, and you to El Orobo Rancho. I guess the old stiff isn't so bad after all.” Miguel had pricked up his ears at the sound of the word ESCORT. He leaned far forward, closer to the two Americans, and whispered. “Who is to command the escort?” he asked. “I dunno,” said Billy. “What difference does it make?” “It makes all the difference between life and death for your friend and for me,” said Miguel. “There is no reason why I should need an escort. I know my way throughout all Chihuahua as well as Pesita or any of his cutthroats. I have come and gone all my life without an escort. Of course your friend is different. It might be well for him to have company to El Orobo. Maybe it is all right; but wait until we learn who commands the escort. I know Pesita well. I know his methods. If Rozales rides out with us tomorrow morning you may say good-bye to your friend forever, for you will never see him in Rio, or elsewhere. He and I will be dead before ten o'clock.” “What makes you think that, bo?” demanded Billy. “I do not think, senor,” replied Miguel; “I know.” “Well,” said Billy, “we'll wait and see.” “If it is Rozales, say nothing,” said Miguel. “It will do no good; but we may then be on the watch, and if possible you might find the means to obtain a couple of revolvers for us. In which case—” he shrugged and permitted a faint smile to flex his lips. As they talked a soldier came and announced that they were no longer prisoners—they were to have the freedom of the camp; “but,” he concluded, “the general requests that you do not pass beyond the limits of the camp. There are many desperadoes in the hills and he fears for your safety, now that you are his guests.” The man spoke Spanish, so that it was necessary that Bridge interpret his words for the benefit of Billy, who had understood only part of what he said. “Ask him,” said Byrne, “if that stuff goes for me, too.” “He says no,” replied Bridge after questioning the soldier, “that the captain is now one of them, and may go and come as do the other officers. Such are Pesita's orders.” Billy arose. The messenger had returned to his post at headquarters. The guard had withdrawn, leaving the three men alone. “So long, old man,” said Billy. “If I'm goin' to be of any help to you and Mig the less I'm seen with you the better. I'll blow over and mix with the Dago bunch, an' practice sittin' on my heels. It seems to be the right dope down here, an' I got to learn all I can about bein' a greaser seein' that I've turned one.” “Good-bye Billy, remember Rio,” said Bridge. “And the revolvers, senor,” added Miguel. “You bet,” replied Billy, and strolled off in the direction of the little circle of cigarette smokers. As he approached them Rozales looked up and smiled. Then, rising, extended his hand. “Senor Captain,” he said, “we welcome you. I am Captain Rozales.” He hesitated waiting for Billy to give his name. “My monacker's Byrne,” said Billy. “Pleased to meet you, Cap.” “Ah, Captain Byrne,” and Rozales proceeded to introduce the newcomer to his fellow-officers. Several, like Rozales, were educated men who had been officers in the army under former regimes, but had turned bandit as the safer alternative to suffering immediate death at the hands of the faction then in power. The others, for the most part, were pure-blooded Indians whose adult lives had been spent in outlawry and brigandage. All were small of stature beside the giant, Byrne. Rozales and two others spoke English. With those Billy conversed. He tried to learn from them the name of the officer who was to command the escort that was to accompany Bridge and Miguel into the valley on the morrow; but Rozales and the others assured him that they did not know. When he had asked the question Billy had been looking straight at Rozales, and he had seen the man's pupils contract and noticed the slight backward movement of the body which also denotes determination. Billy knew, therefore, that Rozales was lying. He did know who was to command the escort, and there was something sinister in that knowledge or the fellow would not have denied it. The American began to consider plans for saving his friend from the fate which Pesita had outlined for him. Rozales, too, was thinking rapidly. He was no fool. Why had the stranger desired to know who was to command the escort? He knew none of the officers personally. What difference then, did it make to him who rode out on the morrow with his friend? Ah, but Miguel knew that it would make a difference. Miguel had spoken to the new captain, and aroused his suspicions. Rozales excused himself and rose. A moment later he was in conversation with Pesita, unburdening himself of his suspicions, and outlining a plan. “Do not send me in charge of the escort,” he advised. “Send Captain Byrne himself.” Pesita pooh-poohed the idea. “But wait,” urged Rozales. “Let the stranger ride in command, with a half-dozen picked men who will see that nothing goes wrong. An hour before dawn I will send two men—they will be our best shots—on ahead. They will stop at a place we both know, and about noon the Captain Byrne and his escort will ride back to camp and tell us that they were attacked by a troop of Villa's men, and that both our guests were killed. It will be sad; but it will not be our fault. We will swear vengeance upon Villa, and the Captain Byrne will hate him as a good Pesitista should.” “You have the cunning of the Coyote, my captain,” cried Pesita. “It shall be done as you suggest. Go now, and I will send for Captain Byrne, and give him his orders for the morning.” As Rozales strolled away a figure rose from the shadows at the side of Pesita's tent and slunk off into the darkness. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Edgar Rice Burroughs (1995). The Mucker. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/331/pg331-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html.

IN PESITA'S CAMP

The Destroyer

THE ENTERTAINMENT OF MR. DIRECK REACHES A CLIMAX

R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots): Act Two - Helena’s Drawing Room—Ten years later. Morning

SAINE is Mathematically One of the Best WORDLE Starting Words - Here's Why

SAINE es matemáticamente una de las mejores palabras iniciales de WORDLE: he aquí por qué

SAINE est mathématiquement l'un des meilleurs mots de départ WORDLE - Voici pourquoi

SAINE गणितीय रूप से सबसे अच्छे शुरुआती शब्दों में से एक है - यहाँ पर क्यों

SAINE は、数学的に最高の WORDLE 開始単語の 1 つです。その理由は次のとおりです。

SAINE é matematicamente uma das melhores palavras iniciais do WORDLE - aqui está o porquê

SAINE về mặt toán học là một trong những từ bắt đầu WORDLE Tốt nhất - Đây là lý do tại sao

SAINE 在数学上是最好的 WORDLE 起始词之一 - 这就是为什么

I wasn't really a fan of cloud development until I was forced to have a nice experience with it, thanks to . I have been working for the China site development project for The Gospel Coalition recently, and the story comes with an awful start: TeamCode Just two days before the project should be up, I was called to Beijing for emergency outstation work. Traveling between places, I could've spent more than ten hours but my new MacBook has nothing installed. I was overwhelmed. How am I supposed to get all this work done? Are all these time on the train wasted? I could've been done developing and debugging within that ten hours. To be clear of what I'm doing, these are my project overalls: Project Background The project I'm working for The Gospel Coalition is an independent site development project outsourced to a Chinese team. The whole working team is rather globalized, and the site development project is done through collaborations around the world. Project Structure Compared to the complicated project background, the project structure is rather simple. It consists of three independent services: WordPress: Enabled for the editors as a backstage for content management, allowing them to post their articles and access to other contents Databases: A MySQL database. Both services will be accessing the same database, with WordPress writing in it while the official site reads Independent Official Site: Displaying content. We're not using WordPress templates as there are a lot of customizations. The site is independently developed with Java (Spring Boot + Thymeleaf) Original Developing Plan and Strategy Since we're communicating through email, the procedure of applying for a test server would take too much time. Hence, I've started developing the project after applying for the access to the test data. Now that my part has done and it's now in the process of joint debugging and acceptance inspection, I'll need to: Apply for a test server Configure the test server environment Install Jenkins and configure its deployment information Deploying the local project and email the PM for acceptance inspection Make changes according to the feedback and ... LOOP the previous process. Some First Try on Cloud Development Everything would be in time if there wasn't an outstation task. Sitting in a KFC 40 minutes before the train departs, I was puzzled by a series of problems: I couldn't code right now because I'll need to download a lot of programs for the new MacBook, configuring the developing environment etc., and most importantly - how fast can we expect for the internet speed out there? I don't even have that much time to wait! Cloud native and distance collaborative development came up in my mind. Just as what I've said, I didn't really want to change my old working style despite cloud development being the future trend, and a simple understanding of it was all for me. I first heard TeamCode's product in a gathering weeks ago. Since there's no better idea at that time, I decided to give it a try on the way to Beijing. How bad could that be? I'm going to explain what I've done with it and how it eventually helps me to get all my troublesome tasks done just in time: I turned on my MacBook, connected to my hotspot. And there goes the old process, I googled TeamCode, create an account and log into it. What surprised me was that deployment process: After authorizing my Git repository into Pylon, the Java development environment was created within 5 seconds! The configuration I chose was the default 2 vCPU with 4G RAM, more or less a virtual Linux machine. Then, I pulled down the codes. Perhaps Pylon detected that I was working on my project with Java, so Git and Maven were installed by default. It supports both VSCode and a built-in Cloud-IDE. Since all the basic services and styles were done developing, there is only a few tweaks and debugging left. I skipped for downloading another IDE and worked directly on its Cloud-IDE. I started worrying again when I found out that I'll need to structure mvn install before starting everything. According to my previous experience, downloading all these dependencies may need more than 20 minutes and my hotspot might not be able to sustain it. It should be based on the server's internet and algorithm power, I shouldn't be worrying about it. After the dependencies' downloads have started, I packed my MacBook and start boarding the train. Although it was set up as expected when I got onto my seat, it is still exciting to see everything was ready to go. Then, I realized ... Hey, wasn't this a remote machine? Now that my debugging was done after 2 hours of hard work on the bullet train, another problem puzzled me: How should I send the project to the PM for inspection, without applying for a server and let alone deploying Jenkins? Puzzling around for an optimum solution, I really appreciate that the TeamCode's FAQs were undoubtably helpful! I tried on Tin - another cloud solution provided by TeamCode - to launch the application and my puzzling for purchasing a test server and deployment task were solved in the blink of an eye. Tin is basically a product that packs application, so it really helps as the PM is only interested in the results and not the codes. I uploaded my codes to Git repository again and created a Tin for the PM. After I've done a quick check on Tin, I've sent an invitation link to join my workspace. The project can now be accessed by clicking on the endpoint on Tin. It can even be upgraded for rapid deployment if there are any changes. After emailing to the PM, I have even some time left before arriving in Beijing. Some Interlude Everything goes smoothly for the first night: The PM is able to inspect the project through Tin. He did propose a few issues and they are all resolved with Cloud-IDE + Pylon. After a few emails back and forth, the inspections are basically done. After another long day of work, we encountered another bug while I was on the metro, traveling back to Shanghai. One of the JS methods in a page conflicted with the overall method and the page could not be opened! It's just an hour before the official release and there's no way for me to code on the metro. I'm in a dead guilt if the whole project has to be delayed and everyone needs to work over-time just because of me. In this great desperate situation, I tried to ask if the front end programmers could help. I sent an invitation link to him and "forced" him to join my workspace to help modify the codes. He finally agreed to help after acknowledging that there was no need for environmental deployment, structuring and all those troublesome tasks - and a big meal treat from me. We communicated over the phone by instructing him how to use Pylon and Cloud-IDE. Thanks to his quick turnaround, everything was done in 10 minutes. The application was updated on Tin, the PM inspected it, and ... Phew, the site was smoothly launched on time. Notes These incidents really gave me a first hand experience on cloud collaboration on the go. I really appreciate that everything was done on time and there is no need to work over the weekends. This opportunity really changed me by having a nice experience of developing and inspection with the fragmented time. From my experience, I guess that cloud developing with TeamCode would help in these situations: A Flexible Development Situation. Cloud-IDE + Pylon would be helpful if you're changing between computers and working environments. Since the resources are all on the cloud and there is no need for environmental deployment, cloud developing can be rather flexible. Pack and Deploy Rapidly. Tin would be helpful for situations such as inspections, demo presentations, technical communications, rapid POC etc. It enables us to display our project to the others conveniently. Team Collaboration. For example, your teammates can debug on the project directly and there are no worries about time and geographical difference. Everyone could make use of the service according to their own tempo on TeamCode as most of the services are automated. Thank you for reading my article and hope my experience will be helpful to you.

Coding in Public Transit: How I Just Barely Shipped a New Site with Pylon, Tin, and TeamCode 

This story is a part of of interviews. The series is intended for tech professionals contributing the most insightful Hacker Noon stories to share more about their writing habits, ideas, and professional background (and maybe a hobby or two). Hacker Noon's Meet the Writer series So let’s start! Tell us a bit about yourself. For example, name, profession, and personal interests. Hi Hackers! My name is Andrei Rotariu. I’m 36 years old and hail out of Melbourne, Australia (currently locked-down, and living with a curfew in place, yay freedom!). During the daylight hours, I’m a hardware safety guy for a large power tool company. But under the cover of darkness, I like to get involved in all manner of crypto-related stuff. I’ve done a lot of dumb experimental sh*t over the years. I blew up a laptop trying to mine this peculiar Cryptocurrency called Quarkcoin one time. Another time earned through a combination of saving, trading, and playing roulette and then mostly lost it all. I could have been retired on a yacht somewhere by now. 2 Million Dogecoin Currently, I have a blog series running called which I started on Medium and republished right here on Hacker Noon. I’ve recently moved it over to its own hosted solution so that I can focus on growth. With that, sadly I had to delete most of my posts here on HN due to duplicate content issues. Crypto Fireside Crypto Fireside started off as an experiment with an interview-style Q&A post series (hence the name Fireside). I would talk to folks from the Cryptocurrency and decentralized world about all manner of things, usually, projects they are working on, businesses, start-ups, that kind of origin/founder story thing. It’s something I personally enjoy reading and so that is how I started it off. I was impressed with a guy called Pat Walls and his StarterStory as well as being influenced in my teenage years by interviews in magazines that I read from 90’s and 00’s magazines like FHM, Readers Digest, PC World, Ralph, Australian Men’s Health, Australian Men’s Fitness, Rolling Stone and a bunch of others. I started Crypto Fireside because I noticed most of the Crypto and blockchain-related content out there usually revolved around one of two things: But here is the thing; there are real people behind those . Real people with real stories, real struggles, and real successes. That’s why I wanted to talk to them and bring those stories to the world. Money or tech. money and tech projects Interesting! What was your latest Hackernoon Top story about? As I just mentioned at the time I think when I first started republishing content, I had interviewed Christian Winter, a young German entrepreneur, about his music and lighting business and about how he was opening his venture up to Cryptocurrency through Bitcoin Cash. I from memory that one was pretty popular but because I had to remove much of my content from here on HN due to duplicate content issues I can’t say for sure now. I know that I had a couple of pieces that had received in excess of 20k-30k views. Right now, I think it is a post I wrote titled ‘ ’. No, Bitcoin Is Not Going to Fail Do you usually write on similar topics? If not, what do you usually write about? I started my writing career (paid writing) freelancing and writing funny content as a copy and content writer for online businesses and marketers. That was probably 16 or so years ago. I claimed at the time to be one of the only humor-content freelance writers on the web and would be asked to write sales pages for guys that would create creepy dating programs or gag gifts like manly scented candles with scents such as beer and cigarettes or diesel covered overalls. I’m embarrassed to say that I used to find these gigs in places like back in the day! The Warrior Forum Like most things in my life I kind of just aim in the direction that I want to go and figure the rest out as I move forward and so in a sense I kind of stumbled into writing about Cryptocurrency because of a project I fell in love with at the time. They were going to decentralize the entire world wide web and free us from the tech oligopoly. It’s called developed by a Scottish firm called Maidsafe. SafeNetwork One thing led to another, and well, here we are today. The Cryptocurrency and blockchain space feels like the early Internet days right now and so there are a lot of cool and interesting projects and people behind those projects for me to write about. The world needs to hear about these things and so there’s no end in sight for Crypto Fireside right now. In fact, it’s just the beginning. Great! What is your usual writing routine like (if you have one?) Crypto Fireside started off as a Q&A interview-style format, and so my routine had to evolve with that. Normally I would write whenever I felt inspired, I’d just get it out of my head and slowly edit and craft it when I had the time, early mornings or at night would work really well for me in the past. There’s something about those times when everyone is asleep, not just in your own home, but all around you in your city, I can’t explain it, it’s almost like the heaviness of the collective consciousness is removed or something. When I work on a story with another person, interviewing them, I had to come up with a different system and so far what I have been doing seems to work well. I usually spend some time talking or web chatting to the interviewee to get a really good grasp of what it is they do and then I will draft my questions, usually the questions are styled the same way but I do tweak them from time to time. I send the interviewee a shared doc, allow them time to fill it out, they send it back, I’ll review it and get back to them with clarifications or follow-up questions and we go from there. That is kind of the system I have been going with when I interview someone. But I also do loads of other types of content now. Satire, guides, reviews, and general commentary. I also hire writers from time to time to help me out when I don’t have the time. Above all else, the hardest thing is promoting your work but it’s also the most satisfying part of it. In the modern world of writing, you can’t just write and publish something and expect it to take off. It’s not like the good old days where you’d get picked up by a newspaper or magazine and they’d send your story out to their syndicated network and voila’. You gotta work that hustle-muscle and push your stories. The successful modern writer is also a successful marketer nowadays, this is not just my opinion. Over the years of doing this, I have learned and crafted a number of ways to distribute content. SEO of course is one of them, but it goes much further than just SEO. I use most of the social networks and I try to leverage other places like Hacker News, Reddit, Digg, and more. Being a writer in tech can be a challenge. It’s not often our main role, but an addition to another one. What is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing? Time! You know it’s funny I write about Cryptocurrency and talk to people about these digital tokens and things that have a perceived value and I think the most valuable ‘token’ on the planet is . It has to be. time I like to refer to this concept as . Time Tokens Time is the great equalizer. Rich, poor, black, white, it doesn’t matter what side of the train tracks you come from, who you are, where you are from, your background, the amount of money you have in the bank, there are still only 24 hours in one day, 1,440 minutes, and 86,400 seconds. You, me, the baker, the butcher, the teacher, the girl at the gym, or the guy behind the Crypto project you’re most fascinated with. We are all provided by this great thing we call life, with the same amount of time in the day. It levels the playing field. Billionaires can’t buy more of it. Sure they may live a longer duration of time because they can afford the best healthcare and yeah they have more time for leisure because they outsource virtually everything but that’s not what I am talking about. I am talking about the present moment. It ticks along one second at a time for each of us, and if you really think about it, we’re all only ever living in the now, there’s no real past or future that you live in. Only now. And it is this time pressure that creates stress in our lives. We have all sorts of deadlines and usually, we’re juggling umpteen different things from kids, intimate partners, bills, projects around the house, work projects, screaming customers, and now you gotta pull yourself out of that, find the time to sit down and focus for an hour or two. I mean, right now at this very moment that I am writing this my eye keeps going back to the clock, I literally have 5 minutes left before I need to get out of my striped pajamas, put some clothes on and leave for my day job. This is the biggest challenge for most of us in the modern world, not just me. And in going forward I think that those things, be they technologies, habits, or the way we structure our lives, those things that can free up or help us manage our time better, those things will be very valuable in the very near future. I’d urge you, the reader, to think about what it is you are doing with your time. Or better put, what are you doing with your time tokens? If each minute of the day was one token, what did you spend it on? Are you using them to the best of your ability? Or are you squandering them away on social media, getting into arguments, wasting them watching TV, and playing video games? You only get one life to live. Don’t waste time. Don’t throw your time tokens away on rubbish. Spend it wisely. Remember you only get 24 whole tokens per day or 1440 tokenoshis. What is the next thing you hope to achieve in your career? The ultimate goal is to work on Crypto Fireside full-time and to expand and push content that helps people. I’m getting closer and closer each day. I can feel it, it’s right there within grasp. I see it. I feel it. It’s going to happen no matter what. Covid has solidified this even more for me. The fact that governments can decide which business is essential and which is not is absolutely terrifying. Melbourne in particular has been hit hard, not with Covid, but with Draconian measures. I’m not going to get into the arguments for or against it. It’s just the reality. During this crisis, I’ve seen friends and family lose their jobs, livelihoods, and businesses. Everyone is essential and every person’s livelihood is essential. If you are in a position where you can work for yourself and you can do it online, why the hell not!? I’m very lucky to be in that position. I’ve dedicated years of my life to my craft and now the opportunity is knocking and I’m opening the door. I think Crypto Fireside can inspire and motivate the next generation of innovators from the interview content alone and can become a resource for good. But like I say I am open to all possibilities, I’ve always had that entrepreneurial fire in my belly ever since I was a kid and the world is going through some very big changes right now, so who really knows what will happen next? I’m a storyteller at heart and there is a book or documentary in me somewhere in the future. It’s nothing I’m focused on right now but that would be one of the other ultimate goals of my career too. Wow, that’s admirable. Now, something more casual: What is your guilty pleasure of choice? A cigar, an alcoholic beverage, and sitting outside reading or watching some story about Skin-walker ranch or the Missing-411 topics. Do you have a non-tech-related hobby? If yes, what is it? I enjoy a good workout but gyms are closed here and have been for a long time. It sucks because I’m just not a home workout guy. Outside of that: life stuff in general. Hiking, bushwalking, fishing, barbecuing, a good book or movie, hanging out with friends and family, travel. Those kinds of things that everyone enjoys. What can the Hacker Noon community expect to read from you next? That’ll likely be the next Crypto Fireside interview, guide or review. Thanks for taking the time to join our “Meet the writer” series. It was a pleasure. Do you have any closing words? Meditate. Spend 20 tokenoshis doing this every day and your life will improve in leaps and bounds and the world will be a better place for it because you’ll be calmer, more relaxed, happy and content and you will spread that to people next to you like a tuning fork.

"Time is the Great Equaliser" Meet the Writer Andrei Rotariu AKA Crypto Fireside

The objective of this series of posts is to show why Bitcoin is a better form of money than the ones we currently use. For that, however, we first need to think about some fundamental concepts without which considering Bitcoin in a serious way is impossible. In this sense, this first post will explore those concepts. With this base, in subsequent posts, I will examine Bitcoin more thoroughly and demonstrate why it’s better. Money is Not Natural I think understanding Bitcoin is hard because, in addition to its technical aspects, which are a world by themselves, it requires understanding what money is. And money is something so known and common that it’s hard to be open to the possibility that we don’t really know what it is. Because of its ordinariness, we understand money almost as a natural phenomenon when, in fact, it’s far from being one. Money, to use framework, is a myth we created, and in which we decide to believe in because it makes life easier. In other words, money is a social construct; it’s a human invention. Yuval Noah Harari’s Proof of this is the fact that there have been societies that didn’t have money, such as the Inca Empire or the hunter-gatherer human societies ( ). The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson Even after the use of money was normalized within society, its form has changed considerably and frequently throughout history. An example of this is the fact that, although today it’s common that governments are in charge of issuing money, it hasn’t always been the case. As Nick Szabo shows in , there have been several forms of non-governmental money throughout history. In fact, before the Civil War, most of the paper money in circulation within the United States was privately issued. this blog post The following images (which I’m copying from Nick’s post) are some examples of the kind of non-governmental money that existed during that period and which circulated for centuries. Specifically, one is a banknote issued by a private bank in Indiana and the other one is a copper coin issued by private merchants in England. Boone County Bank note, Lebanon, Indiana 1858. “During this era, the U.S. had no central bank and paper money was issued by a variety of private banks. Some were even issued by manufacturing and retail companies. This money was backed by gold, silver, real estate, stocks, bonds, and a wide variety of other assets. You can no longer cash them in, but they are now worth often substantial sums as collectibles…the note designs were more varied and creative than modern money and were remarkably free of politicians’ faces.” ( Source ) Anglesey & Mines druid half-penny, England, 1788. “From 1787 to 1797, private merchants and industrialists issued 600 tons of custom-made ‘commercial’ copper coin, which was more copper coin than the Royal Mint had supplied during the previous half-century.” ( Source ) As can be seen, in addition to issued the money, its form also varied. Among the banknotes, for instance, the way in which they were backed varied; while some were backed by a variety of different assets, others were backed only by silver or precious metals. Between the coins, on the other hand, their weight and material varied. whom Even more recently, in times of governmental money, its form has changed considerably. Before the current monetary system, for instance, a different system known as the gold standard was in place. The basis of that system was a “commitment by participating countries to fix the prices of their domestic currencies in terms of a specified amount of gold. ( )” Such currencies, in fact, could be freely exchanged for gold at the established rates. In other words, they were backed by gold. The period between 1980 and 1914 was known as the classical gold standard. By that time, most countries had adopted a gold standard. Source The gold standard, however, broke during the First World War, as some countries opted for inflationary monetary policies and stopped backing their currencies with gold ( ). Afterward, between 1925 and 1931, a new gold standard (with certain adjustments) would be implemented. However, in 1931 Britain would abandon it in response to massive gold outflows ( ). Source Source Some years later, from 1946, most countries would begin operating under the Bretton Woods system. This system, which was a further modification of the gold standard, consisted in a multilateral monetary system in which the value of the dollar was fixed to a certain amount of gold, and the value of other currencies was fixed to the dollar ( ). “Persistent U.S. balance-of-payments deficits steadily reduced U.S. gold reserves, however, reducing confidence in the ability of the United States to redeem its currency in gold. ( )” Thus, in 1971 President Nixon announced that the U.S. would no longer redeem its currency for gold, marking the end of the gold standard era ( ). Money, Steve Forbes Source Source Since then, the monetary system that has prevailed is the one we currently know, in which currencies are not backed by anything and in which the exchange rate between different currencies fluctuates on a daily basis. With the previous reflexion, I want to highlight three points: That money is a human invention and as such, can be improved upon. That throughout history monetary systems have tended to be unstable and can change quickly. That the current monetary system is relatively new. These three points, in turn, allowed me to consider the possibility of new monetary systems; of new forms of money. They are a necessary conceptual background for considering Bitcoin seriously. The relativity of value As with the nature of money, the relativity of value is another key concept worth exploring in the path to understanding Bitcoin. I’ve always been fascinated by this concept. Its counter-intuitive nature and its implications for what we believe in can be far reaching. To illustrate the idea of the relativity of value, let me begin with the story of the lobster. It turns out that, to my amusement, even though the lobster is considered one of the most exquisite and exclusive dishes in the world, it wasn’t always the case. In fact, less than a century ago the lobster was considered the “cockroach of the ocean” and was food for the poor, servants, and prisoners (yes, it was served in prisons). As puts it: Daniel Luzer If today’s lobster wears a top hat and an opera cape, 80 years ago he was wearing overalls and picking up your garbage. Lobster is a self-made creature, and quite the social climber. How did this happen? How did the cockroach of the ocean become the main character in the world’s most exclusive banquets? In one way, it’s a story about supply and demand. “Lobsters were so abundant in the early days — residents in the Massachusetts Bay Colony found they washed up on the beach in two-foot-high piles — that people thought of them as trash food. ( )” This was probably amplified by the fact that the lobster was an unknown (odd-looking) animal at the time. In this sense, the prevailing conditions created a cycle in which low demand for lobsters guaranteed their abundance and, in turn, their abundance made them look like trash, promoting the low demand. Source It’s worth highlighting, however, that it wasn’t a matter of taste; it was a matter of perception. The fact that the lobster was perceived as trash made it trash in the eyes of the residents of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. And, in turn, it was its abundance (and what it meant: that nobody wanted it) that made it look like trash. An experiment done at the time corroborates this. When railways started to proliferate across the United States, certain railroad managers decided to take advantage of the fact that their passengers didn’t know what lobster was, to offer it as an exotic dish within their trains ( ). The result: passengers loved it. Since then, its consumption began to get popular across the U.S. Even though it wasn’t immediately considered high cuisine, by the 1850s it was already being served in some restaurants across the country. Source This amazing experiment shows the importance of perception when valuing the lobster. While those who knew of its abundance considered it trash, those that didn’t know anything about it were intrigued by its taste. Its elite status, however, would take some time to develop. It wouldn’t be until after World War Two that the lobster would begin to be considered an exclusive dish, as it became popular among movie stars and millionaires. This peculiar story takes Daniel Luzer to conclude the following: If the peer behavior around the product changes, so too does our appreciation of it. Lobster might seem to taste better to us because it’s so expensive. I completely agree with him. If you don’t believe so, imagine the following: instead of being scarce, we live in a world in which diamonds are as abundant as sand; you can find them everywhere. Do you think their price would be the same? Do you think women would still dream about them in that scenario? Probably not. The fact that makes diamonds so crave-worthy is the fact that they’re expensive; the fact that they’re scarce. The relativity of the value of money In the same way, as value is relative in relation to what we eat, it’s also relative in relation to money. Even though we don’t necessarily perceive it, the value of money changes constantly through time. It’s because of this that prices of goods and services tend to increase year after year. In the background, what’s really happening is that the money we’re using is losing value through time. In other words, what changes year after year isn’t the goods and services we consume, but the money we use to buy them, which tends to be worth less each year. This phenomenon is known as inflation and, at risk of over-simplifying a complex topic, happens because of the tendency of there being more and more money chasing a limited amount of goods and services within the economy. The next image, which shows the value of the dollar throughout the years, illustrates this phenomenon in a clear way. Source As can be observed, the dollar has lost more than 90% of its value since 1910. This has happened, mostly, as the result of the dynamic mentioned previously, in which the amount of dollars chasing a limited amount of goods and services has tended to increase. Even though it doesn’t cover the whole period, the following graph helps visualize this phenomenon since the 1980s. M2 is a measure of the quantity of dollars in the economy. It’s worth noting that the dollar has been the strongest currency during that period. Other currencies’ value graphs should look much worse. Now, this is only one part of the analysis. The other part corresponds to the relativity of the value between one currency and another one: the exchange rate. As was previously mentioned, under the current monetary system the exchange rates between different currencies fluctuate freely across time. The following graph, for example, shows how the value of the currencies of Argentina, Venezuela, and Turkey has changed in relation to the dollar during the last years. Source Even though these currencies represent special cases because of their relative performance against the dollar, they’re not isolated cases. In fact, just this year multiple currencies have lost significant portions of their value against the dollar, as the following graph clearly illustrates. Source The previous analysis not only shows the relativity of the value of money across time but also its instability. Even though it may seem surprising, this is a common characteristic of the current monetary system. In regards to the current monetary system, I’d like to make another annotation to highlight just how strange and unstable it is. This comment isn’t original; I heard it for the first time from Wences Casares (which is worth listening to). in this podcast Even though today we have an international metric system that allows us to compare measurements across the world, no such thing exists for money. In other words, there’s no international standard to measure the value of money across the globe (or at least not an independent one, like the metric system). Today, for instance, if you want to know how much is a Colombian peso worth in Turkish liras, you first have to convert the peso into dollars (which is a country’s currency), and then, the dollars into liras. You may say the dollar is the international standard of measure. However, the difference with respect to the metric system is that the dollar is a country’s currency. It’s not independent. It’s as if the metric system had an owner: it’s strange and disorganized. independent It’s worth noting that this hasn’t always been the case. As shown previously, during the gold standard such international standard was in fact performed by gold. Being that gold is a natural ( ) element, such a system was much more like the metric system. independent Let me conclude this section highlighting the most important points regarding the relativity of value (with Bitcoin in mind): The importance of scarcity (or abundance) when valuing things (be it a lobster or dollars). The fragility of our reality (or our beliefs) and the difficulty to appreciate certain things when they go against popular belief. This is evident from the lobster story. The inherent instability and disorder of the current monetary system. The tendency of governments to print higher and higher quantities of money and, in turn, destroy the value of their currencies throughout time. As I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, Bitcoin isn’t an easy subject. For me, the concept didn’t immediately make click. I, in fact, had heard about Bitcoin since 2013 when, exploring the , I found out they were investing in Bitcoin and related companies. investments of the Winklevoss twins In spite of that, it wasn’t until 2017, when I decided to study and consider Bitcoin in a serious way, that it made click for me. Since then, I haven’t turned back. The concepts within this article were a fundamental part of my process. They made me open to the possibility of Bitcoin. I hope they’re as useful to you.

Here's Why We Need Bitcoin [Part I]

Since my previous article about COVID Innovations, in which I undertaking extraordinary actions to drive change to tackle this pandemic, new change makers have emerged on the horizon. Acting as role models worthy of our admiration and attention, more and more industry giants are taking the lead, including: highlighted 20 ordinary professionals and companies pledged $15 million to COVID-19 response efforts in the U.S. and internationally, donated 10 million masks. Apple pledged more than $800 million to support small businesses and crisis response, along with 2-3 million masks. Google announced that all of its Italian production plants have switched to manufacturing single-use medical overalls for the individual protection of healthcare workers engaged in the fight against the Coronavirus disease. Giorgio Armani teamed up with Lyft to provide work for those in need, donated over $3 million in the UK, and provided scores of services to battle Covid-19. Amazon pledged $20 million in matching funds for Covid-19 response. Facebook provided hundreds of ventilators to help meet demands from the growing coronavirus outbreak. Check out how Ford and GM have joined the club to manufacture ventilators. Tesla here Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundations donated medical equipment to African Union member states. Alibaba In addition to these well-known companies, I would like to extend my appreciation and admiration to non-influential individuals taking the lead to provide support, spread the word and call for action to fight COVID-19. Just reading their acts of courage motivated me to share their stories and glorify their accomplishments. 10 Non-Influencers Making a Difference 1. Quinn Callander This 12-year-old is breaking old school thinking and utilizing the power of imagination. After witnessing the complaints of doctors at the local hospital asking for help with a unique problem, which was that its healthcare workers had serious ear pain after long shifts wearing masks nonstop, he put his 3D printer to use. Quinn Callander developed a simple, but effective “ear guard” that prevents the elastic bands on a mask from rubbing against the backs of people’s ears. He prototyped several designs with his 3D printer, landing on a wide plastic strap that goes around the back of the head. The strap has notches so wearers can loop the mask’s elastic straps around the notches that are most comfortable, allowing them to adjust the tension while keeping the mask firmly in place. 2. Ron Arad Ron Arad launched the " " fundraiser with masks featuring famous artists. Celebrities, including Stephen Fry, David Baddiel and Elizabeth Hurley, have modeled face masks designed by Ron Arad that are sold to raise money for UK's National Health Service. Additionally, the cotton masks are printed with portraits of famous artists, including Picasso, Matisse and Dalí. Smile for our NHS 3. Olivia Strong A documentary producer, , started a charity running challenge “ ” on social media with the aim of raising £5,000 ($6,212). It quickly went viral and has now raised over £5 million for UK healthcare workers fighting COVID. Check out her detailed story Olivia Strong Run for Heroes here. 4. Asta Baumöller While millions of people are being laid off, others are helping to locate those in need and match them with potential employers. along with , and Andrea Aeby developed a platform that aims to help self-employed people struggling to find work during the COVID-19 crisis connect with companies and projects. Asta Baumöller Claudia Wulf Holger Eggert, Kathrin Koehler free2freelance 5. Veronica Kirin Stories captivate, engage and call for an action. Veronica Kirin the founder of is a real-time interview archiver who is documenting the impact of COVID-19 for future generations. Check out the podcast here and her that are emotionally moving. Stories of COVID stories 6. Tokujin Yoshioka Japanese designer has created a quick and easy for healthcare workers fighting that attaches to the wearer's glasses. Tokujin Yoshioka face shield Covid-19 's template design creates a face shield in three simple steps from a clear sheet of PET or PVC plastic. Printed on an A3 piece of paper, the template gets placed over the top of a clear sheet of plastic and used as a guideline for cutting around the edge of the shape. Tokujin Yoshioka 7. Lakshmi Menon Kerala-based social entrepreneur Lakshmi Menon launched the coVeed project to foster a sense of coexistence among people. The concept is simple. Lakshmi Menon created a template of the coVeed, a mini-model of a house on the , to be downloaded, printed and assembled just like a pizza box. website Each model can store whatever provisions someone can spare for the needy like grain, pulses, etc. They can also decorate the model creatively and write messages of hope and faith. These can be then be collected and given to people in need. 8. Ieva Vaitkeviciute Mental Health has become more critical than ever before. Dozens of startups, professionals and individuals jumped onboard to do something about it. One of the pioneers is . Along with , in the midst of the crisis, they have developed the app. The app is a safe place in which people can share their thoughts anonymously with the community. They can also take part in one-to-one meetings with certified psychologists from wherever they are. It is highly recommended. Ieva Vaitkeviciute he r te a m Act On Crisis 9. Grace Gravley Grace Gravley studies how the anxieties of the moment and translates dreams. Anyone who wants to tell her their dream can fill out an anonymous form and choose to share the dream publically or not. Going through the stories, it is evident that a variety of thoughts, ideas and impressions of the pandemic are affecting human lives all over the world. Check out the gig here 10. Francesca Perani Architect Francesca Perani has designed a mini-flat that is just in size and is perfect for self-isolation. The space was designed for a couple living in a small Italian town, Albino. It has been added by transforming the porch or a storage space into a mini self-contained living area. 25-square meters How about 1 million USD funding to fight COVID-19? at Upwork are taking influence to the next level. To make it even more interesting and tempting click how anyone, anywhere with a great idea to solve the pandemic related problem could apply... Hayden Brown a n d m a n a g e m e nt here to learn more, There is one more. want to help as much as they can. They are asking companies to submit a request for their business to receive up to $5,000 in monetary support. Learn more Whitney Wolfe Herd a n d h e r t e a m a t Bumble here . Conclusion At the end of the day, despite the type of crisis and where it happens some people see positive opportunities, while other people see problems. This pandemic is a life-changing event in life. It has definitely taught us a lot and it has made us work together and be resourceful. What is most impressive to me is that it has made us think, reflect and make the right choices. You may also Like: What can we learn from a Man Who Built $1 Billion Business Employing 700 Employees Remotely? This is what I learned after researching 300 Decks, So will you. The Art of Raising 400 Million Dollars and How they Made it? 10 Business Models, 10 Companies, 10 New (or maybe not so New) Ways of Working during a Pandemic.

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