Read: Norway uses waste as eco-friendly fuel

Norway burns rubbish to get energy - and avoids resorting to landfill

Forget coal, oil, shale gas, even nuclear. The bin bag - full of your household waste - is becoming one of Norway's fuels of choice.

Try to imagine the smell when a bin lorry passes you on the street on a hot summer's day. Breathe it in through your nostrils. Stinks, doesn't it? Now multiply it by a thousand.

That's what it is like inside the largest energy recovery facility in Norway, the Klemetsrud plant. A vast concrete hall of waste. Tens of thousands of tonnes of rubbish piled up. The conveyor belts clunk and clank as more pours in. Bin lorries reverse towards the chutes and tip out more plastic bags of waste.

A huge industrial claw swoops down, its pincers reaching round a tonne of rubbish, picking it up and transporting it to the other end of the hall, where it is dropped. A cloud of white dust builds, and soon fills the hall. It is not good to stay in here too long.

This is where the waste thrown out by millions of households from Norway, Britain and elsewhere is turned into heat and electricity for the city of Oslo.

Cheap heating

The rubbish is pre-sorted. Everything that can be recycled is meant to have been taken out, but even then they are still left with more than 300,000 tonnes a year.

They do not see it as waste here - they see it as energy.

"Four tonnes of waste has the same energy content as one tonne of fuel oil," says the director of the waste-to-energy agency in Oslo, Pal Mikkelsen.

"That means a lot of energy, and we use very little energy to transport it."

One tonne of fuel oil, Mr Mikkelsen says, could heat a house for half a year. In other words, take just part of an English bin lorry's maximum load picked up on the streets of Leeds or Bristol, turn it into energy here - and you can heat a home in Oslo for half a year.

The process is simple. The waste, tonne by tonne of it, is dropped into an incinerator. It soars to 850 degrees. Peeking through a small porthole of toughened glass, the fire burns bright orange with a fierce roar of flames.

Greener schools

Not everything is burned. Old tin cans and some mattress springs are left. At the end of the process they are left with ash, metal -which is recycled - and a lot of heat.

The heat boils water. The steam drives a turbine, which produces electricity. And the scalding water is piped off from the plant, to houses and public schools across Oslo.

Which means at Bjoernholt School the technical manager, Agnar Andersen, does not have to worry about fuel deliveries during the harsh Norwegian winter any more.

"We don't have to think about fuel oils or fossil fuels. They are phasing out the last school this year with fossil fuels."

At full capacity the plant will provide all the heat and electricity for Oslo's schools and heat for 56,000 homes.

An environmentalist's dream, you might have thought. Not necessarily, cautions the chair of Friends of the Earth Norway, Lars Haltbrekken.

"The overall goal from an environmental perspective should be to reduce the amount of waste, reuse what we can reuse, recycle, and then the fourth option is to burn it and use the energy.

"We have created such an overcapacity in these power plants in Norway and Sweden. We have made ourselves dependent on producing more and more garbage."

Send us your rubbish

Supporters disagree, and point out that, used together, all of Europe's current waste-to-energy plants could only consume about 5% of the continent's total annual landfill. Norway - they say - is actually helping to dispose of some of that waste in the best way possible.

That is certainly true in the case of the English cities Leeds and Bristol. Both export waste to Oslo. Rather than pay for it to go into landfill after the recyclable bits have been removed, they actually pay Oslo to take it off their hands.

So, Oslo is paid to dispose of the rubbish, and gets energy out of it as well.

The waste-to-energy revolution can also be heard on the streets of the Norwegian capital, as the number 144 bus rumbles past.

It is powered by biogas, created from the city's decaying organic matter. One kilogramme of food waste produces half a litre of fuel. Use all of the organic waste they have and they will be able to power 135 buses year-round in Oslo.

If this whole project were repeated across Europe, Pal Mikkelsen believes it would make a huge difference.

"I think it would mean we get a lot better level of self-sustainability when it comes to energy. If it's done properly it would also mean a lot more materials recovery. And a sharp decrease in the landfill."

With tight controls to clean up the gases from the burning, Oslo believes converting waste into energy will help it to halve its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions within 20 years - making a city, whose wealth was built on oil, one of the greenest on the planet.

- By Matthew Price, Europe correspondent, Oslo 

Idioms: A Collection of Values, Wise Sayings and Principles

(Suitable for all English learners. Primary Sixes will find this useful for compositions and answering the vocabulary portions of their exams, Secondary students and JC can also use these in your writing to add variety into your writing and idea presentation)

Idiomatic sayings offer you insights into a society's thinking, style and culture. They utilise figurative language to present another way of explaining things. Here's a list of idioms to learn today:

A hot potato

Speak of an issue (mostly current) which many people are talking about and which is usually disputed

A penny for your thoughts

A way of asking what someone is thinking

Actions speak louder than words

People's intentions can be judged better by what they do than what they say.

Add insult to injury

To further a loss with mockery or indignity; to worsen an unfavorable situation.

An arm and a leg

Very expensive or costly. A large amount of money.

At the drop of a hat

Meaning: without any hesitation; instantly.

Back to the drawing board

When an attempt fails and it's time to start all over.

Ball is in your court

It is up to you to make the next decision or step

Barking up the wrong tree

Looking in the wrong place. Accusing the wrong person

Be glad to see the back of

Be happy when a person leaves.

Beat around the bush

Avoiding the main topic. Not speaking directly about the issue.

Best of both worlds

Meaning: All the advantages.

Best thing since sliced bread

A good invention or innovation. A good idea or plan.

Bite off more than you can chew

To take on a task that is way to big.

Blessing in disguise

Something good that isn't recognized at first.

Burn the midnight oil

To work late into the night, alluding to the time before electric lighting.

Can't judge a book by its cover

Cannot judge something primarily on appearance.

Caught between two stools

When someone finds it difficult to choose between two alternatives.

Costs an arm and a leg

This idiom is used when something is very expensive.

Cross that bridge when you come to it

Deal with a problem if and when it becomes necessary, not before.

Cry over spilt milk

When you complain about a loss from the past.

Curiosity killed the cat

Being Inquisitive can lead you into an unpleasant situation.

Cut corners

When something is done badly to save money.

Cut the mustard

To succeed; to come up to expectations; adequate enough to compete or participate

Devil's Advocate

To present a counter argument

Don't count your chickens before the eggs have hatched

This idiom is used to express "Don't make plans for something that might not happen".

Don't give up the day job

You are not very good at something. You could definitely not do it professionally.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket

Do not put all your resources in one possibility.

Drastic times call for drastic measures

When you are extremely desperate you need to take drastic actions.

Elvis has left the building

The show has come to an end. It's all over.

Every cloud has a silver lining

Be optimistic, even difficult times will lead to better days.

Far cry from

Very different from.

Feel a bit under the weather

Meaning: Feeling slightly ill.

Give the benefit of the doubt

Believe someone's statement, without proof.

Hear it on the grapevine

This idiom means 'to hear rumors' about something or someone.

Hit the nail on the head

Do or say something exactly right

Hit the sack / sheets / hay

To go to bed.

In the heat of the moment

Overwhelmed by what is happening in the moment.

It takes two to tango

Actions or communications need more than one person

Jump on the bandwagon

Join a popular trend or activity.

Keep something at bay

Keep something away.

Kill two birds with one stone

This idiom means, to accomplish two different things at the same time.

Last straw

The final problem in a series of problems.

Let sleeping dogs lie

Meaning - do not disturb a situation as it is - since it would result in trouble or complications.

Let the cat out of the bag

To share information that was previously concealed

Make a long story short

Come to the point - leave out details

Method to my madness

An assertion that, despite one's approach seeming random, there actually is structure to it.

Miss the boat

This idiom is used to say that someone missed his or her chance

Not a spark of decency

Meaning: No manners

Not playing with a full deck

Someone who lacks intelligence.

Off one's rocker

Crazy, demented, out of one's mind, in a confused or befuddled state of mind, senile.

On the ball

When someone understands the situation well.

Once in a blue moon

Meaning: Happens very rarely.

Picture paints a thousand words

A visual presentation is far more descriptive than words.

Piece of cake

A job, task or other activity that is easy or simple.

Put wool over other people's eyes

This means to deceive someone into thinking well of them.

See eye to eye

This idiom is used to say that two (or more people) agree on something.

Sit on the fence

This is used when someone does not want to choose or make a decision.

Speak of the devil!

This expression is used when the person you have just been talking about arrives.

Steal someone's thunder

To take the credit for something someone else did.

Take with a grain of salt

This means not to take what someone says too seriously.

Taste of your own medicine

Means that something happens to you, or is done to you, that you have done to someone else

To hear something straight from the horse's mouth

To hear something from the authoritative source.

Whole nine yards

Everything. All of it.

Wouldn't be caught dead

Would never like to do something

Your guess is as good as mine

To have no idea, do not know the answer to a question

Credits to http://www.smart-words.org/quotes-sayings/idioms-meaning.html

O Level English & JC GP: Materialism

Materialism: a system that eats us from the inside out 
Buying more stuff is associated with depression, anxiety and broken relationships. It is socially destructive and self-destructive

Owning more doesn't bring happiness: 'the material pursuit of self-esteem reduces self-esteem.' Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA 

That they are crass, brash and trashy goes without saying. But there is something in the pictures posted on Rich Kids of Instagram (and highlighted by the Guardian last week) that inspires more than the usual revulsion towards crude displays of opulence. There is a shadow in these photos – photos of a young man wearing all four of his Rolex watches, a youth posing in front of his helicopter, endless pictures of cars, yachts, shoes, mansions, swimming pools and spoilt white boys throwing gangster poses in private jets – of something worse: something that, after you have seen a few dozen, becomes disorienting, even distressing.

The pictures are, of course, intended to incite envy. They reek instead of desperation. The young men and women seem lost in their designer clothes, dwarfed and dehumanised by their possessions, as if ownership has gone into reverse. A girl's head barely emerges from the haul of Chanel, Dior and Hermes shopping bags she has piled on her vast bed. It's captioned "shoppy shoppy" and "#goldrush", but a photograph whose purpose is to illustrate plenty seems instead to depict a void. She's alone with her bags and her image in the mirror, in a scene that seems saturated with despair.

Perhaps I'm projecting my prejudices. But an impressive body of psychological research seems to support these feelings. It suggests that materialism, a trait that can afflict both rich and poor, and which the researchers define as "a value system that is preoccupied with possessions and the social image they project", is both socially destructive and self-destructive. It smashes the happiness and peace of mind of those who succumb to it. It's associated with anxiety, depression and broken relationships.

There has long been a correlation observed between materialism, a lack of empathy and engagement with others, and unhappiness. But research conducted over the past few years seems to show causation. For example, a series of studies published in the journal Motivation and Emotion in July showed that as people become more materialistic, their wellbeing (good relationships, autonomy, sense of purpose and the rest) diminishes. As they become less materialistic, it rises.

In one study, the researchers tested a group of 18-year-olds, then re-tested them 12 years later. They were asked to rank the importance of different goals – jobs, money and status on one side, and self-acceptance, fellow feeling and belonging on the other. They were then given a standard diagnostic test to identify mental health problems. At the ages of both 18 and 30, materialistic people were more susceptible to disorders. But if in that period they became less materialistic, they became happier.

In another study, the psychologists followed Icelanders weathering their country's economic collapse. Some people became more focused on materialism, in the hope of regaining lost ground. Others responded by becoming less interested in money and turning their attention to family and community life. The first group reported lower levels of wellbeing, the second group higher levels.

These studies, while suggestive, demonstrate only correlation. But the researchers then put a group of adolescents through a church programme designed to steer children away from spending and towards sharing and saving. The self-esteem of materialistic children on the programme rose significantly, while that of materialistic children in the control group fell. Those who had little interest in materialism before the programme experienced no change in self-esteem.

Another paper, published in Psychological Science, found that people in a controlled experiment who were repeatedly exposed to images of luxury goods, to messages that cast them as consumers rather than citizens and to words associated with materialism (such as buy, status, asset and expensive), experienced immediate but temporary increases in material aspirations, anxiety and depression. They also became more competitive and more selfish, had a reduced sense of social responsibility and were less inclined to join in demanding social activities. The researchers point out that, as we are repeatedly bombarded with such images through advertisements, and constantly described by the media as consumers, these temporary effects could be triggered more or less continuously.

A third paper, published (paradoxically) in the Journal of Consumer Research, studied 2,500 people for six years. It found a two-way relationship between materialism and loneliness: materialism fosters social isolation; isolation fosters materialism. People who are cut off from others attach themselves to possessions. This attachment in turn crowds out social relationships.

The two varieties of materialism that have this effect – using possessions as a yardstick of success and seeking happiness through acquisition – are the varieties that seem to be on display on Rich Kids of Instagram. It was only after reading this paper that I understood why those photos distressed me: they look like a kind of social self-mutilation.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons an economic model based on perpetual growth continues on its own terms to succeed, though it may leave a trail of unpayable debts, mental illness and smashed relationships. Social atomisation may be the best sales strategy ever devised, and continuous marketing looks like an unbeatable programme for atomisation.

Materialism forces us into comparison with the possessions of others, a race both cruelly illustrated and crudely propelled by that toxic website. There is no end to it. If you have four Rolexes while another has five, you are a Rolex short of contentment. The material pursuit of self-esteem reduces your self-esteem.

I should emphasise that this is not about differences between rich and poor: the poor can be as susceptible to materialism as the rich. It is a general social affliction, visited upon us by government policy, corporate strategy, the collapse of communities and civic life, and our acquiescence in a system that is eating us from the inside out.

This is the dreadful mistake we are making: allowing ourselves to believe that having more money and more stuff enhances our wellbeing, a belief possessed not only by those poor deluded people in the pictures, but by almost every member of almost every government. Worldly ambition, material aspiration, perpetual growth: these are a formula for mass unhappiness.

Twitter: @georgemonbiot. A fully referenced version of this article can be found at Monbiot.com Credits: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/09/materialism-system-eats-us-from-inside-out

JC GP: Major Sporting Events - Yay or Nay?

Found an article which is great for your recent AQ assignment (RI Promos 2010). This article propounds Hitchens' ideas and highlights an issue that was not discussed in-depth in the passage. Read on and take some notes.

Pertinent issues are highlighted in maroon.


Anger and denial as Qataris defend country's right to host World Cup 
Organising staff continue work on stadium designs amid wave of home-grown conspiracy theories and international scandal

Reaction in Doha to the allegations has swung between blithe dismissal and a siege mentality as preparations continue. Photograph: Karim Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images 

Said Brahimi should be in his footballing prime when the World Cup kicks off in Qatar in 2022. He plays on the right wing for the national under-19s side and will be 26 when the tournament starts – the same age as Adam Lallana, the England attacker who is about to get his first chance at World Cup glory in Brazil.

But , as he pulled on his boots to train with the national side on a full-sized air-conditioned pitch, the 18-year-old had to face up to calls for his country to be stripped of the event, amid the growing furore over claims of bribery during the bidding process by a top Qatari football official.

"[To prevent us] from getting the World Cup, which is the biggest event in the world, would be really upsetting," he said. "I don't think that's fair because everyone worked so hard. They planned everything and now it has just gone because of some people trying to get the whole country down."

What he may not comprehend, partly because the allegations have only been cursorily covered in much of the press in Qatar, is the extent and seriousness of the claims that Mohamed bin Hammam, the former Fifa executive committee member who previously led Qatar's football authority, spent $5m in cash and gifts to international football officials in the bidding process.

But the disbelieving response of Brahimi, the Qatari-born son of an Algerian engineer for whom Qatar's successful bid is a huge opportunity, reflected anger and suspicion in Doha this week where reaction has swung between blithe dismissal and a siege mentality.

The Qatari press has reported the allegations but has focused strongly on the organisers' denials of any wrongdoing rather than the details of the claims themselves. On Monday, the Qatar Tribune led with the robust rebuttal from the Qatar 2022 supreme committee, while it relegated the story to a three-inch column reporting on how the head of the Asian Football Confederation, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain, believed the doubts about the bidding process raised by the allegations "will be cleared up soon".

"People here feel frustrated," said one Qatari sports official who asked not be named. "Why are people attacking us like this? It is our right to host the 2022 World Cup. It was voted for by the European delegations too. Are they corrupt?"

Another official said the claims in the Sunday Times were "ridiculous", "entirely predictable" and "nothing new". He added dismissively: "There's no reaction, people here are cool. Work is in progress."

But Tariq, a Bangladeshi driver plying his trade on the coastal Corniche road, summed up another strain of reaction to the bribery allegation: "I am 99% sure it's true. What they are building here is a bubble and it is not real. We are modern slaves here and only if you chose to ignore human rights should the World Cup go ahead."

Did he believe the bid was corrupt? "Yes," he said. "On the outside they wear white, but on the inside they are black."

Hosting the World Cup is a huge deal for the Qataris, who form a minority of the country's 2.2 million population, which is made up mostly of 1.4 million migrant workers. It has become a pivotal part of the nation's 30-year development plan, so the possibility that the tournament is in jeopardy has sparked serious concern.

In the supreme committee's headquarters in a twisting 40-storey skyscraper overlooking the Arabian Gulf, inhouse lawyers have been poring over the allegations in order to "take whatever steps are necessary to defend the integrity of Qatar's bid". A London law firm has also been retained. The atmosphere is tense. The committee repeated in a statement this week: "Mohamed bin Hammam played no official or unofficial role in Qatar's 2022 bid committee."

There was a sense of anger inside the headquarters that what the bid's leaders say was a World Cup won against the odds through hard work and meticulous networking was being tarnished. They also feel that it has been overlooked that Bin Hammam was also bidding to become president of Fifa at the time of some of his controversial activities.

The claims are just the latest wave of criticism undermining the embattled Qatar 2022 organising committee. 350 staff have continued to work on stadium designs and technical plans for the event as a wave of international scandals have swept over the proposed tournament , from labour rights abuses, previous claims about Bin Hammam's behaviour, and the admission, by Fifa's secretary general himself, Sepp Blatter, that it was "a mistake" to award Qatar the tournament on the basis of hosting it in the summer when temperatures top 46C.

The breadth of conspiracy theories in Qatar about the evidence contained in the email cache obtained by the Sunday Times suggests a degree of unwillingness to even consider the possibility the bid may be tainted. One sports official told the Guardian the story was to distract from the problems dogging preparations for the World Cup starting in Brazil next week. Some suspect an assault by the British media, apparently believing there is state control of the press in the UK as there is in Qatar. That theory is driven by the well-reported frustration in the UK at England's failed bid to host the 2018 event, which was awarded at the same time as the 2022 tournament.

Perched on a velvet cushion sipping tea outside a shop in the Souk Waqif displaying a five-foot high replica World Cup decked out in Qatari colours, Mohammad Hamad said he would be dismayed if Qatar lost the right to host the tournament.

"I heard this on the news and it's not right at all," said the Syria-born shopkeeper. "People in Qatar are very proud of this and live for football, and the Qataris want the world to come here and to see that this is a great place."

The extent of the damage will only emerge fully in July when a semi-independent report on the bidding process is due to be sent to Fifa. Before then, the Sunday Times is promising fresh revelations this weekend to coincide with the Fifa congress in Brazil.

Meanwhile preparations for the 2022 World Cup continue in the supreme committee's brightly furnished offices. A bid clock reminds staff it is 96 months, 9 days, 22 hours, 57 minutes and 44 seconds away. The question remains: will Fifa pull the plug?

O Level English & JC GP: Environment, Climate Change

Obama says carbon pollution caps will 'protect health of vulnerable' – as it happened 

• EPA unveils proposal to cut carbon emissions at power plants 
• Gore: 'most important step' on climate in US history 
• Plants to cut pollution 30% from 2005 levels by 2030 
• Critics say plan too costly – or cuts not deep enough

President Barack Obama will outline new regulations to cut carbon emissions to 30% of 2005 levels by 2030. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

Summary of what was being said

• President Barack Obama unveiled a proposal for new limits on carbon pollution at existing power plants. It was the first regulation of its kind ever proposed by the White House.

 • Under the plan, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a goal of 30% reductions in carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 2030. Reductions would vary by state.

 • The proposal was generally welcomed by environmental groups, but decried by business and the coal industry for potentially costing jobs and money while having limited environmental benefits.

 • The EPA has tailored its emissions goals state-by-state, taking into account each state’s fuel mix, its electricity market and numerous other factors. A text of the plan is on the EPA web site here.

 • Global leaders on environmental issues welcomed the move, saying it could jump-start a stalled international conversation.

 • Obama touted the health benefits of decreased carbon pollution. “In America we don't have to choose between health of our economy and the health of our kids," he said in a conference call. "We can do both."

View the full coverage here

O Level English & JC GP: Racism

Article from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/28/racism-is-still-with-us-lying-britain-survey-racial

Racism is still with us – let's stop lying to ourselves 
Our vision of ourselves for global consumption is one of a post-racial Britain. But a survey shows that it's patently false

The 2012 Olympics, with images of Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah happily draping the union jack around their brown shoulders heralded the dawn of a post-racial Britain. Or so went the script. The image of ourselves presented for global consumption was one of a rainbow nation in which hard work and determination could overcome racial prejudice. After the heat of that summer, we strode along boasting of how much had been achieved, likening racism to an endangered species soon to be fully extinct within our progressive society. A survey of British social attitudes by NatCen, reported in this newspaper, proves otherwise: racism is on the rise.

The survey shows that three in every 10 of us describe ourselves as being "very or a little racially prejudiced". Though the number is lower than figures from 30 years ago (36%), it is higher than in 2000 and 2001 (25%). The highest recorded levels were from 2010, when 37% labelled themselves as racially prejudiced.

From such data, it's evident that merely plastering images proclaiming Britain's racial diversity as evidence of the eradication of racism rings hollow. Perhaps it is time for the government to reinvest in the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which in 2012 had its budget and staff halved. On the basis of the funding decision, the government must think racism is not that much of a problem any more; indeed, nor is discrimination based on disability, sexual orientation, age or religion.

Discussing racism as something still in existence has become hotly contested. Those who label acts as racist find themselves on the receiving end of accusations that they are overly sensitive and paranoid. We are the ones who are the real racists, we are told, breeding division where there should be cohesion with our desire to see racism everywhere. Yet when only 4% of British Pakistanis can say that they are not at all worried about being harassed because of their race or religion, and 65% of black Africans are very or slightly worried about religious or racially motivated attacks, then we need to remember that talking about racism as if it doesn't exist is in fact another instrument in the silencing of black and minority ethnic (BME) voices. It is yet another sign that we don't share in the myth of equality that is so readily served up to us. In fact, experience tells us that our reality is very different from that rendered on advertising billboards and magazines.

NatCen's research makes for especially interesting reading on racism and class. Old assumptions are seemingly affirmed. It is older men in manual work who are most likely to admit to being racially prejudiced. For women, those who work part time are more ready to admit their prejudice. Why? Dr Grace Lordan from the London School of Economics suggests it is related to the poor working conditions such women are forced to endure. Again, this is a formula for racial discrimination that we are happy to accept – it is primarily the problem of the poor, too unenlightened to understand that the nonexistent R-word is passé, to say the least.

This is another lie, an act of hypocrisy that is breathtaking when fully considered. It was the middle class and very learned historian David Starkey who espoused – unchallenged – 19th‑century ideas about the inherently violent nature of "blacks" on national news. Most recently, the multimillionaire friend of David Cameron, Jeremy Clarkson, continues to enjoy a contract funded by the public that permits him to "humorously" jabber racist rubbish at us. And of course, Ukip's public school-educated leader, Nigel Farage, believes it mere common sense to worry about Romanians moving next door. On top of that, there is always the dehumanising language of hordes and swarms.

Farage, with his German wife, proves himself to be rather pathetically predictable – there is the right type of immigrants, who don't look and act too foreign, and the wrong type, who do. It is the latter that have always proved problematic for Britain.

Our largely middle class media and political class are happy to sing variations of this tune but reluctant to claim their share of responsibility when such talk inevitably comes home to roost. It is no surprise that there is a correlation between spikes when people admit their racial prejudice and when anti-immigration rhetoric and Islamophobia are dished out as reasoned stances against impending doom.

To see racism as singularly the problem of one social class is another refusal to view it as a pernicious issue that is supported by structures within society. Though this report gives voice to the resentments of powerless individuals, it shouldn't blind us to the fact that racism is at its most damaging when institutions are at fault.

Around 50% of young black men are unemployed compared with 20% of their white counterparts. In 2010, over 50% of black seven-year-olds and nearly three-quarters of their Pakistani and Bangladeshi counterparts were living in poverty. Gypsies and Travellers have a life expectancy that is 10 to 12 years lower than that of the general population. Black pupils are three times more likely than any other groups except Gypsy and Traveller children to be permanently excluded from school. And on and on the stats go. It is not individuals but institutions that are perpetuating racial inequality. If NatCen's survey does anything, it should be to make us stop lying to ourselves. There isn't anything post about racism: it's here and now.

Essay Transitions

Too often students use the same old transitions over and over again in their essays. Firstly... Secondly... Thirdly... Anyone? 

Good transitions can form strong links between your paragraphs and show readers the relationship and logic in your points.

Try your hand at some of these words and see if it makes a difference in your essay!

Addition

• furthermore
• moreover
• too
• also
• in the second place
• again
• in addition
• even more
• next
• further
• last, lastly
• finally
• besides
• and, or, nor
• first
• second, secondly, etc.

Exemplification or Illustration

• to illustrate
• to demonstrate
• specifically
• for instance
• as an illustration
• e.g., (for example)
• for example

Comparison

• in the same way
• by the same token
• similarly
• in like manner
• likewise
• in similar fashion

Contrast

• yet
• and yet
• nevertheless
• nonetheless
• after all
• but
• however
• though
• otherwise
• on the contrary
• in contrast
• notwithstanding
• on the other hand
• at the same time

Intensification

• indeed
• to repeat
• by all means
• of course
• doubtedly
• certainly
• without doubt
• yes, no
• undoubtedly
• in fact
• surely
• in fact

Summary

• to summarize
• in sum
• in brief
• to sum up
• in short
• in summary

Credits to https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Transitions.html

O Level & JC GP: Technology and Modern Life Notes

This article is suitable for O Level and A Level learners.

A great article, albeit dated (It was released in 2004). I've highlighted the learning points and key phrases that are easier to understand and suitable for use in your essays. It will be great to use for questions based on Technology and Modern Life. Some examples are:

1. Is technology a boon or a bane for mankind?
2. 'The mobile phone is more a menace than an asset to society.' What are your views?
3. World progress has brought about an increase in the quality of life. Do you agree?
4. People are increasingly self-centered in modern society. Do you agree?
5. In your opinion, what is the most important invention that has changed your life?
6. Technology divides, rather than unite. To what extent do you agree?

Feel free to contribute any similar questions to the list.

--

Life Interrupted by Richard Seven, The Seattle Times
Plugged into it all, we're stressed to distraction

DAVID LEVY, A PROFESSOR in the University of Washington's School of Information, believes he may have witnessed the first-ever interruption-by-e-mail. It happened back in the '70s, when he worked at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, a think tank at the forefront of today's computing world.

He and about 25 other technologists were watching a visiting scientist demonstrate how to make use of multiple parts of the computer screen. The visitor was typing and talking when a text popped up on one side of the screen. "Oh look," he said, "I've received a message!" He typed a response, sent it into cyberspace and went back to his presentation. But not everyone was impressed — or even pleased. "I remember a visiting senior computer scientist from another country got very angry about it," says Levy. "He said programming requires focus and shouldn't be interrupted. He basically said, 'You call this the future!' "

The future? Well, yes and no. E-mail, as it turns out, was just one drop in a dam-breaking flood of technology that has inundated our lives. Today, the constant pinging of your e-mail can be like
the drip-drip-drip of water torture. We're swimming in doodads and options — text messaging and search engines, Blackberries and blogs, Wi-fi, cell phones that try to do all of the above, and the promise that we haven't seen anything yet.

We're shooting through technological rapids that have opened doors and changed the dynamic of work, how we communicate and live, and sometimes even think. All these tools have made our lives easier in many ways. But they're also stirring deep unease. Some are concerned that the need for speed is shrinking our attention spans, prompting our search for answers to take the mile-wide-but-inch-deep route and settling us into a rhythm of constant interruption in which deadlines are relentless and tasks are never quite finished. Scientists call this phenomenon "cognitive overload," and say it encompasses the modern-day angst of stress, multitasking, distraction
and data flurries.

In fact, multitasking — a computing term that involves doing, or trying to do, more than one thing at once — has cemented itself into our daily lives and is intensely studied. Research has shown it to be consistently counterproductive, often foolish, unhealthy in the long run, and in the case of gabbing on the cell phone while driving, relatively dangerous. Yet it is also expected, encouraged and basically essential. Do you have never-ending deadlines? Job uncertainty? A dual-income
family life with kids? A do-more-with-less workplace? Then you multitask.

Today, we can do more. And do more, faster. And do more, faster, from anywhere, all the time. You can work at home or the coffee shop or even the beach. Is this a good thing? How do we navigate these rapids without eventually drowning? Are we allowing life to be the sum of tasks,
the short term always the priority? Are we so connected that we're actually disconnected? And has anyone had enough time to focus long enough to mull a question that requires a long, complicated answer — if there is one?

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