Can you find Malta on a map? What else do you know about this Mediterranean nation with 500,000 people?
What Seemingly Mundane Feats Have You Accomplished?
Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.
Over the course of six years, Gareth Wild accomplished his goal of parking his car in every eligible space at his local grocery store. Why do you think he did it?
Have you ever tackled a seemingly mundane project like Mr. Wild’s — something that you came up with as your own personal challenge? If so, what was your project? Did you complete it, and if so, did you feel proud? Did you share your victory with others? If you abandoned the project somewhere along the way, why did you stop?
In “Over 6 Years and 211 Spots, a British Man Conquers a Parking Lot,” Alan Yuhas writes about Mr. Wild’s feat:
Michelangelo spent four years painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Tolstoy devoted six to “War and Peace,” and the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan took more than twice that to erect the Taj Mahal.
But did any of them park in every single spot of their local grocery store?
Maybe they would have, given the chance and the existence of a Publix or Tesco. Instead the feat was achieved by Gareth Wild, a 39-year-old production director who assiduously took up space, in one spot after another at the local Sainsbury’s of his London suburb, until he had used 211 parking spots over six years.
“If you do anything small, or a little thing over a long period of time, it doesn’t feel like too much,” Mr. Wild said. “Then you put it together and suddenly you’re being interviewed by people for your car parking exploits.”
Mr. Wild finished his unusual project this week, drawing notice from the BBC, The Guardian and other news organizations after he wrote about his “magnum opus” on Twitter.
Mr. Wild describes the methods and ethics behind his project:
The project was not just idle ambition. He made a plan, and a spreadsheet. “I had to get some sort of numbering system in place,” he said. Rather than going on foot to count spaces — “I thought that might give off a weird vibe” — he captured an overhead view with Google Maps, he said.
He divided the area into lettered sections, color-coded it and assigned numbers to spots. “I quickly identified the ones that were in high demand,” he said, and planned to seek those out first. “The ones that were never being used, I wanted to save those for last so I wasn’t bottlenecking my approach.”
Week by week, Mr. Wild made steady progress. He did not park illegally in handicap or motorcycle spots. When his first child was born two years into the project, family spots became available. By the end, he had 211 parking spaces to mark off.
It would have been cheating to use multiple spots on one trip, he said: “How could I look my family in the face if I do something like that?” But he said he did, sometimes, make a trip for wine a little later at night in order to chase the most elusive and in-demand spots.
The article concludes:
Mr. Wild, whose main documentation of the project is his spreadsheet, said his “greatest regret” was not collecting more photos or details while it was underway.
He called the project “a very calm process” that gave him a healthy distraction from the pandemic’s profound toll on Britain.
“Doing something trivial has been quite nice because the very real crushing reality is of a business, which is struggling, and the world, which is on fire,” he said. “It’s just nice to have a break from all that and just think about something stupid.”
Thomas Fletcher, an associate professor at Leeds Beckett University in Britain and the chairman of the Leisure Studies Association, said that while he had encountered many quirky hobbies and pet projects over the years, “I’ve never heard of anything like this, to be brutally honest.”
He said the project likely resonated with people because Mr. Wild had taken something so mundane so seriously; because the pandemic had so constrained many people’s own hobbies; and because it took six years.
“It’s completely bonkers, isn’t it,” Mr. Fletcher said. But he said there was also a lesson about the value of personal projects in the story. “Our leisure is our time — it’s what we make of it,” he said. However trivial or strange a project may appear to other people, he said, “there’s the meaning we invest within them for ourselves.”
Mr. Wild does not know yet what form, or meaning, his next project will take. “Maybe some other kind of spreadsheet adventure, because spreadsheets are great,” he said. “But I’m probably done with car parks.”
Students, read the entire article, then tell us:
What is your reaction to Mr. Wild’s project? Are you impressed? To what degree does his story inspire you to start your own project?
Mr. Wild spoke of his rule that didn’t allow him to move his car from one spot to another during a single trip to the store. Why did this matter to him? Why do you think his family would have cared if he had broken his own rule? What would you think if he had admitted that he had cheated, even just a single time? Why?
What seemingly mundane project have you taken on for your own enjoyment? Did you invent your own rules to define the challenge? What was the outcome?
Why do you think people have had such a positive reaction to the parking lot victory? To what degree do you think this is a newsworthy story?
Have you ever witnessed someone else take on and reach a Gareth Wild-esque goal? If so, what did you think at the time? How did others react?
About Student Opinion
• Find all of our Student Opinion questions in this column.
• Have an idea for a Student Opinion question? Tell us about it.
• Learn more about how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.
Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Word of the Day: zealous
zealous ˈze-ləs adjective
:marked by active interest and enthusiasm for a cause or ideal
_________
The word zealous has appeared in 65 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Dec. 4 in “‘Godmothered’ Review: Revising the Fairy Tale Formula” by Natalia Winkelman:
Now streaming on Disney+, the film recalls the studio’s once-upon-a-time hit, “Enchanted,” although here, the conceit loses much of its charm. The story follows an eager fairy godmother in training, Eleanor (Jillian Bell), who shirks her studies in the fantasy world of Motherland to pursue an assignment on Earth. Transporting herself into a wintry Boston, Eleanor locates her Cinderella: the wearied single mother Mackenzie (Isla Fisher) who works at a local news station.
Many of the movie’s jokes come from Eleanor’s clash with modernity. She marvels at cars, offers to dig a moat around Mackenzie’s home and confuses an iPad with an eye patch. The endless naïveté starts to grate halfway through, as does this zealous godmother’s fixation on her Bostonian princess finding true love.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word zealous in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how zealous can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
May Vocabulary Challenge
Winners From Our April Vocabulary Challenge
Congratulations to Sophia, Samuel and Adam, who imbued their entries with personality and style while adhering to our stringent guidelines. Many of the pieces we read were jam-packed with vocabulary words, but these stood out for their fluid incorporation of words from our word list into three coherent stories.
In our first two months judging this challenge, we have found that our favorite entries are not bogged down by vocabulary words, but rather, they are animated by them. This month’s winners provide fine examples.
Sophia Mensching, age 13, Christa McAuliffe Middle School, Boynton Beach, Fla.
Princess Rosalyn GRIMACED as she stepped into the SQUALID hovel. It was HITHERTO unheard of for someone of her station — a PARADIGM of royalty — to go near a place so UNBECOMING — a house for peasants and their ILK. However, her HUBRIS had caused her to be exiled, so this was her new home.
Samuel Iribe, age 16, Coon Rapids High School, Coon Rapids, Minn.
My NASCENT idea started with a twist of lime,
To stray from the STRINGENT PARADIGM.
This Starbucks drink would be a unique ILK;
The drinkable MANIFESTATION of silk.
Upon testing, my manager GRIMACED.
One sip, and ABJECT, I ACQUIESCED.
My HUBRIS obliterated, I whimpered.
The creativity inside me had withered.
Adam Namkung, age 16, Hinsdale Central High School, Hinsdale, Ill.
My coach’s VEHEMENT voice roared across the track. Students GRIMACED as the one kid, whose HUBRIS was HITHERTO unshakable, was carried off the field. The MANIFESTATION of every runner’s fear presented before us. A freshman’s laugh at the sight was UNBECOMING, and others QUELLED his laughter with glares.
Thank you to all who entered.
Dishwashers and Dementia: The Brain System You’ve Never Heard Of
This essay, by Maggie Bell, age 16, from Lakeside High School in Atlanta, is one of the top 11 winners of The Learning Network’s second annual STEM Writing Contest, for which we received 3,741 entries. You can find the work of all of our student winners here.
Dishwashers and Dementia: The Brain System You’ve Never Heard Of
The leaning tower of dishes. A greasy conglomeration caked in tomato sauce and fat that is the byproduct of a week’s worth of eating. During the day the brain builds up its own pile of dishes caked with toxins, and runs its personal dishwasher — the glymphatic system.
As if hitting the “begin wash” button, electrical waves, known as slow waves, pulse throughout the brain every 20 seconds. Research suggests that these electrical waves alter blood flow in the brain, creating extra space that is filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the dish soap. CSF flows between membranes, washing away toxins that are produced during brain function. Just as we are too busy during the day to wash pots and pans, while awake, our brains surge with activity. With little space for CSF to fill, less clearing of toxins occurs. Laura Lewis of Boston University unearthed this method of waste removal and its correlation to brain health in a study just two years ago.
A lack of proper sleep limits the glymphatic system, causing grime to build up and impede brain function. While it may seem that the worst effect due to lack of sleep is putting salt instead of sugar into your coffee, improper functioning of the glymphatic system could be linked to Alzheimer’s and other cognitive degenerative diseases. Patients with Alzheimer’s have an abundance of the toxin beta-amyloid in the brain, a buildup William Jagust, a neuroscientist at the University of California Berkeley, calls “a vicious cycle where amyloid decreases sleep, and decreased sleep results in more amyloid.” Dr. Jagust anticipates that the functioning of the glymphatic system could be a factor in the development of Alzheimer’s and that quality sleep may be a preventive measure. As we age the slow waves that trigger the cleansing cycle decrease, giving a possible explanation for cognitive decline over the years.
Research involving the glymphatic system could lead to a better understanding of psychiatric disorders, as changes in the brain’s electrical impulses and sleep disturbances are common characteristics. Readings on the functioning of the glymphatic system may even serve as a future diagnostic tool or indicator of the likelihood of disease onset. With 51.5 million American adults suffering from a mental disorder, according to the National Institutes of Health, enough people to fill Yankee Stadium over 940 times, this research is promising. While follow-up research is done to confirm the relationship between slow waves and the glymphatic system, Maiken Nedergaard, a neurologist at the University of Rochester, says, “Maybe the most important take-home message is that sleep is a serious thing.” So go ahead, give yourself a cleanse.
Works Cited
Hamilton, Jon. “How Deep Sleep May Help The Brain Clear Alzheimer’s Toxins.” NPR, 31 Oct. 2019.
“How Sleep Clears the Brain.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 28 Oct. 2013.
Konnikova, Maria. “Goodnight. Sleep Clean.” The New York Times, 11 Jan. 2014.
Makin, Simon. “Deep Sleep Gives Your Brain a Deep Clean.” Scientific American, 1 Nov., 2019.
“Mental Illness.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
What is SQL: Common uses and defining features
The term SQL stands for Structured Query Language. A query language is a programming language that accesses data stored in relational databases. That term may sound technical, but don’t worry — SQL’s structure is relatively simple. Here’s an example:
SELECT firstname, lastname
FROM customers
WHERE state = 'California';The query above is pretty direct and straightforward. You can probably figure out what it’s supposed to do, even without knowing the language.
If you guessed it was supposed to retrieve the first and last name of every customer from California, you are correct. As you can see, SQL is pretty easy to grasp, even for beginners. Read on for more information about how it works and how it’s used.
What are relational databases?
Relational databases are software used to store structured data. This data is stored in tables. If you’re familiar with spreadsheets, think of a table as one worksheet in a spreadsheet.
Each table has columns and rows. Each column holds a specifically named value, and each row contains a record. For example, a table of customers would have columns like state, zip_code, and id.
The relational part means that one table can relate to another table. If we have a customers table, we could also have an orders table. By adding a customer id column to our orders table, we can relate our order records to our customer records.
Relational databases give you the power to structure your data however you choose, and SQL gives you the power to access that data however you choose.
You can choose from quite a few relational databases, but they all use a variation of SQL. Some common relational database engines include:
How SQL works
Imagine you own an e-commerce site, and you store your data in a relational database like PostgreSQL or SQLite. In your database, you have three tables: customers, orders, and order_items. Using SQL, you can pull related data from each table.
Say you wanted to query the last name of all your customers in Washington. In that case, you could use a query similar to our first example:
SELECT last_name
FROM users
WHERE state = 'Washington';This would give you data from one table, which is useful but doesn’t show the full range of SQL’s capabilities. What if you wanted to get all the orders from your customers in Washington? Your query would look something like this:
SELECT *
FROM users
JOIN orders
ON orders.user_id = users.id
WHERE state = 'Washington';Again, the syntax almost reads like a natural language. The asterisk basically means “every column,” so this query will give you all the data you need.
SQL also has powerful functions like COUNT() and SUM() that apply calculations to data. So, if you wanted to take SQL even further, you could include the order_items table in the query and use SUM to calculate the total value of all the orders from your customers in Washington. And this is just the beginning of all the things you can do with SQL. For an expanded list of SQL’s functions, check out this list of SQL commands.
Careers that use SQL
As you can see, SQL is a vital tool in the collection and manipulation of data. That, coupled with the various ways businesses use data, makes it a valuable skill for both technical and non-technical roles. Let’s take a look at some of the different careers that use SQL.
Data science professionals like data scientists and data analysts collect, organize, and manipulate a business’ data to find actionable insights. To get the data they need, they often have to use SQL to retrieve it from a relational database.
Business analysts and marketers need insights to guide businesses toward better processes, products, and services. Sometimes, they don’t have time to wait for data scientists to provide them. With SQL, they can go directly to the source and write queries that will give them the insights they need in a matter of minutes instead of days or weeks.
Database administrators deal with data all day long. A database administrator (or DBA) manages the database engines that hold an enterprise’s data. They must possess extensive knowledge of both SQL and database software.
Knowing SQL will also give you a step up in most programming roles. Whether you want to be a software engineer or a web developer, you’ll likely have to access a relational database at some point in your career. To do that, you’ll need to know SQL.
Learn more about SQL
While simple, SQL is a powerful programming language and valuable addition to almost any skill set. Ready to get started? Our Learn SQL course will teach you the basics of querying and data manipulation.
After you’ve learned its basics, we have several courses that teach you how to use SQL to advance in your career. Considering a career in data science? Learn how to analyze data with SQL. More interested in its non-technical applications? Check out Learn Intermediate SQL for Marketers and Product Managers.
Countdown
Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.
This GIF recently illustrated a Guest Essay in the Opinion section. What do you think the essay was about? How does the image relate to or comment on society or current events? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related essay to learn more.
About Picture Prompts
• Find all our Picture Prompts in this column.
• Have an idea for a Picture Prompt? Tell us about it.
• Teachers, discover more ways to teach with our Picture Prompts and learn how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.
Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Word of the Day: magnanimity
magnanimity ˌmag-nə-ˈni-mə-tē noun
: extreme generosity of spirit that brings about a sense of nobility or calmness
_________
The word magnanimity has appeared in 15 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on April 22 in “Jordan Releases 16 Accused in Alleged Plot, Soothing Royal Rift” by Rana F. Sweis and Patrick Kingsley:
AMMAN, Jordan — Sixteen people accused of a plot to foment unrest in Jordan this month were released from custody on Thursday pending further investigation, a military judge announced, marking a new chapter in an unusually turbulent episode in the normally placid kingdom.
… The move on Thursday appeared to be aimed at restoring Jordan to some degree of normality. At the time of the arrests several weeks ago, the government had hinted of a foiled coup attempt. But in a statement published shortly before the accused were released on Thursday, the king stressed that they had never posed an “imminent threat to the country, since the sedition, as I have said, has been stopped.”
In the same statement, the king also framed the release as a sign of his magnanimity.
“As a father and a brother to all Jordanians,” the king wrote, “and in this holy month of tolerance and solidarity, when we all wish to be with our families, I ask the relevant officials to look into the proper mechanism to have those who were misled into following the sedition, return to their families soon.”
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word magnanimity in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how magnanimity can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
The World’s Best Quarantiners
Cicadas are know for making noises as loud as a lawn mower, or about 90 decibels. That’s loud enough for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to require hearing protection. So, be sure to bring your ear plugs if you want to see these little bugs.
If you were alive in 2004, you might remember the constant buzzing and the exoskeletons that the cicadas left behind. However, if you missed it then, your best chance of seeing a cicada will be in the South, but they will be as far north as New York.
Although they might be annoying, cicadas are perfectly harmless. If you get really hungry at some point this summer, don’t hesitate to take a big, juicy bite of a cicada because they are edible. In fact, they are great sources of protein and very low in cholesterol. Though you might think this sounds pretty gross, people in ancient Greece and Rome considered cicadas a delicacy. Cicadas have been known to be cooked into tacos, pizzas, pies and even dumplings.
Just like Rapunzel, cicadas spend the first 17 years of their life away from the world for their safety. However, cicadas don’t need Mother Gothel to tell them to stay hidden from the outside world. They do it voluntarily. Cicadas will only come out when the conditions are just right. The soil temperature has to be above 64 degrees Fahrenheit (about 18 degrees Celsius), and it cannot be raining. Large groups of cicadas will emerge together when the time is right. However, according to Howard Russel, an entomologist (an insect scientist), “No one knows what mechanism they use to trigger their mass emergence.”
For humans, your 17th birthday is just that awkward one between your Sweet 16 and your big 18 I’m-finally-an-adult birthday. For a periodical cicada, 17 is the most important one. So, get your party hats on, because it’s about to be the biggest birthday of the bug world in 17 years.
Works Cited
Bachtel, Carl. “Billions of 17-Year Cicadas Expected to Emerge in 2021.” abc10.com, 26 Feb. 2021.
Matheny, Keith, Georgea Kovanis. “Brood X Periodical Cicadas, Underground for 17 Years, Ready to Re-emerge and Make Some Noise.” USA Today, 26 Jan. 2021.
Perkins, Sid. “Here Comes Swarmageddon!” Science News for Students, 3 Dec. 2019.
“Watch a Cicada Transform.” Cicada Mania, 30 June 2019.
And the Grammy Goes to … Fin Whales?
This essay, by Nicola Myers, age 17, from Boise High School in Boise, Idaho, is one of the top 11 winners of The Learning Network’s second annual STEM Writing Contest, for which we received 3,741 entries. You can find the work of all of our student winners here.
And the Grammy Goes to … Fin Whales?
The hottest music of this year might just belong to fin whales. Well, at least in the opinion of seismologists. Named for the smooth fin that juts from their backs, fin whales span an impressive 80 feet in length and have long been composing melodies deep below the ocean’s surface. These noises are so loud that the marine geophysicist William Wilcock likened them to those of a “big container ship.” While conducting seismic research, scientists viewed the whales’ songs as a vociferous inconvenience, failing to recognize the potential behind the hubbub. The seismologist Václav Kuna, however, was intrigued by the constant chatter of the fin whales. He decided to investigate these odd sounds further and stumbled upon a discovery larger than fin whales themselves.
Seismologists such as Dr. Kuna study seismic waves (energy waves created when rock fractures in Earth’s crust) to better understand earthquakes. Air guns have been the go-to tool for the documentation of seismic activity in oceanic crust. Yet they have one major downfall: Air guns contribute to the human-induced noise-levels of oceans, creating a stressful environment for marine life.
Dr. Kuna, along with John Nabelek, a professor at Oregon State University, found and recently published an alternative method to air guns, one that relies on help from fin whales. How can these majestic mammals assist seismologists? The process is simple: Energy from the hums of fin whales zips through the water and echoes off the ocean floor, transforming into seismic waves. Seismometers then capture the noises, similarly to how the vibrating sound waves of air guns would be recorded. “Fin whale seismology” has helped to uncover rock layers in the ocean, seemingly giving scientists the superhuman power of X-ray vision to see through 8,200 feet of the obscure seafloor. Though fin whale seismology is not as accurate as the air gun approach, Dr. Kuna still calls the discovery a “win-win” and believes that the method can “complement” traditional ways of obtaining seismic data. And best of all, the harmonies of fin whales are sounds already native to aquatic life.
Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, who studies volcanoes and seismology at Western Washington University, explains that she first saw the constant blabber of fin whales as nothing more than a nuisance to her research. She now calls the findings of Dr. Kuna and Dr. Nabelek “awesome,” asserting that their study demonstrates how scientists can derive data from natural sources instead of conducting experiments with man-made technology. The full potential of fin whale seismology will come with future studies, but for now, here’s what’s certain: Fin whales deserve the award for best new artist at the “Underwater Grammys” for wowing seismologists and marine life alike with the power of their melodic voices.
Works Cited
Andrews, Robin George. “Whale Songs Could Reveal Deep Secrets Beneath the Oceans.” The New York Times, 11 Feb. 2021.
Chapuis, Lucille, Shaun P. Collin, Carlos M. Duarte, et al. “The Soundscape of the Anthropocene Ocean.” Science, 5 Feb. 2021.
Endsley, Kevin. “What Is Seismology and What Are Seismic Waves?” UPSeis, 2007.
Gramling, Carolyn. “Fin Whale Songs Can Reveal Hidden Features of the Ocean Floor.” Science News. 12 Feb. 2021.
Kuna, Václav M. and John L. Nabelek. “Seismic Crustal Imaging Using Fin Whale Songs.” Science, 12 Feb. 2021.
