Since the 1980s, when its rulers decided to turn the city of Dubai into a tourist destination, the U.A.E.’s biggest developments have included two of the world’s largest shopping malls; artificial palm-shaped islands that can be seen from outer space; and Burj Khalifa, the world’s .
What’s Going On in This Picture? | Nov. 16, 2020
Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.
1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:
2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)
3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.
Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.
4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?
How Do You Feel About Cancel Culture?
Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.
When you hear the terms “canceled” or “cancel culture,” what comes to mind?
According to Dictionary.com, “cancel culture refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive.”
But these days, the phenomenon can apply to personal relationships, too. Have you had an experience with canceling someone — whether a friend or family member, a celebrity, or someone in your school community — or being canceled yourself? Would you say that cancel culture is prevalent at your school?
In the 2019 Style article “Tales From the Teenage Cancel Culture,” Sanam Yar and Jonah Engel Bromwich share six stories of cancel culture from high school and college students.
In one, a teenager grapples with what she sees as a classmate’s problematic music choices:
A few weeks ago, Neelam, a high school senior, was sitting in class at her Catholic school in Chicago. After her teacher left the room, a classmate began playing “Bump N’ Grind,” an R. Kelly song.
Neelam, 17, had recently watched the documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly” with her mother. She said it had been “emotional to take in as a black woman.”
Neelam asked the boy and his cluster of friends to stop playing the track, but he shrugged off the request. “‘It’s just a song,’” she said he replied. “‘We understand he’s in jail and known for being a pedophile, but I still like his music.’”
She was appalled. They were in a class about social justice. They had spent the afternoon talking about Catholicism, the common good and morality. The song continued to play.
That classmate, who is white, had done things in the past that Neelam described as problematic, like casually using racist slurs — not name-calling — among friends. After class, she decided he was “canceled,” at least to her.
Her decision didn’t stay private; she told a friend that week that she had canceled him. She told her mother too. She said that this meant she would avoid speaking or engaging with him in the future, that she didn’t care to hear what he had to say, because he wouldn’t change his mind and was beyond reason.
“When it comes to cancel culture, it’s a way to take away someone’s power and call out the individual for being problematic in a situation,” Neelam said. “I don’t think it’s being sensitive. I think it’s just having a sense of being observant and aware of what’s going on around you.”
In another, a young person describes her own experience of being “canceled”:
It took some time for L to understand that she had been canceled. She was 15 and had just returned to a school she used to attend. “All the friends I had previously had through middle school completely cut me off,” she said. “Ignored me, blocked me on everything, would not look at me.”
Months went by. Toward the end of sophomore year, she reached out over Instagram to a former friend, asking why people were not talking to her. It was lunchtime; the person she asked was sitting in the cafeteria with lots of people and so they all piled on. It was like an avalanche, L said.
Within a few minutes she got a torrent of direct messages from the former friend on Instagram, relaying what they had said. One said she was a mooch. One said she was annoying and petty. One person said that she had ruined her self-esteem. Another said that L was an emotional leech who was thirsty for validation.
“This put me in a situation where I thought I had done all these things,” L said. “I was bad. I deserved what was happening.”
Two years have passed since then. “You can do something stupid when you’re 15, say one thing and 10 years later that shapes how people perceive you,” she said. “We all do cringey things and make dumb mistakes and whatever. But social media’s existence has brought that into a place where people can take something you did back then and make it who you are now.”
In her junior year, L said, things got better. Still, that rush of messages and that social isolation have left a lasting impact. “I’m very prone to questioning everything I do,” she said. “‘Is this annoying someone?’ ‘Is this upsetting someone?’”
“I have issues with trusting perfectly normal things,” she said. “That sense of me being some sort of monster, terrible person, burden to everyone, has stayed with me to some extent. There’s still this sort of lingering sense of: What if I am?”
Students, read the entire article, then tell us:
Which of the stories in this article resonated with or stood out to you most? Why? Do you have any examples like these from your own school?
Have you ever “canceled” a classmate? Family member? Friend? Celebrity? What led you to that decision? Looking back, do you think it was the right choice? Why or why not?
Have you ever been canceled? Or have people ever been upset or offended by something you said or did? How did it feel? How did you react? Did you take responsibility and apologize? Did you ask for more information? Or did you feel you were wrongly accused of something?
What do you think about being “called out” versus being “called in” as a way to address problematic or harmful actions? (As the article defines it, “‘Called in’ means to be gently led to understand your error; call-outs are more aggressive.”) Have you ever witnessed one or both of these approaches? Do you think one is more effective than the other? Should different responses be used for different situations — for example, for a celebrity versus a family member? Why?
What do you think is the best response to being called out? Should the person take responsibility? If so, what should that look and sound like? Should they apologize publicly or privately? Or should they just step back from the person or community that was harmed?
What is your opinion of cancel culture as a whole? In a 2019 interview, Barack Obama challenged youth activists on their “purity” and “judgmentalism,” saying, “That’s not activism.” But in an Opinion essay, Ernest Owens, a journalist, wrote that Mr. Obama’s comments reflected a very “boomer view of cancel culture,” one in which older and more powerful people seem to be “more upset by online criticism than they are by injustice.” What do you think? Has cancel culture gone too far and become unproductive? Or is it a necessary and effective response to perceived wrongdoing?
Ogbanje Adeka Julius: “Alison courses help you to discover yourself.”
“My name is Ogbanje Adeka Julius. I am from Okpokwu in Benue State, Nigeria. I attended Benue State Polytechnic in Ugbokolo and received both the National and Higher National Diploma Certificates in Marketing. Thereafter, I decided to switch career to education so I pursued a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) and a master’s in Educational Administration and Planning. It was at that point in my pursuit of knowledge that a friend introduced me to Alison. I have done two courses so far.”
What was your first course on Alison, and why did you choose it?
My first course was the Diploma in Teaching Skills for Educators. I chose it because of my zeal for teaching.
Where are you working and what are you studying now?
I am currently searching for a teaching job and I would like to study more courses on Alison.
If you could learn absolutely anything in the world from an Alison course, what would it be?
More courses in education and teaching.
What would you say to someone if they asked you about Alison? Would you recommend it and why?
Yes I would recommend Alison because Alison courses are educational, inspiring and help you to discover yourself.
Ohaya Sandra Ndidi: “Alison care about the success of their students and do their best to make sure your experience is great. “
“My name is Ohaya Sandra Ndidi. I am a caregiver who takes care of patients with disabilities and health issues, including my mum. I have become even more interested in health care since I became an Alison graduate.”
How did you learn about Alison?
I found Alison online through my own research.
What was your first course on Alison, and why did you choose it?
My first course on Alison was Dementia Care. I chose this course because I am really interested in health care.
Where are you working and what are you studying now?
I am currently unemployed. I have just finished some online courses on Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia Care.
If you could learn absolutely anything in the world from an Alison course, what would it be?
I want to be a medical doctor or a nurse and so I would like to study medicine or nursing.
What would you say to someone if they asked you about Alison? Would you recommend it and why?
I have carefully considered various learning platforms and I chose Alison. I was attracted to Alison by their course content and their reputation. I would recommend Alison to anyone because Alison is a place you can learn for free without any problems. Alison provides opportunities to learn and the courses are great. Alison also care about the success of their students, and they do their best to make sure your experience is great. So start learning independently and for free today!
How to think like a programmer
A common misconception that people have about programmers is that they know everything. But, in reality, that’s not quite the case. What programmers do have is a unique approach to solving problems and, in this article, we’ll explore what that programmer mentality is all about. Plus, we’ll share tips to help you get there, too.
What is the programming mentality?
Let’s think about programming as speaking for a moment. When you speak, you’re aiming to communicate effectively with the people around you. When you program, you’re aiming to communicate with a machine. In both cases, you don’t need to know every single word or element of a language, you just need to know enough that you convey your ideas so that they are understood.
When you use code to solve a problem, it’s less about memorizing snippets of code and using them. It’s more about knowing the fundamentals and applying them. When you understand how to break a problem down into smaller pieces and apply the principles of programming, you don’t need to memorize everything. You simply learn how to approach a challenge or problem, and that is a skill you can apply every time you code.
Break things down into building blocks
Let’s look at a simple example of how you break a problem down into its building blocks, like a programmer approaches a problem.
If you were to describe to a machine (or a person who’s new to a task) how to open a jar of pickles, you couldn’t just say “open jar.” You’ll need to explain in a language they understand the steps required to open that jar. For example, you might offer the following set of instructions:
- Pick up jar with left hand
- Put right hand over the lid
- Tighten both hands
- Rotate right hand counterclockwise, and rotate left hand clockwise
- Rotate until lid separates from bottom jar
- Release tension in both hands
Simple tips to get you thinking like a programmer
Everyone’s programmer perspective is different; meaning, each each programmer thinks in a different way and learns how to approach and break down problems uniquely. Through practice, you’ll develop your programming perspective, and it’ll get easier to communicate with machines to solve increasingly complex problems.
As you develop your own perspective, here are a few tips and tricks you can use to learn to think like a programmer and develop this mentality.
1. Talk through the problem aloud
First, you can talk through the problem by calling up a friend or family member and explaining to them what you’re trying to tackle. By having a conversation with someone, you’ll be able to determine how you can communicate with them to clearly explain the problem and your solution.
Don’t have anyone to talk to right now? No problem! Just try speaking through the problem out loud. Explain your approach and understanding to your pets or even a stuffed animal. It’s speaking aloud that is the key.
2. Collaborate (work with other programmers)
Programmers don’t always work by themselves at their computers. They like to learn from each other. When the problem is complex, working with other programmers helps bring together the best ideas from many people, making it easier to come up with innovative solutions.
Try pair programming, which is when two programmers share a computer to solve a problem together. One programmer (the driver) writes the code, and the other (the navigator) reviews the code and directs how the problem is broken down and solved. Every few minutes, the two switch roles. This gives you the chance to see another programming perspective at work. How your partner solves a problem will be different from you, and this helps expand your mindset and learn to approach problems from multiple angles.
3. Take it one step at a time
Whether you are programming or starting on any big project, large problems can seem scary at first, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. The best way to combat this feeling is to look at the problem from a high level and then break it down into smaller chunks.
Just like we talked about earlier, when you split a problem down into smaller pieces, you can then apply the fundamentals of programming to solve each piece. Approach each chunk of work separately so that the task is manageable, and you can start to make some real progress, one step at a time.
4. Start simply: how would you solve a similar, simpler problem?
You can also consider how you might solve a problem that is similar to what you’re attempting to solve, but much simpler. Then write the code to solve that small problem. Slowly but surely, introduce complexity to solve the larger problem you were presented with at the beginning.
5. Practice, don’t memorize
Memorizing code is tough, and you don’t need to go down that road to think like a programmer. Instead, focus on the fundamentals. Learn the principles and ideas behind programming, and you’ll get much further than trying to remember everything.
Every time you solve a simple problem using programming, you’ll develop your fundamentals even further, making it easier as you progress. Codecademy’s optional problems and projects are a great place to start. Practice is key to your programming perspective becoming second nature.
6. Don’t worry if you need to look up the right syntax
Even some of the best programmers around need to look up syntax when they don’t remember things. So don’t sweat it if you need to search online or in developer documentation for the syntax that you need.
In fact, the co-founder of React, Dan Abramov, wrote a blog post about how people often think he knows more than he does. The moral of the story is that you don’t need to be an expert at all things, because you can program if you know the fundamentals, and we’re all capable of learning new things.
7. Shortcuts can be dangerous
Taking shortcuts while you’re learning to program can be more hurtful than helpful. Try to think of the learning process like running tennis drills. You could take steroids to get stronger and become a better player, but that’s likely to hurt you in the long run.
Rather than searching for an answer right away when you encounter a problem, try to solve it yourself first. When you rely on other people’s coding solutions, you don’t get to develop that programming muscle yourself.
Focus on the basics, put in the practice, and run your drills. The tried and true training methods are that for a reason; they work! We know that it can be frustrating when it takes time to learn to program, but that’s all part of the process of forming your own programming perspective.
8. Get help after you’ve exhausted other options
If you’ve really tried your hardest and approached the problem from many different perspectives, but you’re still struggling, now’s the time to ask for help. Reach out to a colleague or teacher or post on a forum to get some guidance.
It’s more likely you won’t be robbed of a learning opportunity when you wait to ask for help until you really need it.
9. Debugging tests your knowledge
Debugging your own code allows you to take a step back and see the opportunities for improvement in your own work. It can be easy to blame the machine every time something goes wrong. But if you take a moment and analyze how you’re approaching the problem, you can see where you might have gone wrong. Understanding this will help you to identify errors in the future quicker, and you’ll naturally get better by avoiding these issues in the long run.
10. Get familiar with reading documentation and applying it to your code
Documentation for programming is just like a recipe for cooking. It lays out how the code is intended to work and is an excellent resource to help you understand programming better. Learning to read documentation will also steer you away from looking for a shortcut or an easy solution to your problems or bugs.
Putting your programming into practice
If you’re itching to start practicing to learn how to think like a programmer, we have some resources to help. Head to the Codecademy Forums for a list of resources for practicing what you’ve learned on Codecademy.
Remember to focus on how to solve a problem and to learn as you go. Don’t get hung up on needing to do things “right” or to be “perfect.” There are many ways to solve a problem, and, with practice, you’ll build your own unique programming perspective!
Word + Quiz: grandstand
grandstand ˈgran(d)-ˌstand noun and verb
noun: a stand at a racecourse or stadium consisting of tiers with rows of individual seats often found under a protective roof
noun: the audience at a stadium or racetrack
verb: perform ostentatiously in order to impress the audience and with an eye to the applause
_________
The word grandstand has appeared in 30 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on June 16 in “Conviction in the Philippines Reveals Facebook’s Dangers” by Shira Ovide:
Members of Congress have been trying to get Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, to testify in an ongoing investigation into whether big technology companies wield their power fairly. Amazon’s lawyer said on Monday that Bezos was willing to appear at a House hearing alongside other C.E.O.s. (You’ll notice that is hardly an unqualified yes.)
… What I’ve learned from congressional fact-finding sessions like this is that they are theater on both sides.
Too often, our elected officials use these moments to grandstand or catch executives in a lie, and corporate leaders — just as powerful but unelected by the public — say things that might be technically true but not all that revealing.
_________
Reinventing the Newspaper, Week After Week
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.
One day in April, working from home like millions of others, Amy Virshup, The New York Times Travel editor and leader of the At Home team, joined the art director Andrew Sondern and the writer Adriana Balsamo for a needed video conference. Their agenda: fold a double sheet of The Times into a hat.
Creasing paper and tearing tape for a story is “not something I imagined in my career I would be doing,” Ms. Virshup joked.
Imagination is exactly what fuels her team every week for an At Home feature known by its editors and designers simply as “the activity,” a craft, game or other project in which readers learn how to turn the physical newspaper into a unique D.I.Y. creation.
This week, it’s a game involving airport codes. Previous activities included a doll, a roller coaster for a ball and a coronavirus piñata. There was even something called a Flibber (more on that later).
So far, At Home has produced some two dozen of these activities. The breadth is a testament to the team’s creativity — and the most challenging part of the weekly installments, said Christy Harmon, the section’s photo editor (and an avid at-home crafter), who has taken the lead on the project.
“There’s not one straight path,” she said. “We try to mix it up so it’s fresh every week.”
The feature began in the spring, when The Times introduced the At Home section to help readers cope with sheltering in place. Mr. Sondern and another art director, Mary Jane Callister, proposed the activity as a way that readers could interact with the newspaper and pass the time. Before long, staff members were comparing notes on folding their Sunday section into headwear.
“One of the things we try to do in the section is offer people a whole panoply of things,” Ms. Virshup said. “Some of them are very serious; we talk a lot about social/emotional health, about how to deal with the pandemic. But we also want to offer people some fun, some levity and joy, and I think that the activity does that really well.”
The team pulls from a variety of sources for its ideas. The Times’s Games team regularly contributes, as does the Brooklyn-based craft blogger Jodi Levine, who spent nearly two decades working in the craft department at Martha Stewart Living — “a really wonderful score for us,” Ms. Harmon said. Suggestions also come from readers; the nonprofit MathHappens kicked in a way to transform origami cubes into a complex mathematical puzzle, and Dazzling Discoveries, a STEM education center, reached out about how to build a catapult.
Other desks at The Times have focused on the process of creating, of course. T Magazine’s recent “Make T Something” video series enlisted artists and designers to upcycle the newspaper into objects like a handbag or a sculpture in under an hour. At Home’s take is accessibility — no experience necessary.
Simplicity is a must. Boiling an activity down to the allotted black-and-white half page of news print is no small task, so after a writer has broken down the steps and an illustrator or photographer has represented them visually, it’s time to put the editorial and design elements to the test.
To ensure the directions are clear enough, team members often tap their children or colleagues to try them out. “We are our own full-service department,” Ms. Harmon said.
After publication, the staff will often get feedback on a certain project, sometimes in the form of pictures of paper-folding adults. Which brings us to the Flibber. Ms. Virshup was alerted to the whimsical object — a cross between a drum major’s baton, a pompom and a palm tree — by a reader who recommended a 1964 children’s book called “How to Make Flibbers, Etc.: A Book of Things to Make and Do” by the author and illustrator Robert Lopshire.
Ms. Virshup mentioned the idea to her team, who found the Flibber’s flappy frivolity too good to pass up. The very week that staff members were preparing the activity, another reader wrote to recommend it. “It was wild,” Ms. Harmon said. “What are the odds?”
Now, Ms. Harmon and other At Home editors frequently get emailed pictures of Flibber-wielding children. “Seeing people actually make the projects and send them in is so fun,” Ms. Harmon said. “It’s nice to see the full circle of what you’re producing.”
Take the Edge Off With Video Games
Take a deep breath. Hold it for five seconds. Exhale. Breathe in for three seconds. Repeat. How does that feel? A little better? Good. We’re living in stressful times, and any moment of calm is welcome.
Video games don’t have a reputation for offering tranquility. People tend to think of them as more likely to give a stress-addled adult a headache than lead them into a zen state of relaxation. But reputations can be deceiving. When developers simplify the controls, and weave in beautiful music and relaxing visuals, video games can open up spaces for peace and focus, like silent retreats on a screen. They can rest your mind by letting you occupy a new world and reshaping the way you think.
Although the neuroscience of video gaming is not conclusive, there may be evidence that the benefits are not (pardon the phrase) just in your head. Recently, a group of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California, Irvine developed Tenacity, a game with the goal of increasing mindfulness. In a small study published in the journal Nature last December, they found that, over the course of several weeks, the game could subtly increase connectivity between several brain regions associated with attention.
Fortunately, you don’t need an expensive console to play. Here are a few to try, all available as smartphone apps for $5 or less.
How about a getaway? Fleeing the tumult of the city and starting a new life in a small town isn’t the sort of thing that often works out the way you’d expect it to in real life. But Stardew Valley gets it just right. You begin as a character of your own design, moving to the valley to take over your late grandfather’s overgrown homestead. You find an idyllic small town in a patch of nature that feels as if it comes out of a storybook: wholesome, magical. The game is open-ended; you can farm by yourself or with your friends or, in the course of gameplay, take down the villain, a superstore-hawking mega-corporation. That last one may not sound so relaxing, but it all adds up to a fantasy of escape from the stress of postmodern life, a cottage-core paradise.
Prune (2015)
But maybe that sounds too much like work. In that case, try Prune. The title says it all: With a touch here, a touch there, you gently nudge a tree to flourish. This is a minimal, painterly game, an exercise in contemplating the beauty of nature itself. According to its App Store page, it is a “love letter to trees,” and it has all the joy and warmth you would expect of the best love letters.
This is a simple puzzle game about objects, in their most abstract and aesthetically appealing sense: a lantern, a music box, a watch, a pocketbook. Turn it, prod it, see what happens. The right movement causes each object to blossom like a flower, twisting and transforming into something else. It’s a dance, in color and shape, through the world of stuff. In the process, the game becomes a peaceful place to just think lovingly about the world around you. Isn’t that lamp in the corner pretty? Did you ever notice all the contours that can hold the light in that briefcase, that jar?
Gorogoa (2017)
A hand-painted puzzle game, Gorogoa is the result of years of work by Jason Roberts, a software engineer who quit his job in his 40s to devote himself to creating this game. And the effort shows. Every frame is painstakingly detailed; the landscapes, bedrooms and skies in the game, which takes the form of a surreal journey through the tumult of the 20th century, reveal themselves in bits and pieces. This is a game about learning to see well. Picking out the fine details helps you solve puzzles, and when you solve puzzles, the perspective shifts, and you begin to understand how limited your view of the world really is — a nice lesson in humility.
Desert Golfing (2014)
This game plays a bit differently from the others on this list. It’s a golfing game set in the most inhospitable golfing environment imaginable: a vast, Ozymandias-like desert. Golf balls do not thrive in sand, and the game takes that seriously. Each putt is a chance for surprise and struggle, and to make progress you will have to learn a whole new world of ball physics. So why is this game on the list? Because, look: there’s no one else here. There’s just you, and that ball, and one hole after another, and the beauty of the desert in the twilight. Everything drowned in orange and red. The score is only a formality. And all you’ll find out in the desert is yourself.
Mountain (2014)
If you are the right age, you might remember the Tamagotchi craze, those little companion monsters you took care of, a cute pet you kept in your pocket. Mountain is the outsider art version of that. Your digital companion is, as the name implies, a mountain. You watch it grow, take shape, accumulate things and occasionally interact with you. Yes, interact: Every now and then, it tells you its odd, mountain thoughts. Developed by David O’Reilly, who designed the digital interfaces the characters interact with in the movie Her, this is a game best left running in the background. Open it up periodically for a quick check-up on geology in progress.
Not Traveling for the Holidays? ReLAX With an Airport-Related Game
Many Americans won’t be visiting relatives for Thanksgiving this year in light of the pandemic. With this puzzle you can still experience the thrill of travel, minus the crowds. Fill in each Thanksgiving-related phrase on the departure board using airport codes from the boarding passes.
Each boarding pass contains the answer for a line on the departure board. You can break up an airport code, but the letters must be entered in sequence.
True frequent fliers will cut out the boarding passes and rearrange them to reveal a hidden image and holiday message.
Fill out an interactive or printable version of the puzzle here.
