What do you think this image is saying? How does it relate to or comment on society? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, 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 and may appear in print.
The word prudence has appeared in 52 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on April 17 in the editorial “How to Avoid Another Global Debt Crisis”:
Today’s crisis has several immediate causes: Lenders, again, ignored prudence, so some countries had been borrowing excessively and had unsustainable debt even before Covid struck. The pandemic forced countries to borrow even more to stay afloat as business activity ground to a halt. Then the war in Ukraine drove up the price of food and fuel. Now, rising interest rates have greatly increased the cost of servicing that debt. An estimated 56 countries are in debt distress or at risk of it — more than twice as many as in 2015.
Can you correctly use the word prudence 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 prudence 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 Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.
I’m not gonna lie and say that I just easily accept rejection, because I don’t. I usually try to ignore it and let it creep up on me when I’m having a bad day. Recently though, I have started to look to religion when I’m letting any rejection sink in, including my own. I have started to think about what God would say if I let the world’s rejection get the best of me … his reassurance is all that I need …
Rejection can be difficult to deal with but it is a natural part of life. The over-curation of life through social media has probably contributed to my generation’s decreased ability to deal with hard news. We have an excess of positivity, but it’s false positivity. I have learned to recognize that sometimes life does not work out, or people will not react the way we would like them to, or there are unplanned situations that will arise. I have developed the skills to deal with rejection and now I think of moments like those as opportunities instead for self-reflection and redirection.
— Caden, Crossroads High School
After dealing with quite a bit of rejection, I can be the first to tell you, it doesn’t get easier. While I know it’s never ideal, you have to just get over it and hope for the best the next time you try. I think some advice I wish someone had given me, before getting kicked out of my club volleyball team, was that there’s always going to be another chance. When it happened, I went home and practiced and practiced, and eventually I got onto my team again. It was hard to move past at first, but I’ve realized that rejection is just a part of life, and it will always, always get better.
The Rejection Party that Downtown Magnets High School has is a really good idea because it really helps students see that rejection is just opening another door for better opportunities. It’s not the end of the world if you get rejected from a college, in fact, it’s the universe telling you it’s not the right path. The rejection party also helps mentally as well. It steers students into a more positive light because it is likely that without the party, students will think bad about themselves and their self confidence stripped from them. I would love my school to have a rejection party because it would definitely help ease the hurt and pain of many students from being rejected.
— IB, Hoggard High School Wilmington, NC
I think that despite this party having ice cream and the shredding of acceptance letters, it provides opportunities for students to dwell on why they got rejected and may lead to doubt in their abilities and who they are as people. If I got rejected by my dream school and was encouraged to tell a bunch of people, I would probably be really embarrassed to share it and would probably feel shame for not getting accepted. Some things are better to keep to those people you are close to in your life, not feeling that you must tell the world in a way …
By Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer at Coursera
Today, we are pleased to announce the new entry-level Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate. The certificate is designed to help individuals with no previous experience or college degree land their first job in the field of cybersecurity.
Despite the demand for cybersecurity rapidly increasing, there’s a severe shortage of skilled talent. As of last year, there were only 65 cybersecurity professionals in the workforce for every 100 available jobs. In the US alone, there are 750,000 open cybersecurity jobs, and many employers are placing more importance on hands-on experience and certification than a college degree when hiring cybersecurity talent.
The new, eight-course certificate from Google helps learners prepare for this growing job field in under 6 months with about 5-10 hours of study per week. Learners will develop both technical and workplace skills, from the foundations of networks and security models to escalating issues to stakeholders and prioritization. The program features hands-on practice with industry standard tools, including Python, Linux, SQL, and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools, to name a few.
Upon completion, learners will be ready for entry-level roles such as cybersecurity analyst and SOC (security operations center) analyst. Learners in the US will be able to connect with 150+ employers who are committed to considering certificate completers for open roles, including American Express, Colgate-Palmolive, Mandiant (now part of Google Cloud), T-Mobile, Walmart, and Google.
The new certificate joins a growing catalog of Google entry-level programs on Coursera that include data analytics, digital marketing, IT support, project management, and UX design, which have reached millions of learners globally since launching. We are proud to continue our partnership with Google to further expand access to key skills needed to launch quality careers in growing digital fields.
Create a free account and start learning on Coursera today.
TikTok. The new social media “Kid on the Block”. And quickly growing in popularity as the go-to social media platform for individuals and brands alike. TikTok is no longer just the “next big thing”. It is the “big thing” and it’s here to stay.
In the same way that affiliate marketing is continually growing in popularity, TikTok is another platform that you as an affiliate can leverage to amplify your business as an affiliate marketer. This article discusses TikTok and provides you with steps on how to use TikTok for affiliate marketing. Let’s get into it.
TikTok is a mobile-based video-sharing app where users can create and share short videos about anything. Content creators use TikTok for more than just lip-syncing or dance routines, they create sketches and educational, entertaining video content up to 10 minutes long. Here, users can tap into their creative wells and use filters, stickers, background music, sound effects, animation, and more on their videos for dramatic effect.
At first glance, you may ask yourself if TikTok is a good platform for businesses or what success you can have as an affiliate. TikTok does have a large Gen-Z user market, but its platform demographic is diverse, with a notable concentration of young adults and middle-aged users consuming content daily.
Since launching in 2016, TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms. Its large user base means that your content can be seen and shared by millions of individuals who cover a diverse demographic and interest base. So why should Affiliates use this platform?
There’s more. Get in on some fun challenges. Use paid ads. Use discount codes. These are just some tips and tricks to help you get your affiliate marketing career going on TikTok. Explore the TikTok realm and learn what other creators are doing.
It’s easy to become an Affiliate and even easier if it’s with Alison. There is no application form so once you’ve created your Alison account, you can become an Affiliate with a click of a button.
Visit our Affiliate Page and click the button “Become an Affiliate”. Once you accept the T&Cs, you are fully registered. It’s that easy! You can also join one of our informative webinar sessions and speak directly with an Alison representative to learn more about empowering others as an Alison affiliate.
Using the Affiliate link generator, share your Affiliate links online with your friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, and anyone else you can think of who might benefit from our free educational and professional tools.
You will receive 20% of the revenue generated by the new learners who come to Alison through your Affiliate links.
No matter how old (or young) you are, TikTok is a phenomenal platform for anyone to use and for affiliates to grow their affiliate marketing business. The key is to know the platform and create content that works for its users.
Use your imagination to write the opening of a short story or poem inspired by this illustration or, tell us about a memory from your own life that this image makes you think of.
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, 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 and may appear in print.
The word prow has appeared in 10 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Dec. 6 in “A Real Tale of Spy vs. Spy, at Sea in the American Civil War” by Ben Macintyre:
Whether the nautical spy war made much difference in the wider conflict is debatable. Confederate raiders caused considerable damage to Union shipping, but never seriously dented the blockade. The ever-diminishing cotton trade could not produce enough hard cash to realize Bulloch’s extravagant ambitions.
Early in 1863, Bulloch laid plans to build two vast ironclads, 224 feet in length, equipped with rotating gun turrets, powerful engines, thick iron armor and bulbous metal rams extending from the prow to batter the enemy. With these two floating behemoths, he intended to “sweep the blockading fleet from the sea,” before steaming on to attack Washington, Portsmouth, Philadelphia and New York.
Can you correctly use the word prow 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 prow 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 Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.
If you code with multiple languages, you have more than a handful of IDEs (integrated development environments) to choose from. (You can find some of them here in our article about popular IDEs and code editors.) Once you’ve picked one, you can install all sorts of add-ons and plugins to format code for you, give you code hints, and modify the GUI.
Ahead, we will look at a simple code editor called Vim and why many developers prefer it to even the latest, shiniest IDE with all the groundbreaking features that fall just short of writing code for you.
Vim is a screen-based text editor included by default in most Linux distributions, Mac OS X, and now Windows. It’s also been ported to many other operating systems. “Screen-based” means that it doesn’t have a GUI. You have to access it through the command line.
The first version of Vim came out in 1991. Computer Programmer Bram Moolenaar created it as an improved clone of the vi editor for Unix that was released in 1976. In fact, in Linux and Mac OS X, you can start Vim by typing vi in the terminal.
Vim was originally released for the Amiga and was ported to Unix the following year. It has always been free and open-source and now has been ported to multiple operating systems and comes natively with Linux and Mac OS X.
In 2006, Vim was voted the most popular text editor by Linux Journal readers. A 2015 Stack Overflow developer survey rated it the third most popular text editor, and in 2019, it was still in fifth place.
To use Vim in Linux or MAC OS X, just type “vi” in the terminal. For Windows, as of 2020, just type “Vim” in PowerShell. If you need it for other operating systems, you can find a Vim download here for most of them.
The first thing you need to understand is four of the modes in Vim.
One of the most asked questions on the internet is “How to quit Vim?” First, you have to be in command mode, and then you type `q!` So the full command to quit without writing from normal mode is `:q!`.
That’s all you need to know to do basic operations with files, but there’s much more to learn. Vim has an incredible catalog of features for working with text, and you can learn more about them at the Vim Tips Wiki.
So why would a developer want to use a command-line application for editing code instead of a more modern IDE or, at least, an editor with a GUI?
Vim is available on most Linux distributions, Mac OS X, and now even Windows. If your day-to-day work involves logging into remote Linux instances, then all you have is the command line, and Vim is a powerful command-line editor. You can’t use your IDE here. And many developers would prefer to use only one tool for editing code than have to learn a different one for each environment.
Vim doesn’t use a lot of resources because it doesn’t have the overhead of a GUI. This makes it extremely responsive and fast, even when editing large files. Plus, its key binding features allow you to do things quickly without moving your fingers off the keyboard to use a mouse or touchpad.
Once you set up Vim the way you like it, you can use that configuration for another instance of Vim on even another operating system. This means you can take your customized version of Vim with you wherever you write code.
Who says that you have to have an IDE to customize your coding experience? You can extend Vim with a wide variety of plugins to create your own personal version.
In Linux and Mac OS X, Vim’s configuration is stored in the ~/.vim folder. You install a Vim plugin by putting it in the ~/.vim/pack/vendor/start folder. Most plugins are available via public Git repositories, and you can install them by cloning the repo directly into the folder. Look at the documentation of your specific version of Vim to find the plugins folder for other operating systems. To learn more about using Git, check out our Learn Git course.
Now let’s look at some plugins you can install.
There are close to 20,000 plugins for Vim and an active community of developers creating more plugins and adding new features to existing plugins every day. Here are some popular Vim plugins:
The NERDTree plugin lets you explore the hierarchy of your file system in the form of, you guessed it, a tree. With it, you can browse to a file in Vim to open it without having to know and type its full file path.
Tabnine will index your code project and give you a predictive autocomplete tool that suggests code as you type. It requires no configuration and shows suggestions in less than 10 milliseconds.
Syntastic is a Vim plugin that does syntax checking on your code. You can set it to check your code manually or every time you save a file.
Fugitive is a Vim plugin that lets you call any Git command from inside Vim, so you don’t have to switch applications or terminals.
Airline replaces the standard Vim status line with a status bar that contains information about the file you are working on, including the file name, save status, file type, encoding, position, word count, and more.
It turns out that a simple command-line text editor that can trace its history back over 40 years is still one of the most popular code editors today. Just because its interface is basic doesn’t mean that Vim is not powerful. It’s faster than an IDE, and with close to 20,000 plugins, you can add as many bells and whistles to Vim as you can to a modern IDE. To get some practice with Vim and discover why it is so popular, why not learn to code or try learning a new programming language with one of our coding courses.
There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes anytime you browse the internet. Communication channels open and close, things get encrypted, and there are a bunch of 1s and 0s floating around.
It can get pretty complicated, but luckily, whenever there’s a complex process going on between machines, there’s a model to help people understand it. For example, there’s the open systems communication (OSI) model.
Ahead, we’ll walk you through the OSI model and each of its layers, from top to bottom.
The open systems interconnection model (OSI) is a conceptual model that describes how different communication systems talk to each other on a computer network.
For example, when you clicked on the link to get to this blog post, your request involved software applications (your browser) encrypting and transmitting information over physical cables. The OSI model divides the whole process into seven steps or layers (but more on that in a moment).
By “conceptual model,” we mean that OSI describes a process that’s hard or impossible to see in real life, like a diagram of the water cycle. OSI isn’t a type of software or technology standard. Instead, different communication technologies define themselves as handling one of the seven OSI layers.
So, what are these OSI layers anyway?
The OSI model is made up of seven independent layers. Let’s start from the highest layer and work our way down.
The application layer is considered to be the highest level of the OSI model. It’s the only layer that directly interacts with you, the user.
When you use your browser, email app, or other application, the software initiates communications with the application layer. How? With application layer protocols.
Application layer protocols are standards for transmitting data between different computers and servers. They usually include standards for how messages are put together, how other parts should be interpreted, and how to respond to a message.
Examples of application layer protocols include:
Think of application layer protocols like language dictionaries. Imagine that you’re getting a message from someone in German. To make sense of the message, you’d want to use a German translation dictionary for help.
Part of the application layer’s job is to help convert or translate the message before sending it to the software.
When you send or receive data, it isn’t sent in the same form that you see on your computer. Instead, it’s often encoded, encrypted, or compressed for security and efficiency in the presentation layer.
If two computers communicate over an encrypted connection, it’s the presentation layer that adds the encryption and decodes the encrypted message on the receiving end. And if two computers are using different encoding methods, the presentation layer also translates the data into a form that the receiving computer can understand.
When two computers start communicating with each other, they start a “session.” Ideally, the session is active for just long enough to transmit all of the required data. Closing the session too soon means that some data wasn’t transmitted, and keeping the session open for too long wastes valuable resources. The session layer ensures that a session is open for just the right amount of time.
The session layer also sets up checkpoints for data transfer in case of a sudden disconnect. Have you ever started downloading a file only to lose your connection halfway through? It’s happened to everyone — but it’s thanks to the session layer that you’re able to pick up where you left off in your download rather than having to start again from zero.
So far, we’ve translated our data into a standard protocol, packaged it up for secure delivery, and opened up the connection between the two computers. It’s time to start moving that data with the help of the transport layer.
Before sending anything, the transport layer first breaks down data into smaller chunks called segments. On the receiving end, the transport layer reassembles the segments into the original data structure. The transport layer also manages the flow of data so that a sender with a fast connection doesn’t overwhelm a receiver with a slower connection.
Finally, the transport layer confirms that the data received is identical to the data sent. If not, then the transport layer will attempt to retransmit the data.
In most cases, computers that talk to each other are on completely different networks. The network layer enables cross-network communication by breaking down data segments from the transport layer into even smaller pieces called packets. The network layer on the receiving end then reassembles packets back into segments.
The network layer is also responsible for routing, which is finding the best physical connection path between the two computers.
If you’re communicating with another computer on the same network — like using your company intranet or playing Mario Kart at a LAN party — then the network layer isn’t needed.
The data link layer is similar to the network layer but is used for transferring data between two devices on the same network — for example, two computers or a modem and a computer. The data link layer breaks down network layer packets into even smaller chunks called frames.
In the end, all data travels through physical cables or radio waves. The physical layer refers to the cables, switches, wireless transmitters, and other physical routes through which the data moves. It’s also in the physical layer where data is converted into a bitstream — a string of 1s and 0s.
You may see OSI compared a lot to Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Both TCP/IP and OSI involve conceptual models that describe how computers communicate with each other. The TCP/IP model contains four layers rather than seven — some of the OSI layers are combined into single layers in the TCP/IP model.
But while OSI is only a model, TCP/IP is also a standard protocol that’s used in every network, including the internet. In fact, every major application layer protocol (HTTP, SMTP, and so on) is a part of the TCP/IP family.
Even though the internet itself is based on the TCP/IP model, the OSI model is the more widely used model for visualizing and communicating how networks operate. It helps network equipment manufacturers easily define what their products do and which parts of the network the products work with.
And if you’re interested in becoming a Cybersecurity specialist, Network Engineer, or IT specialist, then you’ll need to memorize every part of the OSI model. That’s because OSI is how these professionals isolate, troubleshoot, and fix networking issues.
Now that you know more about the OSI model, where do you go from here? If you’re interested in becoming a Cybersecurity specialist, try one of our online programming courses to build the skills you need to succeed in your new career.
How often do you eat out? Where do you like to go most? What are your favorite dishes?
If you were to compile a list of the best places to eat in your area, what would be on it? Why? And how would you convince others that you were right?
If you’d like some examples of how to do this well, check out “The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City 2023,” written by Pete Wells, The Times’s restaurant critic. He introduces the feature by writing:
Here they are, the 100 best restaurants in New York City, ranked.
There are at least two ways to read this list. Obviously, it is a guide, based on my decade of reviewing. If you use it this way, though, be warned that at some of these places you’ll have a smooth leather seat with a full view of the kitchen and at others you’ll have to find an empty patch of sidewalk and eat on your feet. And most fall somewhere in between.
The list can also be used as a composite portrait of the city. I’ve attempted to arrange my favorite restaurants into a pattern that captures the diversity and character of dining in New York. This was the fun part because it gave me a chance to see the dining landscape differently.
This is what he wrote about four of his favorite spots — a pizzeria, a food cart, a large outdoor market and a “general store” with diner food.
Una Pizza Napoletana
Did the first baker in Naples to smear tomato pulp on a patch of dough realize he was starting a cult? He was, and its house of worship in New York is Una Pizza Napoletana. True believers can recite the standing menu of six pies. Some pies bring the pinprick acidity in buffalo mozzarella to the foreground; others hit you with oregano’s mildly druggy aroma of camphor. But above all, the faithful come for the soft, tender, char-freckled crust. It has more integrity and character than some of the people you talk to every day.
Tacos El Borrego
Nobody ever seems to use its name. You just say you are going to the late-night al pastor cart on Roosevelt Avenue and people in this part of Queens know what you mean, even though Tacos El Borrego is far from the only one. It also sells a lot more than al pastor. Taqueros whose movements are a blur fill tender, soft corn tortillas with all the usual meats, supplemented sometimes by brains and eyes and tongue, to make palm-size tacos that sell for $2.50 each. The red and green salsas could, on their own, earn this sidewalk operation a following. But after trying the carnitas and chorizo and so forth, you might find that you still prefer the al pastor. Moist from its adobo marinade, the pork is carved from a spinning trompo the size of a church bell and then topped with a spoonful of fresh pineapple cut into a neat, skillful brunoise.
Shopsin’s General Store
Seeing the restaurant he founded on this list would kill Kenny Shopsin if he weren’t already dead. He tried to ban critics, fearing they might attract new customers who wouldn’t understand such unhinged diner food as mac-and-cheese pancakes and Blisters on My Sisters. You may not quite get them, either, but go anyway. To eat at Shopsin’s is to see once again the beauty in going your own way, critics be damned.
Queens Night Market
You might think of this seasonal Saturday-night bazaar, which starts up again on April 29, as one-stop shopping for many of the far-flung cuisines sold throughout Queens. But one of the market’s strengths is finding entrepreneurs who are just starting out; some of the cooks haven’t even made it to the entry-level sidewalk stage yet. The tents behind the space-age oddity of the New York Hall of Science have introduced many New Yorkers to flaky Sudanese sambuxa pastries filled with spiced beef, and to cinnamon-scented chimney cake in the style of Romania and Hungary, roasted on a spit and brushed with butter. At most stalls you’ll wait in line something like 20 times longer than it takes to eat whatever it is they’re selling. Then again, almost nothing costs more than $6.
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
Which descriptions in this piece stood out to you? Why? Which made you hungry? Did any make you laugh?
What would you put on your personal list of the best eateries in your area? Consider the full range of places people eat out, like fancy restaurants, fast-food chains, diners, pizzerias and food carts.
Did this list of 100 places make you want to be a more adventurous eater in your area? If so, what establishment, or type of food, would you like to try?
Have you ever introduced your friends or family to a great place that you discovered? What was notable about it? Did those you recommended it to agree with you?
Choose one of the places on your list and write a short description of what makes it special. What are the best dishes? How are they made? What ingredients are notable? How would you describe the taste? What else is interesting about this place? Think about the location, clientele, owner, décor, prices or anything else.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, 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 and may appear in print.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
