No matter what you choose to do, you’ll probably die again and again trying to do it, sometimes for hours. That’s because the mistiming of a button press will make you fall to your death or open you to attack. Even the most experienced gamers will die dozens of times in a dungeon before reaching the boss — the main villain at the end of a game level.
None of this makes Elden Ring sound like a crowd pleaser, but the video game — a collaboration between the creative director Hidetaka Miyazaki and the “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin — is on track to become the best seller of the year, with 12 million copies sold within a month of its release in February.
In “Trash or Recycling? Why Plastic Keeps Us Guessing,” the Times journalists Winston Choi-Schagrin and Hiroko Tabuchi, along with the illustrator Rinee Shah, delve into the complexities of waste disposal as it relates to recycling, specifically the recycling of plastics.
The piece explains why recycling can be so difficult. For instance, the ♻ symbol, known as the “chasing arrows” logo, is stamped on many things, including items that may not, in fact, be recyclable:
The unhelpful symbol is just one aspect of a recycling system that is far too confusing to be broadly effective. It puts the burden on individuals to decode a secret language — to figure out not only whether a thing is recyclable, but also if their local recycling program actually accepts it.
For reasons like these, only a small proportion of recyclable plastics actually get recycled.
This system largely leans on us consumers to do the right thing. But it’s easy to get tripped up by the details. Take those numbers, for example, the ones in the center of the symbol. There are seven types (here’s the full list).
Items marked 1 and 2 are widely recyclable in the United States, and about 30 percent ends up being recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Type 5 is also accepted by a growing number of curbside recycling programs. But other numbers — particularly for soft plastics like shopping bags, snack bags or resealable sandwich bags, generally labeled 4 — are not accepted in curbside programs. And category 7 is a catchall for various plastics, so it’s almost never recycled.
Even if you sort everything perfectly, but then put the sorted plastics in an opaque bag to be picked up, you may have just wasted the effort. That’s because using opaque bags (which make it difficult to see what’s inside) can result in entire bags being thrown out instead of recycled.
Overall, only an estimated 9 percent of all plastics ever manufactured has been recycled, according to the United Nations Environment Program. The rest? Nearly 80 percent has ended up in landfills or dumps, or in the natural environment, with the remainder being burned, releasing emissions that contribute to pollution and global warming.
However, the article concludes with a few tips for how individuals can make a difference:
Keep recycling category 1 and 2 plastics, as well as paper, cardboard and metals. Depending on where you live, it might also be possible to recycle the ones marked 5.
Consider switching to different products or brands (ones with more recyclable packaging), or making fewer purchases online given that bubble mailers aren’t accepted by most curbside recycling programs.
Buying fewer consumer goods in general, to the extent possible, can reduce the plastics waste stream. Getting involved in local efforts to improve recycling or reduce local plastic use is another option.
Did you learn anything from the trash-sorting game? How much do you feel like you know about recycling in general?
Is recycling important to you and your family? Why or why not? How often do you repurpose or reuse things?
Are you vigilant about not putting recyclable items into the garbage? In a typical week, what kinds of things do you throw away? Do you ever feel guilty about what, or how much, you toss out?
The article says that recycling, because it works differently in different parts of the United States, “puts the burden on individuals to decode a secret language.” How much responsibility should fall on an individual to understand that language? Is the complexity of the rules a fair excuse for not properly recycling?
A growing number of states and cities have banned single-use plastic bags. Some cities and counties have set up curbside recycling programs.Others have banned plastic foam products, which can’t be recycled. Has your hometown taken similar steps? Has it tried a different strategy? What else do you think your community can do collectively to cut back on plastic waste?
What can you do?Can even small efforts made by individuals truly make a difference?
Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.
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.
When you first start learning a new programming language, you’ll most likely begin with some reading about syntax and the different concepts used in the language. What you probably don’t do is learn cool coding facts and the interesting history — and future — of coding. But there’s much more to coding than meets the eye.
To give you a taste of this fascinating world, here are some interesting facts about coding.
1. There are over 700 coding languages
You’ve most likely heard of Python, JavaScript, C++, HTML, and CSS, but have you heard of Chef, the programming language where the code looks just like a recipe, complete with ingredient lists and instructions? What about CLWNPA (Compiler Language with No Pronounceable Acronym), one in which you need to add “Please” to your code or else the compiler thinks you’re being rude? And how about Velato, a language for musically inclined programmers with source code that’s actually a MIDI file?
These are just a handful of examples of the more than 700 programming languages out there today — that’s twice the number of languages spoken in the U.S. alone.
2. The first “computer bug” was an actual bug
A moth to be exact.
In 1947, a team of computer scientists and engineers at Harvard noticed that their computer wasn’t functioning properly. They decided to take a look at the computer’s hardware and discovered a moth trapped inside.
It was then that Grace Hopper, computer scientist and inventor of the first English-language data-processing compiler, recorded “first actual case of a bug being found” in the computer’s logbook.
Of course, today we refer to “bugs” as errors or flaws in code or computer systems — and debugging code is a big part of being a computer programmer. But the very first bug recorded involved an unlucky moth stuck in a computer.
3. The first computer viruses weren’t harmful
The simplest explanation of a computer virus is code that can copy itself and move to other computers, a concept that dates back to the 1940s. But it wasn’t until 1971 that Creeper, the first computer virus, was developed. The Creeper virus was designed as a security test, and all it did was display the message: “I’M THE CREEPER. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.”
Fifteen years later, two Pakistani brothers developed the first stealth virus, Brain, which was hidden in software floppy disks. The brothers created the virus because they were tired of people making illegal copies of their medical software.
Today, when we think of computer viruses we think of their negative effects, like erasing data or corrupting a whole network of computers. But the first viruses all shared one thing in common: They weren’t designed to steal or corrupt data.
4. Coding isn’t just for the tech industry
Silicon Valley, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and other tech hubs are full of programmers, but you can find coding jobs in every state in the U.S. (and remote) and in every industry. In fact, about 70% of advertised coding jobs are outside of the tech industry. So while a coding job in the tech industry is an excellent career choice, you can expand your prospects simply by looking for jobs outside the tech industry.
This is great news for anyone who wants to switch careers to coding and development, because it means you have the option to stay in your current industry even if you want to become a computer programmer. For example, if you’re a marketer in the healthcare industry but your marketing role isn’t a good fit anymore, healthcare companies need people who know how to code — from Data Scientists to Cybersecurity Experts and everyone in between. So you can apply to companies that are making healthcare products you’re familiar with, and bring your knowledge and expertise to the development team.
In other words, coding gives you a lot of flexibility in deciding how to manage your career. If you want to work for a fast-paced Silicon Valley start-up, you can do that with your coding skills. If your true calling is in environmental non-profit work, your coding skills can help you achieve that dream, too.
5. Companies can’t hire enough coders
Even though every major industry needs people who know how to code, here’s the irony: There simply aren’t enough skilled programmers to go around. Over the last several years, the demand for coding skills has far exceeded the supply of people who know how to code. And this isn’t just a phase. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that computer and information technology (IT) jobs will grow by 13% between 2020 and 2030. That’s almost twice the estimated growth rate across all other occupations.
This is great news if you’re considering a career in programming or are already on your way to becoming a developer, since employers all over the world will be looking to hire people with your skillset. It also means you’ll have the opportunity to explore positions in different parts of the country, and across a wide range of industries.
Ready to start coding?
If you’re feeling motivated to learn how to code, be sure to check out our online courses, where you can pick from many of the top programming languages, including Python, C++, and Java.
Welcome to May! In many parts of the world, the pools have been open for a while, and in New England where I live, many neighbors will start opening their pools over Memorial Day Weekend at the end of the month. Water safety is not just about summer months (lakes even when frozen over, bathtubs, and buckets are all things to watch out for year-round) but when the weather gets warmer the opportunities for water play, and the need for water safety instruction, increases.
It’s not fun to talk about, but drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death in kids aged 1-4. Kids can drown in even small amounts of water. And, anecdotally many think that they will hear if their child is in danger with the water (think splashing, yells for help, etc.). But in reality, drowning is very quick and silent. This doesn’t mean we should completely avoid water play, though! Rather, teaching kids about water safety, and learning about how we can best keep our children safe, is crucial.
For today’s digest, I’ve put together resources from organizations on water safety. Brush up on these water safety tips, and then enjoy the water!
While I agree with the article, in that the U.S has some issues that would not make a U.S version of “old enough” wise or safe, I also feel like kids especially in the U.S don’t get enough credit. Modern parenting has become more controlling than ever. Parents track their kids constantly, as well as are in constant contact with them. When I got to school in the morning in middle school I was alway expected to text home with “I got there” despite the fact that I was constantly being tracked. Parents should be encouraging and enabling their kids to go out. We should incentivize going outside. A super easy way to do that is to give more privileges. Push comfort zones, and you may learn something.
I was eleven when I got my first phone. This meant I could play Temple Run to my heart’s content, but it also meant freedom, no matter how small. It meant I could go over to friends’ houses, walk to the bus stop, and ride my bike like a maniac around the neighborhood without needing a chaperone (the phone came in handy on the many occasions that I crashed). It felt good, like mini-adulting…When I was off at some corner store, friend in hand, their parents somewhere off behind us, discussing boring parent things, I looked both ways when I crossed the road. I said please and thank you, and left a tip for the ice cream man. I behaved because all the sudden these little things, bike rides, mango sorbet, that little avenue out back, they were my business. I am not one for letting kids run wild, but little freedoms are important. They teach responsibility and independence, but more importantly, build confidence and a sense of control.
I was about 9 years old when my parents first left me alone. Over the years they had put so much in my head about burglaries and other bad things like kid-napping. It made me so nervous the first time they left me home alone, because of all of those bad situations that I was thinking about. Every time a car or truck went by, I would go hide in the closet and pretend like there was no one home. Looking back now I feel like they should have immersed me in that experience earlier on, and not told me about all of the bad things that are very rare to happen. Still to this day I remember that first time and how nervous I was when it finally settled in. I was home alone. No, not in the movie, in real life.
Parents Should Not Hurry to Give Their Children More Independence.
After reading about the show “Old Enough!” I formed the opinion that children should not be given more responsibility at young ages. The article says that on the Netflix show, “Sometimes they get distracted from their appointed mission and start playing, and they often notice and interact with the camera operators, who appear in the background of many scenes.” This statement supported my idea because children who are young enough to get distracted from a task so easily should not be out in the real world alone. There is also the dangerous aspect behind letting kids go on journeys alone. Although Japan is much different than the US in terms of danger and the community, there is still the possibility of danger anywhere you go. Such young children cannot realize they are in a dangerous situation the way adults can. Therefore, I believe that responsibility and trips in public alone should be left to parents and young adults in the family.
I think that American parents can be overprotective and I feel like they have a right to be overprotective. The world isn’t as safe as it was when they were growing up. I feel like these days there are more threats facing children today like kidnapping or sexual assault. These days you never know who to trust and you never know how safe you are. Parents try to protect their children from this cruel world and the dangers children might face. You never know what will happen and when it will happen.
When it comes to giving a child some responsibility, it depends on the situation. Many factors must be considered, including where you live, the child’s level of trustworthiness and maturity, where they are headed, and much more. My parents let me stay home alone at eight years old, and they allowed me to go to the mall and restaurants with friends when I was eleven. Since then, I have been allowed to do whatever I want for the most part. I live in Miami, which is not the safest place; however, I am only allowed to do so because of the trusting relationship I have established with my parents.
My parents are pretty lenient and have never given me many rules to follow. I was the first out of my friends to be able to cross the street by myself. First to be able to stay home alone. And first to have the freedom to travel without supervision. Did my parents throw me into the world too early? Was I too young? This isn’t the question I want to answer though. I don’t think there’s such a thing as too early or too young. I don’t think if a child hits the age of 13 they should automatically be given a phone(or granted permission to answer one of these questions). I think it varies for every child. Age is just a number and each child is so different from the next. It does not matter how many years a child lived for them to be granted something. It matters how responsible and knowledgeable that child is. A child who is 10 can be way more responsible than a 15 year old who is sucked into social media and hate comments.
The word evanescent has appeared in eight articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 22 in the Opinion essay “Is Slang as Swell as It Used to Be? Yas!” by John McWhorter:
That is but one example of how evanescent slang is in the historical record of language. With Looney Tunes, another example is Bugs Bunny’s catchphrase “What’s up, doc?” We’re so used to it now, but when was the last time you called anyone “Doc”? One of Bugs Bunny’s creators, Tex Avery, reportedly got it from his youth in Texas in the 1920s, when it was slangily current to address people as “doc.” If it weren’t for Bugs, not many of us would know that people called one another “doc” in the old days.
Black slang changes eternally as well. In 1934, Zora Neale Hurston listed fading expressions like “syndicating,” to mean gossiping, and double-descriptive phrases like “more better.” Growing up in Philadelphia in the 1970s and 1980s, I recall that some Black teenage guys that I knew would dismiss peers they found ineffectual as “oaks.” I am not sure of the term’s geographic range, I’m pretty sure it was mostly obsolete by the 1990s and I’d be challenged to find any record of it now. It was spoken, not written, and has thus vanished like autumn leaves.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word evanescent 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 evanescent 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.
Note to Teachers: This graph is part of a larger unit on mental health, which also includes a lesson plan, a writing prompt and a film. Teachers, please preview these resources to make sure they are appropriate for your students. You can find alternative graphs in this index.
Also, this is our final “What’s Going On in This Graph?” for the 2021-22 school year. This feature will start again in September.
These graphs use some of the data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) from extensive surveys of more than 10,000 U.S. high school students from public and private schools across the country. The statistics in these graphs describe behaviors of teenagers before the Covid pandemic.
The New York Times article that includes these graphs relays the story of a 13-year-old girl from Minnesota. It also examines the increase in anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide among U.S. adolescents. Parents and teenagers dealing with anxiety, depression and suicide can find resources here.
On Wednesday, May 11, we will moderate your responses live online. By Friday morning, May 13, we will provide the “Reveal” — the graphs’ free online link, additional questions, shout outs for student headlines and Stat Nuggets.
1. After looking closely at the graphs above (or at this full-size image), answer these four questions:
What do you notice?
What do you wonder?
The questions are intended to build on one another, so try to answer them in order.
2. Next, join the conversation online by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box. (Teachers of students younger than 13 are welcome to post their students’ responses.)
3. Below the response box, there is an option to click on “Email me when my comment is published.” This sends the link to your response which you can share with your teacher.
4. After you have posted, read what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting a comment. Use the “Reply” button to address that student directly.
On Wednesday, May 11, teachers from our collaborator, the American Statistical Association, will facilitate this discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time.
5. By Friday morning, May 13, we will reveal more information about the graph, including a free link to the article that includes this graph, at the bottom of this post. We encourage you to post additional comments based on the article, possibly using statistical terms defined in the Stat Nuggets.
Reveal
We’ll post more information here on Thursday afternoon. Stay tuned!
• Learn more about the notice and wonder teaching strategy from this 5-minute video and how and why other teachers are using this strategy from our on-demand webinar.
• Sign up for our free weekly Learning Network newsletter so you never miss a graph. Graphs are always released by the Friday before the Wednesday live-moderation to give teachers time to plan ahead.
• Go to the American Statistical Association K-12 website, which includes teacher statistics resources, Census in the Schools student-generated data, professional development opportunities, and more.
Students 13 and older in the United States and the 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.
For nine weeks, President Biden and the Western allies have emphasized the need to keep the war for Ukraine inside Ukraine.
Now, the fear in Washington and European capitals is that the conflict may soon escalate into a wider war — spreading to neighboring states, cyberspace and countries suddenly facing a Russian cutoff of gas.
Learning leaders are increasing their emphasis on providing skills training to help drive employee retention and accelerate their company’s transformation efforts. Delivering effective training is a constant challenge, as many employees have a limited amount of time they can devote to learning. Approximately 60 percent of employees spend less than 1 hour on learning per sitting as they work to keep pace with the demands of their role.
Today, Coursera is excited to introduce Clips, which currently offer over 10,000 bite-sized videos and lessons from the world’s leading companies and universities, and will scale to more than 200,000 videos by the end of the year. With Clips, companies can make the most valuable, in-demand skill development content more accessible to their employees, allowing them to begin learning new skills in under 10 minutes.
Business needs are constantly evolving in today’s workforce and employees are expected to acquire new skills at an increasingly rapid pace to perform in their roles. By delivering easy access to shorter, actionable content on job-relevant topics, we are enabling employees to quickly develop the role-based skills and human skills needed to do their job successfully.
Clips on Coursera enable organizations to drive engaged and continuous learning through 5-10 minute videos and short lessons. With Clips, employees will have direct access to videos that address their in-the-moment learning needs, without having to sign up for any courses. Videos and lessons are surfaced within the context of longer courses. This feature provides employees with a clear path to deeper skills development when they are ready to enroll.
The new Clips offering features short contentacross business, tech, data, leadership, and human skills, including:
Coursera for Business now provides over 3,400 companies across the globe with job-based skills development featuring world-class content, hands-on learning, and the ability to track, measure, and benchmark skills through a single, unified platform. Recent platform innovations including LevelSets are helping employees to quickly determine their proficiency in key skills and identify areas to focus on moving forward. In addition, SkillSets allow organizations to deliver skill-first learning for over 50 unique roles. In SkillSets, job-based content recommendations are powered by data from millions of learners around the world, and provide the underlying basis for Coursera’s portfolio of Academies. These Academies offer a packaged learning experience based on the depth of skill needed for specific roles across an organization.
As the pace of business transformation increases, the skills landscape continues to evolve. We’re excited to help organizations develop the high-demand skills needed to navigate change and thrive in the workforce of the future.
Clips will be available to Coursera for Business customers starting in June. To learn more, contact Coursera here.
Each Wednesday we shine a spotlight on five student activities that support a broad range of learners. In this week’s roundup of accessible activities, we invite students to learn about city pigeons, think about diversity in their community, watch a film about noticing the world around you, make observations about a photograph and imagine your own Little Free Library.
Note: To learn more about this new weekly feature, read our introductory post. Please share your thoughts in the comments section or by emailing us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.
1. Learn about pigeons.
This Lesson of the Day teaches students about the history, behaviors and genetics of pigeons. After reading an illustrated article, students will first research, and then conduct a citizen science project, about birds in their region.
2. Reflect on community diversity.
In this Student Opinion, students will consider moments when they see community membersinteract with people of different races, nationalities, religions and abilities. And they will consider: How welcoming is your community to people of different backgrounds and identities? They can share their reflections with their classmates or read what other students have to say in the comments section.
3. Explore big ideas through short documentaries.
This week’s Film Club is a five-minute film about a lone piano standing curbside in New York City and the interactions of passers-by. Students reflect on the message of the film and think about how often they stop to observe the world around them.
You can also check out our new guide for teachers that offers eight ways to use our weekly Film Club to teach close reading and practice critical thinking skills. Looking for more? You can watch our on-demand webinar that further discusses ways to use Film Club in the classroom.
4. Make inferences about an image.
In this What’s Going On in This Picture, students will look at an image from The New York Times, without its caption, and try to interpret what is happening. Students can share their observations, read what other students had to see and see moderator comments in the comments section.
5. Design your own Little Free Library.
This Picture Prompt is from an illustrated article about Little Free Libraries. Students will learn about the purpose of these miniature lending libraries and how their use changed during the pandemic. Then students can imagine their own Little Free Library and consider what it would look like and what they would gift.
