What is Postcard?

A postcard is a card for sending messages by post with an envelope.
Postcards often have a picture or photograph on one side.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (Hornby, 2002)

Here is an example of a postcard:

                                                                       Kuta, March 20, 2008

Dear Sari,
        I arrived in Bali 2 days ago. It is a wonderful place. The beaches are
nice. The hotel is right on the beach. I toured the island yesterday and
brought some souvenirs for friends in Surabaya. I’ll be back on Sunday.
Well, that’s all for now.
Regards for your family.
                                                                       Love,
                                                                       Risma

Tattoo Topeng Jepang - Japanese Mask Tattoo (Album 1)

Oversimplification of sport

Last night my extended post about school, influences and looking for shortcuts sparked off some interesting comments over on my Online Climbing Coach blog. They prompted another post from me about the subtle but critical difference between ‘chasing numbers’ in sport and actually improving. Commenting on that this, Gian questioned how the two can have such different implications for enjoyment of sport, since after all “numbers are meant to be a description of difficulty”.

Simplified numbers or statements often are used these days to form the whole story about sport, and that is one of the reasons it’s so fraught with commoditization, unfairness, predictability and cheating. In big sports, a lot of money and time goes into finding ways to keep on top of drug cheats, so far with arguably little effect. In my opinion, it’s attacking from the wrong end. Attacking the incentive to cheat would work many fold better, and the weapons of war are the pens of the marketers of sport and the media that consumes it.

Numbers are an index of difficulty of a climb (or some other task), but not an index of performance. To get a fair idea of how impressive a sport performance is, we usually need two, sometimes three bits of information sandwiched together. A climbing example:

One bit - “He climbed that E7”

Two bits - “He onsighted that E7”

Three bits - “He onsighted that E7 in the rain”

One bit headlines are always more attractive for media and they resort to it more and more in all corners of media. It’s a short term way to get more hits (and a long term route to implosion but that’s another blog post). Two bit headlines at least are needed by everyone to keep sport working. When I say everyone, I mean athletes themselves as well.

Using numbers as a one bit index of performance is drain on the motivation in the long term and an continued improvement is destined to stall big time! “I’ve climbed E7!” is not enough, because the two bit headline in the background might be “I’ve climbed E7 but it was a soft touch...or it was a fluke…or I fasted for a week...or I cheated”

For athletes, the improvement is most motivating and hence sustainable if the number is the secondary part of the headline:

“I climbed well, got over my fear, and climbed that E7”

“My footwork is much better this year after all those drills, so I knew I could get that 7a”

“I really disciplined myself to rest properly, and I’m stronger for it”

That kind of thinking shows how there’s more to taking satisfaction from improvement than the number. It’s not a lot more - just one or two extra bits of information - but crucial. Sports don’t need to be super complicated to be motivating, but rounding everything down to the lowest common denominator all the time is very toxic for motivation.

Footnote: I do a lot of headpointed trad routes, and a few people get very concerned that folk out there might not properly weight the performance of, for example, 'E11 headpoint'. Sure, a few inexperienced onlookers might not understand the significance of the second bit of that statement. I don't think this small group are really worth worrying too much about. As for the rest of us, I think people are smart enough to get their head around the idea that the number takes on a different meaning if you climbed in headpoint style.

Shopping List

What school can’t teach you about climbing hard

I just did some interviews about my climbing for various publications. The questions, in one way or another, ask “what is your secret”? It’s especially relevant in my case as I can’t answer that I’m naturally strong, or thin or talented or started climbing before I could walk.

I’ve given roundabout answers for years, not understanding the underlying theme myself. In parallel I’ve tried to understand why climbers I’ve coached plateau where they do with apparently all the practical ingredients to keep improving.

Recently I’ve thought and talked a lot about school and it’s effects down the line. Sad as it makes me to say it, I learned my ‘secret’ to doing what I have when I was away from school, which happened a lot. A lot of school is about explicitly or implicitly working to fit in. To attain the satisfactory standard of your peers and nothing more. The minimum necessary to get an A and then you can coast. But good performance is by definition not fitting in. You won’t find the solution to the technique, motivation, training, financial, practical or unexplained problem that’s holding you back, by waiting for your teachers or peers or someone on a forum to tell you.

I’m not saying they are useless - they are essential for pointing you in the right direction and supplying the initial shove. After that you roll to a stop pretty quickly unless you start producing your own momentum.

Fifteen years of learning to wait to be told what to do and put in the minimum amount of work is really hard to unlearn. Start now!

In the rest of this post I’ve given some pratical examples about how this idea helped me specifically and also some famous climbers. It’s maybe a bit technical for this blog, so I’ve posted it on my coaching blog.

Tattoo Harimau - Tiger Tattoo

Shopping List

Getting MWI

The research of social psychology postgraduate, Lisa Whittaker, features in today's Telegraph in an article about adolescents' use of language on social networking sites. According to the article, teenagers are getting wise to how exposed social networking can leave them, and how a dodgy Facebook profile might look to a potential employer, and are trying to hide their indiscretions by using a "secret language", in which Getting MWI means "getting mad with it" or "intoxicated", and lots of others.

There's nothing earth-shatteringly new about this - slang has pretty much always been used to hide dubious activity from outsiders - but it's given a new spin here in the digital age.

Congratulation Card

Tattoo Kupu-Kupu di Tangan - Butterfly Tattoo (Album 1)

Link : Butterfly Tattoo Pictures

It's PC-gone-mentally-challenged

Psychotic, autistic, paranoid, schizophrenic, bald. Just 5 of the words I have been called today by uncaring members of my own family. Thanks, mum. But 3 of these words feature in a comment piece in today's Guardian by Beatrice Bray. In it she argues that we should be more careful about our casual use of medical terms that describe mental illness. She argues that psychotic should only be used when referring to people who have the condition "psychosis", not as a more generalised term of abuse to describe someone who's a bit unstable.

The use of the word "psychotic" (is) offensive. You may think this political correctness gone mad, but if you are ill, or have been, you need words to describe your experience to yourself and to others. If for you these words are negative, you will hate yourself. Language can make or break your happiness.

So how far should we go to avoid causing offence to minority groups? Bray argues that we shouldn't be misusing the term bi-polar either. Katy Perry is going to be in big trouble for her "love bi-polar" in Hot'n'Cold. And the term schizophrenia? No longer should we even consider using it to mean "in two minds" or "experiencing mixed emotions".

And please allow individuals an identity apart from their illness, so always say "a person with schizophrenia" rather than "a schizophrenic".

Bray is not the only person to be concerned about the language of disability leaking into the mainstream lexicon. back in November of last year, the French politician Pierre Lellouche caused controversy by describing Gordon Brown as "autistic".

Is this PC-gone-mad (sorry, PC-gone-mentally-challenged) or a case of being sensitive to words that can cause a lot of distress? Let's have a heated debate: add your comments.

An Example of Report Text

Here is an example of Report Text. Please, analyze the generic structure.

Generic Structure	Computer
General classification	Computers are machines that handle information automatically. They can perform calculations and process data. Computers can work with number to solve problems in a few seconds. Computers can remember a great deal of information and make practically no mistakes. That is why computers are widely used in places such as banks, offices and companies.
Description of How computer work Description of computer parts and their functions	Computers work like calculators. But most calculations can do only one thing at time. We tell them what to do by pressing various buttons. To do the same work, we can give a series of instructions to a computer. We call this is a computer program. If we step up a program, the computer can provide other information, such as a list, numbers, letters, words or even graphs or pictures. Once we provide a program, the computer can do all this work automatically without further help or instruction. A computer stores and handles numbers. The numbers may be mathematicall formulas or columns figures. The numbers may be codes that stand for letters of the alphabet, words or instructions to the computer. All computers have three basic parts: 1. input and output units (I/O). The input unit takes in the information and instructions, and the output unit gives the results. 2. A central processing unit (CPU). This unit does the work of computing. 3. A memory. It stores or remembers the informations and instructions that the CPU needs to do the work. I/O. One of them is video-terminal. The video terminal has a typewriter like keyboards and screen like television screen. We can see the output of the computer on the screen. If we need a permanent record of a computer’s output, a printer will make it. And if the computer’s main memory can not hold enough information, magnetic disk or tapes can be used for this purpose. The computer then can turn the information stored on the disks or tapes into numbers or letters.

Tatto Zodiak Gemini

Tattoo Zodiak Libra (Album 2)
Tattoo Zodiak Libra (Album 1)

Report Text

Report text functions to provide factual information about general characteristics of a certain thing, living or non-living thing. Information Reports classify and describe the phenomena of our world. This text is different from Descriptive text, which functions to give detail informations about a certain thing but not for generalizing it. This kind of text is used almost in every subject at school, so the competence to make or to understand this kind of text is an important part to develop the literate competence of the students at school. As the result, the teaching of this text does not only influence on the English literate development at school but also in other languages, even in their mother language.

The generic structure of a Report text is :

General Classification : tells what the phenomenon under discussion is.

Description : tells what the phenomenon under discussion is like in terms of - parts (and their functions)

- qualities

- habits or behaviours, if living; uses, if non-natural

Triangulation sessions in the cave

Good session in the cave today in spring sunshine. I was feeling totally wasted from working far too late for a couple of days (&nights). But seemed to pull this out of the bag despite wobbly arms and sketchy concentration. Maybe it was just too good to slip by…

Actually it was the killer toe hook that sealed the deal. I think I have seen the missing link to extent the big traverse right back into the second half of the cave.

Perfect spring day today. PS the problem is called Triangulation and it's in the Font 8a ballpark (if not then easier, I lose track).

Some quick facts about the Sron Ulladale live climb

Today I’ve been getting some questions about the BBC live broadcast on Aug 28th. Here are some answers as far as I know them right now:

What happens if it rains, just like last time?

Two possibilities - First the Sron is just about the biggest natural umbrella in the UK. The part we want to climb stays completely dry in the foulest of atlantic weather fronts. Our only Achilles heel might be if an isolated hold or section of the route is seeping from a crack, or the top of the overhangs are too hard to climb in the wet. I’ll know more about this after the golden eagles have finished raising their chicks and I can get on the cliff to look closely. I think in all but a northwesterly gale blowing heavy rain and body numbing cold straight into the overhangs, we should be sheltered and able to climb at least most of it. I have seen some methods of getting to the top by some creative route finding if we can’t avoid wet rock at the top 50m, but it totally depends on the exact nature of the terrain we end up climbing.

But in case of a truly grim storm that really interferes with our climbing, we’ll have a ton of footage to show you from the triple five challenge which we are filming next month. The objectives are all pretty hard - E7 or harder. Naturally we have some options here for frustrating weather as well. Either way, there should be plenty of fine exciting climbing action to bring you on Aug 28th.

I can’t get BBC2 Scotland, can I still watch it?

Yes, it will be streamed live on the BBC website, and shown on the BBC HD channel too. Not doubt there will be plenty of other methods to tune in besides - more on this as I get the information from the BBC.

What will you do if you can’t climb your route?

I’ll fall off and that’ll be that! I’m expecting we’ll have a ‘living end’ standard piece of climbing to do. I’ll be giving it plenty and will be arriving well prepared, psyched and ready for a fine battle. I’m sure Tim will be too. But such is the nature of doing new things in sport; barriers can’t be broken every time. So we might fall off. We’ll all find out on the day. No pressure then…

What islands are you climbing on during the triple five week?

I’ll tell you when I see the forecast the day before we actually climb them, and if Donald can get close enough to the cliffs to land us in his boat. In other words, we have a plan, but that plan is guaranteed to change, and change again as the Hebridean weather has the last word. You’ll have to take my word for it that we’ll be climbing some stunning pieces of rock in some stunning places.

The Great Climb 2010

The mighty Sron Ulladale, Isle of Harris

It’s great to be able to talk about this now…Nearly three years ago, the BBC attempted to run the ambitious live ‘Great Climb’ live broadcast on Cairngorm, with myself and a team of climbers from all over the world. We planned, rigged and trained for the big day. And then it rained. The washout was a huge disappointment, partially avenged by my ascent of my project on Hell’s Lum cliff a few days later which became the film ‘To Hell and Back’.

Ever since, Triple Echo Productions who were behind the Great Climb project have been planning to make another attempt at a big live climbing event for the BBC. This year, the necessary components have aligned and we have a plan:

On 28th August, myself and Tim Emmett are planning to attempt a hard new route on Sron Ulladale, the biggest overhanging piece of rock in the UK (700 feet high, overhanging it’s base by 150 feet or so). As you might imagine, the prospect of this brings feelings of massive excitement, together with a fair dose of intimidation, pressure and anticipation. The correct ingredients for a fine adventure.

Harris landscape

I’d love to tell you exactly which part of the mighty Sron we will try to climb, but last week on our recce, close inspection of the cliff was out of the question due to the golden eagles, nesting on the main part of the face once again. If the eagles hatch chicks (best of luck to them!) we won’t be able to look closely at the lines until August. So until then, it’s training and waiting. Naturally, our plan is to climb the hardest possible route that imagination and finger strength allows.

Colin Wells standing at the foot of Sron Ulladale. The rock in shot above him is roughly the first fifth of the cliff height (!).

However, we have something else up our sleeves for the meantime. We’ll be doing another challenge to feature in the 6 hour live broadcast. We’ll try a triple five challenge of five new climbs on five hebridean islands in five days. Last week Donald took us around many a far flung corner of the Western Isles, showing us many a gobsmacking unclimbed cliff, geo or stack. After serial protracted deliberations in Hotel Hebrides we shortlisted the many amazing cliffs into five objectives, which we will travel between by boat, sleeping below deck, in camps or under boulders.

I’ll have a lot more to say about this as more plans emerge in the coming weeks. Right now I have to go back to training for it. More on the BBC site here.

Passive Voice Exercices

Here you have a link to practise PASSIVE VOICE constructions:

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/passiv.htm

And in the following site you can find the list of the irregular verbs you would need...

www.englishpage.com/irregularverbs/irregularverbs.html

The last day or two on Harris

All thinking the same thing?

settling in for the spring

Donald's catch while he waited for us

Joe merging blissfully into Glen Scaladale

Force production is known to correlate to chin distortion. At least Joe's extended chin is only temporary.

Another V9 for Harris if I can get that left foot swung round

Done.

Procedure Text

Let’s make a birthday card. Here is the paper for you to share. You can choose different colours.

We will make the card first, then the envelope.

Let’s start. Cut the paper.

You can draw a picture on it.

What picture do you like? A candle, balloon, or a flower

Next, we are going to make the envelope.

Take another piece of paper, and then fold.

Finished? Show me your envelope, please.

Then put some glue on your envelope.

Press it. Finish.

Tattoo Zodiak Libra (Album 2)

Tattoo Zodiak Libra (Album 1)
Tattoo Zodiak Gemini

Procedure Text

Procedure Text

A procedure text generally has a generic structure as follows :

Title,
Classification or Definition
Description of Features in order of importance,
List of Materials (optional), and
Series of steps sequenced in logical order

Some sociocultural functions of Procedure text are to give instructions, to give cautions, and to tell time sequences. For instructions and cautions, the language features which are often used are imperative verbs, while sequencers like first, next, then and finally are often used for the time sequences. Sometimes procedure text is also provided with diagrams, flow charts, or ilustrations.

Here is an example of Procedure text, please pay attention to its generic structure.

Text organisation		Language features
Goal	Making a Kite
Materials	Things You Need 3 pieces of cane (2x60 cm; 1x80 cm) Thread Large sheet of strong paper (e.g. tissue) Soft pencil Scissors Paint and paint brush Glue Stong string	Precise information how long? how many? what type? what type?
Steps	What to do The Frame 1. dampen cane to make flexible 2. Carefully, bend cane to desired shape then tie securely with thread. The Covering 3. Lay frame on sheet of paper 4. Trace around frame with pencil 5. Cut covering approx. 1 cm larger than outline. 6. Paint bird on covering (e.g. owl) 7. When paint is dry, place frame on linking word painted side. Now fold edges of covering over the frame carefully, and glue them down. The Bridle 8. Cut 3 pieces of string, each 20 cm long. 9. Secure one end of each string tightly to frame at the shoulders and tail of the bird. Then tie the other ends in a knot.	Commands details How? With what? where? action verbs

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Popular Posts

Blog Archive

Sample Text

What is Postcard?

Tattoo Topeng Jepang - Japanese Mask Tattoo (Album 1)

Oversimplification of sport

Shopping List

What school can’t teach you about climbing hard

Tattoo Harimau - Tiger Tattoo

Shopping List

Getting MWI

Congratulation Card

Tattoo Kupu-Kupu di Tangan - Butterfly Tattoo (Album 1)

It's PC-gone-mentally-challenged

An Example of Report Text

Tatto Zodiak Gemini

Report Text

Triangulation sessions in the cave

Some quick facts about the Sron Ulladale live climb

The Great Climb 2010

Passive Voice Exercices

The last day or two on Harris

Procedure Text

Tattoo Zodiak Libra (Album 2)

Procedure Text

News from My Blog

Another Templates

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