Civil society refers to a wide variety of communities and groups. These groups include non-governmental organizations (NGOs), labour unions, indigenous groups, charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, professional associations, and foundations outside of government to support and advocate for specific people or issues in society.

Civil society

The roots of civil society in the context of political thought date as far back as Ancient Rome. Cicero (106 BCE to 42 BCE) refers to the term “societas civilis” as a political community that consists of more than one city governed by the rule of law and typified by a degree of urban sophistication. This kind of community is in contrast to uncivilised or barbarian tribal settlements.

Early history of civil society

<ul><li>The widely held thought in ancient Greece was that societies could be characterized according to the character of their political constitution and institutions. </li><li>However, English writers like Thomas Hobbes and John Locke contended that society predates the establishment of political authority as an extension of their social contract.</li><li>18th-century Scottish economist Adam Smith stated that civil society came from developing an independent commercial order.</li><li>G. W. F. Hegel understood civil society as a non-political society with separate roles for civil and political societies and associations.</li></ul>

Different views on civil society through the ages

<ul><li>By the 1980s, the importance of the social society as initially envisioned by Adam Smith became popular in political and economic discussions in central and Eastern Europe and Latin America. It became identified with non-state movements that were defying authoritarian regimes.</li><li>During the 1990s, many authors, politicians, and public authorities came to view civil society as a sort of “Swiss Army knife” for fixing the many problems facing developing countries.</li><li>By the end of the 1990s, civil society was seen less as a cure-all.</li><li>Today, civil society theory has assumed a relatively neutral stance.</li></ul>

The views on civil society of the last few decades

Civil society remains hard to define as it is deeply complex. Generally, the term suggests how public life should function within and between societies. Civil society is mainly composed of organisations not associated with the government, such as professional associations, churches, cultural institutions and businesses. They monitor government policies and actions and try to hold government leaders accountable. However, some political and social scientists have noted that many civil society groups have now obtained a remarkable amount of political influence without having been directly elected.

Civil Society definitions

ivic organizations can be defined as nonprofit community-based companies, clubs, committees, associations, corporations, or authorized representatives of a governmental entity composed of volunteers and which are established mainly to further educational, charitable, religious, cultural, or local economic development purposes.  It can be hard to distinguish political from nonpolitical civic organizations because many of these groups tend to work in collaboration

Civic organisations

Civil society is the collection of small to nationwide civic groups that function outside of government to provide support and advocacy for certain people or issues.

politics

Politics

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

Civil Society: Definition and Theory

“Abundance is not about providing everyone on this planet with a life of luxury—rather it's about providing all with a life of possibility.”

We live in turbulent times. When we glance at the headlines, it is enough to put anybody on edge. However, a quick look at history shows that progress continues through the good and the bad times. Global living standards will continue to improve regardless of the horrors in the headlines. For example, the 20th century saw advancement and tragedy. The 1918 influenza epidemic killed fifty million people, and World War II killed another sixty million. Yet, this period also saw infant mortality decrease by 90 per cent and maternal mortality decrease by 99 per cent.

The future is brighter than the media portrays

Underlying influences tend to push us towards a pessimistic view of the future. <ul><li>The amygdala is always looking for threats in our environment. When triggered, it starts the fight or flight response. But modern society threats are probabilistic. For example, the economy could crash, or there could be a terrorist attack.</li><li>Information we receive. Media outlets know that good news doesn’t sell as well as threatening news, so we are constantly bombarded with fearful images and possible situations that feed the amygdala and prevent us from seeing the future objectively.</li></ul>

Why we have an overly pessimistic view of the future

The world consists of complex systems where changes in one area can impact another area. For example, population changes in one species affect living and survival conditions for others.  While some systems may seem to exacerbate current problems, they also present great opportunities because they create momentum and positive benefits in others.

Solving complex problems together

Contrary to what many believe, big businesses contribute more to alleviating global poverty. <ul><li>They develop cheaper products for people at the bottom of the income pyramid - around four billion people. This is a huge potential market and the opportunity to make a profit while raising the standard of living for the poorest citizens.</li><li>Technophilanthropists have a global vision and business and political connections to get things moving forward, such as Bill Gates, founder of the Gates Foundation.</li></ul>

Big business can raise standards of living among the world's poorest people

Access to education is a major global problem. Those students with access to education follow an outdated framework that does not provide students with the skills needed to handle the problems of the twenty-first century. ICT could offer a solution to address both issues of quality and delivery. For example, Sugata Mitra ran experiments on self-directed learning in Indian slums. He found that by just providing a computer terminal and internet access, groups of young children could teach themselves.

Traditional methods of education are outdated and in need of a re-think

A stigma is attached to failure, and many people will do anything to avoid it. This can prevent innovation.  Failure should be viewed as part of a longer learning curve and an important stepping stone toward innovation.

A successful future depends on overcoming the fear of failure

Nanotechnology allows us to create new materials leading to major advances in many areas. Nanotechnology involves building things on an atomic scale and create anocomposites, even tiny programmable assemblers, called nanomachines. These nanomachines can build other nanomaterials and create greater efficiency in the technology. Examples include nanocomposites much stronger than steel produced at a fraction of the cost. Lifesaver is a water filter that can make water safe to drink without chemical or energy-intensive methods.

Technological advances

Access to biotechnology is multiplying the potential to find innovative solutions to food, energy and other global problems. <ul><li>Advances in genetic engineering provide solutions that can feed an ever-increasing population. </li><li>Biotechnology is also used for other applications such as developing strains of algae as a biofuel source.</li></ul>

Biotechnology provides solutions to global problems

The internet and social media spread has helped people share and discuss societal problems and provide tools to find solutions.  Access to information is a significant catalyst in this process, for example, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Global connectivity is accelerating the sharing of information

<ul><li>Advances in solar energy technology can further innovation and lower production prices. New Energy Technologies has recently found a way to turn an ordinary window into a solar panel by using the world’s smallest organic solar cell that performs ten times better than current commercial models.</li><li>More efficient methods of growing food, like urban farming, hydroponics and vertical farming, can reduce the need for arable land.</li></ul>

Other advances that point to an abundance

Abundance shows practical solutions to humanity’s most significant concerns such as lack of quality food, water, education, healthcare, and freedom. The author shows us how exponential technologies can help us improve our quality of life to achieve abundance.

The authors document how four forces--exponential technologies, the DIY innovator, the Technophilanthropist, and the Rising Billion--are conspiring to solve our biggest problems. "Abundance" establishes hard targets for change and lays out a strategic roadmap for governments, industry and entrepreneurs, giving us plenty of reason for optimism.

philosophy

Philosophy

technologyandthefuture

Technology & The Future

creativity

Creativity

books

Books

The New York Times bestselling “manifesto for the future that is grounded in practical solutions addressing the world’s most pressing concerns: overpopulation, food, water, energy, education, health care and freedom” (The Wall Street Journal). Since the dawn of humanity, a privileged few have lived in stark contrast to the hardscrabble majority. Conventional wisdom says this gap cannot be closed. But it is closing—and fast. In Abundance, space entrepreneur turned innovation pioneer Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler document how progress in artificial intelligence, robotics, digital manufacturing synthetic biology, and other exponentially growing technologies will enable us to make greater gains in the next two decades than we have in the previous 200 years. We will soon have the ability to meet and exceed the basic needs of every person on the planet. Abundance for all is within our grasp. Breaking down human needs by category—water, food, energy, healthcare, education, freedom—Diamandis and Kotler introduce us to innovators and industry captains making tremendous strides in each area. “Not only is Abundance a riveting page-turner…but it’s a book that gives us a future worth fighting for” (The Christian Science Monitor).

Peter H. Diamandis is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Peter H. Diamandis has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Peter H. Diamandis's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Peter H. Diamandis

Steven Kotler

Abundance

When we are young, we are more vulnerable to fashion and teen monthlies targeted at women. Their glossy pages offer an escape from our dreary lives. While women's magazines offer celebrity-centred advice, it is never evidence-based. Instead, it has largely frivolous, unhelpful, false and often harmful advice.

Giving your 16 year-old-self advice

You won't achieve a healthy weight through buying a particular product or going on a crash diet. Women's magazines have pages on how to lose weight fast or maintain a healthy body size using some new product or trend. Actual claims on the covers of Women's Health magazines, such as "Hot body express!" "Bikini body now!" "Have the baby, keep the body!" These are lies. There is no magic diet.What really works is watching what you eat every day, over a lifetime. No magic diet or miracle pills are needed.

Achieving a healthy weight

There's no need to aim for perfection in your diet 100 per cent of the time. Restrictive diets are unsustainable and often backfire. Yet women's magazines fixate on strict eating patterns. Whatever the trend, you'll find it in the pages of these magazines. Offering short-term perfection sells better than ideas about grinding along to achieve long-term health.

You don't need to be super strict about your diet

Many women's magazines depict exercise as a daunting task. Exercise often requires fancy gym clothes and lots of time and discipline to give you an "awesome body wherever you go." However, exercise is something that gives you energy, lifts your mood, and makes you feel strong and healthy. Exercise doesn't necessarily require gym clothes or running shoes. You can do it throughout the day, every day.

Exercise doesn't have to be annoying or overly complex

Women's magazines uncritically show faddish health advice from celebrities. Beyonce is held up as the go-to authority on the vegan lifestyle. InStyle states it is the reason behind her "#flawless" looks and "killer curves." Gwyneth Paltrow's popular gimmicks include <a href="http://goop.com/detox/">detox cleanses</a> and <a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/advice/g1523/get-flat-sexy-abs-without-doing-crunches/">special workouts</a>. In reality, almost every celebrity-driven trend falls apart under even modest scrutiny. The fads are often motivated by a celebrity's business interests more than by research about health.

Celebrities aren't good sources of health information

Author <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/05/01/gwyneth_paltrow_is_wrong_about_everything_my_adventure_in_goop_endorsed_cleanses/">Timothy Caulfield</a> spent years researching the science behind celebrity health and beauty tips. He found that most beauty products had either no data behind them or very small and unreliable studies to back up the fantastical claims. Using beauty products in your daily routine is not bad, but the promises they carry on their labels are probably bunk. When they come with heavy price tags, you're probably getting ripped off.

Expensive creams and potions won't make you more beautiful

Women's magazines sell the idea that we can all look better. It usually involves looking like someone famous like Kim Kardashian. However, we look like ourselves. Only Kim Kardashian looks like Kim Kardashian. Her career depends on beautifying her face and body. And even she doesn't look that way without a lot of help.

You shouldn't aspire to look like Kim Kardashian

Women's magazines may give so-called health advice, but they still carry ads from cigarette companies that depict smoking as a glamorous exercise for beautiful people. Given what we know about the harms of smoking,<ul><li>that it is one of the worst things you can do for your health,</li><li> it prematurely ages your skin and body,</li><li>it promotes many terrible illnesses</li><li>and makes you less attractive,</li></ul> it completely undermines all the other so-called health "advice" in these magazines.

Smoking isn't glamorous

The pages of women's magazines are filled with diets and products that supposedly help you "cleanse your body." This includes clarifying shampoo, detoxifying salads and juices, supplements, enemas, and even colon cleanses. Science-based medicine had long rejected the concept of a detox other than when someone was poisoned or is weaned from heroin addiction. Our bodies are quite capable of getting rid of harmful stuff by themselves.

Unless you're a heroin addict, you probably don't need to detox

The advice in their pages is too often insane, aimed at fearmongering, and totally science-free.

fashion

Fashion & Beauty

health

Health

Flat abs fast! Hot body now! Why you should (almost) never believe health advice in women's magazines

Why are we always in such a rush? What is the cure for time-sickness? Is it possible, or even desirable, to slow down?

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

It is a Western disease to make time finite, and then impose speed on all aspects of life.Despite what people think, the discussion about speed is never really about the current state of technology. It goes much deeper than that, it goes back to the human desire for transcendence … It’s hard to think about the fact that we’re going to die; it’s unpleasant, so we constantly seek ways to distract ourselves from the awareness of our own mortality. Speed, with the sensory rush it gives, is one strategy for distraction.

The Problem With Speed

Reading implies time for reflection, a slowing-down that destroys the mass’s dynamic efficiency.

The world is still straining to do everything faster—and paying a heavy price for it. The toll taken by the hurry-up culture is well documented. We are driving the planet and ourselves towards burnout. We are so time-poor and time-sick that we neglect our friends, families and partners. We barely know how to enjoy things any more because we are always looking ahead to the next thing. Much of the food we eat is bland and unhealthy. With our children caught up in the same hailstorm of hurry, the future looks bleak.

The World Is Speeding Up

All the things that bind us together and make life worth living—community, family, friendship—thrive on the one thing we never have enough of: Time.Time is getting away, that there isn’t enough of it, and you must pedal faster and faster to keep up. These days, the whole world is time-sick. We all belong to the same cult of speed.Time-sickness can also be a symptom of a deeper, existential malaise. In the final stages before burnout, people often speed up to avoid confronting their unhappiness.

Time Sickness

Inevitably, a life of hurry can become superficial. When we rush, we skim the surface, and fail to make real connections with the world or other people.We have forgotten how to look forward to things, and how to enjoy the moment when they arrive.In this social media-drenched, data-rich, computer-gaming age, we have lost the art of doing nothing, of shutting out the background noise and distractions, of slowing down and simply being alone with our thoughts.

A Superficial Life

If we are ever going to slow down, we must understand why we accelerated in the first place, why the world got so revved up, so tightly scheduled. And to do that, we need to start at the very beginning, by looking at our relationship with time itself. Ancient civilizations used calendars to work out when to plant and harvest crops. Right from the start, though, timekeeping proved to be a double-edged sword. On the upside, scheduling can make anyone, from peasant farmer to software engineer, more efficient. Soon enough, the tables turn, and time takes over. We become slaves to the schedule.

Our Relationship With Time

As the clock tightened its grip and technology made it possible to do everything more quickly, hurry and haste seeped into every corner of life. People were expected to think faster, work faster, talk faster, read faster, write faster, eat faster, and move faster.The result is a gnawing disconnect between what we want from life and what we can realistically have, which feeds the sense that there is never enough time.

The Clock

Part of the problem may lie in the way we think about time itself. In Chinese, Hindu and Buddhist traditions, time is cyclical. On Canada’s Baffin Island, the Inuit use the same word—uvatiarru—to mean both ‘in the distant past’ and ‘in the distant future.’ The Hindu word kal means both yesterday and tomorrow.Time, in such cultures, is always coming as well as going. It is constantly around us, renewing itself, like the air we breathe.In the Western tradition, time is linear, an arrow flying remorselessly from A to B. It is a finite, and therefore precious, resource.

Time Is Actually Cyclical

Fast and Slow do more than just describe a rate of change.  Fast is busy, controlling, aggressive, hurried, analytical, stressed, superficial, impatient and jumpy.Slow is the opposite: calm, careful, receptive, still, intuitive, unhurried, patient, reflective, quality-over-quantity. It is about making real and meaningful connections—with people, culture, work, food, everything. The paradox is that Slow does not always mean slow. As we shall see, performing a task in a Slow manner often yields faster results. It is also possible to do things quickly while maintaining a Slow frame of mind.

The Two Different Frame Rates Of Life

Speed has helped to remake our world in ways that are wonderful and liberating. Who wants to live without the Internet or jet travel? The problem is that our love of speed, our obsession with doing more and more in less and less time, has gone too far; it has turned into an addiction, a kind of idolatry.  Falling behind at work? Get a quicker Internet connection. No time for that novel you got at Christmas? Learn to speed-read. Diet not working? Try liposuction. Too busy to cook? Buy a microwave. And yet some things cannot, should not, be sped up. They take time; they need slowness.

The Addiction Of Speed

When you accelerate things that should not be accelerated, when you forget how to slow down, there is a price to pay.

Instead of doing everything faster, many people are decelerating, and finding that Slowness helps them to live, work, think and play better. But is the Slow movement really a movement? It certainly has all the ingredients that academics look for—popular sympathy, a blueprint for a new way of life, grassroots action. True, the Slow movement has no formal structure and still suffers from low brand recognition. Many people slow down—working fewer hours, say, or finding time to cook—without feeling part of a global crusade. Yet every act of deceleration is grist to the mill.

Put Your Feet Off The Gas

Many recommend doing fewer things in order to do them better, a core tenet of the Slow philosophy … The twenty-four-hour society is not intrinsically evil. If we approach it in a Slow spirit—doing fewer things, with less hurry—it can give us the flexibility we need to decelerate … Slower, it turns out, often means better—better health, better work, better business, better family life, better exercise, better cuisine and better sex.

Less But Better

The Slow movement is still taking shape. It has no central headquarters or website, no single leader, and no political party to carry its message. Many people decide to slow down without ever feeling part of a cultural trend, let alone a global crusade. What matters, though, is that a growing minority is choosing slowness over speed. Every act of deceleration gives another push to the Slow movement.

The Invisible Movement

To roll back the fast-food tsunami sweeping across the planet, Carlo Petrini, a charismatic culinary writer, launched Slow Food. As the name suggests, the movement stands for everything that McDonald’s does not: fresh, local, seasonal produce; recipes handed down through the generations; sustainable farming; artisanal production; leisurely dining with family and friends. Slow Food also preaches ‘eco-gastronomy’—the notion that eating well can, and should, go hand in hand with protecting the environment.

No To McDonalds: Slow Food

Many find that slowing down has a spiritual dimension. But many others do not. The Slow movement is broad enough to accommodate both. In any case, the gap between the two may not be as wide as it seems. The great benefit of slowing down is reclaiming the time and tranquility to make meaningful connections—with people, with culture, with work, with nature, with our own bodies and minds. Some call that living better. Others would describe it as spiritual.

The Spiritual Side Of Slowing Down

In the war against the cult of speed, the front line is inside our heads. Acceleration will remain our default setting until attitudes change. But changing what we think is just the beginning. If the Slow movement is really to take root, we have to go deeper. We have to change the way we think.

Changing The Way We Think

For the Slow movement, the workplace is a key battlefront. When the job gobbles up so many hours, the time left over for everything else gets squeezed. Even the simple things—taking the kids to school, eating supper, chatting to friends—become a race against the clock. A surefire way to slow down is to work less.These days, we exist to serve the economy, rather than the other way round. Long hours on the job are making us unproductive, error-prone, unhappy and ill.

Work Less And Avoid Burnout At The Office

People who cut their work hours often take a smaller hit financially than they expect. That is because spending less time on the job means spending less money on the things that allow us to work: transport, parking, eating out, coffee, convenience food, childcare, laundry, retail therapy. A smaller income also translates into a smaller tax bill.

Benefits Of Working Less And Staying Home

We live in the age of speed. We strain to be more efficient, to cram more into each minute, each hour, each day. Since the Industrial Revolution shifted the world into high gear, the cult of speed has pushed us to a breaking point. Consider these facts: Americans on average spend seventy-two minutes of every day behind the wheel of a car, a typical business executive now loses sixty-eight hours a year to being put on hold, and American adults currently devote on average a mere half hour per week to making love. Living on the edge of exhaustion, we are constantly reminded by our bodies and minds that the pace of life is spinning out of control. In Praise of Slowness traces the history of our increasingly breathless relationship with time and tackles the consequences of living in this accelerated culture of our own creation. Why are we always in such a rush? What is the cure for time sickness? Is it possible, or even desirable, to slow down? Realizing the price we pay for unrelenting speed, people all over the world are reclaiming their time and slowing down the pace -- and living happier, healthier, and more productive lives as a result. A Slow revolution is taking place. Here you will find no Luddite calls to overthrow technology and seek a preindustrial utopia. This is a modern revolution, championed by cell-phone using, e-mailing lovers of sanity. The Slow philosophy can be summed up in a single word -- balance. People are discovering energy and efficiency where they may have been least expected -- in slowing down. In this engaging and entertaining exploration, award-winning journalist and rehabilitated speedaholic Carl Honoré details our perennial love affair with efficiency and speed in a perfect blend of anecdotal reportage, history, and intellectual inquiry. In Praise of Slowness is the first comprehensive look at the worldwide Slow movements making their way into the mainstream -- in offices, factories, neighborhoods, kitchens, hospitals, concert halls, bedrooms, gyms, and schools. Defining a movement that is here to stay, this spirited manifesto will make you completely rethink your relationship with time.

religionandspirituality

Religion & Spirituality

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

We live in the age of speed. We strain to be more efficient, to cram more into each minute, each hour, each day. Since the Industrial Revolution shifted the world into high gear, the cult of speed has pushed us to a breaking point. Consider these facts: Americans on average spend seventy-two minutes of every day behind the wheel of a car, a typical business executive now loses sixty-eight hours a year to being put on hold, and American adults currently devote on average a mere half hour per week to making love.Living on the edge of exhaustion, we are constantly reminded by our bodies and minds that the pace of life is spinning out of control. In Praise of Slowness traces the history of our increasingly breathless relationship with time and tackles the consequences of living in this accelerated culture of our own creation. Why are we always in such a rush? What is the cure for time sickness? Is it possible, or even desirable, to slow down? Realizing the price we pay for unrelenting speed, people all over the world are reclaiming their time and slowing down the pace -- and living happier, healthier, and more productive lives as a result. A Slow revolution is taking place.Here you will find no Luddite calls to overthrow technology and seek a preindustrial utopia. This is a modern revolution, championed by cell-phone using, e-mailing lovers of sanity. The Slow philosophy can be summed up in a single word -- balance. People are discovering energy and efficiency where they may have been least expected -- in slowing down.In this engaging and entertaining exploration, award-winning journalist and rehabilitated speedaholic Carl Honoré details our perennial love affair with efficiency and speed in a perfect blend of anecdotal reportage, history, and intellectual inquiry. In Praise of Slowness is the first comprehensive look at the worldwide Slow movements making their way into the mainstream -- in offices, factories, neighborhoods, kitchens, hospitals, concert halls, bedrooms, gyms, and schools. Defining a movement that is here to stay, this spirited manifesto will make you completely rethink your relationship with time.

Carl Honore

In Praise of Slowness

-a natural liking for and understanding of someone or something."I probably would rate it as a 1, but I have an <a href="https://youtu.be/KfZ7Hd7H6EQ?t=310">affinity</a> for the transformer robots."Similar example:<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">He had a special affinity with horses.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">He has an affinity for fine food.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">There is a close affinity between Italian and Spanish</li><li class="ql-align-justify">She seems to have a natural affinity with water</li><li class="ql-align-justify">I felt a great affinity with the people of the highland.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Humans have a special affinity for dolphins.</li></ul>

Affinity 

- harming a person’s reputation by saying or writing things that are not true "Johnny Depp wins his defamation suit against ex-wife Amber Heard as the jury awards the actor $15 million in compensatory and punitive damages."Similar example:<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">She sued him for defamation</li><li class="ql-align-justify">The newspaper was sued for defamation after publishing lies about a celebrity. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">It was a pure case of defamation because the athlete had never abused his wife.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">The school bully was known for committing acts of defamation by spreading false stories about her targets</li></ul>

Defamation

-living the life of a nomad; wandering. Nomadic people (or nomads) are people who move from one place to another, instead of living in one place. "In Mongolia the population is essentially nomadic, its wealth consisting in herds of horned cattle, sheep, horses and camels."Similar example:<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">China’s exposure to Buddhism from India in the early centuries of the first millennium had a lot to do with how India was perceived in contrast to the nomadic tribes on its frontiers.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Others are hunters and fishermen and are nomadic in habit.</li></ul>

Nomadic

- very interesting because of being unusual or mysterious. / Arousing one's curiosity or interest; fascinating"She has a really intriguing personality."Similar example:<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">The royal palace was filled with intrigue.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">This is a novel of intrigue.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">I found the story rather intriguing.</li></ul>

Intrigue

- the forming of a theory or conjecture without firm evidence."Most of the scientific community believes that, at the moment, cryonics is just speculation."similar example:<ul><li>there has been widespread speculation that he plans to quit</li><li>He dismissed their theories as mere speculation.</li><li>The book is just a lot of idle speculation about the future.</li><li> Her speculations leave many questions unanswered.</li><li> He lost everything in foolish land speculation.</li></ul>

Speculation

- the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.“What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.” — William Ralph IngeSimilar example:<ul><li>there were accusations of plagiarism</li><li> The journal accused the professor of plagiarism.</li><li>Now he's in real trouble. He's accused of plagiarism. </li></ul>

Plagiarism

My goal is to add here the new words I learn every day.

education

Learning & Education

English Words

Minimalism is having fewer possessions and being intentional with the items you have.  Minimalism allows us to have freedom, satisfaction, and experiences we may not have had when we are buried under our belongings.Minimalism isn't just about throwing away stuff we don't need, but a new way of living life, where we are more aligned with the present moment, not distracted by stuff around us.

Minimalism

Our old-fashioned brains are totally overwhelmed with the amount of information we consume and the things we need to care for. Humans weren’t meant to pay attention to so many things at once. Yet here we are doing it and wondering why we’re stressed, depressed, and can’t stay on top of all the things we need to do.Since there are no “updates” available for our old hardware, we need to alter our environments so we can better perform.

The World Has Changed Too Much

While you may struggle at first, it gets easier when you practice discarding stuff.Our things are like roommates, except we pay their rent. Think of departmental stores as your personal warehouses. There’s generally no need to have 40 rolls of paper towels, 25 spare lightbulbs, and 60 extra cans of food. It takes up precious space and ties your money up in something you may never use.

The Art Of Discarding Stuff

A lot of times, we keep things around just because. Because it’s there, because we bought it because we might need it. But if it disappeared, would you replace it or would you be okay without it?When decluttering, many people feel guilty disposing of items given to them as gifts. Think about when you give someone a gift. Do you expect them to keep it forever? Do you check for it when you visit their home? If they didn’t like it, would you want them to hang onto it? If you answered no, odds are the person who gave you a gift would feel the same way.

Stuff We Don't Know That We Don't Need

Our homes aren’t museums, they don’t need collections.Don’t keep stuff because it’s free. The low price of something isn’t a good enough reason to bring it into your home and your life. Be intentional.

Don't Get Something In Your House Because It is Free

When you purchase a cell phone, you aren’t just getting the phone. You need a charger, case, screen protectors, earbuds, and countless other accessories. When you take up a sport, you need equipment for the sport, appropriate clothing, and appropriate shoes. And let’s not even talk about crafting.

Things Bring Things

It basically boils down to, don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet. If you think about doing an everyday task every day for the rest of your life, it can be overwhelming and daunting and depressing. If you take it one day at a time, or one dish at a time, it’s a lot easier to think about and tackle.

Don't Wash The Dishes That Aren't Even Dirty Yet

Through gratitude, we can trigger sustainable stimulation, which gives us more peace than the stimulation that we get by buying something new or increasing our stockpile.

Gratitude

When you think about it, there isn’t a single person who was born into this world holding some material possession in their hands.

Everyone started out a minimalist. Our worth is not the sum of our belongings. Possessions can make us happy only for brief periods. Unnecessary material objects suck up our time, our energy, and our freedom. Minimalists are starting to realize that.When we practice minimalism, we’ll spend less time being distracted by the media or by advertisements because we become aware that we already have everything that we need. And when we feel this way, we can easily ignore most of these messages that cry out to us

Don't Believe The Billion Dollar Ad Spending

Reducing the number of possessions that you have is not a goal unto itself. I think minimalism is a method for individuals to find the things that are genuinely important to them. It’s a prologue for crafting your own unique story.

Saying goodbye to your things is more than an exercise in tidying up. I think it’s an exercise in thinking about true happiness.

When you become a minimalist, the energy you use will also become minimal. You won’t need to try to live in an eco-friendly way—it’ll come naturally. By minimizing your possessions and settling into a focused, simple life, you’ll find that the weight on your shoulders has become lighter and you’re living in a way that’s gentler on the environment. And you know what? It gives you a pretty good feeling.

Using Minimal Energy

There’s an important concept called minimum living costs, which refers to the minimum amount of money you need to live. It’s worthwhile for everyone to calculate this for themselves at least once, by adding up rent, groceries, utilities, communication charges, and so on.

Calculate Your Minimum Living Costs

We’re all born into this world as minimalists, but the Japanese used to lead minimalist lives as well. Foreigners who came to Japan before industrialization were shocked. While it might be hard to imagine today, most people owned perhaps two or three kimonos, always kept fresh and clean, as their entire wardrobe. They packed light, their legs were strong, and they could walk wherever they needed to go. Homes were simple structures that could quickly be rebuilt, and people didn’t tend to live in the same place all their lives. Japanese culture used to be a minimalist culture.

Japanese Were Minimalists Before Capitalism Happened

Most of the stuff we own is wearing us down.

The best-selling phenomenon from Japan that shows us a minimalist life is a happy life. Fumio Sasaki is not an enlightened minimalism expert or organizing guru like Marie Kondo—he’s just a regular guy who was stressed out and constantly comparing himself to others, until one day he decided to change his life by saying goodbye to everything he didn’t absolutely need. The effects were remarkable: Sasaki gained true freedom, new focus, and a real sense of gratitude for everything around him. In Goodbye, Things Sasaki modestly shares his personal minimalist experience, offering specific tips on the minimizing process and revealing how the new minimalist movement can not only transform your space but truly enrich your life. The benefits of a minimalist life can be realized by anyone, and Sasaki’s humble vision of true happiness will open your eyes to minimalism’s potential.

The best-selling phenomenon from Japan that shows us a minimalist life is a happy life. Fumio Sasaki is not an enlightened minimalism expert or organizing guru like Marie Kondo—he’s just a regular guy who was stressed out and constantly comparing himself to others, until one day he decided to change his life by saying goodbye to everything he didn’t absolutely need. The effects were remarkable: Sasaki gained true freedom, new focus, and a real sense of gratitude for everything around him. In Goodbye, Things Sasaki modestly shares his personal minimalist experience, offering specific tips on the minimizing process and revealing how the new minimalist movement can not only transform your space but truly enrich your life. The benefits of a minimalist life can be realized by anyone, and Sasaki’s humble vision of true happiness will open your eyes to minimalism’s potential.

Fumio Sasaki is the former co-editor-in-chief of Wani Books, and lives in a 215-square-foot apartment in Tokyo, furnished with a small wooden box, a desk, and a roll-up futon pad.

Fumio Sasaki

Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism

To talk about paintings, you need to be familiar with the vocabulary to describe, analyse and interpret what you're seeing. The more art terms you know, the easier it becomes to think of the right word.

Art vocabulary

Think about your overall impression of the colours used in the painting. Consider how they look and feel, work together, and fit with the subject of the painting. <ul><li>Natural, clear, compatible, distinctive, lively, stimulating, subtle, sympathetic</li><li>Artificial, clashing, depressing, gaudy, jarring, unfriendly, violent</li><li>Bright, deep, earthy, harmonious, intense, rich, strong, vibrant, vivid</li><li>Dull, flat, bland, pale, subdued, quiet</li><li>Cool, cold, warm, hot, light, dark</li><li>Blended, broken, muddied, pure</li><li>Complementary, contrasting, harmonious</li></ul>

Colour

Consider the shade of the colours and the way tone is used in the whole painting. <ul><li>Dark, light, middle</li><li>Flat, uniform, unvarying, smooth, plain</li><li>Varied, broken</li><li>Constant, changing</li><li>Graduated, contrasting</li><li>Monochromatic</li></ul>

Tone or shade

Look at how the painting is arranged, the underlying shapes (structure), the relationships between the different parts, and how your eye moves around. <ul><li>Arrangement, layout, structure, position</li><li>Landscape, portrait, square, circular, triangular</li><li>Horizontal, vertical, diagonal, angled</li><li>Foreground, background, middle ground</li><li>Centred, asymmetrical, symmetrical, balanced, unbalanced, lopsided, off-centre</li><li>Overlapping, cluttered, chaotic</li><li>Separate, spacious, empty</li><li>Free, flowing, fragmented</li><li>Formal, rigid, upright, confined</li></ul>

Composition

It's often hard or impossible to see texture in a photo of a painting, so try not to talk about it if you don't see any texture. <ul><li>Flat, polished, smooth</li><li>Raised, rough, coarse</li><li>Cut, incised, pitted, scratched, uneven</li><li>Hairy, sticky</li><li>Soft, hard</li><li>Shiny, glossy, reflective</li><li>Semigloss, satin, silk, frosted, matte</li></ul>

Texture

In some painting styles, all brush marks are eliminated by the artist. In others, the marks are clearly visible. <ul><li>Visible, blended, smooth</li><li>Thick, thin</li><li>Bold, timid</li><li>Heavy, light</li><li>Edgy, smooth</li><li>Exhibiting glazes, washes, dry brushing, stippling, hatching, splatters</li><li>Layered, flat</li><li>Precise, refined, regular, straight, systematic</li><li>Quick, sketchy, uneven, irregular, vigorous</li><li>Regular, patterned</li><li>Showing marks made with a knife, brush</li></ul>

Mark Making

Consider the mood or atmosphere of the painting. What emotions do you experience? <ul><li>Calm, content, peaceful, relaxed, tranquil</li><li>Cheerful, happy, joyful, romantic</li><li>Depressed, gloomy, miserable, sad, sombre, tearful, unhappy</li><li>Aggressive, angry, chilling, dark, frightening, violent</li><li>Energetic, exciting, stimulating, thought-provoking</li><li>Boring, dull, lifeless, insipid</li></ul>

Mood or Atmosphere

Does the painting seem to be a particular style? There are many terms for different styles throughout the history of art, and knowing these descriptors can leave instant impressions. <ul><li>Realism, photorealism</li><li>Cubism, surrealism</li><li>Impressionism</li><li>Modernism, expressionism</li><li>Chinese, Japanese, or Indian style</li><li>Plein air</li></ul>

Style

Knowing which medium the work of art was created in can be useful to include in your description. <ul><li>Oil, tempera</li><li>Acrylics</li><li>Pastel, chalk, charcoal</li><li>Mixed media, collage</li><li>Watercolour, gouache</li><li>Ink</li><li>Fresco</li><li>Spray paint</li><li>Wood panels, canvas, glass</li></ul>

Media

When a work is particularly large or small, it may be necessary to include the size and descriptive words, such as mural, miniature, or triptych.

Size

Consider the sense of depth and volume of the artwork. <ul><li>2-D, flat, abstracted, simplified, stylized</li><li>3-D, realistic, natural sense of depth and space</li><li>Sharp, detailed</li><li>Blurred, obscured, overlapping, indistinct</li><li>Distorted, exaggerated, geometric</li><li>Linear, long, narrow</li><li>Hard-edged, soft-edged</li></ul>

Form and Shape

The lighting of the painting is shown in terms of direction, how it creates shadows, its colour, intensity, the mood it creates, and whether the light is from the sun (natural) or a fire (artificial.) Describe the shadows and highlights as well. <ul><li>Backlit, front-lit, side-lit, top-lit</li><li>Indirect, reflected or no directional light</li><li>Natural</li><li>Artificial</li><li>Cool, blue, grey</li><li>Warm, yellow, red</li><li>Dim, faint, gentle, gloomy, low, minimal, muted, soft</li><li>Clear, brilliant, bright, glowing, fiery, harsh, intense, sharp</li></ul>

Lighting

Consider the angle or position of the subject of the artwork. How has the artist decided to present it? <ul><li>Front, side, three-quarters, profile, rear (behind)</li><li>Close up, far away, life-size, bird's eye view</li><li>Upward, downward, sideways</li><li>Standing, sitting, lying down, bending</li><li>Gesturing, moving, resting, static</li></ul>

Viewpoint and Pose

It can seem like you're stating the obvious, but if you consider how to describe an artwork to someone who has never seen it, you would probably tell them the subject of the painting. <ul><li>Abstract</li><li>Cityscape, buildings, man-made, urban, industrial</li><li>Fantasy, imaginary, invented, mythological</li><li>Figures, portraits</li><li>Interiors, domestic</li><li>Landscape, seascape</li><li>Still life</li></ul>

Subject Matter

To talk about paintings, and art in general, you need the right words to describe, analyze, and interpret what you're seeing.

Words for Talking About Art and Critiquing Paintings

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It's time to Read like a Pro.

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Read like a Pro.