Printable Current I 90: Fill & Download for Free

Context: I'm an American-born Chinese with parents that spoke Cantonese to me. As I grew older, I gradually spoke more and more English at home. I went to Chinese school once a week for a few years as a child, but stopped attending in my teenage years. So I had some exposure to Chinese growing up, but extended and complex conversation remained difficult. I have lived and worked in China for ~3 years and have placed a greater emphasis on learning Mandarin Chinese in recent years. Today, I have an intermediate level of speaking and reading ability, but I have a far ways to go to fluency.Here are some of the tips, tricks and routines I have used and currently use to learn Chinese. This is not a substitute for full language immersion (living in a foreign country) supplemented by structured classroom learning by an experienced teacher. If you can do this, I highly recommend it. These are just some things I've done to help the learning process while working a full-time job.General listening/speaking fluency (i.e., listening and speaking at the speed of a native speaker)* Watch Chinese movies, TV shows, or the news - Find some Chinese-language media you are interested in and follow it. Watch actively and intently. Repeat words/sentences you aren't familiar with out loud. Pause and rewind as needed. Write down any new words you learn. Try your best to mimic the tones of the people speaking, as tones are extremely important for conveying meaning in Chinese. I think following a TV series is the most practical for a beginning learner. A TV show set in modern times deals with useful everyday topics and often repeats common vocabulary. This might be more practical than watching a police thriller or kung fu epic. An entire generation of kids in China learned English by watching "Friends". You can stream some shows for free on this site.* Hang out with native speakers - Find some native speakers to practice speaking Chinese. Many people will advise Chinese learners to get a Chinese-speaking romantic partner. That obviously won't work for everyone depending on personal situations, but the point is to find people with whom you feel comfortable speaking a foreign language and not being afraid to make mistakes.Increasing reading/writing vocabulary* Learn radicals - Chinese characters employ a system of radicals that frequently appear in most characters. The radicals stand for common nouns or ideas (e.g., ice, fire, life). Memorizing the list of radicals will help you understand the root of the word and also help you come up with mnemonic devices. For example, the character for "to bury" is 埋, which is made of the radical 土, which means "earth/soil", and 里, which is the character for "inside". Here are some links with the radicals:Simplified Chinese Radicals List - Free Printable ReferenceSimplified Chinese Radicals List - Free Printable Reference* Learn the most common characters - Tim Ferriss writes in "The 4-Hour Chef" that the Oxford Dictionary contains over 170,000 entries, yet the 300 most common words in written English comprise 65% of all written material in English. It's the 80/20 rule on steroids. Following this logic, it's not a bad strategy to familiarize yourself with the most common Chinese characters, which can be found here: Learn to Read & Write Simplified Chinese Characters. Don't get too caught up on the exact meaning of the words by themselves. In many cases, learning the character on its own won't get you all the way to full comprehension, as these characters are often common building blocks for bigger words, and memorizing this list won't inform grammar constructs. It's like being told to memorize the English words "to" and "by". They are common words, but by themselves don't say much. Still, since you can't guess the sound of a Chinese character just by looking at it, being familiar with common characters will help you decipher and remember new vocabulary as you come across it.* Skritter - A great mobile app that turns Chinese language learning into a game. It offers tons of pre-populated vocabulary lists, including ones that follow the vocabulary lists of popular Chinese textbooks, so you can use it as a classroom supplement. It's a paid subscription app but worth the price if you're serious about learning Chinese. They offer a 1-week free trial.* Keep a memorization list - Take note of new words you come across (e.g., something you don't recognize from a show you're watching) and make flashcards. I use Evernote to jot down new words I want to commit to memory. Evernote Peek is a great app (for those that have an iPad and smart cover) to turn notes in Evernote into flashcards for quizzing yourself. Every month I come up with a new set of random words I come across and quiz myself using Peek.* Change the default language on frequently used websites (e.g., Facebook) to Chinese - Why not be productive while you're being unproductive? I recently changed my language setting on Facebook to simplified Chinese. It has forced me to learn certain characters as I try to navigate the site.Grammar* Read more - This is a tip from Tim Ferriss, who employed this technique when learning Japanese. He would memorize common word lists, but then he would find reading material on a topic he was really interested in to decipher Japanese grammar. For him, he was really interested in judo and would find any material about judo he could get his hands on. After a while, he learned all the common judo vocabulary and over time he figured out the grammar. Similarly, you should find Chinese reading material you are interested in and try to keep bombarding yourself with things to read in Chinese. If you are looking for inspiration, there are loads of interesting people to follow on Sina Weibo (a Twitter-like service in China).Essential mobile appsPleco - the best Chinese dictionary app hands down.Google Translate - no explanation neededOther resourcesHow to Learn A Language in 90 DaysLearn Chinese - Tips, Tricks, Hacks, Software and Websites to make learning Chinese easier!Finally...Fall in love with the process, not the outcome. Learning Chinese is hard. There will be times where you will feel like you are not making progress and want to give up. I certainly have. I can't say I am always consistent in employing all of the above tips, but I try to remind myself to get back on the horse when I am slacking.What's helped me a lot is to remind myself to fall in love with the process, not the outcome. The goal might be "I want to be able to conduct business fluently in Chinese" but it is a faraway and intangible goal. You should find something that captivates you during the process of learning and keeps you coming back for more. More than a handful of people I know learned Chinese because they love Chinese women (whatever works…). Maybe you love Chinese cinema, or Chinese martial arts, or Chinese history. Find something that will inspire you to learn for the sake of learning and you will not be disappointed whether you reach your goal or not, because you will have had so much fun in the process. The journey is the reward.

Four random words AREN’T the best password, but they also aren’t a bad start.I assume you’re taking your password advice from XKCD’s Password Strength comic. The comic correctly states that 4 random common English words provides a password with about 44 bits of entropy, and correctly states that this is better security than a common password “recipe” consisting of a single uncommon English word modified by capitalization, common substitutions, and a digit and symbol appended.While you ARE better-off using four random words than you would be if you used a password recipe, this is no longer sufficient password strength. While 44 bits of entropy might have been acceptable in 2011 when the comic was written, this is no longer the case. A dozen modern PCs with graphics cards should be able to break a 44-bit password in less than a day. This is unacceptably fast, because any attacker worth his or her salt should be able to bring this level of computer power to bear.I recommend about 64 bits of entropy as a minimum, and if you intend to keep using the same password for a significant length of time, you should consider passwords with 75 to 100 bits of entropy.This as an absolute minimum, you should use passwords consisting of five randomly-selected words (such as a Diceware Passphrase), or 10 randomly-selected printable ASCII characters. You could also use 8 random mixed-case letters, 2 random digits, and 2 random symbols which provides about 63 bits of entropy. Passwords of this strength are probably vulnerable to an attacker that can assemble a few hundred to a few thousand home PCs in a botnet. This is probably “secure enough” for social media and other non-critical accounts.Six randomly-selected words or an 11 randomly-selected printable ASCII characters provides about 75 bits of entropy. This is better, but if you’re going to his amount of trouble, you may want to future-proof these passwords by selecting something even stronger. Passwords of this strength are probably vulnerable only the the largest hacking groups or national security agencies today, but may become vulnerable in the next decade or so as the price of computing power drops. Use this level of security for that you can’t afford to lose control of, such as your online banking accounts.Seven randomly-selected words or 14 randomly-selected printable ASCII characters provides about 90 bits of entropy. Passwords of this strength are not breakable with current technology, but may be within reach of the largest and best-funded organizations within a decade. However, if you’re going to this level of trouble, you may as well go all the way to the next one.Eight randomly-selected words or 16 randomly-selected printable ASCII characters provides about 100 bits of entropy. Passwords of this strength should be secure through at least 2050, possibly longer. This should be sufficient for anything short of national security information.

Other answers here flatly ignore the Bundy side of the dispute, and promote a US Federal Government “narrative” which ignores a lot of rather pertinent facts. That is in my opinion is quite simply dishonest, and not at all answering the question asked.If you do not have some inkling as to why the Bundys did what they did, you have no business answering this question at all. That does not mean you need to agree with them — I don’t — but seriously if you don’t understand the issues, you should not write an answer.What I have seen others do is write a description of what the Bundys did, and imply the only motive was personal greed.That is just crap.Edit: I had a person saying that Bundy had not paid grazing fees for two decades. It is also true that the US Government took what is now the western USA from Mexico in 1848 (as well as ignoring claims of indigenous people) with the understanding by US citizens that the vast majority of that land would be made available for private ownership, which the Mexican government allowed. That was ~ 170 years ago. The US Government ended the homestead program, which rules were crazy impractical for the deserts of the west. Their simply is no honest reason for civil servants to control western lands as they do, and that has been going on for over 100 years.End EditThe Bundy’s and associates broad motivations and the broader political picture are relevant to the story.The question asked is why the Bundy family have a standoff with the US Federal government, to honestly answer to the question you must have some understanding of some facts, the most central of which is abusive absentee landlord role the US Government has filled in the west.Who Owns the West? Federal Lands 2014This map is a spectacular example of how data reshape public perception and knowledge. Very simple in nature it nevertheless shocks an average citizen by giving clarity to the data usually buried in obscure tables. East versus west, federal versus private, - the contrast is sharp and reverberates in the minds entangled with American history. The map achieved "viral" status in social media and keeps resurfacing into the spotlight.A more detailed map source:Printable Maps - Federal LandsAlmost all of Nevada (far more than 90%) is owned by the federal government. The US Government does not pay state land taxes, but rather makes tiny contributions to the state “in lieu of taxes”. The Federal Government in general refuses to sell any land in the west to private individuals or corporation or state governments.The Federal Government arbitrarally ended the homestead acts allowing peaceful legal transfer of land from the federal government to private individuals. The management of federal lands is abusive of the ecology, and rights of local people in the west.The Case Against the Case for Federal Land ManagementForest FiresConsider the case of the California wildfires.In 2017, 1.4 percent of California lands burned as wildland fires raged across the state, often with devastating consequences. The fire damage of 2018 was even worse.Nineteen million acres of California forests—almost 20 percent of the state's total land area—are owned and managed by the federal government. The fires are in significant part the product of past federal forest mismanagement.The Forest Service policy of total fire suppression, in place for most of the 20th century, meant California's national forests contained large volumes of kindling-like small trees and underbrush. Before the Forest Service embarked on its crusade to suppress them, frequent but much smaller fires routinely removed these "excess fuels" while leaving the larger trees little affected.Note: controlling small fires to prevent vast forest fires was the broad policy followed by native people prior to European colonization.Native American use of fire in ecosystems - WikipediaWhat was initially perceived by colonists as "untouched, pristine" wilderness in North America, was actually the cumulative result of these occasional, managed fires creating an intentional mosaic of grasslands and forests across North America, sustained and managed by the original Peoples of the landbase.[3][4][5][6][7]Radical disruption of Indigenous burning practices occurred with European colonization and forced relocation of those who had historically maintained the landscape.[8] Some colonists understood the traditional use and potential benefits of low intensity, broadcast burns ("Indian-type" fires), while others feared and suppressed them.[8] In the 1880s, impacts of colonization had devastated indigenous populations, and fire exclusion became more widespread; by the early 20th century fire suppression had become official U.S. federal policy.[9] Understanding pre-colonization land management, and the traditional knowledge held by the Indigenous peoples who practiced it, provides an important basis for current re-engagement with the landscape and is critical to correctly interpreting the ecological basis for vegetation distributionNative Americans Reveal Their Secrets To Preventing Forest Fires And MoreMany Native American tribe had actually deliberately started fires in order to free up the land for agriculture, or promote the growth of certain plants that would attract deer and other animals they could hunt.However, their occasional, controlled fires helped to clear away the brush and debris and rejuvenate the forest. By gradually clearing away flammable material on the ground, Native Americans’ deliberate fires may have prevented large forest fires like those we see today. As Dr. Kevin Ryan, a former Forest Service research put it, “Anthropogenic fire shaped North American millennia, so that many ecosystems are dependent on periodic fire.”Various tribes in the west today are capitalizing on changed laws to resume their age-old traditions and save our forests.GrazingFederal Land Management Has Been DisastrousFederal management of the West’s resources has been disastrous for decades. The impetus for the Oregon occupation is the imprisonment of a father and son for setting fire to federal lands to control invasive species moving to private lands and to help prevent wildfires, a huge land management problem in the West.Ranch Diaries: The anti-ranching, misinformed discourse around MalheurThe single most overlooked fact about federal grazing permits is that they are attached to actual property rights. Contrary to the misinformation perpetuated by phrases like “welfare ranchers,” a federal grazing permit involves much more than a low grazing fee. The most common way to graze livestock on federally owned land is to purchase a ranch with an attached permit for nearby lands. Keep in mind that anyone ranching with a federal permit owns the exclusive right to graze livestock on a certain range but must share other uses of the land because the federal government holds the title.Upon acquiring the base property and associated grazing rights, the rancher is required to sign a ten-year permit with the federal government. This contract gives the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management the authority to regulate how that rancher manages livestock on federal land. If a person purchases a multi-million dollar ranch that includes grazing rights on federal land, he or she still has to pay an annual grazing fee per head of livestock as part of the permit. It’s most similar to the maintenance fees that co-op owners in an apartment building pay as dues. They may not own the land or the physical structure of the building, but they own the right to use their apartment, according to the terms of a contract.This system is rife with abuse by federal officials, and mismanagement of resources that private owners would never tolerate, but civil servants with guaranteed pensions don’t give a damn about.