A loaf of bread made in the first century AD, which was discovered at Pompeii, preserved for centuries in the volcanic ashes of Mount Vesuvius. The markings visible on the top are made from a Roman bread stamp, which bakeries were required to use in order to mark the source of the loaves, and to prevent fraud. (via Ridiculously Interesting)
(sigh) I’ve seen these before, but this one’s particularly beautiful.
I feel like I’m supposed to be marveling over the fact that this is a loaf of bread that’s been preserved for thousands of years, and don’t get me wrong, that’s hella cool. But honestly, I’m mostly struck by the unexpected news that “bread fraud” was apparently once a serious concern.
Bread Fraud was a huge thing, Bread was provided to the Roman people by the government – bakers were given grain to make the free bread, but some of them stole the government grain to use in other baked goods and would add various substitutes, like sawdust or even worse things, to the bread instead. So if people complained that their free bread was not proper bread, the stamp told them exactly whose bakery they ought to burn down.
Bread stamps continued to be used at least until the Medieval period in Europe. Any commercially sold bread had to be stamped with an official seal to identify the baker to show that it complied with all rules and regulations about size, price, and quality. This way, rotten or undersized loaves could be traced back to the baker. Bakers could be pilloried, sent down the streets in a hurdle cart with the offending loaf tied around their neck, fined, or forbidden to engage in baking commercially ever again in that city. There are records of a baker in London being sent on a hurdle cart because he used an iron rod to increase the weight of his loaves, and another who wrapped rotten dough with fresh who was pilloried. Any baker hurdled three times had to move to a new city if they wanted to continue baking.
If you have made bread, you are probably familiar with a molding board. It’s a flat board used to shape the bread. Clever fraudsters came up with a molding board that had a little hole drilled into it that wasn’t easily noticed. A customer would buy his dough by weight, and then the baker would force some of that dough through the hole, so they could sell and underweight loaf and use the stolen dough to bake new loafs to sell. Molding boards ended up being banned in London after nine different bakers were caught doing this. There were also instances of grain sellers withholding grain to create an artificial scarcity drive up the price of that, and things like bread.
Bread, being one of the main things that literally everyone ate in many parts of the world, ended up with a plethora of rules and regulations. Bakers were probably no more likely to commit fraud than anyone else, but there were so many of them, that we ended up with lots and lots of rules and records of people being shifty.
Check out Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony by Madeleine Pelner Cosman for a whole chapter on food laws as they existed in about 1400. Plus the color plates are fantastic.
ALL OF THIS IS SO COOL
I found something too awesome not share with you!
I’m completely fascinated by the history of food, could I choose a similar topic for my Third Year Dissertation? Who knows, but it is very interesting all the same!
Bread fraud us actually where the concept of a bakers dozen came from. Undersized rolls/loaves/whatever were added to the dozen purchased to ensure that the total weight evened out so the baker couldn’t be punished for shorting someone.
[wants to talk about bread fraud laws and punishments]
Just remember. There is no such thing as a fake geek girl. There are only fake geek boys. Science fiction was invented by a woman.
Specifically a teenage girl. You know, someone who would be a part of the demographic that some of these boys are violently rejecting.
Isaac Asimov.
yo mary shelley wrote frankenstein in 1818 and isaac asimov was born in 1920 so you kinda get my point
If you want to push it back even further Margaret Cavendish, the duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673) wrote The Blazing World in 1666, about a young woman who discovers a Utopian world that can only be accessed via the North Pole – oft credited as one of the first scifi novels
Women have always been at the forefront of literature, the first novel (what we would consider a novel in modern terms)was written by a woman (Lady Muraskai’s the Tale of Genji in the early 1000s) take your snide “Isaac Asimov” reblogs and stick it
even in terms of male scifi authors, asimov was predated by Jules Verne, HG Wells, George Orwell, you could have even cited Poe or Jonathan Swift has a case but Asimov?
PbbBFFTTBBBTBTTBBTBTTT so desperate to discredit the idea of Mary Shelly as the mother of modern science fiction you didn’t even do a frickin google search For Shame
And if you want to go back even further, the first named, identified author in history was Enheduanna of Akkad, a Sumerian high priestess.
Kinda funny, considering this Isaac Asimov quote on the subject:
Mary Shelley was the first to make use of a new finding of science which she advanced further to a logical extreme, and it is that which makes Frankenstein the first true science fiction story.
Even Isaac Asimov ain’t having none of your shit, not even posthumously.
You know what else was invented by women? Masked vigilantes, the precursor to the modern superhero. Baroness Emma Orczy wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel in 1905.
The character would later inspire better known masked vigilantes such as Zorro and Batman.
Got that?
Stick that in your international pipe and smoke it
I have literally been telling people this for over a year.
the first extended prose piece – ie a novel, was not, as many male scholars will shout, Don Quixote (1605) but The Tale of Genji (1008) written by a woman
The first autobiography ever written in English is also attributed to a woman, The Book of Margery Kempe (1430s).
The day may come when I find this post and do not reblog it, but it is not this day.
After spending a week with the 6.25“x10” Monoprice, my Yiynova and Cintiq remain unplugged and I gave my Intuos away to a friend. The Monoprice tracks subtle pressure variances and small movements with less lag and more crisp fidelity than any of the others. It is, put crudely, fucking awesome, in both OSX Lion and Windows 7 x64.
I have one of these, 10×6.5 I bought about two months ago for 48 bucks. It’s a billion times better than my old Wacom Bamboo and works like a fuckin dream.
ATTENTION ALL PENNY-PINCHING ART FRIENDS!!!
ooo reblogging this for potential future purchase
oh
I’m definitely thinking of getting one of these, or asking for one for Christmas. ‘Cause as much as I appreciate Ian giving me his old tablet, I think the pen might be on it’s last legs. ;~;
Oh my god these start at $25 for a little one.
I would be so okay with a little one.
Reblogging this again because I fucking lost it and don’t want to forget it again.
the world as we know it has ended and mother nature starts taking back what’s hers. there are no zombies or cannibals or murderous bandits. the most valued members of the community are those who know how to garden and farm, sew and weave, treat wounds, work wood or build with bricks, cook from scratch.
people bond together to begin rebuilding instead of killing each other. everyone teaches each other whatever they do know and works together to figure out the stuff none of them know. books become incredibly valued resources because they’re often the only way to learn critical information. if someone is elderly, disabled, or otherwise unable to work at the same level as most of the community, they’re taken care of by the others, not told any sort of “survival of the fittest” bs.
as the generations ware on, communities begin expanding into small cities. some of the settlements even find ways to repurpose solar or wind power on a small scale and have electricity in some of their buildings. storytellers wander the countryside telling tales of the old world in return for some hot stew or a place to rest for the night, and the mythos of the new world start to incorporate elements of the past. the only thing that remains constant is that humans survive, and they do it by working together.
A CHILL AF MANGA ABOUT A ROBOT LADY RUNNING A COFFEE SHOP DURING THE DECLINE OF HUMANITY WHERE EVERYONE IS SUPER NICE AND HAPPY AND IT’S JUST REALLY LOVELY
IT IS LEGIT ONE OF MY FAVORITE SCI-FI WORKS AND A HUGE INSPIRATION FOR MY WRITING
IF YOU LIKE A QUIET END OF THE WORLD PLEASE CHECK IT OUT BLESS
Girls, guys, I hope y’all are ready for another of my entirely unnecessary and totally random gif spams. Today in particular I’d like to spam y’all with gifs of spirals. I’ve got like 2 asks about this topic and since spiral is a figure skating move I love very much I’ve seized the pretext and run with it.
This won’t be much of a tech talk because spirals are, regrettably, no longer a required element in skating competitions. I’m just going to introduce the most popular spiral positions and throw in some technical notes here or there.
So, basic question, what is a spiral? By definition, it’s any move in which the skater glides on one foot while holding the other foot above hip level. In most cases, what you want to see in a great spiral are (1) the free foot: higher free foot = more flexibility = better spiral, (2) the skating knee: straighter knee is always better, (3) the skating edge: deeper edge = better control, and (4) the overall stability of the glide: we don’t want to see a lot of wobbles in either the free or the skating foot.
There are two categories of spiral positions: (1) unassisted and (2) catch-foot. The difference is, as the names say, whether or not the skater uses their hand(s) to grab the free leg.
The Unassisted Positions
The most popular and most basic of spiral positions is the arabesque, a move which borrows from the arabesque position in ballet. As long as the skater’s leg extends straight behind at a 90 degrees angle, it counts as an arabesque position. The best arabesques, however, are ones in which the skater’s free leg is almost completely vertical (sometimes known as the
arabesque penché, again after its counterpart in ballet). Here’s Karen Chen showing you a spectacular example:
A popular unassisted position is the Charlotte spiral, named after the German skater Charlotte Oelschlägel, who invented the move. It’s a spiral performed with the torso bent forward as close to the ground as possible and the free leg lifted up in a split position. You might remember it from Alina Zagitova’s skates last season. She used a backward Charlotte spiral as part of her choreographic sequence:
Another well-known unassisted position is the fan spiral, a move in which the skater raises their free leg in a sideways split and glides on a deep outside edge, so that their legs create a shape which resembles an open fan. Here’s one of Sasha Cohen’s gorgeous sequences which included a fan position and a forward Charlotte spiral:
The Catch-foot Positions
The most popular of all catch-foot positions is probably the Kerrigan spiral, named after Nancy Kerrigan, who brought it into the spotlight in the 90s. It’s a spiral position in which the skater uses one hand to support the knee of their high free leg. Also note the fact that in a Kerrigan spiral the skater’s supporting arm is usually held straight so their back, arm and free leg create a triangle shape. Here’s Nancy herself showing you the move:
The Y-spiral is another commonly used positions. It’s a side-split spiral with the skater’s free leg raised to nearly 180 degrees and because of that it requires exceptional flexibility. It’s most commonly performed as a catch-foot position with the skater holding on to their free leg’s ankle, though skaters with good control can also perform this move unassisted. Below is Shizuka Arakawa’s signature Y-spiral with a switch into a completely unassisted position at the end:
The Biellmann spiral, as the name suggested, is a spiral done in the Biellmann position usually seen in spins, where the free leg is pulled up behind so that the free foot is held above the skater’s head. It’s another position which requires great flexibility. The Biellmann spiral comes in 3 varieties depending on the hold: two-handed, one-handed, or cross grab, which means that the skater uses the opposite hand to grab their free leg (usually left hand holding the right skate). Here’s Mao Asada showing you all 3 varieties:
Variations
A skid spiral does not refer to any particular position. It’s a move in which the skater performs a 180-degree turn on the ice while holding on to any spiral position of their choice. Here’s Evgenia Medvedeva doing a skid I-spiral as the usual entry to her layback spin:
(The I-spiral is another catch-foot split position, though it’s not as popular as its cousin, the Y variation. The difference between the two is that in the I position the skater’s free leg is held in front instead of sideways).
Most spiral positions can be performed on any edges (inside / outside / backward / forward). Back in the days when spiral sequences were still assessed as a technical element with levels, skaters would frequently perform a change of edge (inside to outside or vice versa) on top of their spiral position in order to earn a level. Here’s Michelle Kwan’s legendary change edge spiral with buttery smooth transition and perfect control:
Spiral Sequences
To bring this post to a proper end, I’d like to show you two of my most favorite spiral sequences.
One is Sasha Cohen’s sequence from her 2005-2006 SP Dark Eyes. This sequence began with a Y-position on back outside edge which was then transitioned into Sasha’s trademark fan spiral, ending in a long glide on a beautiful forward outside arabesque
penché:
The other is Mao’s sequence from her 2009-2010 SP Masquerade Waltz. This sequence included a dramatic cross-grab Biellmann (Mao’s signature move) with a change of edge from inside to outside, a Kerrigan position on outside edge with superb extension, and ending in a stunning fan spiral.
There you go, hope y’all enjoy the prettiness and as usual let me know if there’s any question 😀 C’ya next gif-spam.
on the first day of class my astronomy professor asked us why the night sky was dark. if our universe is infinite, how can there be spaces between the stars? he didn’t answer the question until the last day– because our universe is relatively young, and is still growing. it is finite. not enough stars or galaxies have been formed to fill up the entire night sky.
but what that means to me is that somewhere, in an older universe, the night sky looks like a tapestry of diamonds. somewhere darkness is pale white and glittering. imagine being so surrounded. i haven’t gotten that image out of my head ever since– you could never navigate under such a sky but god it sounds lovely
Things I’ve learnt as a skater that almost never make it to fanfiction
Because I’ve read enough fics to cringe when the figure skater throws their very expensive skates in their bag and run off somewhere because nobody ever treats their skates like that.
DRY OFF YOUR SKATES.
You dry off skates with a towel so that you protect the leather and so that the blades don’t rust
You put your blades in soakers (aka basically socks for your blades) so that the condensation gets absorbed somewhere and doesn’t rust the blade
AIR YOUR SKATES they smell when left in a closed bag
It takes like 10 minutes putting on skates and like 15 minutes getting them off because you need to wipe it down
YOUR SKATES NEED TO BE REALLY TIGHT SO THEY NEED 10 MINUTES TO PUT ON
Literally everyone falls
Everyone.
Falls.
From the board huggers to the pros doing jumps and spinseveryone falls and that’s natural
Just fall
TRIPPING ON TOE PICKS
The number 1 cause of falling
You can be talking to someone and then end up face down on the ice the next moment because toe pick
Stabbing yourself with a toe pick is not fun but extremely common to do so
Stabbing yourself in the boot is literally the most heartbreaking thing it’s like stabbing an expensive bag with a fork
Boots need to be replaced often if you’re skating at a high level cuz the support breaks down faster than you’ll see physical wear and tear outside of the boot
Blades need to be sharpened every 30-ish hours of usage (around once every two weeks-ish if you skate everyday)
Blades can sometimes cost as much as a boot
There is a break-in time for boots because they’re sooooo stiff
Some people wear their new skates around the house to quicken the break-in time
Boots have different stiffness ratings and you can’t get any random boot you like because you need to make sure it has sufficient padding for your foot
You can’t randomly get custom boots made for someone without their foot measurements
Boots need to fit on your feet like a damn glove
An exact fit
You can’t use anyone else’s skates unless you’re both the same size
Rental skates are pieces of shit
No matter how pro you are you’ll never be able to skate normally on rentals
WEAR GLOVES
The ice gets super cut-up and falling without gloves on can scrape your hands
It’s extremely painful when that happens
Wear gloves pls
PEOPLE WEAR PADDING
Especially if they’re learning something new
Pads for your butt, pads for your knees, heck even padded gloves
Padding protects your joints especially if you have joint problem
Like smashing your knees against the ice frequently causes you problems
A one-way ticket to old lady knees
Say goodbye to unblemished legs
Your knees will forever be bruised
Things people put in their skate bag:
Waterbottle, towels, band-aids, exercise tapes, extra socks, extra gloves, extra layers/clothes, hair-ties, skate guards, soakers, gels for blisters
You’ll notice that Olympic pros use luggages and that’s cuz they literally lug their entire house with them
Whatever looks easy on screen is actually really freaking difficult to do
Katsuki Yuuri should technically not have been able to land the Quad Flip on a whim without practice unless he actually trained for it in Detroit
You can’t learn stuff on your own
Like you need a coach or an experienced skater to teach you the correct techniques
You need someone to spot your mistakes cuz you won’t be able to tell on your own
People record themselves for this reason
Throwing yourself in the air and spinning is difficult like try jumping and turning more than 360 degrees on land and see if you can do it well
ZAMBONI
WHY DOES EVERYONE FORGET THE ZAMBONI
Skating on fresh ice after a zamboni is a religious experience
ZAMBONI
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Adding some more stuff that may be relevant:
Caveat to the “you can’t teach yourself” thing: once taught by a coach, some skaters can feel what they’re doing wrong some of the time. Even if they can’t, anyone can prop their phone on the boards and record themselves. This is the way 99.9% of good skaters practice.
A lot of skaters keep a notebook for stuff to practice, questions to ask their coach, notes on lesson times, choreography sketches, etc.
A note on choreography sketches: frequently when learning orchoreographing a new program, skaters draw out the outline of an ice rink on a sheet of paper and draw the tracings that would be made by their skates on it. It creates an easy reference for what things should be done where on the ice (the pattern). This is also how patterns are shown in rulebooks and on judging forms.
Many skaters have what’s called a “Kiss and Cry bag”, which is an easily portable bag that can be taken on the ice and set on the boards. Pictured below is my sister’s, which contains:
gloves
water bottle
ibuprofen
hair bands
bandages
notebook, as mentioned above
forms and other paperwork (receipts for ice time, etc)
CDs for music
Agree 100% on the “nobody can skate well in rentals”. My sister and I tried once (we forgot our skates on a trip) and we failed so epically. Neither of us could do more than crossovers or hold an edge, and she’s headed to an international competition in a few weeks. Caveat though: most people learn in rentals for the first while, so they are ok for simple beginner-y stuff.
Some experienced skaters can put their skates on in less than 5 minutes, because though it’s difficult and precise, muscle memory is a thing.
As it relates to soakers (aka blade socks, also called softguards): basically the process of taking skates off is, you dry them off with a towel, but because they’re crazy cold, even when you get all the residual ice and water off, there’s still gonna be some condensation that happens as the blades come back down to room temperature. As such, you put em in soakers which catch that condensation and make sure your blades don’t rust sneakily while you’re not looking. In addition, a lot of soakers are made to look like cute animals. For example, here’s my skate with pastel bunny soaker:
As to breaking skates in: OP is 90% right. One thing to add: certain types of skates take more or less time to break in, because not all skates are leather, and further, not all leather skates are the same kind. My current skates, pictured above, are Edea Ice Fly (Edea is the brand, Ice Fly is the model). They had basically no break-in period, and I only had to take a day or two to get used to the different center of balance (Edea skates balance further forward than other brands), because they’re synthetic. By contrast, my previous pair, Risport Excellence (again, brand first, model second), took me over a month to break in, and that was with time spent wearing them around my house in hardguards (skating term for standard plastic blade guards) and also using a hairdryer to warm the leather so they would mold to my feet faster (you can do this with all high-end skates).
While breaking in skates, you really can’t bend your knees, and when you do it hurts. Paradoxically though, you still have to bend your knees as much as possible. Nobody can jump for the first third of the skate-breaking-in period. (The break-in period can be between a few days and a month depending on both the skates and the person.)
More specifics on skate bags: a popular type of skate bag is the Züca, which is the kind I have (first picture). They have a metal frame and can be used as a small chair in a pinch. (It’s also popular among young skaters to sit on the back end, where the wheels are, and ride them around like a higher-up version of those butt scooters we all rode in elementary school.) Additionally, many major competitions (Nationals, Worlds, etc.) give out suitcases/skate bags as goodies. My sister’s skate bag (second picture) came from Nationals. All of these skate bag types have significant amounts of mesh so the skates can air.
A common thing for skaters (and some coaches, esp. those who both coach and skate) to have is pants which have zippers all the way up both sides. This way, you can take them off or put them on over skates. (Tbh, the biggest problem with quick costume changes in shows is when you have to take your skates off to take off or put on a costume.) Unfortunately, I don’t have any of these to take pics of, but they basically just look like fleece athletic pants with zippers down the legs. Because of the existence of these, it is pretty common to see people taking their pants off on the ice.
OP is right about pads, but forgets about the kind which go inside your skates to protect your ankles from blisters! If your feet/ankles are blistering, you don’t just sit there and take it, you buy what are called Bunga pads or ankle sleeves. They’re EXPENSIVE (like $60 for a pair) but they also last for ages. They have a gel inside and a woven fabric outside, and they’re stored inside-out so the gel can air. Below are mine:
Another thing you can do to keep your feet from blistering is get your skates “punched out”. Essentially, this means that if any part of the skate is problematically tight, you take it to your resident skate person and get it fixed. Any experienced skater will have a favorite skate sharpener (mine’s name is Rich and he works by my home rink), and this sharpener will also be able to make modifications to boots: stretching the boots for kids whose feet are growing, and punching out certain areas to make sure they fit a specific contour in anyone’s foot perfectly.
OP is right about number of hours for lower end blades, but for higher end ones it takes longer. In any case, skaters never count the number, because it’s so easy to feel when your blades need sharpened. If you wobble on deep edges, or if your blades don’t crunch into the ice, or you skid when you stop, your skates need sharpened. Additionally, one blade has a limited number of sharpenings in it (more sharpenings for higher-end blades). This is the main reason that skaters get new blades after they stop growing (another possible reason being gaining levels and needing a higher-end blade).
OP is 10000% right about toe picks being a frequent cause of falling, but forgets the most painful and shitty type of toe pick fall: the belly flop. Not only does any exposed skin get ice burn, but you probably get the wind knocked out of you. Furthermore, it never happens on anything complicated; it happens on like. forward crossovers. It sucks. So not only does it hurt like a son of a bitch, you also inevitably feel like an idiot. That’s the only kind of fall I’ve ever seen pro skaters not just bounce back from immediately.
Nobody fucking realizes how CROWDED warm-ups are, or how often people get in other peoples’ way. Collisions happen very infrequently, because good skaters stop or move on a dime, but people messing up other peoples’ jumps/patterns happens ALL THE TIME. You don’t even get frustrated, you just start over without giving it another thought, because it happens so often. If you’re skating on a normal freestyle session, the ice is inevitably crowded as fuck. If you’re skating on public ice that isn’t in the middle of the afternoon (when everyone’s in school), then the ice is even MORE crowded as fuck. On crowded sessions, you can skate in a circle three, four, five times before being able to ATTEMPT a jump.
I’ve never been to an ice rink that doesn’t have a place to buy food. Never. There is always good food in an ice rink. Actually, because locker rooms are frequently packed (see OP’s comment about pro skaters taking their whole damn house to competitions), the cafeteria is frequently the overflow space for extra skating-related crap (bags, costumes, everything and the kitchen sink).
In smaller competitions, results are posted by way of printed paper taped to the wall. Even in bigger competitions, shows, tests, etc., there’s paper taped to stuff. Skate orders? On the locker room wall. Bulletins? On the rink door. Paper is taped EVERYWHERE.
GLITTER OH MY GOD HOW DID YOU FORGET GLITTER?!?! Every locker room, bathroom, hallway, etc etc etc is COVERED in glitter and also smells nauseatingly of hairspray. Even the mens rooms.
Speaking of hairspray, everyone borrows everyone else’s stuff. You need lipstick? Ask someone. Mascara? Ask. Fishing line? Ask. (Fishing line is used to sew in hairdos because it’s clear, and bobby pins and other hair fastening stuff comes out too easily when skating and can be a tripping hazard. I have never been to an ice rink that doesn’t ban bobby pins.)
There’s this whole complicated system of volunteers that works behind the scenes at every competition. Ferrying papers and music, printing things, bringing food to the judges, figuring out where the fuck the skater who’s supposed to be on next is at, etc. Everything that keeps a competition running smoothly happens because of the Volunteer Network™.
Outdoor ice rinks SUCK. Inevitably. It’s nowhere near as terrible as wearing rentals, but doing difficult tricks on outdoor ice is still not recommended. It’s not because of debris on the ice or anything, just that the ice quality is BS.
The kind of material that’s under the ice in a rink makes a difference. Materials for under rinks include plastic, concrete, sand, wood, and others. Lots of other stuff, including temperature, coolant type, chemicals used in making the ice, and style of ice grooming, make a difference in the quality of the ice. (Wood seems to be the best base for an ice rink, because it’s a bit bouncy and makes jumps easier.)
Ice rink stands SUCK. They’re too cold, the benches are hard, etc. Nobody with any sense goes into the stands of an ice rink without several coats and blankets, some for wearing and some for sitting on.
I also feel compelled to write about some exercises that skaters do in off-ice workouts, because a lot of people don’t know and it’s really hard to find info about this. So this seems like as good a place as any to write this down.
My sister and brother are competing internationally in a few weeks, and here’s their workout plan (and mine, bc I like to tag along):
Skating for 3 hours a day, every day from 6-9am. Frequently they don’t get home until 10am or later, though, because their coach keeps them to continue working on jumps and lifts off-ice. Two days a week (Thu and Fri), 2 more hours, from 4-6pm. In addition, every other day, they do “high intensity cardio”, which works like this. For each of arms, legs, and core, they pick a strength exercise and a cardio exercise. The strength exercise needs to work the specific muscle group described, the cardio does not – it’s purpose is to get your heart rate up in a way similar to the way skating does.
Set 1: Arms: lateral raises & jumping jacks Core: situps & grapevines Legs: one-legged squats & jump rope Set 2: Arms: pushups & skipping (cross arms in front and skip like an axel takeoff without turning) Core: planks & mountain climbers Legs: wall sit & side toe hops (like on ice, but multiple times in a line each way)
For each sub-set (arms/legs/core), they do the strength exercise for 30 seconds followed immediately by the cardio exercise for 30 more seconds, then repeat with no rests for 4 minutes. After this, they get a one minute rest, then do the next set. Repeat for each item on the above list.
That’s about it! Please ask if there’s anything else you’d like to know or anything you’d like more information about. I tried to keep each topic short so I could cover a lot, but I know much more than what I wrote here.
This is all awesome, and I don’t really have any qualms with what’s been said! But as one half of a Novice Pairs Team, I feel it’s my duty to point out how some of this changes when you’re talking about Pairs Skating.
* Firstly, I don’t get to wear gloves. That messes with the grip and would make things like death spirals and lifts next to impossible.
* On that note, pretty much all pair teams have some sort of liquid chalk that they put on their hands before they skate. It’s made for people like tennis players, but it helps a lot with death spirals and other elements.
* When learning elements, you fall a lot.
* One of the most entertaining things to fall on is when you are learning a death spiral. You tend to slide across the ice, and your whole leg gets really wet and cold.
* Oh, and we do a lot of off-ice lifts, to practice those things in a safe space.
* On an entirely different note, skating (especially in the US) is a small world. Pairs skating is even smaller. While there are ~50 girls at any given level at, say, Regionals, Pairs teams don’t even go to Regionals because there are so few of us.
I don’t really have anything else to say, I’m just throwing a few ideas out there for my specific niche, and having some fun ranting. >///<
Oh, and consider this an open invitation to ask me anything you’d like about my skating experience! I’ve been doing if for 10 years now so I have a good few stories I’d love to share if anyone’s interested! 😀
Just when you thought this post couldn’t get any longer
As a some people asked me on Twitter for writing purpose, I thought I’d share this with you all too.
The Japanese school system is slightly different from the western one but has some thing in common with the European one.
The first thing to know about the Japanese schooling system is that the school year starts in APRIL and ends in MARCH. Everything in Japan “starts” anew in April, and even companies ends their year in March. This is extremely important because the start of spring scans the start of the new working and academic year.
Generally the students have around two weeks of vacation between the end of the academic year and the start of the new called “spring vacation” (春休み). They also have generally a week off during Golden Week in May, around two to three weeks of vacation in August (お盆休み) and around ten days between December and January. That’s all about their school vacations for the year.
The first day of school they have the entrance ceremony, something that might be well-known to Americans but not to Europeans as most schools don’t have entrance ceremony.
The Japanese school system is divided in five parts:
Kindergarten (幼稚園) 3-5 year olds (day-care for younger children)
Elementary school (小校) 6 years
Middle school (中学校) 3 years
High School (高等学校 or 高校) 3 years
University (大学) 4 years (6 to 8 for medical school)
The biggest difference is that their elementary school years are 6 and the university years are 4 instead of 3 (in Europe).
There are also a lot of vocational schools (専門学校) that are generally private and can be either high school-like or college-like. They are typically 2-to-4 years long.
Japanese education is compulsory until middle school but 99.9% of Japanese people go up to the upper secondary level of education.
Both public and private education are present in Japan, but while until middle school generally kids go to public schools, private schools and college are famous for high school and university.
Hours
School in Japan starts at 9 am and ends at 3 pm with one hour for lunch around 12 pm. They go from Monday to Saturday. On Saturday, their school day ends at 12 pm. They have around 30 min of ‘homeroom-ing’ where they talk about activities, school festivals and others. After school hours, students clean their own classroom in turns. In elementary school often they serve lunch at school and students are required to manage the lunch serving in turns. After the end of lessons, most students go to club activities or crams school, the few ones who don’t, go out or return home.
Entrance Exams
The toughest part of the Japanese schooling system (and the reason of most stress, suicide, mental health problems and bullism) are entrance exams. Generally Japanese kids have high pressure from their parents to get into a good school as the society values the name of the school more than academic success (you’ll see why in the University Section).
Generally the toughest years for Japanese students are the high school ones (and the last year of middle school if they are trying to get into a good private high school).
The entrance admission exams go from October to February depending on the school and depending on the school they’re trying to get into.
This is why 3rd years are “forced” to quit their clubs after summer and study for the entrance exams, especially if they are in high school. So the summer tournaments are the last ones where they can participate.
Clubs
Something widespread in American schools but not much in European schools are school clubs. There are a various range of clubs depending of the school. Most secondary level schools value their sports clubs very much if they win in leagues because they make the school famous. It’s very important if the school doesn’t have any academic prestigious (that is, the chances of being able to enroll into a top-tier university) and the pressure the club members sometimes get into keeping a name in high school sports leagues is extremely high.
Clubs generally needs to have from 4 to 10 joining members and an adviser teacher to exist. If not, they get closed.
Often sports club have training before lessons (from 6am to 8am) especially during tournaments, and during these periods they also often have practice during school lunch hours. But generally clubs activities starts after the end of lessons at 3pm until 6pm. Schools with dormitories for sports club members often have their practice until 11pm, especially before and during tournaments.
Seniority system
The biggest part of Japanese schooling that also reflects the Japanese culture is their seniority system. The senpai-kohai relationship are extremely important and the ones who don’t respect this system are either: expelled from clubs, get disciplinary reports or get isolated from the rest of the class.
Of course it also depends from school to school. The more renowned the school is the more the rules are strict.
It’s very rare that a underclassman talks casually to a upperclassman and it’s important to always use honorifics (they don’t exist in English so there is no problem when writing), it’s mostly the “way of talking” (words, expressions, the ‘desu-masu’ form etc.) that makes the difference and even the biggest hotheads generally respect the seniority system. Even if you become close friend with a upperclassman unless you mutually agree to tone down the level of politeness you are required to speak formally to them. This is something that cannot be conveyed in english 100% so my advice it’s not not make the underclassman using slang expressions and swearing words if they are talking to a upperclassman unless they already do that in canon.
Lessons
Contrary to the American system the Japanese students don’t change classes during periods. They are always in the same class with the same classmates and they move only for gym and home ed periods.
It’s also rare albeit not impossible to find students repeating a year.
The students (male and female) take turns to change in the classroom into gym clothes if they don’t have locker rooms (which is usually the case because more than one class has gym class in the same period. Locker rooms are mostly used by sports club members).
The students might change class when the new school year starts because class members get assigned randomly at every start of the academic year.
Generally, as I said that even for companies the year starts in April, it’s very rare that a transfer student gets transferred in another moment of the year (it’s mostly and anime-like thing lol).
Uniforms
I’d say 90% of Japanese schools use uniforms. There are cases where public elementary schools don’t use uniforms but I’m almost sure is compulsory for the second level education. Generally the uniforms are divided in western style and sailor style for girls and western style and gakuran for boys.
Rules for Uniforms
They depend from school to school, and usually the more prestigious is a (generally private) school the more strict the rules are going to be. For girls, there are cases where for their uniforms, they have to wear their skirt not up their knees, they are required to use the bows, under-the-knee socks and often they also need to have their hair styled in a certain way (ponytail, braids, other), cannot use any make up and cannot have their ears pierced. There are some even more strict schools that requires that all the students -the foreigner ones too- dye their hair black.
For males, the strict schools requires them to have their shirt buttoned up and tie tight tied if they have western-style uniforms and their gakuran buttoned up if they have gakuran. They cannot dye their hair, cannot have them any longer than a certain cm and cannot pierce their ears. In summer, the schools that have gakuran as uniform let the students have a short-sleeve shirt usually without any tie. Gakuran have the school’s symbol embodied in the buttons and often on the collar they have pins that represents the school year and some times the class rank (eg. class rep)
Public schools are more loose with rules, especially with the western style uniforms. Often in winter the students can choose the sweater they’d like (generally suggested by the school) to wear or the kind of socks they’d like, and they usually let the students dye their hair and have their ears pierced. But depending from school to school, the ‘how much’ you can dye your hair and ‘how much’ you can have your ears pierced can vary.
Uniforms are important because they become part of people’s school lives, and are nostalgic for adults. Young people in uniform are a symbol of ‘youth’ and ‘carefree-ness’, of a time that passed and that contains sentimental memories.
Student Council committee
Something again that is also in American schools but not often in European ones is the student council. Generally in anime the student council is a sort of god-like presence that has the same, if not more, power than the principal, they have access to any kind of budget and can do whatever they like. In reality, it’s not like that. While the student council committee often has words into managing the clubs and the budget, school trips and such, because the student council is a chance the school gives the students to ‘govern’ themselves to a certain extent to let them experience how democracy should work, they have not as much power as the exaggerating anime and manga tends to give. Generally the ones elected for the student council are the more popular ones, and when I say more popular ones I mean the most academically achieving student, which is the most important thing in japanese schools. Popular students are often not popular for their external appearance but more for their academic or athletic achievements that brings prestige to the school.
Differences between High School and University
High School in Japan is said to be one of the most difficult periods of their lives because they have to prepare for the university entrance exams. As I said before, especially for students in private (but even public) schools who aim to enter important universities, the pressure is high and cause of extreme competitiveness and bullism between the students. Both private and public high school are not free. Of course private schools are more expensive but even for public ones the yearly price goes around 300,000 yen (around 3000$). The uniforms are also very expensive, and they might cost between 200 and 1000$. This is why often poorer families buys bigger uniforms hoping that their children would ‘grow up to fit’ it in their third year.
Generally High Schools have two kind of courses that are the college-preparatory classes and the vocational classes. The first ones aim to train the student to pass the college entrance exams while the second ones are for the students who are expecting to find a job right after graduation. There are schools where depending the class you are in, the more high your academic success is. (Eg, often being in the 3-A class means you’re part of the best students of the school, while being in the 3-B means you are also very good, but not as good as the first ones. It’s not always like this and it depends from school to school.) It IS possible to change from the vocational course to the college-preparatory course but integrating the lacking parts is often difficult and nerve-wracking (though not impossible).
University in Japan is far different from Europe and America. In fact, university years are often called ‘college summer vacations’. While they almost give up their mental and physical health to be able to enroll in the top universities, once you are able get in you generally do nothing. They don’t have any kind of oral exams, their written exams are often multiple choice ones, the evaluations are mostly based on group presentations and works and they don’t have much pressure as they know they are going to graduate in march of their fourth year anyway. The only thing required to fully graduate is attendance. In one year you have only 3 days of permit and they require you to come unless you’re basically so sick you gotta go to hospital. This varies from college to college but it’s generally the same. Students go there and literally sleep on desks (in fact, often assistants go around the class waking up students)
Students in University
The cost of University in Japan is around 1 million yen per year (around 10000$) and to pay for it most students either work a part time job or enroll in the japanese scholarship association. Assistance is also offered by local governments, nonprofit corporations, and other institutions.
The top university in Japan is the Todai (Tokyo Daigaku) which is considered one of the best university in Asia. It’s ranked 1st in Japan and 5th in Asia, and around the 20-25th in the world. It’s a public university but it’s been said to have one of the most difficult entrance exam of universities in Japan. Who manages to get into Todai has a shining employment future ahead of them. Other top-tier universities include Kyoto Daigaku, Osaka Daigaku, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagoya Daigaku and more.
To be able to get into top-tier universities usually high schoolers go to cram schools (Juku) after their normal school hours. Often, the teachers in cram schools are currently top students at good universities. The ones who cannot get into the school of their choice on the first try become ‘ronin’ (which literally means samurai without master), this happens if they decide to not enroll in any of their other choices but aim to get in that one university they failed to get in. Usually they take one year off after high school graduation to concentrate on studies and pass their top-choice university entrance exams.
Generally, university students starts to search for a job between their third and fourth year of university, and, generally, they get hired before they even graduate. They will start their job as soon as they graduate (that’s why also the working year starts in april, even though it’s not rare to get into a company in other moments of the year) and 99% of university graduates is said to find a job once they graduate. I’d have to say, it depends a lot on the student’s university name since as I said before, the employers valuate more the university name than anything since university students basically don’t have any academic merit in general and their degree mark is not even listed in their resume.
They often have clubs also in university and there are some private universities that requires uniforms, but they are rare.
They don’t have brotherhoods in university. They don’t make parties, especially in their own houses because:
1. Japanese houses are small. Very small. Even if you are rich, your house is small. Especially if you live in Tokyo. 2. Usually college students are off-site, they live in small apartments or in share houses. The only share houses I know that host parties are the ones for foreigners and are always fully controlled by the house agency and they end at 11pm. 3. Japanese people are not that kind of social animals who like to go wild in parties in a house. The house is a sacred territory where things like parties don’t happen. They drink and have fun outside (usually at izakaya restaurants or karaoke) but never in their houses, especially if it’s the family house. In fact, it’s very rare to get invited at a Japanese’s house. If they want to study with friends, they study in cafes or libraries, if they want to have sex often they go to hotels unless one of the two lives alone. 4. Japanese houses are not the same as american single-family houses, they are narrow and full of things.
Another important thing is that underage drinking is way less widespread than one might think. Drinking is part of japanese culture and it’s considered a step into adulthood (you can start drinking at 20), so japanese people value very much this important moment and they don’t rush it by drinking underage (there are exceptions of course). Drinking in japan is important: as soon as you turn 20, you are able to ‘join’ the adults drinking in izakaya, restaurants and karaoke, you can go to your friends and/or company ‘飲み会’ (lit. drinking parties) and often you are even forced to drink even if you don’t want. Often you cannot decline your superiors asking you to go drinking with them and you have to drink if they fill your glass. It’s considered rude refusing because of the seniority system and because of the importance of the drinking culture. In fact, I had to learn in school how to ‘politely decline’ a drink and find a way to say the reason why I declined in the most polite way possible in order to not offend my superior. It’s ordinary to see salaryman/woman and generally working people passed out in their own vomit on friday nights. Nobody considers this inappropriate because that is just ‘what they do’. It’s their culture and they just think ‘ah, they probably spent a good time with their co-workers’. I have to say that often police has to run around picking up these lifeless bodies all night and bring them home and I’d say not every wife loves to see their husband come home stoned and covered in vomit but hey.
School activities and Festivals
If you read manga or watch anime that are set in school, you would often see these ‘school festivals’ and ‘activities’ that are integral part of Japanese school live. Let’s see what they are.
Cultural Festival (文化祭い)
The cultural festival is one of the most important days in the school year, because it’s when students can often show the results of their artistic and cultural achievements and often former students get to visit their old school again. The activities done during the cultural festival are planned at least one month before and the students work on it usually during their club hours and sometimes during lesson hours. There are usually concerts, dance sessions, plays, art displays etc. and most classes get turned into cafes and themed cafes, little restaurants and other little activities (such as horror houses and such) where the students can display their creativity and management skills. Usually the culture festival is held on Culture day (November the 3rd) which his a national holiday in Japan. It might also be held in the Saturday and Sunday close to this day. Often students use this opportunity to visit other schools, especially if they are planning to get into them.
Sports Day (運動会 or 体育の日)
Sports Day is on the second monday of October and it’s a great chance to polish the students’ cooperativeness and enhance their physical and mental health through exercise. Generally they are divided by class and do a various range of physical activities such as baton-pass races, three-legged race, soccer, volleyball and such. This day was established to commemorate the olympic games of 1964, that were held in october because summer is the heavy rainy season (梅雨) in Japan.
School Trips
While they often are done mostly during elementary and middle school, there are a lot of high schools who also plan school trips. They are part of the school’s activities and are usually one twice a year, in spring and fall. Usually in their last year of school in every grade they experience overnight school trips. They visit naturally and culturally important place such as Nara, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Okinawa, all depending where the school is, or often they take one-day trip to visit factories and show kids how the adults work.
Overnight Camp
Often during summer the school organizes a overnight camp over the sea or on the mountains. This is generally something that mostly elementary and middle schoolers do. They are in contact with nature and learn various things about the species living in the surrounding area.
Appendix: Sports club training camp
Often sports club organize overnight camps or summer camps especially close or during tournaments. These are a chance to make the members get close with their teammates, concentrating only on training and work on special-menu training to enhance their physical and mental health in view of the upcoming tournaments. Overnight camps are a 1-to-3 days full immersion where the members sleep all together in the school’s gym/facility while summer camps are either done over the sea or in the mountains or joined with other schools’ same sports club, to give a chance to the members to experience training with different students and enhance their sportsmanship.
Schools dormitories
There are some schools that give their students a chance to live in dormitories if they have. Generally it’s either if they are part of a (school with a famous) sports club or if the school is rich and private and difficult to get to with transportation. There are also a good number of universities that give their students the chance of stay in dormitories, this applies often to foreigner and exchange students. Dormitories are often cleaned by the students themselves (though it depends from school to school) and they have a communal area where often they have a canteen and a relax area. Sneaking into a school dorm at night is almost impossible as there are guards but generally since most dormitories don’t have single rooms and in japan the act of ‘bothering others’ is seen as one of the most rude things that can ever be done, almost no one tries to break the rules. Generally if someone disrupts the dormitory life gets immediately chased out after a few warnings.
I probably forgot something so if you have any questions about a specific theme, you can message me!! Thank you for reading until the end! (*´ω｀)
Source: I live in japan and I teach English to high schoolers and college students.
Plume de Lynx 