The Hilarious History of 'OK'

 I've been caught with my pants down, yes, I read dictionaries.

The English language's most successful export is a joke

Here's a quiz: let's say you're setting off to see the world and aside from please and thank you in a smattering of languages you pretty much only know English. What is the one word that most of the people you encounter will also know?

That's right. It's OK.

Yep. It's very probably the most widely recognized word in the world. And its origin story is literally a joke.

The definitive text on the subject is by professor Allan Metcalf, whose OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word, based on the research of historian Allen Walker Read, was published in 2010. Metcalf traces the word's birth to a bit of jocular text in an 1839 article in the Boston Morning Post—a little jab from one newspaper editor to another, suggesting that his cohort in Providence, Rhode Island, should sponsor a party for some boisterous Boston lads who might be stopping by his town:

... he of the [Providence] Journal, and his train-band, would have the 'contributions box,' et ceteras, o.k.—all correct—and cause the corks to fly…"

But let's back up for a minute and establish our setting. Newspapers in the 19th century existed before the advent of wire services, and American newspapers got most of their out-of-town news from other newspapers they exchanged copies with. The papers weren't cramped for space, and they'd also print humor, poetry, fiction, and jabs at other newspapers. The quote above is part of a humorous reply to an item reprinted from the Providence paper.

Despite plenty of space, there was an abbreviation fad in newspapers of the time that might remind one of our own time. Perhaps a friend has sent you an electronic message containing brb, for "be right back"? Or maybe you've assessed an article as TL;DR? Let us present for comparison the 1839 New York newspaper report of a fashionable young woman remarking to her male friend "O.K.K.B.W.P.": her alphabetic litany was answered with a kiss and reported to translate as "one kind kiss before we part." Take that, Internet.

The 1820s and 1830s shared another linguistic fad with today: an appreciation for deliberate misspellings. (Kewl, rite?) This trend, which had humorists adopting now-cringey bumpkin personas with ignorance manifested in uneducated spellings, turned no go into know go and no use into know yuse (lol). Abbreviations were not immune, and no go became K.G.. So too all right became O.W., as an abbreviation for oll wright. And all correct became o.k., as an abbreviation for oll korrect.

Although OK became one of the more commonly used initialisms, it might have passed into oblivion when the linguistic fad had passed if not for the presidential election of 1840, when Martin Van Buren was given the nickname of "Old Kinderhook" because of his hometown of Kinderhook, NY. The Van Buren stans who joined "OK Clubs" nationwide were themselves, they proclaimed, "OK." Their campaign was memorable enough to have both popularized the word and to have hijacked the story of its origin: there are today still those who believe that "Old Kinderhook" is the original meaning of OK.

As OK spread (helped along by the advent of the telegraph), its origin story was a topic of much speculation. "Old Kinderhook" persisted, and various linguistic ancestors from various languages were also proposed, with forebears from Latin, Greek, Scottish, French, Finnish, Anglo-Saxon via Swedish, Mandingo, and Wolof all being offered. The most persistent of these ancestors was the Choctaw word okeh. This etymon was suggested in 1885, with Andrew Jackson supposedly having borrowed the word from members of the Choctaw tribe. Woodrow Wilson was a believer: he wrote okeh on papers he approved. He was asked why he did not use O.K. "Because it is wrong," he replied.

O.K. is of course not wrong. And speaking of "wrong," OK and okay aren't wrong either; they are the dominant forms, though the lowercase ok is also fully established.

Although the longer okay may look like the more reputable member of the language, it's not, as we've seen, justified by etymology. It has its supporters, though, with Louisa May Alcott being among the early adopters:

One of us must marry well. Meg didn't, Jo won't, Beth can't yet, so I shall, and make everything okay all round. 
— Little Women, 1868-9

As Professor Metcalf notes in an illuminating blog post all about the okay spelling, the 1880 edition of Little Women included neither okay nor OK, opting instead for the word cozy. Um, OK.

Should Webster's definition of Love be removed from the book

 Webster's definition is so vague that I fail to see much of a definition at all.
 If I were to take individuals and ask them, What is your love for your dog, your wife, your career, money, etc. I'm certain I would receive varied degrees of intensity, scope, substance and depth on each specific question.  I dare to say the definition lay in each individual's mind and no, your heart has nothing to do with emotions. (If you believe your heart has emotions, you clicked the wrong blog)

a (1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties 

• maternal love for a child

 

(2) : attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers 

• After all these years, they are still very much in love.

 

(3) : affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests 

• love for his old schoolmates

b : an assurance of affection 

• give her my love

2: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion 

• love of the sea

3a : the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration 

• baseball was his first love

b (1) : a beloved person : darling —often used as a term of endearment 

(2) British —used as an informal term of address

4a : unselfish loyal and benevolent (see benevolent 1a) concern for the good of another: such as 

(1) : the fatherly concern of God for humankind 

(2) : brotherly concern for others

b : a person's adoration of God

5: a god (such as Cupid or Eros) or personification of love

6: an amorous episode : love affair

7: the sexual embrace : copulation

8: a score of zero (as in tennis)

9capitalized, Christian Science : god

— at love

: holding one's opponent scoreless in tennis

— in love

: inspired by affection

See love defined for English-language learners

See love defined for kids

Examples of love in a Sentence

1. Mr. Brown seems to imply that when he retired he relinquished her love as casually as he dispensed with her secretarial services. —Ken Follett,  New York Times Book Review,  27 Dec. 1987
2. … Eddie sees Vince's pure love of pool, and after years of thinking of the game as merely a hustle, the older man suddenly falls back in love with the game himself. —Maureen Dowd,  New York Times Magazine,  28 Sept. 1986
3. Aunt Polly knelt down and prayed for Tom so touchingly, so appealingly, and with such measureless love in her words and her old trembling voice, that he was weltering in tears again, long before she was through. —Mark Twain,  Tom Sawyer,  1876
4. Allworthy thus answered: " … I have always thought love the only foundation of happiness in a married state, as it can only produce that high and tender friendship which should always be the cement of this union … " —Henry Fielding,  Tom Jones,  1749
5. Children need unconditional love from their parents.
6. He was just a lonely man looking for love.

****Opinionated? Not me, hahaha

I'd like to think I'm making a change

 Yet when I utilize brutal honesty, the only change that I've made that I can be certain of within this blog is the change in myself. All other thoughts can be found in my ego.

How to Develop Your Attention to Detail Skills

We all know that attention to detail is important because it helps prevent mistakes and makes success in the workplace easier. The problem is that being attentive to detail can be nearly impossible when you’re at work and your boss and colleagues keep distracting you, or you’re one of those people who just can’t focus. But, there are methods and techniques which you can apply that will help you become better at paying attention to detail.

Below you’ll find 10 effective ways you can develop this powerful skill in the workplace.

1. Get Organised
It makes sense that when everything is chaotic, details will slip. The first step to take to improve your attention to detail at work is to get organised. Now, getting organised doesn’t mean that you need to tidy up your workspace and waste time going through your stuff, but it does mean that you need to start using your calendar. Mark down appointments and meetings to ensure you won’t forget about them and note any details or thoughts you have about each meeting. Then, plan each day by making a note of deadlines and important dates.




Bullet journals are all the rage now, and I’m fairly certain that once you watch this Buzzfeed video about creating your own, you’ll be motivated to make one as well.

2. Make Lists
Many people are under the impression that being organised and having lists hinders creativity, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Making lists can boost creativity as it takes away a lot of the stress that goes hand in hand with multi-tasking and it allows you to prioritise and allocate time for every task. You become more focused on what you’re doing which is the main ingredient to being attentive to detail.

Making lists can be a fun activity in itself, although you should be careful not to become too attached to your lists because that can be counterproductive as well. And although there’s nothing wrong with traditional post-its and hand-written lists, why not go for an app that will remind you when it’s time to do something? There are many apps available that can do so much more than a traditional list.

Some of my favourite apps include Google Keep which although it needs a little work on its user-interface, is so effective you’ll soon forgive it’s rather unpolished appearance. You can download it on both Android and iOS for free. If want a more sleek looking app you can try Wunderlist (available on Android and iOS for free) or Any.do (also available on Android and iOS for free).

3. Limit Distractions
One of the reasons why we tend not to pay attention to details is because we are distracted all the time. The question, of course, is how to limit distractions? Most of us work in open plan workspaces which make distractions inevitable; there’s always someone getting up, talking to someone, etc. You’ll need to learn how to detach yourself from the rest of the office and mentally isolate yourself.

Research has time and again shown that people who listen to classical music (Mozart in particular) can be more productive, so it’s worth giving it a shot. I’d strongly advise against listening to music with lyrics as this will just end up adding to your list of distractions.

It’s also important that you turn off phone notifications and if you have an extension that pops-up every time you get an email disable that as well. Limit the time you spend checking your email and create a space that helps you relax and focus.

Some of my favourite playlists for focusing include Morning Coffee and Music in the Workplace.

4. Take Regular Breaks
You probably already know that our brains are a muscle which mean that they need their downtime as well.  Overworking your brain and working straight from 9 to 5 without taking a break can be incredibly counter-productive. For our brain to be able to pay attention to detail, it needs to be well-rested, so it’s crucial that you schedule regular breaks.

Get up as often as you can and walk around the office, while you should also give yourself mental breaks. Spare a few minutes to read your favourite blog, or to look up recipes for dinner. Going back to work with a refreshed mind can make your brain more focused which can help you spot any mistakes or just make it easier to pay attention to detail.

If you are worried that taking regular breaks might not go down well with your boss, well you don’t have to share that piece of info with them, do you?  All they need from you is results; you can keep your breaks to yourself. These awesome websites for wasting time at work will let you have a nice little break while never leaving your desk.

5. Play Focus Enhancing Games
Coming back to the concept of the brain as a muscle, exercising your brain is just as important as giving it time to rest. Think of an athlete, for example; they train day in day out to increase their stamina and improve their performance. Similarly, workers need to train their brains to perform at their best.

CV Writing Services
The easiest - and most entertaining - way to do that is by playing focus enhancing games like cards or spot the difference. Of course, there are also lots of apps that can help you improve your attention and focus like Peak (get it on Android and iOS) and Elevate (get it on Android and iOS)

6. Be Present
One of the main reasons people tend not to pay attention to detail is because they are just not present when performing a task. With all the distractions, stress and pressure most employees deal with it’s easy to understand how someone can zone out, but it pushes you to produce poor quality work which can be disastrous for your reputation and your career.

The best way to remedy this situation is to identify the reasons you are so often not present and find solutions. If it’s because you’re bored at work, well maybe it’s time to move on, if it’s because your workload is too heavy and all you do is think about how long it will take you to do everything then you may need to have a chat with your manager about delegating your tasks.

7. Embrace Your Routine
Too much routine can kill you, but a lack of routine makes you undisciplined so find an in-between that’s ideal for you. The reason routine can be beneficial to developing this skill is that it forces you to do the same things over and over again which means that as you’re familiar with going through the motions, you’re much more likely to pay attention to smaller things, i.e., the details. Routine basically helps train the mind and you should therefore learn to embrace it.

8. Prioritise Quality
One of the main reasons most people’s work suffers is that speed is more important than quality. But, it’s important that you prioritise quality because not doing so could cost you your job, reputation and your career. If you have too heavy a workload, talk with your manager and make your case. Do they value quantity over quality, or do they have more long-term plans that will require setting better foundations?

9. Come Up With a Personal Rewards System
I’m not going to lie, being focused and paying attention to detail is hard for me as well. My mind tends to wonder more than I’d like to admit and one of the best tips I ever got was to create a rewards system for yourself. We are all kids at heart, and we all like to get rewarded when we get something right, the problem often is that our bosses couldn’t care less, so find ways to reward yourself.

One way is give yourself breaks, say for example that you’ve spend x amount of minutes completely focused at work, why not give your brain a rest afterwards? Another way is to spoil yourself each ten-twenty mistakes you’ve spotted because you were attentive to detail. Whatever you choose to do, it has to be something that’s meaningful to you.

10. Be an Active Participant in Meetings
One of the reasons many of us don’t pay as much attention as we’d like to detail is because we are not involved with our jobs. If you care about your job and you’d like to change that, then a great place to start is by becoming a more active participant in meetings. Meetings are where decisions are made and being able to voice your opinions gives you the opportunity to become more involved which can help make you more enthusiastic as well.



Developing this skill is crucial for employees, especially those who are just starting their careers. Identifying methods and techniques which will help you improve your attention to detail can be a vital aspect of your career development.

Career Advice

What Are Culinary Technical Skills?

To be a chef, you must know how to do more than just cook or bake. You must also be familiar with the methods of running a kitchen and maintaining a safe environment for the employees and diners. Proficiency in culinary technical skills is what separates the hobbyist from the professional chef.

Food Preparation
In the culinary arts, you should know how to read recipes and perform at least basic cooking techniques. Basic techniques include measuring and weighing food, and converting a recipe into larger or smaller batches. Essential cooking techniques include braising, baking, roasting, grilling, poaching, pan roasting, stewing, sautéing and frying. You should also know how to prepare the “mise en place” for a recipe, which is the technique of preparing all the ingredients needed before you begin to cook.

Safety and Sanitation
In addition to producing foods that taste good, some of the most important technical skills in the culinary arts involve sanitation, which prevents the growth of harmful molds, bacteria and food-borne illnesses. Sanitation methods include cleaning all work surfaces and equipment, properly washing hands and taking cautionary measures to reduce the risk of contaminating food. Preventative measures can include not wearing jewelry on hands and wrists or using a bandana to prevent hair from falling into food. Food safety includes refrigerating and heating foods to the proper temperature and taking steps to avoid cross-contamination, like sanitizing surfaces that contained raw meat.

Employee safety includes thorough training in using dangerous kitchen tools and equipment, like deep fryers, lifting items properly and keeping floors clear of hazards.

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Use of Equipment
Kitchen equipment ranges from teaspoons to large meat slicers. While a chef may not need to know how to operate every type of kitchen gadget or machinery available, she must be proficient in the tools of her respective trade. Basic tools all chefs use include spoons, spatulas, tongs, bowls, whisks, knives, measuring devices and heating elements, like stoves and ovens. Knowing how to use kitchen equipment well helps produce quality foods and promotes the safety of those who use the devices.

Teamwork
Many culinary environments employ the skills of more than one chef. While there may be one head chef, there may be other cooks and sous chefs assisting in the preparation of the food. This group of professionals must communicate well and have clearly defined roles to work well as a team. Without teamwork, the risk of making mistakes and not meeting deadlines is greater.



References
American Culinary Federation; Certified Master Pastry Chef® (CMPC) ® Examination Manual; 2008
The Reluctant Gourmet: Cooking Techniques
Crystal Recruitment: Head Chef
About the Author

Flora Richards-Gustafson has been writing professionally since 2003. She creates copy for websites, marketing materials and printed publications. Richards-Gustafson specializes in SEO and writing about small-business strategies, health and beauty, interior design, emergency preparedness and education. Richards-Gustafson received a Bachelor of Arts from George Fox University in 2003 and was recognized by Cambridge's "Who's Who" in 2009 as a leading woman entrepreneur.

10 Reasons You Should Have Hope for the Future *Link

 I'm certain that I have some sense of hope yet I can not identify it. I have my "now" and my now ushers in my "next", there is no more.

EcoWatch

3 Reasons Why America is About to End

 *I like this author's blunt title but realizing if this comes true in my lifetime, I still don't care. To a polymath opportunist, this is no more than another challenge to overcome. I live for new challenges and bore very easily once I overcome obstacles.

All empires fall. The American one is already well into its terminal phase.

America has its flaws. Countless books examine them, but they often conclude their grim analyses with a chapter on “how to make things better.” Rarely is the feasibility of these proposed solutions considered.

What if the flaws in our principal institutions, from Capitol Hill to the National Security apparatus to the Federal Reserve, are unfixable? What if they exacerbate one another, resulting in an unsolvable nightmare? Is the reality that America has already begun its irreversible decline, after only 250 years, staring us in the face?

All empires fall, after all. It’s just a matter of time before America goes the way of Rome.

In 2014, a study partly funded by NASA warned that global industrial civilization could implode in the near future.

The fall of the Roman Empire, and the equally (if not more) advanced Han, Mauryan, and Gupta Empires, as well as so many advanced Mesopotamian Empires, are all testimony to the fact that advanced, sophisticated, complex, and creative civilizations can be both fragile and impermanent.

Excess resource extraction and unequal wealth distribution were crucial to every civilizational collapse of the past 5,000 years. Privileged elites rapaciously exploited the environment and labor while shielding themselves from the consequences. The lives of commoners ultimately descended into chaos, creating a destructive vacuum that obliterated the foundational pillars of society.

Excess resource extraction. Unequal wealth distribution. Are these not the problems currently plaguing America, and for which there are few proposed solutions? Expecting our notoriously venal politicians or our overworked, heavily distracted citizenry to resolve these issues is absurd. Identity politics, among other things, has stifled our ability to unite and address imminent dangers.

In 2008, Thomas Fingar, former Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, stated that US global leadership will “rapidly deteriorate in political, economic, and arguably cultural arenas.” NIC’s Global Trends 2030 says that in the coming decades the US will be mired in internal crises as a result of low economic growth. Despite the cheery optimism of America’s politicians, the Intelligence community seems certain that ticking debt-bombs and social instability will mightily diminish America’s global standing.

Morris Berman’s trilogy on the American Empire and William Ophuls’ Immoderate Greatness: Why Civilizations Fail offer astute analyses on why America’s problems are irreparable and reminiscent of past empires. I’ll briefly explain why America is “down for the count” for those unwilling to read the books.

1) The era of U.S. Dollar hegemony is coming to an end

In 1944, the Allied Powers constructed the post-war monetary order at the Bretton Woods Conference in New Hampshire. Because America had cemented itself as the world’s preeminent superpower, it was agreed that the U.S Dollar would officially be the global reserve currency (it had unofficially held this status since 1925). The bulk of international transactions would now be conducted in U.S. Dollars. The world’s central banks would also hold massive quantities of USD. As of today, the U.S. Dollar constitutes 60% of global reserves and 80% of global payments.

According to Global Trends 2030:

Historically, US dominance has been buttressed by the dollar’s role as the global reserve currency. The fall of the dollar as the global reserve currency…would be one of the sharpest indications of a loss of US global economic position, equivalent to the sterling’s demise as the world’s currency, contributing to the end of the British Empire in the post-World War II period.

Simply put, the current monetary system allows America to pay for goods and services with printed dollars. If other countries printed giant sums of their money to buy imports, their currency’s value would crash on the foreign exchange market. Because the USD’s reserve currency status creates an unlimited demand for dollars, America has been merrily churning the printing presses to bolster its military and buy foreign goods.

All of the “Made in _______” goods being sold at American retailers, as well as American made products using imported materials, should be 2–5x more expensive than they are now. The US runs trade deficits with virtually every country in the world. Other countries give us goods and we give them printed money. That the U.S has spent the past century debasing its currency is obvious; the prices of everyday goods are more expensive than in the 1950’s by several orders of magnitude.

The US Dollar is not the world’s first reserve currency, nor will it be the last.

Complete Article

2018 Homelessness Statistics

Later this month, The San Francisco Chronicle will lead an effort to flood the Bay Area with stories and news reports on the city’s homelessness crisis. Working with local television, print, and online news outlets, this coordinated effort will create a wave of coverage about this pressing issue, hopefully forcing the public and area politicians to put some major energy and resources into finding real, lasting solutions.

Are you a homeless services organization? Our free Homeless Services eBook is full of expert advice that comes from years of helping human services organizations.

Please visit.

For many cities, solving homelessness is an ongoing challenge. So, what does homelessness look like in 2016? The following statistics are alarming:

1. 564,708 people in the U.S. are homeless. According to a recent report, over half a million people were living on the streets, in cars, in homeless shelters, or in subsidized transitional housing during a one-night national survey last January. Of that number, 206,286 were people in families, 358,422 were individuals, and a quarter of the entire group were children.
2. 83,170 individuals, or 15% of the homeless population, are considered “chronically homeless.” Chronic homelessness is defined as an individual who has a disability and has experienced homelessness for a year or longer, or and individual who has a disability and has experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years (must be a cumulative of 12 months). Families with at least one adult member who meets that description are also considered chronically homeless.As the National Alliance to End Homelessness explains, “While people experiencing chronic homelessness make up a small number of the overall homeless population, they are among the most vulnerable. They tend to have high rates of behavioral health problems, including severe mental illness and substance use disorders; conditions that may be exacerbated by physical illness, injury, or trauma.”

3. 47,725, or about 8% of the homeless population, are veterans. This represents a 35% decrease since 2009. Homeless veterans have served in several different conflicts from WWII to the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Washington, D.C., has the highest rate of veteran homelessness in the nation (145.8 homeless veterans per 10,000). 45% of homeless veterans are black or Hispanic. While less than 10% of homeless veterans are women, that number is rising.
4. 1.4 million veterans are at risk of homelessness. This may be due to poverty, overcrowding in government housing, and lack of support networks. Research indicates that those who served in the late Vietnam and post-Vietnam era are at greatest risk of homelessness. War-related disabilities or disorders often contribute to veteran homelessness, including physical disabilities, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, depression and anxiety, and addiction.
5. 550,000 unaccompanied, single youth and young adults under the age of 24 experience a homelessness episode of longer than one week. Approximately 380,000 of that total are under the age of 18. Accurately counting homeless children and youth is particularly difficult. The National Alliance to End Homelessness explains, “Homeless youth are less likely to spend time in the same places as homeless people who are in an older age range. They are often less willing to disclose that they’re experiencing homelessness or may not even identify as homeless. They also may work harder to try to blend in with peers who aren’t homeless.”
6. 110,000 LGBTQ youth in the U.S. are homeless. This is one of the most vulnerable homeless populations. A substantial number of young people who identify as LGBTQ say that they live in a community that is not accepting of LGBTQ people. In fact, LGBTQ youths make up 20% of runaway kids across the country. Family rejection, abuse, and neglect are major reasons LGBTQ youth end up on the streets. Additionally, homeless LGBTQ youth are substantially more likely than heterosexual homeless youth to be victims of sexual assault and abuse. LGBTQ homeless youth are twice as likely to commit suicide compared to heterosexual homeless youth.
7. Fifty percent of the homeless population is over the age of 50. These individuals often face additional health and safety risks associated with age. They are more prone to injuries from falls, and may suffer from cognitive impairment, vision or hearing loss, major depression, and chronic conditions like diabetes and arthritis.
8. 830,120 year-round beds are available in a range of housing projects. About half of those beds are dedicated to people currently experiencing homelessness. This includes
   • Emergency Shelters that provide temporary or nightly shelter beds to people experiencing homelessness.
   • Transitional Housing that provides homeless people with up to 24 months of housing and supportive services.
   • Safe Havens that provide temporary shelter and services to hard-to-serve individuals.

The other half of these beds are targeted at recently homeless populations. Rapid Rehousing provides short-term and medium-term rental assistance, housing relocation, and stabilization services to formerly homeless people experiencing homelessness. Permanent Supportive Housing provides long-term housing with supportive services for formerly homeless people with disabilities. Other Permanent Housing provides housing with or without services, but does not require people to have a disability.

As shocking as these statistics are, there are so many great organizations working tirelessly to end homelessness in the U.S. and around the world. Get inspired by their work and success, continue reading some of the Social Solutions case studies that feature clients who work with the homeless population!

One day I may write another book

 I was an overweight child until I was about 16, believe it or not. Over the years I learned how to eat just about anything that I wanted and not gain weight
I have often thought about writing such a guide but the book would only be a couple pages long and it seems 99% of the people want a lotion, potion or a pill.
 Let me tell you, I eat all day every day, G'night

This isn't work, I get paid to enjoy myself

 Remind me to start labeling what these dishes are.