The Economist
I'm always trying to better my vocabulary. It's rather unfortunate that the importance and value we attached to bettering ones vocabulary in our developing years fades away as we grow older into college and our working lives.
For me it wasn't about learning words to ace the SAT's. I inherently did not enjoy failing to understand a word or a phrase. So often nowadays we are quick to move past something that we do not immediately understand. Perhaps it is due to a increasingly demanding world around us that has shortened our attentions. Or perhaps that is too simple an explanation.
However if one fails to understand a word it throws off the entire sentence, perhaps even the remaining paragraph! One is failing to comprehend that which the author wished to express. This is, however, neither here nor there and in any case serves only as segue to the topic of this post.
I read The Economist. Typically I get it on Sunday mornings delivered to my house and I try my best to get through as much as I can throughout the week; however, I haven't yet finished an entire issue nor do I know of anyone that does. There is simply so much information to take in, it's an incredible resource for a learning economist or student such as myself.
Even if you only have time for two pages, you can read The world this week which is in the first five or so pages and learn about Russian special operations in Dagestan, protests in Kiev, new legislation on fracking in Britain, 15% decline in piracy off the coast of Somalia, drug vigilantes in Michoacan, Mexico, business mergers in Japan, and growth rates in Germany, and more!
These short paragraphs are events happening around the world right this very now and they serve as a doorway to uncovering the full story or the latest updates that often come in the following pages.
The Economist is supremely well written and I am continually learning new words, phrases, and technical terminology. So much so that I began underlining these words and writing them down to look up and understand. Some I understand vaguely though need clarification and others I am at a total loss. I decided to include some of those words that I've recently learnt on this blog and look forward to the many more I've yet to encounter.
Da-da-da-daa!
1. Party-cum-militia: Political Party of combined nature with a militia.
2. Magistrate: A civil officer who administers and enforces law.
3. Apogee: The farthest point in an orbit from that which it is orbiting.
4. Discomfiting: To make uneasy or perplexed.
5. Largesse: Generosity of spirit, liberality of gift giving.
6. Pique: a feeling of resentment or irritation, as from having one's pride wounded. Not to be confused with a certain FC Barcelona defender.
7. Kleptocrat: government official who is a thief or exploiter.
8. Blithely: Lighthearted; carefree.
9. Cajoling: To persuade by flattering.
10. agents provocateurs: An agent employed to provoke suspected persons to commit illegal acts and so be discredited.
11. Panacea: Remedy for all diseases or evils.
12. Athwart: From side to side or to thwart ones effort.
13. Arrear: State of a debt unpaid.
14. Delineated: To sketch or draw out.
15. I have drunk and seen the spider. -Shakespeare
*Definitions loosely based off of http://www.thefreedictionary.com/*
Best,
Aaron Robert Matney
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Beginners Composting 101
This Fall I decided I needed a new hobby.
You see, I used to be more active in trying out and practicing my hobbies and interests. Something happened along the way, school happened, work happened, family happened, and most importantly unfortunate life circumstances have occurred.
It's important to question yourself and why you are doing or thinking the things you are at times, particularly in times of reflection in the cold of winter perhaps, or after a shaking life event.
I used to run more, I used to take wonderful photographs for school and during my travels, I used to read books of history, biographies of famous politicians. I used to play guitar nearly every afternoon, learning my favorite songs as best I could, sometimes even mastering them and creating something my own off of their structure. I used to go to more concerts, even gambled on artists I was barely familiar with. Most importantly, I tried to get to know as many different people as I could with as much variety as possible.
I've decided to take up composting.
Well gardening mainly, but to start, composting! Decomposing plants and matter steaming in a pile in my backyard, that would be my first of many projects around the garden. I wanted to restructure our whole backyard and introduce new plants and begin cultivating vegetables and fruits, constructing raised garden beds and trellises for tomatoes. Perhaps even take a whack at growing hops! This is the Willamette Valley after all.
I had little idea what I was doing but I researched online and in garden books for ideas for a compost bin. Turns out there are a multitude of options! I opted for a simple start, something that isn't fancy nor far reaching; rather, a DIY option that is cheap and something I would complete all on my own!
I bought 4x25 Chicken Wire for 26 dollars,four 4 ft. Green Steel Posts for 16, and Rebar Tiewire for 3 dollars to hold it all together. I selected a section of the backyard that was nearly always void of sunlight and would not be suitable for growing much of anything of utility. It is on the eastern side of the house away from the majority of the garden in a section as compost bins aren't exactly the prettiest additions, though with work they can be! After the first afternoon of work, here is what I ended up with. I added as much leaves and dead plant material as I could and called it a day!
The malleable nature of the chicken wire led to it bulging in areas and encroaching towards the exterior of the house. Furthermore, the chicken wire left the compost open to air from all sides and the cold. This would prove detrimental as only some aeration is beneficial to compost piles and ideally there would be some covering over the top of the compost so as to keep moisture out and keep the eventual heat of the compost from escaping, delaying the progress of the whole pile.
I headed back to Home Depot for 20 6"x8"x16" concrete blocks at 99 cents a pop to enclose the compost pile and remove the chicken wire. I wasn't sure how many my old Subaru would hold but here is a photo of after the first day of work.
I was still determining how to shape it throughout the process but I've calculated that I need 56 blocks to build four blocks high on each side.
After two afternoons of experimenting, here are some photos of the process and the current state of the compost pile, which is nearing it's one month birthday! My assistant Joey is also featured, he's not sure why I've been building this contraption.
Best,
Aaron Robert Matney
You see, I used to be more active in trying out and practicing my hobbies and interests. Something happened along the way, school happened, work happened, family happened, and most importantly unfortunate life circumstances have occurred.
It's important to question yourself and why you are doing or thinking the things you are at times, particularly in times of reflection in the cold of winter perhaps, or after a shaking life event.
I used to run more, I used to take wonderful photographs for school and during my travels, I used to read books of history, biographies of famous politicians. I used to play guitar nearly every afternoon, learning my favorite songs as best I could, sometimes even mastering them and creating something my own off of their structure. I used to go to more concerts, even gambled on artists I was barely familiar with. Most importantly, I tried to get to know as many different people as I could with as much variety as possible.
I've decided to take up composting.
Well gardening mainly, but to start, composting! Decomposing plants and matter steaming in a pile in my backyard, that would be my first of many projects around the garden. I wanted to restructure our whole backyard and introduce new plants and begin cultivating vegetables and fruits, constructing raised garden beds and trellises for tomatoes. Perhaps even take a whack at growing hops! This is the Willamette Valley after all.
I had little idea what I was doing but I researched online and in garden books for ideas for a compost bin. Turns out there are a multitude of options! I opted for a simple start, something that isn't fancy nor far reaching; rather, a DIY option that is cheap and something I would complete all on my own!
I bought 4x25 Chicken Wire for 26 dollars,four 4 ft. Green Steel Posts for 16, and Rebar Tiewire for 3 dollars to hold it all together. I selected a section of the backyard that was nearly always void of sunlight and would not be suitable for growing much of anything of utility. It is on the eastern side of the house away from the majority of the garden in a section as compost bins aren't exactly the prettiest additions, though with work they can be! After the first afternoon of work, here is what I ended up with. I added as much leaves and dead plant material as I could and called it a day!
The malleable nature of the chicken wire led to it bulging in areas and encroaching towards the exterior of the house. Furthermore, the chicken wire left the compost open to air from all sides and the cold. This would prove detrimental as only some aeration is beneficial to compost piles and ideally there would be some covering over the top of the compost so as to keep moisture out and keep the eventual heat of the compost from escaping, delaying the progress of the whole pile.
I headed back to Home Depot for 20 6"x8"x16" concrete blocks at 99 cents a pop to enclose the compost pile and remove the chicken wire. I wasn't sure how many my old Subaru would hold but here is a photo of after the first day of work.
I was still determining how to shape it throughout the process but I've calculated that I need 56 blocks to build four blocks high on each side.
After two afternoons of experimenting, here are some photos of the process and the current state of the compost pile, which is nearing it's one month birthday! My assistant Joey is also featured, he's not sure why I've been building this contraption.
Best,
Aaron Robert Matney
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
The First Post
My name is Aaron Robert Matney and I'm senior at the University of Oregon studying Economics and Political Science, which one I enjoy the most differs most days.
I live in Eugene, OR where I've grown up and have spent valuable time traveling in Italy and Greece in high school on a trip with peers and teachers from International High School, the high school I attended. This trip opened the world outside of Eugene, of Oregon, of America to globalisation and the international community. I opted to spend my year after high school as an exchange student in Lucerne, Switzerland through Rotary Youth Exchange. I lived with three Swiss families during my time there in the surrounding cantons outside of Lucerne, commuting to Lucerne for rigorous schooling from 8 to 5 at the Kantonschule Alpenqaui. I joined a class in the fifth year studying Economics and Law. School and reading was in High German, everything else was in Swiss German and this forced me to quickly adapt and learn both languages simultaneously.
It's easy to learn a language when you are so immersed in it and after two quiet months I began to excel, nearing mastering High German and improving my Swiss German by the time I left Switzerland. I travelled to Germany, Italy, and Egypt during my time there. I enjoyed in Egypt in particular and I'll always remember the eerie feeling I had as we drove on coastal highways through ghost towns and half finished soviet style apartment housing, either never finished or never used. The drivers didn't speak much when we past those areas and looking back on it, how strange the socioeconomic atmosphere was outside our resort, one could foresee the seeds of the Arab Spring that would follow in two years.
It also helped me realize what career I wanted to seek. I wanted to work on these issues, I wanted to investigate and research them, whether politically or economically I knew my studies would aim me towards that end.
I took as many high level classes as I could during my first two years with a focus on European affairs and extensive research on the European Union. I finished my Political Science degree by Fall of my third year and capped it off by interning abroad through the Political Science department in Edinburgh, Scotland at the Scottish Parliament. I was there for five months and worked anywhere between 30 and 45 hours a week for an MSP from Glasgow in the Scottish National Party, the majority party seeking independence from the United Kingdom.
I was a general aide and my work greatly varied from compiling research briefings, ghostwriting constituent letters and speech material, authoring parliamentary motions and press releases, and assisting with the my MSP's guests and events. It was a very enjoyable experience in which I gained a multitude of valuable skills. It also fine tuned my interested in international affairs.
Upon returning to finish my studies in economics I attended multiple campus visits by Ambassador Steven Browning from the U.S. State Department and I was immediately hooked on the Foreign Service. This is what I've been looking for, where I see myself working when I'm older. I've always wanted to work in Public Service but I hadn't narrowed in down yet exactly where. I have been working towards that end since.
This blog will serve as a personal blog on a variety of things such as my career plans and studies as well as my hobbies of gardening, writing, and love of all things soccer. I don't dabble to much in social media and I've never tweeted but I hope to share it with my friends and family and interested parties.
Best,
Aaron Robert Matney
I live in Eugene, OR where I've grown up and have spent valuable time traveling in Italy and Greece in high school on a trip with peers and teachers from International High School, the high school I attended. This trip opened the world outside of Eugene, of Oregon, of America to globalisation and the international community. I opted to spend my year after high school as an exchange student in Lucerne, Switzerland through Rotary Youth Exchange. I lived with three Swiss families during my time there in the surrounding cantons outside of Lucerne, commuting to Lucerne for rigorous schooling from 8 to 5 at the Kantonschule Alpenqaui. I joined a class in the fifth year studying Economics and Law. School and reading was in High German, everything else was in Swiss German and this forced me to quickly adapt and learn both languages simultaneously.
It's easy to learn a language when you are so immersed in it and after two quiet months I began to excel, nearing mastering High German and improving my Swiss German by the time I left Switzerland. I travelled to Germany, Italy, and Egypt during my time there. I enjoyed in Egypt in particular and I'll always remember the eerie feeling I had as we drove on coastal highways through ghost towns and half finished soviet style apartment housing, either never finished or never used. The drivers didn't speak much when we past those areas and looking back on it, how strange the socioeconomic atmosphere was outside our resort, one could foresee the seeds of the Arab Spring that would follow in two years.
It also helped me realize what career I wanted to seek. I wanted to work on these issues, I wanted to investigate and research them, whether politically or economically I knew my studies would aim me towards that end.
I took as many high level classes as I could during my first two years with a focus on European affairs and extensive research on the European Union. I finished my Political Science degree by Fall of my third year and capped it off by interning abroad through the Political Science department in Edinburgh, Scotland at the Scottish Parliament. I was there for five months and worked anywhere between 30 and 45 hours a week for an MSP from Glasgow in the Scottish National Party, the majority party seeking independence from the United Kingdom.
I was a general aide and my work greatly varied from compiling research briefings, ghostwriting constituent letters and speech material, authoring parliamentary motions and press releases, and assisting with the my MSP's guests and events. It was a very enjoyable experience in which I gained a multitude of valuable skills. It also fine tuned my interested in international affairs.
Upon returning to finish my studies in economics I attended multiple campus visits by Ambassador Steven Browning from the U.S. State Department and I was immediately hooked on the Foreign Service. This is what I've been looking for, where I see myself working when I'm older. I've always wanted to work in Public Service but I hadn't narrowed in down yet exactly where. I have been working towards that end since.
This blog will serve as a personal blog on a variety of things such as my career plans and studies as well as my hobbies of gardening, writing, and love of all things soccer. I don't dabble to much in social media and I've never tweeted but I hope to share it with my friends and family and interested parties.
Best,
Aaron Robert Matney
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