All about the fitness and health lifestyle
All about the fitness and health lifestyle

Here's Why Ultramarathons Are Easier Than You Think

Last Updated:
March 24, 2022

Ultramarathons Are Easier Than You Think

Often marathons are thought of as the pinnacle of human endurance and fitness. The perception is that if you can a marathon, you must be really fit and healthy. But, as marathons become more popular, they lose the wow factor. Because even though it is a tough distance, more and more people are doing them each year. Now, serious runners attempt ultramarathons instead. Technically, any race longer than 26.2-miles is an ultramarathon, but, most ultramarathons are at least 30 miles long. Some of the premier ultramarathons test competitors on a 100-mile course! Now, this may seem impossible to many, but ultramarathons are easier than you think! Keep reading to find out how you can complete one.

Picturesque Views

Most ultramarathons take place in vast, rural areas. Many courses will take you through mountains and valleys or national parks. Therefore, it is imperative that you get used to trail running before attempting an ultramarathon. However, this is also part of the reason, the ultramarathons are so popular. The stunning scenery and gorgeous viewpoints throughout the course help inspire runners to keep going. It also helps distract runners from the discomfort and exhaustion they may experience during the race. Runners can simply focus on hitting the next viewpoint or marker while enjoying the scenery around them.

Slower Pace

Ultramarathons are easier than many think due to the pace. As the distance is much longer, each mile is run slower to conserve energy and ensure your heart rate is in a safe range. Walking is also an important part of ultramarathons. Even the top ultramarathon runners say they walk around 30-40% of each ultra they run. Walking up steeper hills can conserve energy and decrease the chances of injury. Additionally, walking in some of the first half allows you to have the energy for a final push towards the end.  A fast hike up a steep hill can be just as fast as running but without as much exertion.

Mental Strength

Completing an ultramarathon is a test of mental and physical strength. After all, you will be running for hours upon hours. The long hours combined with tired muscles is what makes this difficult for many people. However, by utilizing your support team in crucial areas of the race, you can keep yourself motivated and get through those rough moments. Most runners struggle at the halfway point, as they begin to doubt themselves. Find a way to keep yourself motivated, whether it's hitting the next checkpoint or seeing your support time at the next mile. Having a positive mindset is crucial to hitting that finish line.

Eating Throughout

When completing an ultramarathon, you will consume a lot more food than in a normal marathon. Keep in mind these foods need to be easy to consume, fast-absorbing, and easy on your stomach. This can require a lot of training, as eating several times throughout a run can be difficult on the stomach. While training for your ultramarathon, test different foods to see how you react. This will allow you to pack the best fuel for your body during the race. Many runners prefer to consume all their necessary calories through liquids, like nutritional beverages and soup. However, some prefer sandwiches, fruit, and nutrition bars. Find out what works best for your body before attempting the race.

Putting in the Training

While the plentiful snacks, slower pace, and picturesque views will encourage runners to give an ultramarathon a go, they must not forget to train for it properly. The mileage involved is daunting, thus training for it is key. With enough time and walking, most marathon runners probably could finish an ultramarathon. However, they may injure themselves badly in the process. To avoid injury and ensure your health doesn’t suffer, create a training plan. Keep building your long runs up until you are ready for your ultramarathon. Keep in mind to practice on trails with changes in terrain, and elevation.

While a 100-mile run may sound impossible right now, if you put in the effort of training, you’ll find that completing an ultramarathon is easier than you think. Consider starting your ultramarathon journey with a 30 or 42-mile course before attempting any of the 100-mile races.


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How Checkout.com is helping businesses navigate the shift from Web2 to Web3
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How Checkout.com is helping businesses navigate the shift from Web2 to Web3

The future of payments is coming — and Checkout.com is at the forefront of the change.

The evolution from Web2 to Web3 is underway, and with it, the rise of cryptocurrencies as a payment solution. But navigating this dynamic new world can be a challenge for merchants and customers alike, which is why it pays to take expert advice.

As head of Crypto Strategy at Checkout.com, Jess Houlgrave helps new entrants and established businesses avoid pitfalls and leverage new opportunities. Here, she explains the promise and challenges with crypto — and how to win at Web3, rather than lose out.

What's the difference between Web2and Web3, and where are we in that evolution of the internet?

The word “evolution” is absolutely the right one here. A lot of people think Web3 is incredibly distinctive from Web2 and maybe that will be the case in the distant future, but right now, I think Web3 is a vision. And it’s a vision we’re going to reach on a very incremental basis.

Web3 is Web2 with layers of value, layers of ownership, layers of data ownership and layers of privacy embedded within it. It’s a world in which creators can own more value and disrupt the value chain. Value will also move differently, including the ability for transactions to take place on a peer-to-peer basis. It builds in this new context of decentralization — whether that’s how organizations are formed, through DAOs — or just how networks and communities are built.

Where we are right now is a very incremental step beyond Web2. That’s for multiple reasons: One, the fully-formed vision and understanding of what Web3 is is not all the way there yet. We’re still in an experimental stage of what should work, what can work and what will work. Most consumers don't fully understand it, and regulators are still building frameworks to regulate the industry. It’s a really exciting period where experiments are taking place around the world, all of which are pushing the boundaries of what's possible and shaping the future of the space.

What role does crypto play in that evolution?

The concept of value is really, really important. I use the word “value” instead of “money” very deliberately. Crypto and the decentralization of Web3 is really redefining what value is. We now have all these ways of moving value in a digital context that we’ve never really had before.

Fundamentally, crypto is going to have a huge impact on the way Web3 evolves, partly because of its peer-to-peer nature. It’s really going to change the way businesses and merchants interact with their communities. We’ve just conducted a significant piece of research that found a lot of consumers are interested in using cryptocurrencies because of the lower cost of cross-border transactions and their ability to access a range of goods and services in the metaverse.

Demystifying Crypto, Checkout.com, 2022

How will payments be brokered in Web3?

Today, there are a wide variety of ways in which crypto payments are taking place. One is what we call hands-off. That’s where businesses — whether Web2 or Web3-oriented businesses that don’t want to hold crypto but do want to be able to interact with crypto holders — want to be able to offer that as a payment mechanism to their communities. The other is hands-on, where merchants are comfortable accepting crypto, holding it on their balance sheet and where it is much more deeply embedded within their business.

I think we’ll end up seeing a variety of models that will depend on the merchant, their business model and their comfort and appetite for crypto, but also on what their end consumers and communities want too.

And how has Checkout.com ensured that it remains on top of developments there?

It’s just very much part of our DNA. Right from the beginning, Checkout.com was really focused on how we can do things differently. How do we abstract as much complexity from payments as a whole from our merchants, so that they can focus on what they do best? Crypto is not different from that. It's very much core to us to stay on top of this. And we've been observing and contributing to the space for a long time.

We work with 12 of the top 15 crypto exchanges — providing fiat to crypto on- and off-ramps — and a lot of other platforms. I sit on the Bank of England engagement forum for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). And we stay very close to what’s going on in Singapore and all the other areas of the world where CBDCs are materializing in a faster fashion. We also have an experimental DNA in our heart. We constantly conduct tests, run proofs of concept and partner with our merchants to develop our offering in sync with their needs both now and in the future.

What promise does payments in crypto provide to everyday users?

Companies like Checkout.com abstract a lot of problems on the cross-border basis, enabling consumers to purchase from organizations all over the world. But even over and above that, we recognize crypto has the potential to speed up those transactions to better enable global commerce and more access for consumers.

More recently, the emergence of DeFi is shaking up the way consumers think about how they store value. For reference, Visa saw $2.5 billion of crypto-backed transactions in the first quarter of 2022. We’re seeing consumers really starting to use this in a way that even a year ago was kind of hypothetical. People are thinking that this is an exciting way to store value and then to pay for goods and services.

And to businesses?

Right across our customer base, one of the most important things for merchants is liquidity: How quickly can we get cash into the business? One of the most exciting things about both crypto and stable coins collectively for merchants is that speed of settlement. Going through a traditional financial system can be very time-consuming, particularly on a cross-border basis. One of the advantages is immediate, or close to immediate, settlement.

In our survey, 70% of CFOs and finance leaders said they thought cross-border payments on the blockchain are cheaper and faster than ordinary payments. Meanwhile, 36% of CFOs surveyed told us they would like to be able to settle some payments in stablecoins and to hold them on their balance sheets.

Demystifying Crypto, Checkout.com, 2022

How important is it to have a renowned, reliable guide through this new Web3 world?

It’s a very exciting stage for crypto. But experiments also bring this element of risk and lack of understanding, especially in a domain that is evolving so quickly. For some consumers, there's a feeling that the system is quite risky. For merchants, it’s something that is going to be very new to many of them, and introducing new concepts into established businesses is hard.

The role Checkout.com has to play here is to guide the merchants we work with, or our potential merchants, through what this might mean for them. We’ve got dedicated people working day-in, day-out with the smartest minds in the space, so we’re able to provide a very educated view and help our merchants take advantage of the opportunities this transition presents.

And where are we going?

Right now, a lot of the focus is on regulation. What we’ll see emerging over the next little while is much more rigorous and comprehensive frameworks that give people the comfort to jump in. Once we get that comfort, then those stories about why this is great will really start to emerge. And once we start to hear those stories, that's going to just foster even more innovation, and allow businesses and their communities to thrive.

Download the report


The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on transfer pricing

The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for businesses depend, among other things, on the industry, markets and possible actions taken by the relevant governments to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. However, many businesses have experienced declining revenues and profitability during these challenging circumstances. For transfer pricing purposes, multinational enterprises should decide how to respond to these exceptional circumstances and the potential pressure they put on transfer pricing policies.

What you should consider immediately

As intra-group agreements are the starting point of any transfer pricing analysis, companies should, as immediate actions, review and possibly update their current intra-group agreements. The three most important points to remember are the following:

  1. It is important to comply with the agreements since deviations from each party’s agreed rights and obligations often have an effect on the arm’s length price.
  2. Companies should review their intra-group agreements to see how they deal with these exceptional circumstances. For example, force majeure clauses can prove useful and allow or require the parties to deviate from their normal contractual obligations.
  3. If the agreements need to be amended due to the current situation, the company has to determine how independent enterprises would solve the contractual issues. In this respect, the following information may provide valuable insight into the arm’s length terms:
    • the company’s agreements with independent parties and their renegotiated terms;
    • the company’s conduct in its relations with independent parties; and/or
    • the conduct of third parties within the market based on publicly available information.

What you should consider in the near future

The measures needed to adapt the existing transfer pricing policies to the current situation vary. However, at a minimum the companies should consider the following:

  • MNEs with limited risk structures should assess whether the limited-risk entities should bear some of the losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and/or the economic downturn caused by the pandemic. Under normal circumstances, limited-risk entities do not assume significant economic risks and are generally expected to earn routine profits under the arm’s length conditions. However, “low risk” does not necessarily equate to “no risk”. In the current situation, it might be appropriate for the limited-risk entities to bear some of the losses incurred by the COVID-19 induced economic downturn.
  • Adjustments to comparables’ data should be considered as it is likely that the currently available most recent 2016 – 2018 averages do not fulfil the comparability criteria, especially as regards the economic circumstances. 2020 data will only be available at the end of 2021, long after any transfer pricing adjustments for 2020 should have been made.
  • Entities that have existing Advance Pricing Agreements (APA) or unilateral pricing agreements with the tax authorities should review and carefully examine the terms of such agreements (especially their critical assumptions) to ensure that the agreements are still binding on the tax authorities. Some pricing agreements may need to be renegotiated.
  • Special attention should be paid to the transfer pricing documentation prepared for FY 2020 for the purpose of avoiding future transfer pricing disputes. In particular, deviations from the standard transfer pricing policy caused by COVID-19 should be carefully documented. In addition, as many MNCs are being forced to restructure their operations, the business reasons behind the restructuring, options realistically available to each party involved, and the value of a potentially transferred business should be carefully considered and documented.

OECD is currently considering its guidance on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on transfer pricing. However, as adjustments or supplements to the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines require consensus between member states, even in the best-case scenario such guidance will be available only at the end of 2020.

As always, we at Roschier are at your disposal should any concerns or questions related to the issues mentioned above arise.

Merja Raunio
Senior Advisor


• Corpus ID: 238215341

Bounds on stabilizer measurement circuits and obstructions to local implementations of quantum LDPC codes

  title={Bounds on stabilizer measurement circuits and obstructions to local implementations of quantum LDPC codes},
  author={Nicolas Delfosse and Michael Beverland and Maxime Tremblay},
In this work we establish lower bounds on the size of Clifford circuits that measure a family of commuting Pauli operators. Our bounds depend on the interplay between a pair of graphs: the Tanner graph of the set of measured Pauli operators, and the connectivity graph which represents the qubit connections required to implement the circuit. For local-expander quantum codes, which are promising for low-overhead quantum error correction, we prove that any syndrome extraction circuit implemented…

Low-overhead fault-tolerant quantum computing using long-range connectivity.

This work presents a scheme for low-overhead fault-tolerant quantum computation based on quantum low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, where long-range interactions enable many logical qubits to be encoded with a modest number of physical qubits.

Surface code compilation via edge-disjoint paths

The Edge-Disjoint Paths Compilation algorithm has the best asymptotic worst-case performance guarantees on the circuit depth for compiling parallel operations when compared to related compilation methods based on swap s and network coding.

Bias-tailored quantum LDPC codes

1Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RH, United Kingdom 3Centre for

Constant Overhead Quantum Fault-Tolerance with Quantum Expander Codes

We prove that quantum expander codes can be combined with quantum fault-tolerance techniques to achieve constant overhead: the ratio between the total number of physical qubits required for a quantum

Constant-overhead quantum error correction with thin planar connectivity

This work proposes a 2D layout for quantum LDPC codes by decomposing their Tanner graphs into a small number of planar layers, each layer contains long-range connections which do not cross.

Surface codes: Towards practical large-scale quantum computation

The concept of the stabilizer, using two qubits, is introduced, and the single-qubit Hadamard, S and T operators are described, completing the set of required gates for a universal quantum computer.

Tradeoffs for reliable quantum information storage in 2D systems

It is shown that kd{2}=O(n) where the coefficient in O( n) depends only on the locality of the constraints and dimension of the Hilbert spaces describing individual particles.

Decoding across the quantum low-density parity-check code landscape

This work shows that belief propagation combined with ordered statistics post-processing is a general decoder for quantum low density parity check codes constructed from the hypergraph product, and improves upon previous quantum decoders based on belief propagation, and approaches the performance of the minimum weight perfect matching algorithm.

Numerical study of hypergraph product codes

This paper numerically estimate the performance for the hypergraph product codes under independent bit and phase flip noise and shows that for similar rate, the performance of the hyper graph product is better than thePerformance of the toric code as soon as the authors deal with more than $500$ logical qubits and that for $3600$ logicalqubits, the logical error rate for thehypergraph product code is several orders of magnitude smaller.

Building a Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computer Using Concatenated Cat Codes

This work presents a comprehensive architectural analysis for a fault-tolerant quantum computer based on cat codes concatenated with outer quantum error-correcting codes, and proposes a system of acoustic resonators coupled to superconducting circuits with a two-dimensional layout.

Quantum Expander Codes

We present an efficient decoding algorithm for constant rate quantum hyper graph-product LDPC codes which provably corrects adversarial errors of weight proportional to the code minimum distance, or

Degenerate Quantum LDPC Codes With Good Finite Length Performance

It is shown that with the help of OSD-like post-processing the performance of the standard belief propagation (BP) decoder on many QLDPC codes can be improved by several orders of magnitude.

Fiber bundle codes: breaking the n1/2 polylog(n) barrier for Quantum LDPC codes

This is the first quantum LDPC code construction that achieves distance greater than N1/2 polylog(N), based on generalizing the homological product of codes to a fiber bundle.


Home / Opinion / Robust bridge

Robust bridge

A philosopher’s contribution to harmony
A carving of Gaudapada
A carving of Gaudapada

A. Raghuramaraju   |   Published 11.07.22, 03:00 AM

Gaudapada, the paramguru or grand preceptor of the Shankaracharya and the first one in the guru-shishya succession, proposed a radical concept that significantly influenced the path of Indian philosophy. However, his unique contribution has been neglected and distorted in modern times and has never received the global acclaim it deserves.

So what was the concept put forward by Gaudapada? As we know, ideas can be either supported or opposed. Especially in modern times when individuality is encouraged, there is greater opportunity for holding different views. However, this can give rise to challenges when two opposing ideas come into conflict with each other. When confronted with two conflicting ideas, we can often endorse one viewpoint and distance ourselves from the other. But there are instances where we cannot set aside either and need to deal with both. This demands a special cognitive competence, for which we can look towards Gaudapada. His significant contribution was to formulate a way of resolving two fundamentally incompatible views.

Gaudapada established a method of comparing two incompatible Indian schools of philosophy, namely, Buddhism and Vedanta, the latter a dominant school of philosophy rooted in the Vedas and the Upanishads. Lord Buddha attacked and comprehensively rejected Vedanta and proposed an alternative, radically different, philosophy. Vedanta and Buddhism were thus made mutually exclusive. It was against this background of radical polarisation of philosophy thatGaudapada undertook the arduous task of understanding the essentials of both Vedanta and Buddhism. He went one step further and identified a common denominator based on which the profound differences between these two incompatible schools could be compared and contrasted.

He chose the Mandukya Upanisad, where he identifies four states of consciousness: Visva (waking state), Taijasa (dream state), Prajna (deep sleep) and Turiya (non-dual). Recognising this common denominator against the background of an extreme polarised scenario is a huge challenge. By considering both sides, establishing a common denominator, and relating one with the other, Gaudapada introduced a third possibility, a radical concept that immensely enriched philosophy in India

This comparative approach of Gaudapada is different from Plato’s Dialogues, where differences are resolved, quite predictably and monotonously, in favour of Socrates. There are two aspects to Plato’s Dialogues — the process of dialogue and the conclusions. The process can continue, with each side displaying novel ideas and incisive arguments at different times. There can be tentative or even no conclusions. However, due to his preoccupation with conclusions, Platoterminates dialogues that have the potential to restate positions.

Gaudapada’s comparative method is also different from Hegel’sthesis, antithesis, and synthesis dialectics. Architecturally, it is the opposite of dialectics. In dialectics, the thesis —for instance, Vedanta— and the anti-thesis — that is, Buddhism — can get synthesised subsequently. In the process, they also lose their previous identity. In contrast, Gaudapada’s comparative method seeks to establish a common denominator at the bottom that provides a base retrospectively.

After downloading these two incompatible schools of philosophy onto a common platform, one can begin to relate these two opposed schools and philosophies. The process enabled by the common denominator keeps them engaged with each other, with tentative success but promising, ongoing debate. Unlike in a dialogue where one of the views is defeated or in dialectics where both are synthesised at a higher level, in Gaudapada’s comparative method, both remain critically engaged, a method that is perhaps unprecedented in the world.

This unique contribution deserves to be highlighted in philosophical circles at the global level. However, it is a pity that both popular and academic scholarship has not only ignored his contribution but some have also distorted it. For instance, Gaudapada hardly figures in the syllabus of Indian philosophy. This is a major failure and a significant loss to philosophical activity in India.

An instance of modern Indianscholarship distorting this radical and creative contribution is Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya’s claims that Gaudapada’s Karika of Mandukya Upanisad is a Buddhist text, thus placing him on the side of Buddhism. In contrast, this work is claimed to be a Vedanta text by scholars like Raghunath Damodar Karmarkar, pulling Gaudapada towards Vedanta instead.

Unfortunately, Bhattacharya and Karmarkar have forcibly pulled apart, from either end, the bridge that was so beautifully and painstakingly built by Gaudapada, thus replicating in modern times the great chasm that seemingly existed during the time of Buddha. The flaw in both these interpretations lies in not recognising that the central thrust of Gaudapada is building a bridge between these incompatible schools of philosophy and not absorbing one into the other. He wanted to retain the identity of both and yet, at the same time, make them engage with each other and, in the process, look towards sharpening and clarifying the views and arguments for each side.

Putting aside Vedanta and Buddhism, we can distinguish between form and content and apply the form of comparison outlined by Gaudapada to outside philosophy. This can inculcate in each of us the ability to understand two strongly opposing views, discover the common denominator, and use it to better understand each of these views—be it the Ukraine war or any other polarised conflict. However, it is a pity that modern Indian thinking has grossly ignored Gaudapadaand deprived us of the opportunity to inculcate this rare cognitive capacity. This failure to recognise the unique contribution and further distortion by some scholars have stood in the way of the long-overdue unveiling of Gaudapada at the globallevel so far.

A. Raghuramaraju teaches philosophy at the Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati

Copyright © 2020 The Telegraph. All rights reserved.


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Agility Guide: A How-To for Navigating Tech Transformations

In the race to modernize, many insurers have found their progress slowed by the size, scale and scope of large transformation programs. From core systems to data warehouses, and from cloud platforms to customer-facing services and apps, some insurers are struggling to get to the finish line.

Executive Summary
Asking the right macro-level questions up-front is a key part of the introduction of new technologies in large transformation efforts that insurers miss. Here, X by 2 consultants provide some examples of questions to ask along with a checklist of helpful do’s and don’ts to handle early naysayers and inevitable detours and course-corrections along the way.

There are many reasons for this, but more importantly there are methods and approaches to address the many issues insurers may face—and they’re applicable for those insurers that are just beginning their transformational journey or those insurers in the midst of it.

For the purposes of this short primer, a large transformation program is defined as: an effort that includes one or more core insurance functions; is technically complex in terms of scope, scale and duration; and results in significant changes for all stakeholders—customers, agents and employees.
Hit the Right Key(s)

Taking the wrong approach from the start can doom a transformation program to suboptimal results, so it’s critical to establish a solid foundation of program principles and elements as follows:

  • Establish core objectives. Establishing a few (but not more than several) core objectives for the program helps to anchor the overall effort and will serve as the key milestones along the way.
  • Adopt a product mindset. Break down the transformational program into a series of several product deliveries. It’s a subtle but key shift that allows the teams involved to think and act in concert with the long-term objectives but implement and deliver new functionality incrementally.
  • Think like a startup. Use an MVP (minimum viable product) approach to bring in stakeholders early and often, allowing them to be hands-on with new development. In this way functions or interfaces that aren’t well-received can be changed and iterated quickly, rather than waiting and having to retrofit after a more formal delivery.
  • “It’s the communications, stupid. “Engage stakeholders early, often and forever. The more they’re involved, the less the inevitable changes will be resisted.

The Goldilocks Road Map
A road map is not a project or program plan where false assumptions are made about what will happen in the future. Rather, it’s the framework that facilitates an agile approach to the effort.

It provides structure for creating teams, breaking down development efforts, and making decisions about scope and scale. If a road map is too broad, it won’t be seen as consumable or achievable; if it’s too narrow, it will be seen as too tactical in nature. It has to be just the right size, and that only happens after an “Inception Phase” analysis of the business and technology current state challenges matched against the desired state goals and objectives.

Road maps are the navigational tools for the transformation journey and as such must be adaptable and flexible to whatever head winds or squalls pop up—and they will pop up. Road maps should also be built with opportunities for early and quick wins that help to create momentum and build morale for the overall effort.

You Can’t Score if You Don’t Shoot
Large transformations are often about introducing new technologies into the environment. In fact, given the time, resources and efforts that insurers commit to transformation projects, it almost seems negligent not to leverage newer technological approaches to traditional insurance processing issues. The truth of the matter is that by the time the overall transformation is completed, many of the new technologies introduced will have become mainstream solutions. That said, new technologies should never be introduced for their own sakes but rather should be used to materially advance and achieve the core objectives of the transformation. Additionally, newer technologies should always be put through proof-of-concept exercises to be sure of their fit and long-term value, and once validated, they should be exposed early and often to those stakeholders impacted.

However, the introduction of newer technologies in a large transformation effort should always be couched in the answers to a few macro-level questions—questions that many insurers often get wrong or don’t ask at all. Questions such as:

  1. Should we be customer-centric? Many insurers are still policy-centric.
  2. Should we be real-time and event-driven? Many insurers are still batch-oriented in process and mindset.
  3. Do we have/desire a modern infrastructure? Look to the cloud for infrastructure transformation.
  4. Do we ask our users to enter data we could be automatically providing? Look at online agencies or comparative raters for inspiration.
  5. Do we focus on the entire user journey? Nice kitchen, but have you seen the basement?

These are just a few of the kinds of questions that should be asked and answered early because they all represent fundamental directions and approaches that will persist over time. For example, many insurers are still batch-oriented, not only in their technology platforms and processes but in their culture and customer approaches. If an insurer is going to change that and move from a policy-centric orientation to a customer-centric one, nearly everything—technologies, processes, services, and employee and agent culture—must change. In that context, the technology changes become the “easy” part.

Putting It All Together
The biggest key to any transformation program is to make sure that those stakeholders being transformed by the modernized systems and platforms are fully and completely on board. Business and technology visionaries are essential, but just as essential are the incumbent subject matter expert-skeptics, as they’re the ones who really need convincing. Identify these SMEs and pull them in early. Listen to their concerns and heed their advice about the impact of the transformational changes. Winning them over and turning them into the champions for the effort, while not a guarantee of technological success, can go a long way toward cultural buy-in and transformation.

Accomplishing the above will also help prepare the organization to become nimble and adaptive, inclusive of a readiness to meet the challenges from the unexpected issues and opportunities that inevitably arise over the course of a long transformation program. Also, it’s critical to conduct regularly scheduled and all-inclusive stakeholder meetings where progress is charted and explained and where stakeholders are hands-on with working demos of prototyped software.

Finally, there should be a constant conversation around change management. The last thing any stakeholder wants is a surprise change in requirements, or functionality, or target dates, etc. To avoid this, communicate often, clearly and broadly across the organization. Successfully navigating and implementing a large transformation program is no easy feat, but keeping this checklist in mind can increase the chances of ultimate transformational success.

Originally published in
Carrier Management Magazine
Read the original article here.


Arrival is Not your Typical Sci-Fi Movie

Arrival is another brilliant directorial venture from Denis Villeneuve. Villeneuve is the virtuoso French-Canadian filmmaker behind thrillers like ‘Prisoners’ and ‘Sicario’. The movie is adapted from Ted Chiang’s award winning tale ‘Story of Your Life’, a contemplation of how powerful language can be in shaping a civilization.

“Language is the cornerstone of any civilization”

Before setting out to watch this sci-fi thriller, I knew little about what the story encompasses. There’s Dr Louise Banks, a linguistics professor (played by academy award nominee Amy Adams). Louise is recruited alongside physicist Ian Donnelly (played by oscar nominee Jeremy Renner) by a US government functionary (played by academy award winner Forest Whitaker). The goal is to establish communication with aliens who’ve mysteriously landed in 12 locations on Earth. The aliens also appear to be powered by some sort of occult science. Little did I know that my perception of the story-line will gradually alter as the plot unfolds during the course of the movie.

I am not going to give out any spoilers. Arrival is best enjoyed without knowing much of the synopsis. The sheer beauty of the story-line is based on how it evolves and challenges the notion of its viewers. The synopsis may sound like a typical action-packed sci-fi blockbuster. The type that usually entails aliens landing on Earth (mostly the USA) only to be treated with hostility. This time though, prepare to be surprised!

The concoction of a haunting musical score, with a story which moves forth via glimpses of a mystical preface Louise fails to comprehend, essentially awes the viewer as the plot unfolds. Things start to get clear when she begins communicating with the aliens. Ms Adams perfects contemporary acting by making the viewer empathize with her character’s vulnerabilities and fear all the while keeping her strength intact in moments of doubt.

The protagonist Dr Louise Banks, played by Amy Adams, tries to communicate with the aliens

Arrival yearns to convey to us that the are inextricably connected to the cosmos. Our knowledge of ourselves as a species and of the surrounding universe is a fragmental: a part of something bigger we do not fully understand. We cannot fathom time as a controllable entity. It flows more mysteriously than we can comprehend. The movie opens our mind to other dimensions of existence. I thoroughly enjoyed Arrival, and would personally rate it a 4/5.

To further fuel your interest, watch the trailer below

Now Out on DVD & Blu-Ray

Arrival is now out on DVD and Blu-ray from Sony DADC.


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July 8, 2022

Films with the Best-Looking Creature Designs, Ranked

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By: Kiana Luse

Audiences have seen an incredible change in special effects in the past few decades. Since the ’90s alone, CGI has changed a lot, from the full effects to the pixels they can manipulate. Filmmakers have more access to better effects, so long as they know how to utilize them. From practical effects to CGI, movies have specific styles they use in order to bring fictional creatures to life. It takes a strong visionary to be able to tell which effect to use, when, and how to make them coherently tell a story. This is a list ranking the films that used the effects to create the best creature designs.

Originally posted on Movie Web

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Bute Design was started in 2015 by Sam Butement making flat pack wedding sweet carts.

Every design is tested before it enters production to ensure correct function.


A 5-mile Undersea Crater Found By Scientists

An asteroid hit The Earth 66 million years ago creating a massive undersea crater, 248 miles off the coast of West Africa.

The crater is named the Nadir crater and it may have played a role in the disappearance of the dinosaurs.

The crater belongs to the same age when the dinosaurs and many other species went extinct from the planet.

The crater was found while another project on tectonic split between South America and Africa was being carried out.

The crater was found beneath 400 meters of seabed sediment. It’s an example of the rare submarine impact crater which has only a few known examples.

The Nadir crater is 8 kilometres wide and is believed to have been caused by an asteroid more than 400 meters wide.

According to scientists, a Nadir-sized asteroid is expected to collide with Earth every 700,000 years or so.

For more of such useful insights visit our website by clicking below. Do subscribe to the blogs, comment with your feedback and queries, and follow us on social media platforms.


In a not too far future, due to the sudden and catastrophic effects of climate change, the temperature of planet Earth has become impossible for human life.

Oleg and Charlotte, surfer lover, have spent their lives to find the perfect waves. Their sport is now extinguished. So, in a hut on the beach, they must take the last decision, the final decision.


What Is Law School Like

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Law School Guide – Everything You Need to Know

The internet sometimes produces certain information that are not necessarily proven. So, if you have been searching online for the latest information on from learning what law school is all about, tips to gaining law school admission, to surviving your first year, law school requirements, how to get into law school, law school curriculum, is law school worth it, to acing law school exams and more, the article below brings you all you need to know.

All you have to do is read on. Contemplating law school? If so, you likely have many questions. How do I get into law school? What is the curriculum? What law school is best for me? How do I prepare for law school?

Learning About Law School

Lawyer Education Overview

Lawyers undergo extensive educational training to become licensed to practice law. This article details all of the educational and testing requirements necessary to become a lawyer.

So, You Want to Become a Lawyer?

There are many myths surrounding what lawyers do and the skills required to run a successful law practice. Here are ten factors that every prospective law student should consider before choosing to become a lawyer.

Part-Time Law School Programs

If work and family obligations are preventing you from pursuing your dream of becoming a lawyer, you might look into part-time law school programs. Part-time programs allow you to work or take care of family during the day and attend school in the evening. This article outlines the advantages and disadvantages of part-time law study.

Getting Into Law School

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

The LSAT is one of the most important tools that admissions committees use to weed out applicants. Learn all about this all-important test including an explanation of skills tested, the multiple choice and essay sections, LSAT scoring and LSAT prep classes.

Law School Admissions Factors

Admission to law school is a highly competitive process; a record number of students are competing for a limited number of spots in the nation’s law schools. Here is a list of factors that admissions committees consider when determining what applicants will be admitted to law school.

Law School Admission Tips

Getting into law school is not easy. Your GPA and LSAT score are the two most important factors in the law school admissions decision. However, learn what other factors can help sway the admissions decision in your favor.

What Is Law School Like

Selecting a Law School

Selecting a law school is an important decision that should be made with care and research. But, with nearly 200 ABA-approved law schools in the nation, how do you choose the right school for you?

Preparing for Law School

Preparing for Your First Year of Law School

Planning and preparation are essential to success in law school and law practice. These strategies can help you prepare for and survive your first year of law school.

Pre-Law Reading List

If you will be starting law school in the near future, review this list of law school resources recommended by law students, professors and attorneys. From taking the LSAT, securing financial aid and navigating your first semester to the basics of the legal system, learning to think like a lawyer, taking exams, securing a summer internship, making law review, tackling the bar and beyond…these resources explain it all.

Guide to Law School Financial Aid

Law school is an expensive endeavor. In fact, depending on your school, the costs of tuition, books, study materials, and living expenses can drive the price tag for law school into six figures. With these costs, it’s not surprising that most students need financial aid for law school, which usually comes in three forms: loans, scholarships/grants, and federal college work study.

Surviving Law School

Law School Exam Tips

Performing well on law school exams is essential to success in law school. Law school exam writing is a specialized art that takes skill and practice. You will need to demonstrate both a substantive knowledge of the subject matter and superior writing skills. Here are several strategies for acing your law school exams.

Learning to “Think Like a Lawyer”

Part the law school experience is learning to “think like a lawyer,” i.e., using inductive and deductive reasoning to analyze case law and extrapolate a general principle or rule of law. Learn about one student’s law school experience and how law school gave him a new perspective on the world.

Surviving Your First Year of Law School

The first year of law school, particularly the first semester of 1L, can be one of the most challenging, frustrating and rewarding times in your life. Performing well in your first year is particularly important for students trying to make law review and aiming for a job with a large, national law firm. These tips from Michelle Fabio can help you survive and excel in your first year of law school.

Applying and enrolling in law school can be an exciting and confusing time in your life. There is an ample amount of information thrown at you while you are attempting to begin a challenging but rewarding journey. You first have to maneuver through a difficult application process while trying to figure out what certain acronyms and words actually mean. It also does not help that you are thrown into a list of new terms during your first week of law school. While the beginning of your law school career can be confusing, your transition can be made easier by becoming comfortable with legal terminology. Below are terms and explanations that should assist you throughout your application process and the start of law school:

0L, 1L, 2L, 3L

These are the levels of being a law student. 0L is the status of students who either have been granted admission to law school or are currently applying. This changes to the 1L level on their first day, since this represents first-year students. 2L signifies the ‘upper division’ or anyone above their first year but not yet graduating. 3L represents the graduating class.

This stands for the American Association of Law Schools. This organization consists of 179 member schools. They produce publications and journals, address current issues and uphold excellence in legal education.

This stands for the American Bar Association. This organization is one of the largest voluntary professional groups. The ABA is a collection of over 400,000 attorneys, law students, and legal professionals. This organization sets standards for law schools and works to continually improve the legal profession.

This is a collection of rules that are created by a state agency. There are three different types: register, code, or manual. These vary between states and territories. Registers are publications like the Federal Register that contain adopted rules or notices. Codes are publications like the Code of Federal Regulations which focuses on administrative rules. Manuals are created to assist the rule-making agencies.

This is Alternative Dispute Resolution. This refers to disagreements that are settled outside of court or not through litigation. There are two main types: arbitration and mediation. Typically, parties agree in advance to settle outside of court through ADR.

These are documents that contain the recently decided cases in a particular area or region.

This is a form of ADR. Parties agree to use a qualified arbitrator to settle the dispute outside of court. Arbitration follows a specific timeline of negotiation and the decision is binding.

This is a section of the Law School Admissions Test. Arguments are also known as Logical Reasoning Questions. These test your ability to analyze and synthesize information to come to some sort of conclusion.

The bar is the collective of all attorneys and the practice of law. It is derived from the physical swinging bar that separates the public in the courtroom.

This is a test to see if a person has the capabilities and qualifications to practice law. It is broken into three parts. The first and second parts are the MBE (Multistate Bar Exam) and the State Specific Exam which tests specific state laws/statutes. The second part is the MPT (Multistate Performance Test) which measures one’s ability to complete lawyer-specific tasks.

The Bluebook: A Uniform Guide to Citation is a book focused solely on proper legal citation. It covers all legal documents and how to create a citation for them.

This stands for Credential Assembly Service. In order to apply to law school, students must purchase this cloud service to upload their application materials to the LSAC.

This is a summary of a case. They articulate the facts, issues, and decisions made on a particular issue. Law students and lawyers frequently write these.

A casebook is a type of textbook for law students. They are supplements to conceptual textbooks in the fact that they contain excerpts from cases and legal memoranda.

Students have the opportunity to obtain a clerkship and work as a law clerk for a judge during law school. These people are responsible for researching cases, assisting judges, and helping write opinions.

This is an opportunity for 2L and 3L students. These clinics allow members of society to receive free legal aid and advice from current law students. There are specialized clinics that focus on a certain field of law.

This stands for Candidate Referral Service. If you enroll in this program, the LSAC sends your LSAT score, GPA, and other personal details to member law schools. This is a free service and a great way to get more information about law schools that interest you.

Most law schools have their 1L grades based on a curve. Since the exam is typically the only grade in the course, professors compare all the exams against each other to match the specific curve the institution sets forth.

This is the clause in the Constitution that ensures that all citizens are treated fairly and equally under the law and legal systems.

This is a hands-on opportunity for law students. An externship is a form of short-term job training/shadowing program in a certain field. They differ from internships in their duration is much shorter.

This is a legal citation. It means that the material is from the Federal Supplement.

These are book supplements that are on subjects covered in law schools. They provide a summary and explain certain areas of the law.

This stands for Hypothetical Question. These are posed by professors utilizing the Socratic method in order to allow students to gain more information about a case.

Latin for ‘the same.’ This is a legal citation to indicate a citation that is used in a row.

This is a hands-on opportunity for law students. An externship is a form of short-term job training/shadowing program in a certain field. They differ from internship in their duration is longer.

This stands for Juris Doctor. It is a first degree of law and is required to practice law. In order to obtain this degree, a student must take the LSAT and pass a three-year long program at a law school after obtaining a bachelor’s degree.

This is an opportunity for law students. Each university has several legal journals that allow students to submit scholarly publications.

The ability for a specific court to hear a particular case. There are several types of jurisdiction such as original, general, or appellate.

The study of the science of law.

A scholar that is well versed in the field of law.

This is WestLaw’s indexing system to organize cases that includes a small summary of points specific to the particular case.

This is a portion of the law school application. It is a completed version of your application that is sent to each school you wish to apply.

This is a company that facilitates one of the main legal research databases. LexisNexis Advance is the main database used to find cases and other legal documents.

This is the process of going to court to solve a case. This includes filing complaints, motions, negotiations, trials, and appeals.

This stands for Master of Laws. This is an advanced law degree that is globally accepted. This program is typically one year and can be completed after obtaining a first-level law degree.

This is a section of the LSAT. It is also known as analytical reasoning. This section feature several logic puzzles that you must figure out and answer questions about. The purpose of it is to test an individual’s analytical skills and their ability to draw conclusions.

This stands for the Law School Admission Council. This organization is responsible for facilitating the Law School Admission Test and all other law school admissions purposes. They host services for prospective and current law students.

This stands for Law School Admission Test. This is a half-day examination that is broken into five sections and a writing sample. The sections are of three categories: Reading Comprehension, Logic Games, and Arguments. This test aims to measure a student’s ability to be successful in law school.

MBE stands for the Multistate Bar Exam. This is a subsection of the bar exam. Most states include this portion on the bar exam, and it is consistent throughout all jurisdictions. It is composed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

This is a form of ADR. This is when two parties decide to settle their dispute outside of court through a neutral third-party.

This is an opportunity for 2L and 3L students. Students take on a hypothetical case in the lower, trial courts and attempt to argue a certain side of the case. This is normally taught with Trial Advocacy because students must represent a side in a fictitious court. There are competitions throughout the school year.

This is an opportunity for 2L and 3L students. Students take on a hypothetical case in the appellate court to argue an appeal. Instead of a trial, they formulate an oral argument to present why the lower courts erred. There are competitions throughout the school year.

This stands for the Multistate Performance Test. The MPT is a portion of the bar exam that tests one’s lawyering abilities. Essentially, it examines if you are able to perform a task that a lawyer would be able to do. Not all states require this portion.

This stands for the National Association for Law Placement. They are a collection of legal professionals that aim to help ensure law students and other professionals receive excellent education and fair hiring processes.

This stands for the National Conference of Bar Examiners. They are responsible for facilitating the MPRE, UBE, MBE, MEE, and MPT.

This stand for On Campus Interview. These are events hosted by law schools that allow legal employers to come and interview 2L and 3L students for summer associate and entry-level positions. These usually occur during the first few months of the fall semester or end of the summer.

This is the reasons and justification for the decision on a case.

These are breakdowns of a specific class. Typically, professors or upper-level classmates have outlines that they are willing to share with others. They are useful in getting a general knowledge on the certain course.

This is a portion of the law school application. It is a relatively brief essay about yourself in which you can address anything you wish in regards to gaining admission to law school.

This is a legal case that was decided through the courts that establishes a rule or doctrine. Other courts utilize this case to make decisions on similar situations.

This is a section of the LSAT. This part focuses on large reading prompts that ask conceptual and inference questions. This is to test a student’s ability to synthesize a large amount of information and still understand the key points.

This is a collection of judicial opinions that are combined in book form. They contain a certain amount of opinions and decisions from case law.

This is a fee that a law school requests after you get admitted into a university and decide to officially enroll. It serves as your ‘seat holder’ to confirm you are going to be in that graduating class. It typically is applied towards your tuition.

This stands for Doctor of Juridical Science. This is a research doctorate of law with the equivalent of a PhD.

This is the typical way law classes are run. Essentially, instead of telling information or explaining facts, the professor poses hypothetical questions in order to get the group thinking critically.

An opportunity for students to provide legal aid without fee to individuals. In doing so, they are providing for the common good or public interest.

These are positions for law students that have completed their second year of law school. While they are not yet lawyers or graduates, they intern at a law firm as an associate.

The highest tier of law schools. This represents the top 14 law schools in the nation.

This is a civil wrong or harm against another person.

This is a company that facilitates one of the main legal research databases. WestLaw Next is the main database used to find cases and other legal documents.

Applying to law school can be much less frustrating if you know the different terms and acronyms associated with law students. There are many unfamiliar words to the prospective student, so it can be discouraging if you are bombarded with information that you have no knowledge about. Becoming aware of legal and law school diction will not only help you when applying but also ensure your success as you begin your law school journey.

5 Things You Should Know About Law School

Anita Western is a 3L at Michigan State University College of Law with a trustee scholarship and a passion toward the issues that arrive at the intersection of law and technology. Prior to law school, she earned three bachelor’s degrees in Criminal Justice, Spanish and Political Science.

Law school success doesn’t come easy. It takes a great deal of hard work and determination. But when you land your dream job, you’ll realize how rewarding the experience truly was!

Though I am a 3L, I still vividly remember my first year of law school. It was incredibly rigorous, but I made lifetime friends and professional relationships that I am forever thankful for. I also like to think that I gained a little bit of knowledge along the way as well, which is why I’m here writing for you.

Back then, I didn’t understand how important the following five things are. I wish I had learned them earlier in my law school career, and my hope is that they are beneficial to you today.

Your 1L Grades Are the Most Important

I know grades are never anyone’s topic of choice, but in law school, they’re incredibly important.

Unlike undergrad, law school has an independent “curve” for every class as well as a “class rank” where the students are ranked according to their GPAs each semester. The curve grading scale contributes to the infamously competitive atmosphere within law school. Professors will grade each exam and then rank the exams against one another, adding to and subtracting from the initial grades so that the overall grade distribution matches the school’s specified curve (usually a “bell curve” or “normal distribution”).

This means the exact number of As, Bs, Cs, etc. is predetermined and students’ grades must be made to fit into those allotments. Students tend to loathe this grading scale because they can be pushed down a letter grade. For example, if only 10 Bs were allotted and the professor graded 12 exams as Bs, the lowest 2 Bs will become C+s and so on.

This grading technique is tough, but most professors offer “participation points” that will be applied to your final grade, so participate early and often in class!

Top 10 Majors for Getting Into Law School | Best Law School Majors

Develop Healthy Habits & Find Your Balance

This is law school. It is an experience unto itself. In undergrad, free time seemed to be in abundant supply. In law school, there never truly seems to be free time. There are always more assignments to read and work to be done, not to mention social activities in which to participate.

It’s easy to fall into the regimen of fueling yourself up with coffee and/or Red Bull to stay awake, ordering pizza because you don’t have time to cook and spending all-nighters because there aren’t 25 hours in a day (unfortunately). Of course, you will absolutely run into nights where all of the above are necessary, but you always have to think of how this will affect you.

Mental health is just as important as physical. It’s crucial to set boundaries for how you will let law school control your life. Keep the cheat meals to a minimum, set study goals so you aren’t pulling an excessive number of all-nighters and commit to time dedicated for relaxing. Whether it’s Netflix, working out or simply hanging out with friends, make sure that you devote time to clearing your head of all stress. I know this task may seem impossible at times, but it’s incredibly important. Even on the first day of class you will have readings, and professors will expect you to be prepared. Showing up to class and expecting to “wing-it,” or hoping to sneak by without being fully prepared would be a disservice to you, the professor and your classmates.

Your job, right now, is to be a student of law (unless you’re a part time student, in which case you would have two jobs). You are here to be “zealous advocates” for all those whom you will represent in the future. The only profession in which it’s acceptable to perform 30% of the time is baseball.

If you happen to be unprepared for a class, which happens to us all at some point, and get the double-whammy of being cold-called, then you should say, “I’m sorry Professor, but I’m unprepared today.” Professor Stromwell, who removed Elle Woods from her class for being unprepared in Legally Blonde is not someone you will come to face in law school. Your professor may berate you, but they’re human too. They will move on.

Fair warning though, you may be on call for the entirety of the next class — depending on the professor. Classmates and professors alike appreciate your honesty and respect you for not wasting their time trying to power through something you are not prepared for. Be present. Be prepared the minute you step foot into law school, you are building yourself as a future lawyer. Your words, actions and attire speak to your character, whether an accurate representation or not.

Also, don’t forget to take time to come out of your shell and introduce yourself to the people in your section (this will come in handy for final exam study groups) and attend law school-sponsored events to meet new people.

Get to Know Your Campus and School Before School Starts

Where is the law school located? Is there a bus that will take you to your building or do you need to drive or find alternative transportation? Do they have parking? Do you need to purchase a parking pass or pay by day?

Find your classrooms and research the organizations you’d like to get involved in. Doing these things before classes start will remove a great deal of stress, as everything happens so fast in law school. If you’re unsure of what organizations would be a good fit, attend luncheons and events that different organizations host during your first month of school.

There’s no shame in just testing the waters, and having a few free lunches while doing so. And, don’t hesitate to reach out to the e-board members of organizations that peak your interests. They’re there to help.

4 Things to Consider Before Going to Law School

The law has long been seen as a prestigious career path—and a great option for people with all kinds of skill sets.

But the conversation about law school is filled with a fair amount of doom and gloom these days. The legal industry has contracted seriously in the last few years, and there’s no doubt that JDs face a lot of competition coming out of law school.

Still, if you make the right decision for you as an individual, a law degree can open any number of career doors. Here’s what to consider when deciding whether to take the law school plunge—and how to find the right school for you.

1. The Job Market

It’s no secret that employment prospects for new law school grads have dimmed in the last few years (it’s become such a trope that one Chicago lawyer is even offering a $1,000 scholarship to students who decide not to study law).

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go—it just means you should know what you want out of your legal career and be realistic about getting there. Start by looking at the employment trends—where new JDs are getting jobs, the salaries they’re making, and the un- and under-employment rates at top law schools. You should also look up schools you’re interested in in the American Bar Association’s employment summary reports, which break down bar passage rate, the types of jobs graduates are getting, and where they’re working.

Generally, you’ll want to look for schools where most graduates get full-time, long-term legal jobs within a few months of graduation. If you see that a lot of new JDs end up at part-time or short-term jobs, it’s probably an indication that they’re struggling in the job market. And the last thing you want is to graduate with $100,000 worth of debt and no job prospects.

2. Geography

Knowing where geographically you want to practice law can give you some much-needed direction—law schools often have strong alumni networks and recruiting relationships with firms in particular states and cities. Sometimes these networks are obvious, but often, they’re not (for example, Berkeley sends a lot of graduates to jobs in California, but also to big law firms in New York City). If you know you want to move back to the Bay Area or plan to join your fiancé in Chicago after graduation, look for schools that feed into those regions.

Similarly, a particular industry may have a major presence in a certain geographic area, and that should factor into your search, too. If you’re passionate about a social cause and interested in working for a national advocacy group, for example, you should be looking at law schools that send a lot of graduates to jobs in Washington, D.C. If you’re interested in, say, energy law, target schools in Texas and Louisiana. You can ask admissions officers where each school’s JDs are ending up, or use the law school search tool on Noodle to see which schools feed into the place you want to go.

3. Return on Investment

Higher education has never been more expensive, and law school is no exception. Advice on paying for law school deserves its own post, but before you get that far, do a little research to estimate your return on investment. Payscale offers data on salaries for graduates from law schools in a variety of jobs, so you can think objectively about how much you’re willing to pay and how much debt you’re willing to take on. Some career paths value a legal education even if they don’t require it (think government or policy jobs), so if you go to law school and don’t plan to practice law, take that into account when you look at how all the numbers break down.

And if you’re interested in a public service career, consider paths that offer loan forgiveness. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program through the U.S. Department of Education forgives federal loans after 10 years of employment in jobs with government entities or nonprofit organizations.

4. Scores

On a more obvious note, your LSAT scores and college GPA will largely determine where you go to law school. So, as you’re thinking about the schools with great employment rates that place graduates in your field and industry of choice, look at their average and target numbers. If your scores aren’t close, it’s worth postponing the application process to focus on boosting your LSAT score or thinking seriously about going. It’s difficult to do, but it’s crucial to your future to look at the numbers and make an informed decision.

Finally, the most important thing is finding the school that’s right for you as an individual. During your research phase, remember to keep asking yourself a key question: Why do you want to go to law school? Yes, you want to apply to the highest quality law schools where you can gain admission, but it’s crucial to find a program that meets your needs and fits your situation. Be honest with yourself about your goals, and the other questions will be much easier to answer.

7 Things You Need to Know About Law School Before Committing

Law school is not for the faint of heart. Law school is a soul-sucking, but rewarding experience. It is not easy and it’s rarely fun, but if you’re determined enough to power through and earn a degree, you already know this and don’t scare easily. If you’re considering one of the most rigorous career paths in the country, you’re likely preparing to study a lot. Before submitting that application, take a deep breath and add a few things to your ever-growing pro/con list.

1. Law school is not undergrad round two

There are no party buses, easy breezy assignments or make-up exams. There’s no way to prepare for an Elle Woods-esque transformation. You just have to trust yourself and prepare as much as possible. Leave any notion of prancing down memory lane behind. The only thing you might have in common with your younger self is an abnormally large amount of caffeine pumping through your veins.

2. A J.D. isn’t a guarantee

Your fancy new law degree doesn’t change the job market. Job-hunting is hard in today’s climate, even for the bright young brains of the world. With plenty of planning, you’ll know where to go to get the job of your dreams. Your years of hair pulling will only prove your passion and dedication behind the degree. They have nothing to do with available positions.

Nancy,* a current law school student, says that research is the most important factor. She says, “Most importantly, think about what type of law you think you want to do, what type of firm or government position you want.” Then, research whether or not the law schools you’re applying to are a good fit for those types of jobs. As you navigate law school, keep networking and reaching out for job placements. Like any other industry, it’s all about who you know.

3. HTGAWM makes all-nighters look cute

Yes, coffee and co-working happen. A lot. But designer outfits, real-life murder and perfectly coiffed hair with sleep deprivation? Not so much. Nobody will be around to document your hard work and intense study sessions. Cutesy coffee dates are long gone. Studying in law school is more like voluntary solitary confinement. You’ll have a finite amount of hours until you need to fully comprehend decades worth of material. Time management will never be more vital.

4. Be wary when dishing free legal advice

When you do manage to get out of the library and into the real world with the other humans, everyone will want to pick your brain for free. Regardless of the niche you’re studying, people will expect you to know everything about the law and answer their desperate questions in return for a smile. Explaining various procedures is one thing. Sitting down for a one-on-one in-depth consultation is another. And doling out advice when you don’t know the answer is an entirely different issue. Be courteous, help your contacts where you can, and always include the fine print up front.

5. Self-care is more important than graduation

If you find yourself struggling with the immense stress of law school, how can you expect to practice law afterward? This intense time of growth and learning is also about creating a productive and balanced life. From here on out, you will face tough days, cases, and clients. As Nancy says, “It’s tougher than what you see. Maybe not the actual workload, but the emotional toll it takes on you.” It doesn’t get easier, but it does lend itself to a routine. Figuring out how your mental and physical health plays into your daily race is integral to you walking across that graduation stage.

6. Alcoholism is real

Need a drink? The answer, while you’re in law school, is almost always yes. The precarious combination of high-stakes work, crushing student debt, and social isolation can leave you drained. Nancy says, “Sometimes schools or groups organize ‘bar reviews’ which is a play on words for just meeting up at a bar, which is a great way to meet people. You don’t actually have to drink, though!”

The easy and readily available solution for many lawyers-in-training is alcohol. Though commiserating with your community is understandable, Nancy’s right. You don’t have to drink to fit in. Choosing a pricey depressant may not be the best answer to your woes. Instead, try the old standbys of sleep, hydration, meditation, and healthy eating. Taking care of your body first will help naturally fight the impending stress.

7. Being a know-it-all won’t help you

No matter how well you know the material (or think you know), save it for the exams. You’re smart. You got yourself here. Don’t blow it by letting your ego say stupid things. Speaking up simply to show off puts a target on your back for both professors and peers to give you a hard time.

Committing to the cost of law school, both mentally and financially, is a heavy decision. However, committing to shaping the world into a better, more just place is the easy motivator. If you’re up for a challenge that never ends, grab your pink scrunchies and open those textbooks. It’s study time.

Life as a Law Student: 7 Things You Really Have to Know

Whilst we have all heard a little about studying law at university, whether through family, friends or films, it is difficult to know what it really does involve – and there’s no shortage of stories out there, from the mostly accurate to the utterly fantastical. This article should debunk a few myths, confirm a few and make sure you know what you are signing up for when you fill in that application form! It also includes a little advice to help you settle into law student life that bit quicker. Law is a great subject to study at university but it does have its challenges: here’s what you can expect.

1. There is a lot of reading.

Just to get the scary one out of the way first, it is difficult to explain how much reading a law degree involves other than to say that there are a lot of law books! Law students get a reputation for clocking up the library hours because each week you need to learn what the law actually is and academics’ opinions of it from scratch, and neither of these will be particularly short. There is definitely an art to managing the reading lists and you will get all the advice you need from older students when you first arrive, but it does take a while to get used to the pace of learning.

That said, by the end of your first term you won’t believe how quickly you can pick up the key themes of an article or find the important passages from a case. Just be ready for the inevitable long nights when you need to stay up getting through an endless reading list. They do happen but they are (almost) only as common as you want them to be; you are never set more work than it is feasible to do if you manage your time well. Self-imposing a schedule for getting reading done, plus whatever other assignments you have been set, is a habit to get into very quickly.

2. There is no single ‘eureka!’ moment, but it does all come together eventually.

Certain areas of law, particularly contract and tort, deal with different types of human action but are so similar in places that they often ‘run out’ just as the other one starts. As you usually learn only a few topics at a time you may not understand one fully until you have covered the next one. It is absolutely normal to feel a little like you’re in the dark to begin with, although universities try to organise the courses so that the first year exams at least can stand on their own. Criminal law, for instance, makes a good first year subject because it is easy to get to grips with the ideas and it doesn’t overlap too much with any other area. It is just important to know that if you study Land law before Trusts/Equity, it is not a problem if you don’t fully understand what a trust is because that will come next.

3. There is a rat race, but you don’t need to join it (straight away).

The law students aren’t considered the quickest off the mark for getting involved in applications and internships early on in their degree, but it’s a close one! More and more law firms are offering placements and taster days during the first year of university so it is tempting to think that you need to get involved in deciding your career choice right from day one. If you are thinking about becoming a solicitor it is worth applying to these if you want to be ahead of the game, but the big one is the summer vacation schemes at the end of your penultimate year. If you are thinking about the Bar then the more mini-pupillages you have under your belt when you fill in your application form at the beginning of your final year the better, and some chambers will expect a certain number as a minimum. However, most of this kicks off at the beginning of second year so you do have time to settle into legal study before you need to think about applications.

Don’t forget that there are other options too — charity work, civil service, interning for a while until you decide on a career path (if you can afford it!) or further study are all worthwhile alternatives. It’s also worth thinking about going to a local or regional firm or chambers if that appeals to you, and for this you may have to send letters asking to go and shadow someone rather than applying to an organised scheme. All these alternatives are no less competitive but require you to look further afield than your Law Society e-mails, which may tend to focus on the big London (and increasingly international) opportunities. Your tutors, personal advisor, careers service or equivalent will give you plenty of advice about careers, and where to start looking for opportunities in a field you’re interested in. Make sure you think seriously about where you want to start off — it is easy to be swept along with the crowd!

It is also just a fact of life that the legal sector, like anywhere at the moment, is very competitive for finding a job. Keep on top of your work, get involved with extra-curriculars and apply to any placements or schemes which may interest you so that your CV looks as good as it possibly can when you get to more serious applications.

4. You need to sweat the small stuff.

The ‘sharp mind’ you need for university study comes in different varieties, and each degree demands a particular mix of certain skills. Law requires both absolute command of the details of legislation and cases, and a wider view of how different areas interlock and what they (aim to) achieve. This is shown most clearly in the two main types of examination question. Problem questions require you to apply the law to very specific (and sometimes outright preposterous) factual patterns and explain why in this specific set of circumstances a piece of legislation or principle of law would/could be applied in a certain way.

You need to know the legislation and the case law, because although you may be given a copy of the legislation it wastes time if you’re using it to do anything other than check minor points. Equally if you don’t know part of the case law in an area that can lose you marks or narrow down the number of questions you could potentially answer. Essay questions require you to make a broad point using specific examples, so you need to have a whole arsenal of examples to hand.

Basically, you need to remember a lot of things! And you need to be prepared to sit down and learn cases, and at the very least the structure and key clauses of the relevant legislation so that you can find it in the statute book during the exam. It is absolutely normal to have legislation and case summaries stuck up round your wall during exam season (rent agreements permitting!). But because all this knowledge also needs to be grounded in the wider picture for the purposes of essay questions this isn’t just an exercise in memorising names, which makes the process a lot easier.

An Oxford examiners’ report commented a few years ago (in light of students forgetting the names of key cases) that if you have done the work properly then remembering case names should be no more difficult than learning the names of breakfast cereals. I may not know hundreds of breakfast cereals, but it’s true that you learn a lot of small details without thinking about it.

5. Everyone is going to ask you for legal advice. And you won’t want to give it.

Somewhat ironically, the more law you know the less confident you become definitively stating what the legal position in a certain area is. You are, after all, focusing on the more controversial and uncertain areas of law so it is easy to forget that some are actually quite simple and clear-cut. There also comes a week where you learn about liability for giving advice and accepting responsibility for it being correct. It’s fairly well-accepted that casual remarks in social situations don’t come within this category but as soon as law students learn these cases they immediately stop wanting to give any form of legal advice!

All this of course assumes that you know the area of law your friends are asking about in practical detail in the first place, which usually isn’t the case because law degrees are more theoretical than practical. No matter how many times you try to explain this to your friends however, you will still be asked. It’s something you will find frustrating, but it won’t stop you from asking the medical students about your twinging knee so it’s just something to resign yourself to I’m afraid.

6. It can be absolutely fascinating — especially when you think it won’t be.

Perhaps the really big thing to know about an English law degree is that there are subjects which (i) you have to study (ii) you expect you won’t enjoy. This is an unfortunate side-effect of the fact that law degrees are at heart vocational and so you study certain areas which are crucial to the smooth functioning of society but aren’t considered too glamorous. It’s worth noting that some people do come to university with a professed love for commercial law and that’s great, but it does seem to be the norm to start university dead set on being a human rights barrister.

However, because you have to learn these topics in significant depth you do find yourself getting far more interested than you ever plan to. What can seem like a fairly technical subject such as land registration is actually vitally important to individual people when you think about it — many cases on the topic end up with someone being evicted from their family home, or allowed to stay despite the aspiring purchaser having no idea that they had a legal interest in the house as it was not entered in the register.

There is a frame of mind to adopt here, and it’s absolutely central to ensuring that you enjoy studying law. Find the interesting element of something which doesn’t originally appeal to you — there will always be one, often the ‘human interest’ or political angle. Make as much of it as is possible as interesting to you as is possible. And resign yourself to the fact that you’ll just have to learn the rest!

7. Being a law student is what you want it to be.

Perhaps I’m giving the impression that law students spend their whole lives in the library learning statutes back to front, and that when they do emerge it’s to go to networking events, apply to careers or to sit exams. This just isn’t true. As with any other subject, university is exactly what you make of it and that will invariably (and should!) involve meeting some of your best friends and many of your future colleagues, getting involved in as many societies as you can make time for and having the odd quiet night in. There is a core amount of work which has to be done, but as a humanities student you’re in the enviable position of being able to manage your own timetable to a certain extent.

Make the most of it! Specifically for law students, there are also plenty of extra-curricular activities which can be really rewarding for yourself and others. If you’d like to get involved in pro bono work then most law schools have a scheme running, really do make sure you try some mooting (mock appeal trial, where you pretend to be a barrister) because even though it’s quite scary it does wonders for your public speaking, and make the most of any opportunity to get the sort of legal experience you’re interested in during the holidays. There is no single ‘law degree experience’, much as there’s no single ‘university experience’; choose what you want to make your priorities over the three year period, as long as you always make time for your work.

Like any subject at university, studying law has its ups and downs. However, if you’re interested in the subject and able to motivate yourself to work sensible hours then there are definitely more positives and it is a fantastic subject to study for three (or four) years.

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Artificial Oxidation Enzymes for Highly Selective Waste Free Hydroxylation of Alkanes

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ArtOxiZymes (Artificial Oxidation Enzymes for Highly Selective Waste Free Hydroxylation of Alkanes)

One of the major challenges facing the chemical industries is the sustainable production of chemicals from natural resources. The challenge
includes making sure that chemical processes are as ‘green’ and economical as possible, and that sustainable and abundant resources are used
where possible. One type of reaction that lends itself to sustainable processes is the direct functionalization of C-H to C-X (X = O, N, C) bonds, as
it generates far less chemical waste and leads to tremendous reduction of energy use than methods relying on prefunctionalized materials. The
objective of this project is to achieve the C1-selective hydroxylation of n-alkanes to give n-alcohols e.g. octane to octan-1-ol, using mild reaction
conditions and green oxidants such as oxygen or hydrogen peroxide, which is currently an unsolved problem. Linear alcohols are of interest as
they form some of the major building blocks used in the chemical industries, for example C8-C10 alcohols for the synthesis of plasticisers and
detergents. We will achieve this aim by combining traditional homogenous catalysis and biocatalysis for the development of artificial
metalloenzymes as catalysts, which utilise the molecular recognition concepts of nature to bind substrates selectively in protein pockets. The target
substrate will thus be bound in the correct orientation enabling selective oxidation at the target position, in contrast to traditional chemocatalysts
which give a highly unfavourable product distribution. This will lead to more efficient use of valuable feedstocks and large reductions in chemical
waste production and energy consumption, compared to the traditional methods for forming C1-alcohols, all contributing to a green and
sustainable society.
A library of artifical metalloenzymes (ArMs) containing N-ligand based cofactors has been prepared. Initial testing in benchmark oxidation reactions was carried out. At this point it became clear that a key objective would be to characterise the ArM in detail to understand the metal binding environment and to evaluate that the desired metal binding was observed (i.e. at the cofactor as opposed to elsewhere in the protein scaffold). Whilst computational modelling was undertaken it quickly became clear that more physical data would be needed to help our understanding. Work at this point turned to understanding the environment in a related ArM - a rhodium phosphine-modified protein. Using a variety of techniques we were able to identify that there is an interaction between one of the amino acids (a methionine) and the metal centre. This work was published in Angewandte Chemie in 2017. Work is now focusing on exploiting our understanding in other reactions, such as oxidations.
Artificial metalloenzymes is an fast growing field of catalysis research. Our work has introduced a successful example of a phosphine-based catalysts being introduced into a protein scaffold to carry out an industrially relevant transformation – hydroformylation of long chain alkenes to aldehydes. The protein scaffold provided an opportunity to overcome a number of limitations which affect the current commercial catalyst system and we achieved enzyme like rate enhancements. Rational design based on bioinformatics showed that temperature stability could be improved, leading to higher space-time-yields. These promising results indicate that next step needed will searching for similar protein structures from extremophiles which can lead to more robust systems and actual industrial applications. By combining analytical techniques from a range of chemical sub-disciplines we have been able to move towards understanding the active site of our catalysis, and away from mere speculation. This use of many techniques will be important for all practitioners of ArM research in the future as in many cases the characterisation of the metalloenzyme catalyst is lacking in the literature.
Rh ArM for hydroformylation