1. Examples of skeuomorphs.

[Maarit]

Hi,
Some facts about skeuomorphs:

Skeuomorph is an ornament or design on an object copied from a form of the object when made from another material or by other techniques, as an imitation metal rivet mark found on handles of prehistoric pottery.
Historically, high-status items such as the Minoans' very elaborate and rare silver cups were often recreated for the mass market using ceramics, a cheaper material, allowing the common person to have the appearance of elite status. In certain cases, efforts were made to recreate the rivets in the metal originals by adding pellets of clay to the pottery version. There is also evidence of skeuomorphism in material transitions. Leather and clay pottery often carry over traits from the wooden counterparts of previous generations. Clay pottery has also been found bearing rope-shaped protrusions, pointing to craftsmen seeking familiar shapes and processes while working with new materials. In this context, skeuomorphs exist as traits sought in other objects, either for their social desirability or psychological comforts.
In the modern era, cheaper plastic items often attempt to mimic more expensive wooden and metal products, though they are only skeuomorphic if new ornamentation references the original functionality, such as molded screw heads in molded plastic items.
Internet: wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph

Skeuomorhps or visual metaphors:

—Wood grain on radios, lawn chair arms, and automobiles.
—Lights shaped like candles.
—"Dialing" a phone, now doubly skeuomorphic in the age of VOIP where we might just click on a name to Skype someone.
—"Turning off" a light.
—Web sites that are made to look like the thing they represent, like an online book that includes curled page corners, a cover, "next page" links. etc., or a shopping site that is an image of a store with things on shelves.
—Shopping cart icons on ecommerce web sites.
—Diacritical marks in languages like French and Portuguese, where they are added to indicate a dropped character but otherwise have no effect on the modern pronunciation of the word.
—The reel-to-reel tape machine icon used on cell phones to indicate a voice mail message.
Internet: ask.metafilter.com/37684/Got-any-skeuomorphs

Take care
Maarit

[Admin]

Thanks for doing the research Maarit! One thing that strikes me as odd: they consider the diacritical marks as skeuomorphic? It's not really an imitation of something previous. Do you understand that?
See you,
Pieter

[Maarit]

Hi Pieter,
unfortunately I do not understand what they mean about the diacritical marks in French and Portuguese. Actually I do not speak French or Portuguese. Have you studied French or Portuguese?
BR Maarit

[Admin]

Hi Maarit, I speak French but I still don't understand why those marks are considered skeuomorphs. Let's not worry about it!
Is everything OK with you? Christmas time soon - Help! I'm not ready!
See you,
Pieter

[Maarit]

Hi Pieter,
Thanks for your message. I have been quite busy with my work - lessons, the evaluations of papers, meetings etc. Our eldest daughter has stayed this autumn in China. At first she studied economics for two months and now she is travelling around China – Shanghai, Nanjing, Peking, Macau, and Hong Kong. In addition she made a one-week- trip to Malaysia. She is planning to travel to Thailand yet and then she is coming back to Finland on January. My husband spent one week in China with our daughter. We had thought that we would have made a trip together, my husband, our 10-year-old daughter and I during the autumn break. However the price of the flight was 1500 euro per a person during the holiday time. My husband left next week after our autumn break and his flight cost 590 euros. So I was a little bit unhappy because I was not able to meet our daughter.

Yes, Christmas time is coming very soon. It is nice because all of us need a break. Of course we miss our daughter who is travelling but I hope she will enjoy her tour in Asia. I have written a Christmas letter and we will send it to our relatives and friends. Then we will buy some presents to our children and godchildren. Our youngest daughter wants to get horse-riding lessons and some toys and our older children need money so we try to fulfil their hopes as much as possible. We will meet our relatives and my father will have a dinner with us during Christmas time. Then we want to sleep rest and spend time at home.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. :-)

Best regards Maarit

Ps. Likely I will write the texts of the unit 10 as late as on January.

[Admin]

Thanks for your message Maarit! A very happy Christmas to you too. I will be going to Switzerland for a few days to see my brother and sister and their kids. We lost both our parents a year and a half ago, first my mother and then my father 8 months later - so Christmas without them in their old house is still a little bit strange. My mother loved the Christmas traditions, she was American, so we always had turkey for Christmas lunch, English-style Christmas cake and stockings with presents. This year we are going to abandon the turkey - first time in living memory! Half the family eats practically no meat, and my brother and his wife have become Vegan, so turkey is just not appropriate anymore! My mother would have been appalled... :) So we will introduce new traditions - the important thing is to keep the family together and not lose touch.
Can I help you with some expressions?
We had thought that we would have made a trip together= We planned to go together
So I was a little bit unhappy = Here you can say: I was a little disappointed
presents to our children = presents for someboy
Likely I will write the texts of the unit 10 as late as on January= You can say: Probably I won't send my texts for unit 10 until January.
I hope your daughter has a fabulous trip - does she have friends to travel with? That is more fun than ravelling alone in foreign places!
All the best,
Pieter

[Maarit]

Hi Pieter,

Thanks for your message. I am very sorry about your parents. You have had hard times. Fortunately you have siblings and it is nice to hear that you will spend Christmas all together. I hope you can find new traditions to your life.

Our daughter has mainly travelled alone. My husband stayed one week in China and then they travelled together. A couple of weeks ago her boyfriend flew to Shanghai and they made a round trip: Shanghai - Nanging - the third city (I don`t remember this name).

At the beginning I was quite worried about our daughter`s trips but bit by bit I have used to trust that she can manage herself. Actually when she was 18 years old she travelled to Nepal alone without any bad problems. Her boyfriend was born in Nepal and his family lives in Nepal. He has studied in Finland and they met at the University 7 years ago.

However I miss our daughter very much and luckily she is coming back to Finland quite soon.

All the best,
Maarit

[Admin]

Thank you Maarit, yes, thank heavens for siblings! I'm sure your daughter is having the time of her life - it's good to travel when you are young and have lots of adventures. Because later it becomes more complicated!
Can I help with something?
but bit by bit I have used to trust that she can manage herself= Bit by bit I have become used to the idea that she can manage by herself.
All the best,
Pieter