Article: Many people grip the pen too hard in an effort to gain control over their strokes, but that often results in sore hands which lead to sloppy writing. The pen should lie lightly in your hand. Place your index finger on the top of the pen, about one inch away from the writing point. Place your thumb on the side of the pen. Support the bottom of the pen against the side of your middle finger. Let your ring and pinky fingers hang comfortably and naturally. Much bad handwriting results from a person's inclination to "draw" their letters using their fingers alone. Proper writing technique engages muscles all the way from the fingers up to the shoulder and results in a smooth movement of the pen across the page rather than the start-and-stop motion often found with "drawing" writers. Your fingers should act more as guides than as the force behind your writing. Focus on the following: Don't write using your fingers alone; you should engage the forearm and shoulders as well. Don't pick up your hand to move it every few words; you should be using your whole arm to move your hand smoothly across the page as you write. Keep your wrist as stable as possible. Your forearms should move, your fingers should guide the pen into different shapes, but your wrist should not flex very much. Using the proper hand position and writing motion, write a row of lines all the way across a lined sheet of paper. The lines should slant slightly to the right. On the next line of the page, write a row of circles, trying to keep them as even and round as possible. Practice the proper technique on your lines and circles for 5-10 minutes every day until you see in your pen control. Focus on keeping your lines the same length and at the same angle. Circles should have uniform roundness across the board, be the same size, and should close cleanly. At first, your lines and circles may seem sloppy. Your lines may be of varying lengths, they may not all be drawn at the same angle, etc. Some of your circles may be perfectly round, while others are more oblong. Some may close neatly, while others may have an overlapping hang-off where the pen mark ends. Even though this activity seems simple, don't be discouraged if your lines and circles are sloppy at first. Keep working at it for short periods of time on a regular basis, and you will see a distinct improvement with practice. This increased control over lines and curves will help you shape clearer letters. Once you've gotten comfortable using the proper posture, handgrip, and writing motion with your lines and circles, you should turn your attention to actual letters. But don't jump ahead to practicing with full sentences just yet instead, practice writings rows of each letter, just like you did when you were first learning to write as a child. Write each letter at least 10 times in capital and ten in lower-case across a lined page. Go through the alphabet at least three times each day. Work toward uniformity across the board: each individual "a" should look the same as all the other "a"s, and the angle of the letter "t" should be the same as that of the letter "l." The bottom of each letter should rest along the line on the page. You can copy a paragraph out of a book, write a paragraph of your own, or simply copy a paragraph out of this article. However, you'll cover all your bases if practice writing with pangrams, or sentences that include every letter of the alphabet. You can have fun trying to come up with your own pangrams, look them up on the internet, or use these examples: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs. Jim quickly realized that the beautiful gowns are expensive. Few quips galvanized the mock jury box. Pack my red box with five dozen quality jugs. Don't expect your handwriting to miraculous improve overnight it might take a long time to erase the improper muscle memory developed over years of writing poorly. However, with time and patience, you'll see a marked improvement in your handwriting. Don't rush your words. Although in some contexts for example, if you're taking notes for a class or business meeting you may have to write quickly, whenever possible slow down your writing process and focus on creating uniformity throughout your letters. Over time, as your hand and arm grow more accustomed to this new writing motion, you can speed up your writing while trying to maintain the same legibility as your slower practice-writing. If you're serious about improving your handwriting, you have to make a commitment to it. Although it may be tempting to simply take notes on a laptop or tablet rather than a pen and paper, your handwriting will begin to slip back into sloppiness if you don't keep training your writing hand and arm. Bring the techniques from your practice sessions into the real world: carry a good pen and pad of good paper with you; look for writing surfaces at an appropriate height; maintain good writing posture; hold the pen properly, with the page at a comfortable angle; and let your fingers guide the pen while your arms do the work of moving it across the page.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Hold your pen/pencil properly. Engage your whole arm when writing. Practice with simple lines and circles. Move on to writing individual letters. Practice writing out entire paragraphs. Take it slow. Write by hand whenever possible.
Article: Kidney problems can have serious consequences for your health, so it's important to work with your doctor to make sure they're treated properly. If you think you may have kidney disease or a kidney infection, don't try to treat it on your own. Visit your doctor as often as recommended for checkups and take any medications exactly as prescribed. If your doctor diagnoses you with kidney disease, they may recommend treating it with a combination of medications, diet, and lifestyle changes. Let your doctor know before trying any supplements or making major lifestyle or dietary changes on your own. They can tell you which approaches are likely to be safe and effective for you.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Follow your doctor's instructions for managing any kidney problems.
Article: Store the unused potting mix in an old garbage can or other container with a lid. Choose a sheltered spot for storage. You don't want your potting mix to be exposed to rain before it's in your garden, so choose a spot that is under cover. Similarly, your potting mix should not be directly exposed to sun, especially in hot weather. A garden shed is a good storage place. The pH measures the acidity and alkaline levels of the soil. Meters that measure the soil's pH levels are available for purchase online for $20 or more. Let the mixture mature for a week to give all the ingredients a chance to blend together before testing the pH. Place the pH meter in your soil to test its pH. If the soil is too high in either acid or alkaline, nutrients may not be absorbed into plants as easily. An ideal pH level for most plants will be between 5.5 and 7.0 To raise the pH levels, or to make it more alkaline, add some lime. To lower the pH, or to make it more acidic, add more sulphur. Make small batches of soil to test different mixtures and proportions. This will help you get a feel for how different ingredients produce different pH levels. A bioassay is a test to check the viability of a biological specimen. Basically, this means that you're going to use the soil to start seeds and monitor how they grow. Try growing oats, beans, or lettuce from seed. Monitor how quickly the seeds germinate and how the seedlings grow. If the majority of seeds do not germinate or the seedlings grow slowly, your potting mix might be poor. Try a different recipe for your potting mix. Search online for "potting mix recipe" to find another option. Remember to skip the fertilizer in your mix if you're going to be using it to start seeds.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Store your potting mix. Test your soil with a pH meter. Test your soil with a bioassay.