Brilliant Ideas Apps
Kids Chalkup 1.0.0
Kids Chalk UpKids Learn Alphabet & Numbers - Read and Write (Kids ChalkUp)Kids Learn Alphabet & Numbers is an educational application forpreschoolers or toddlers to learn English alphabet from A to Z andnumbers 1-10. Kids learn the alphabet and numbers, how to read itand how to write.Your kids will enjoy playing with this app and will learn alphabetand numbersWhy Kids Chalk Up?While playing the game, the kids could improve their understandingof the world, identify various Basic Knowledge tools and improvepronunciation.It contains alphabets, numbers and 2 exercises where your kid candraw and learn.Features of Kids Chalk Up:* Kids learn alphabet from ABC to Z with pronunciation* Kids learn alphabet with sample words.* Kids learn numbers with pronunciation* Tap the screen or button to repeat the letter and word* Learn how to write alphabet and numbers* Tablets support
English to Arabic Dictionary 2.0
قاموس عربي إنجليزي Free English - Arabic Dictionary with offlinedatabase containing more than 87000 definitions. Easy to use andfast application. You can search using English or Arabic key words.The application is also optimized for tablet use. You also have theoption to Bookmark your favorite translations for fast reference.Or you can keep track of all your previous entries from the‘History’ tab. The best thing about Arabic Dictionary is that itworks offline! You don’t need any Internet connection to run this.Hence it is perfect for your trips or when no data connection isavailable. Features - FREE English to Arabic Dictionary has 87,000words. - Saves the words in history which you search out. - Savesthe words which you make it favorite - You can share the word andmeaning on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Google plus andalso on SMS. - Search the English word and it will display itsArabic translation. - "Search Options" feature that help to searchthe word "Starting" with searching word or "Ending" with searchingword or "Containing" the searching word. - Clear history option. -Clear favorite option. - No need of Internet. Work offline withoutusing Internet. Please rate this app and send us your lovelyreviews if you like our app or found it useful. And forward us allyour complaints and report your bugs to us by email. Thank you allfor the love and admiration. Tag: Arabic, Dictionary, English
Mini Mental State Exam Free 1.0.1
Forget carrying those heavy textbookseverywhere you go. Sometimes, all you need is your Android and MiniMental State Exam application.You know the material; you just need a little last minute boost andmemory jogger to quell the stage fright. That’s whereMini MentalState Exam comes to the rescue.This application lets you look up selected terms, viewillustrations of physical exam maneuvers, read the ClinicalCorrelates to discover the significance of certain findings andfind descriptions of special tests. Mini Mental State Exam evenoffers a guide for describing your findings.Mini Mental State Exam is not a comprehensive medical reference.Rather, it is a handy overview resource that is perfect for medicalstudents, pre-meds, health professionals and anyone who practicesor has an interest in medicine. Conveniently located on your mobiledevice, this applicationDownload this amazingly helpful application now. You and yourpatients will be glad that you did.
ABC Alphabets for Kids 1.0.0
ABC Alphabets for kids – learn Alphabet is aFREE educational game for your toddler!Your child will learn the correct English pronunciation of vowels,consonants and syllables,figure out how to draw letters and what words start with this orthat one – everything will be in theform of alphabet games. With the cheers of praise and candy medals,young learner is unlikely to getbored.For moms and dads it is the best way to help their kids learn thealphabet, while for kids it is a newplayground instilled with entertainment and happiness!Let your kids learn their ABCs in a fun way with songs. 26 animalnames, one animal name each for every letter and the ABC alphabet.Every alphabet is depicted with 4 words starting with it.. Thereare interactive animations and sounds on every scene. Over 100unique characters and objects.Benefits:- Kids can learn A to Z very easily.- 26 original animal names with each alphabet.- Interactivity, fun animations, sounds, etc.- Very easy to use.
Balloon Defense Game Free 2.0
Tilt your device to move the Plane, and you're hitting the balloonsto collect a lot of points. Test your balloons defense skillsagainst players from all over the world in two awesome game modes.How long can you defend the city from invading balloons? Tilt yourdevice to move the plane and catch as many balloons as you can.Balloon Defense is the ultimate infinite side scroller. The gamegoes on, as long as you can handle the thrill and keeping away fromthe incoming danger i.e. Towers. For those that think they can dobetter, Balloon Defense also offers a never ending boost featurefor the plane. Download the Balloons Defense game for FREE.
Weather Forecast: World Free 3.0.0
Wherever you are, and whatever your plans, you’re always preparedwith the latest weather forecast from this free Weather app.Weather forecast searches for your address automatically andprovides the current temperature, current weathercondition,humidity, pressure and dew points in addition, next hour,next after fourteen hours, after 7 days and hourly weatherforecast. Weather forecast and widget app offers the best radarmaps, local forecasts and weather widget. With Weather forecast appand widgets, you can enjoy the best day possible with the mostaccurate forecast available. After all, when you see the worldthrough weather, It's Amazing Out There. Current weather conditionsgive you the “feels like” temperature, sunrise time, sunset time,wind speed, humidity, UV index, visibility, dew point, andpressure. Weather forecast is exceptionally easy to use app forstaying always updated with the weather conditions. Weatherforecast gives the facility of adding cities and then showing theweather by sliding cities one by one. The Weather app include coolwidget, portrait and landscape mode. Weather and clock widget forandroid support a void range of android phones. Weather Forecast:World Free app features: * Provides current weather condition with7 days hourly forecast. * 7 days hourly weather. * Sun rise and sunset times. * Cool clock widget * Searches for cities by country andcity or zip codes. * Automatically and manual updates *Automatically location detection
Highway Car Speed Game 2.0
Highway Speed Cars Racing Game This is a native Android Highway CarRacing Game. The aim of the player is to tilt his device to steeraway from the incoming vehicles. The game also includes checkpointswhich the player can catch for extra points and a handy boostfunction for those players that are hard to trill. You are a secretpolice chasing a car in the highway. The success of the operationdepends of you!! Get it now for free!! If you love driving thanthis is your game. Drive as fast as you can in one straighthighway. You have no speed limit. Tilt your device, to steer awayfrom other vehicles and collect as much checkpoints as you can.Beware, steering your car too much reduces your speed, so keepstable. If you think you can do with more speed, go ahead and pressthe boost button and take your trill to the next level. There's onerule in this classical highway car avoidance game, just make sureto keep away from the incoming traffic.
Red Thing Jumper 1.0.0
Red Thing JumperRed Thing Jumper is a fast paced running red thingjumpinggame.***How to Play Red Thing Jumper ***Make sure you land correctly, for if you miss a platform youcouldfall to your doom.Only by jumping up the platforms can you reach your goalintime.Worse yet are your enemies who want nothing more than to attackanddefeat you!Watch out for the tricky obstacles and dangerous spikes. Helpthered thing to make him up on the top and avoid the spaces.Features:* Nice and attractive graphics* It’s totally free* Use of leader bolt which shows top list of playerswithscores.Please let us know about your reviews. Thanks
Caller Name Announcer 5.0.0
Caller Name Announcer announces the name of the person who iscalling your number. Caller Name Announcer speaks everything whilesome one is calling you or send you a message, you will identify itwith out looking to your smart phone. Caller Name Announcer usesthe built-in Android text-to-speech engine to speaks the incomingcaller name or SMS sender name and contents of the SMS. Speaks outthe caller name clearly in between the ringtone reducing itsvolume. Caller Name Announcer is highly applicable in a situationlike if you are driving and the phone is in your pocket or some onesends you an SMS while your smart phone is in other room. CallerName Announcer will not work if your smart phone does not havetext-to-speech library but this is not a problem you can easilydownload it from Google play store. Features: ✔ Highly Customizeyour Caller Name Announcer. ✔ Enable/disable speaking caller name.✔ Enable/disable incoming SMS sender name only. ✔ Enable/disableincoming SMS sender name and contents of the SMS. ✔ Change repeatmode announcements. ✔ Choosing delay time between announcements. ✔Turn off Announce while silent option is available. ✔ CustomRingtones settings. ✔ Custom Volume Settings. ✔ Caller NameAnnouncer is completely free download. DOWNLOAD Caller NameAnnouncer NOW.
Face Age detector prank 2.0.0
Face Age detector- a simulator face scanner that will not be ableto determine your mental age of a person, but you can joke withyour friends and laugh! Face Age detector prank estimates aperson's age based on visual facial features. Just capture apicture from one or multiple persons and let Age Detector estimatetheir age. Its is an amazing prank to fool your family and friendsinto thinking your phone can detect their age using fingerprintscan! HOW this amazing app WORKS 1. Place your finger on thefingerprint scanner. 2. Click on the gallery icon below to pick aphoto from your photo gallery. Please ensure the face can be seenproperly. 3. The face detection algorithm will detect facialfeatures from the photo with a square dialog 4. Keep your fingerfor several seconds as you await for face scanner and backgroundface detection. 5. A dialog will pop up with the results of the ageevaluation and detection. By default the app gives an estimate ofyour age.This may not be perfectly accurate. 6. If you want to foolyour friends with a prank, to guess their age perfectly, press onthe settings icons below and enter your friend's age to match hiscurrent age. They will be amazed. FEATURES of Face Age Detector : -Custom response options for playing pranks on your friends andfamily. Press on the settings icons below and enter your friend'sage to match his current age. - Real scanner bar on you face withlaser lifelike scanning interface. - Authentic fingerprint scannercombined with face detection. - Authentic screen real vibration,scanner sound and animation. Face Age detector prank is forentertainment purposes only, a great way to prank your family andfriends on this amazing trick. CAUTION: Scanner Face: psychologicalage - it is only a simulator that provides results in a randomorder, but it is perfect for sharing entertainment with friends forscanning all around! Scan all around: friends, relatives, teachers!Find out what their psychological age! In a world of very fewpeople who have psychological and biological age match!
Flying Panda Free Game 2.0
Flying Panda is an interesting running game. Tap the screen anddraw a line to let the panda fly on it! Collect the fruits bonus!The more quickly you run, the more difficult the game is! Thebeautiful game scenes and funny panda character attract you to passmore levels and get higher scores! The Flying panda enjoy jumpingand do acrobat on air and stunts. You must prevent panda fromfalling down and help panda by putting any bamboo bar at screenbottom. Please try to stand pretty panda never falling in front ofworld!!! How to play flying panda? * Jump: slide your finger up. *Roll: slide your finger down. * Turn left: Slide your finger to theleft. * Turn right: Slide your finger to the right. * Move left:Left tilting the phone. * Move right: Right tilting the phone.Features: • Nice and attractive graphics. • It’s totally free. •Its shows total score, distance, time, seed and birds hits. •Challenge your friends and game users because it uses leaderboard.• Shows you your rank number. Download now to your device and enjoythe flying panda everywhere. It's free!!
Finger Blood Pressure Prank 1.0.0
Prank with your friends andfamilymembersAn amazing prank application "Finger blood pressure Prank". Ifyouare a prankster you would definitely love thisapplication.Fingerprint Blood Pressure is actually a prankapplication whichcalculates your blood pressure and is made for thepeople who justwant to play pranks on others and want to show offthe power oftheir latest android device. It is a must have prankapplicationstill in its initial stages. It is designed in such away that onewho is not aware of android can never get whether it isa prankapplication or real. People would think as if it is a realBloodPressure Calculating application.FEATURES* A prank application to collect cheers moment withyourfriends* HD graphics and beautiful use of scanner animation* Too much user friendly and easy to use* FREE fun for all* Finger Blood Pressure Prank does not requireinternetconnection.* Finger Blood Pressure Prank FREE fun for all.* Finger Blood Pressure Prank is completely free download.HOW TO USE:Step 1: Select your gender and tap on next,Step 2: Now place your finger gently on the fingerprint scanningpadand wait for the analysis.Result: Your Fake blood pressure will be shown automaticallyaftercalculation.Finger Blood Pressure provides best and high definitionimagequalities. Fingerprint Blood Pressure is compatible withalmostevery android device. It’s also tested on various androiddevicesi.e. android tablets and android based mobiles phones. Alltheactions can be performed very easily without anyconfusion.Reliability is guaranteed of Fingerprint Blood PressurePrank.Fingerprint Blood Pressure Prank is specially designed in awaythat it will definitely work with all new devices andandroidversions too.NOTE: Finger Blood Pressure Prank is for entertainmentpurposesonly. It does not calculates you blood pressure.Calculating BloodPressure is not possible with your androiddevice's screen andcamera. The displayed results are randomnumbers. It is the bestapplication for fooling your friends.Enjoy Finger Blood Pressure Prank!
English to Bengali Dictionary 2.0
বাংলা অভিধান ইংরেজি Free English - Bengali Dictionary withofflinedatabase containing more than 50000 definitions. Easy to useandfast application. You can search using English or Bengalikeywords. The application is also optimized for tablet use. Youalsohave the option to Bookmark your favorite translations forfastreference. Or you can keep track of all your previous entriesfromthe ‘History’ tab. The best thing about Bengali Dictionary isthatit works offline! You don’t need any Internet connection torunthis. Hence it is perfect for your trips or when no dataconnectionis available. Features - FREE English to BengaliDictionary has50,000 words. - Saves the words in history which yousearch out. -Saves the words which you make it favorite - You canshare the wordand meaning on social media like Facebook, Twitter,Google plus andalso on SMS. - Search the English word and it willdisplay itsBengali translation. - "Search Options" feature thathelp to searchthe word "Starting" with searching word or "Ending"with searchingword or "Containing" the searching word. - Clearhistory option. -Clear favorite option. - No need of Internet. Workoffline withoutusing Internet. Please rate this app and send usyour lovelyreviews if you like our app or found it useful. Andforward us allyour complaints and report your bugs to us by email.Thank you allfor the love and admiration. Tag: Bengali, Dictionary,English


Mapping your community helps demonstrate that “Another World” is not only possible, it already exists. New economy projects are mostly unconnected, so each one struggles alone rather than supporting each other and even in small towns, people often don't know what's happening in their own backyards. Mapping also can become a community organizing tool – uncovering a reservoir of social assets even in the poorest neighborhoods, which can seed mutual aid and cooperative business ideas to fill in the gaps. USSEN has a list of communities that have done independent mapping projects, each using its own methodology, criteria, platform and map name.
When thinking of entities to fill your map, consider if they incorporate any solidarity economy principles: solidarity, mutualism, cooperation, equity, social and environmental prioritization, democracy, pluralism, and grassroots driven. Most groups will not meet all these criteria, but these principles leave something to aspire and work towards. You may want to bring in local organizations at some point to get a broader perspective and to encourage participation.
Benefits of mapping
- Make projects more visible to each other and the public — free advertising!
- Community assessment of strengths, gaps, connections and development of new project ideas.
- Movement and regional community-building by connecting SE entities, social movements, and activists through social networking for developing mutual support and common infrastructure.
- Facilitate the creation of viable solidarity economy supply chains that link SE producers, distributors, and finance.
- Foundation for research to make the case for allocating resources and policies to support the solidarity economy.
Within the US, there are many examples of simple maps, some just beginning:
- W. Massachusetts Solidarity Economy Map
- Solidarity NYC Map
- Philadelphia Solidarity Economy Map
- Boston Area Solidarity Economy Map
- Jersey Shore Neighborhood Cooperative Map
- Ann Arbor Sharing Economy Map
- Detroit Solidarity Economy Map
- Chicago Solidarity Economy Map
- Boulder Sharing Economy Map
- This is What Democracy in Ohio Looks Like: Ohio's Democratic/Self-Determination "Infrastructure" (a directory not yet in a map format)
How to Make a Map
Sometimes mapping starts with a curious individual or a small group of activists. However, it's best if the map involve the broader community at some point. A community survey can collect information to populate the map in a balanced and diverse way. This may help you figure out what your geographic boundaries are, who to include in the map, as well as what to name it.
There are many tools to choose from if you are tech-savy, like Open Street Map wiki, May First, OpenLayers, or Drupal. If you're a technological novice like me, I suggest Google Maps – this also allows open, low tech participation, which has it's own challenge of self-selection. You may be able to interchange this data using its KMXL feature.
If you've already got a map for your area, it may be open to collaboration or closed, in which case you will need to contact the map maker to add listings. To make a new Google Map for an unmapped region, follow these instructions:
Create a map: Log into any Gmail-based account and go to Google Maps. Click on “My Places”, then “Create Map” and enter a title and description for the map. Google will walk you through part of this process in its Interactive Tutorial. When you're finished, click “Save,” “Done,” then “Edit.” This map will always show up now in My Places. [image_4_small_right]
Populate the map: Search for an address or organization. When found, click "Save to map" in the left column drop down menu next to the entity or in the pop up box. Search by keywords for entities you don't already know by name such as: collective, coop, co-op, cooperative, union, social, green, garden, farm, community, cohousing, trust, housing, worker, market, justice, development, coworking, library, share, sharing, free, space, swap, eco, etc. There may already be separate maps for some of these groups, like a map of all community gardens in your area, which you can import to this map. For entities without a public address or a physical address, you may want to enter the address of a meeting or related location, then edit the title with their name, delete the physical address, and add a URL.
Edit a listing: Click "view map" link on the tan bar at the top of the map or go back to the map link through the My Places tab. On the left hand side you will see a red bar that says "EDIT", click that and then click on the listing in the left column or the icon on the map. A white space will open up where you can enter the entity name in the title bar and put a URL, contact info or short blurb in the description area below. To make the map more visually organized, click on the blue dot icon in the edit box and it will open a window with new icons to represent sectors.
Share it! Make sure you mark it Public, not Unlisted. If you want it open to public participation or to add specific collaborators, click on “Collaborate”. Contact the US Solidarity Economy Network to add your map to the US list. Email the link to local organizations, media and friends and post on Shareable's Facebook page.
Sample types of solidarity economy entities:
Finance: lending circles, microfinance and local investment, community crowdfunding, community supported agriculture, participatory budgeting, community currencies, credit unions, socially responsible investing
Production: energy coops, producer coops, community gardens, coworking, urban farms, open source projects, hacker spaces, maker spaces, art collectives
Land/housing: community land trusts, intentional communities, cohousing, housing coops, open public spaces
Services: worker coops, health care collectives, bike kitchens, childcare collectives, timebanks, education co-ops, free skools, community owned media, infoshops, cooperative insurance
Distribution: food co-ops, farmer's markets, free libraries, lending libraries, barter markets, free cycle, free stores, really really free markets, free food sharing, and pantries
Social and environmental justice organizations: unions, worker support organizations, social justice nonprofits, environmental nonprofits, small business development organizations, triple bottom line and Bcorp businesses.
Let me know in comments if you know of other SE maps or mapping tools. Only one question remains, when are you going to map your community?


Killer Bees, Team 33
Killer bees are deadly because of their stingers. Much the same way, this team's robot would be far less potent without its "stinger," a metal apparatus the team added to help the bot balance on the bridge. By lowering the stinger to the ground, the drivers can take some of the weight off the teetering bridge and keep the robot stable, team member Nick Finn says.
Many robots at the championship sported similar devices. Some teams also called them stingers or even painted the word "stinger" on them, but Finn says the idea originated with the Killer Bees. "We were the first team to have something like this in the beginning of the competition," he says, referring to his team's first tournament in March at Kettering University in Flint, Mich. Their invention won them the Industrial Design Award at the championship.
The Killer Bees' robot, named Buzz XVII, also boasts a drop-down, multipurpose collector. The collector uses pulleys to pull in basketballs, lowers a bridge so the robot can mount it, and helps stabilize a bridge when a partner robot is trying to balance. Its rounded fins help the robot glide over the mid-court barrier.


Most of you probably already know that diet soda isn’t good for you because, collectively, artificial sweeteners are associated with leukemia, brain tumors, breast cancer, bladder cancer, uterine and ovarian cancer, skin cancer, immune dysfunction, DNA damage, preterm delivery, and neurological problems.
But, in the moment, sometimes you just want a soda without all the extra calories. I get it. Unfortunately, diet sodas aren’t even good for your waistline. Bizarrely enough, it turns out diet soda can still make you fat.
At first, this makes no sense — glucose (sugar) can get directly converted into triglycerides which get stored as fat, but artificial sweeteners cannot. It looks like the connection between your weight and artificial sweeteners has to do with your microbiome—the good probiotics in your gut.
Your Gut Flora and Your Weight
The Personalized Nutrition Project is a study which (among other things) correlated artificial sweetener consumption with individual gut flora populations. The study found that after even a week of artificial sweetener consumption, the bacterial configurations in the participants’ guts had changed, and they started to demonstrate signs of insulin resistance.
In fact, this study from the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that over a period of nine years, diet soda intake corresponded to three times the abdominal fat compared to non-diet soda drinkers. There’s another implication here too, and that is that probiotics are a good addition to a weight loss regime.
Artificial Sweeteners and Leptin
Another potential reason for the connection of artificial sweeteners and weight gain may be that, while sugar has calories and therefore triggers the release of the ‘satiety’ hormone leptin (which tells your body you’re full and to stop eating), artificial sweeteners will stimulate the receptors in your tongue and your brain that say you’re eating something sweet, without the caloric payload.
This does two things:
- It trains you to crave sweeter treats. This is because artificial sweeteners are between 300-600 times sweeter than sugar.
- It lowers the body’s satiety response to sweetness. When sugar-like substances don’t sustain us, our bodies adapt, lowering the release of leptin.
You’re not doing your weight a favor with the diet sodas… plus they’re laden with phosphoric acid, which acidifies your body and strips minerals from your bones, as well as artificial colors and flavors.
If you’re looking to wean off a bad habit, you might try health food alternative sodas such as Zevia (which still has artificial colors and chemicals in it, but isn’t as bad), or better yet, switch to fruit juice (which you can dilute with carbonated water if you’re craving the fizz), diluting it more and more over time to cut the excess sugar. Or just go straight to flavored carbonated water (I love the Trader Joe’s brand) or to iced tea.


I. The Trolley Problem
Much has been written about the ethical problems with driverless cars, but in most of those writings the emphasis is on a specific hypothetical “Trolley Problem” scenario where the car must decide between swerving to avoid a crash that would be fatal to the passenger, or allowing the passenger to die so that someone else (e.g. a pedestrian) is not killed.
The Trolley Problem itself is many decades old and ethicists are still not close to settling it. There’s no good reason why recasting it with driverless cars will suddenly inspire a solution. Besides, people die in car crashes every day, in situations of much greater ethical clarity; it doesn’t nudge our answer to the question “should we drive cars?”
Furthermore, the driverless car Trolley Problem scenario is unlikely to happen much, and even then it can be somewhat mitigated with more technology: better sensors to avoid road hazards, signage or barriers to limit pedestrian road access, better airbags, better brakes, etc. So what other, deeper ethical issues are raised by driverless cars?
II. Driverful and driverless cars cannot coexist
Research suggests that driverless cars are safer than human-operated cars–so long as the driverless cars are interacting only with other driverless cars. But when human drivers have to interact with driverless cars, that is the least safe scenario: human drivers have trouble “reading” driverless cars, and can get spooked by them, leading to accidents.
This means if driverless cars come into regular use, they may need to be mandated, at the exclusion of human-operated cars, at least within certain zones. For people living within those zones, the rule will be “driverless car or no car.”
III. “Ours,” not “yours”
Now consider the economics of owning a driverless car. The car itself will be expensive. While you are not driving it, a normal car is sitting in your driveway or in a parking space basically just leaking value and gathering rust. A driverless car, on the other hand, could be out acting like a taxi, making you money and helping to pay for itself.
Turning your driverless car into a taxi would require after-market alterations, some virtual hailing and payment services, and some additional legal and tax work, all with additional price tags. Driverless car manufacturers or dealers might anticipate the demand for this and price it into the vehicles as a standard feature package.
This creates a strong incentive for people who buy driverless cars to essentially start their own cab companies. Actual cab companies would probably just beat them to the punch, so long as unions don’t get involved (though if cab companies with actual unionized drivers have trouble competing with Uber it’s not clear how they could possibly compete with Ace Driverless Taxi Service).
So in a place where driverless cars are the only cars allowed, and where owning a driverless car has considerably more up-front costs than car ownership does now, the default way for most people to get around will be by hailing a driverless cab.
IV. Cascading effects – family impact example
A generation of DOD (driverless-on-demand) and you will see suburban and exurban homes built without garages, while new development will continue to be designed around cars. That will cement the DOD arrangement, because it will become even more costly to be one of those weirdos who wants a house with a garage, but it will also become even more costly to be one of those weirdos who walks or rides a bike places.
Living without a family vehicle in a city designed for cars means that having a family will become more costly too. Driverless cars might be built with fold-out kids’ seats like the newer Dodge Grand Caravans have, but anyone who has young kids and a car knows that the car is also a portable storage facility for toys, changing supplies, spare clothes, a stroller, and bunch of other things that would be a pain to lug in and out of the DOD car every time.
Having kids might therefore mean either putting up with a bigger hassle each time you travel, or having to shell out for your own driverless car–no more getting off easy with a used minivan or SUV. This adds up to one more excuse on the “it’s too expensive to have kids these days” pile, and as a result we might see lower fertility rates (at least among people who are future-oriented and careful with their finances).
V. The end of something beautiful
There’s something about being a teenager, craving freedom, learning to drive, and finally getting your license that is an essential part of the American experience. Another part of that experience being able to occasionally get out on the open road and command the movements of a machine that can take you across the continent. And there’s also something about when the machine is yours, putting the hood up and tinkering with it, changing its brakes and oil, even vacuuming it and washing it that millions of Americans find intoxicating and are able to bond over.
OK, maybe driverless cars will bring their own set of unique rituals and beautiful experiences and rites of passage that we can find culturally unifying. (Sure, maybe.) But driverless cars definitely spell death for driverful cars as an institution. This means the death of classic cars too. You can’t have classic cars without having cars that regular people can drive and own and maintain.
If you’ve never been to a classic car show, I highly recommend it. Sometimes they are quasi-spontaneous, so that one day there will simply be a few dozen spectacularly well-maintained half-a-century-old cars sitting one after the other in a parking lot as you pass by. Take a stroll through one of those shows. Talk to the owners. Look at those cars, their shapes and lines, the way they were built. With permission from the owners, feel some of the materials with your hand. When people say “They don’t make’em like they used to,” those aren’t hollow words. The whole character of those cars is different. It would be a tragedy to lose that piece of Americana or relegate it to museums.
In the end we are faced with a kind of Trolley Problem after all. Driverless cars do offer their advantages–any avid reader who has to drive places can understand that. By steering our technology adoption choices in that direction we assure ourselves some convenience, some safety, some freed-up time to be productive or to rest, maybe even some savings per mile traveled (averaged over our lifetimes at least). But is it worth what we would give up?


Published May 3, 2018
“You see that rift on the other side, right there at the base of the mountain?” Project Manager of Þingvellir National Park Torfi Stefán Jónsson is pointing at the chain of mountains hiding behind heavy clouds 7km away from us. “That marks the beginning of another tectonic plate, which is not the Eurasian one, but an intermediate plate that comes in between,” Torfi explains. “It makes our work more difficult to have to explain it that way!”
Torfi has taken it upon himself to accompany us on a walk around Þingvellir National Park for the day, to share his vast knowledge of history and, hopefully, to clear out some myths that we seem to hold about the Park. As we stand at the P1 view point, perched right at the fissure Almannagjá, which marks the end of the North American tectonic plate, we can see the entire valley stretch below us. The vast, glimmering waters of lake Þingvallavatn sparkle placidly in the distance, while groups of tourists walk orderly along the marked wooden path.
“You know, the theory of the tectonic plates wasn’t established properly until the 1960s, so until then Þingvellir was thought to be simply a magnificent place with great history in a beautiful landscape,” Torfi explains as we move along the metal platform. “And that’s actually the reason why the place finally went under UNESCO—for its historical relevance.”
Þingvellir was in fact the site of Iceland’s first parliamentary assembly in 930. “This was a tradition that settlers brought with them from Scandinavia and the British Islands,” Torfi explains. “During these assembly people came together to agree on laws and rules of society.”
Unfortunately, Icelanders don’t have much documentation to help them with their speculations, but according to Torfi it’s not hard to figure out how assemblies took place. A group of 147, comprised by the chieftains, called Goðar, and their assistants, met at the court of law to discuss law and justice. The rock of Lögberg, which stands meters away from us facing the rising sun in the East and marked by a stark white flag pole, was a good spot for public speakers to speak out from. Below Almannagjá stood the camping grounds, right at the shore of Þingvallavatn, which constituted a good source of food and water for all those who came to Þingvellir during the assemblies.
“Remember that the population is around 50 thousands at this point, between 930 and 1260,” Torfi says walking down the platform. “Those 150 people sitting the court are part of it, butaround 500 people always came to the assembly if they had things to do or people to see!”
As we take step on the main path to walk down Almannagjá, it’s not hard to imagine the hoard of people standing below this majestic black wall, waiting to hear the decisions that would potentially change their life forever. And what a magnificent spot they chose to do so.
If you want to check out Þingvellir National Park during your stay in Iceland, Reykjavík Sightseeing offers a variety of tours depending on your budget and schedule. Check out their website!
Let’s hear it from you!
How do you like Iceland? “We love it,” Javier says, turning to his girlfriend who is here with him. “It’s our first time in Iceland and we really love it.”
What have you done so far? “We’re actually at the end of the trip right now,” Javier explains. “We did the Ring Road, so we drove all along Road 1 and we got to see the entire island.”
What has been your favourite part of the trip? “I would say definitely the North,” Javier says with a smile. “You can see volcanoes up there, and a lot of nature… it just was really, really cool.”
What did you think of Þingvellir National Park? “It’s truly beautiful, even when there are a lot of people and tourist like today,” Javier explains. “When you get out of Reykjavik there are always less people anyway. The nature is empty and solitary, and that’s really nice.”
What brought you to Iceland? “My girlfriend lives here, so I’m visiting her for four days!”
What have you seen so far? “It’s actually my first time seeing the countryside,” Elinor says. “So far I’ve seen the golden circle, the Gullfoss waterfalls and then yesterday we went to the Blue Lagoon. It’s just awesome.”
What is your favourite part of the trip so far? “I think the nature is so stunning,” Elinor explains. “But the people are even better. They’re so welcoming and nice. For instance, I went to a party with my girlfriend yesterday, and the people were just so welcoming and friendly the entire evening.”
What did you think of the National Park? “It’s so stunning,” Elinor says. “We actually got here pretty early, so we were here when the sun was coming up and…wow. The colours on the lake, on the mountains and on the snow were incredible. The whole atmosphere was just magical.”
So was it just as you expected? “No, it was definitely better,” Elinor explains with a smile. “I knew some things about it because my mother lived here in the Eighties and she had told me stories about living in the countryside and seeing the Northern Lights. So I’ve always had a picture of what it looked like, and of what it felt like staying here but this is something else. It’s just so much better.”
Meet a local!
Name: Torfi Stefán Jónsson
Occupation: “I’m a teacher and a historian, and I cover the position of Project Manager for the National Park,” Torfi explains. “My main job is to guide groups around the Park. I mainly take care of school groups, for example from the University, but I also step in when there are public or semi public group coming to see the place.”
How long have you worked for the National Park? “I began as a summer employee in 2006 and my last summer as summer ranger was 2014,” Torfi explains. “In that time I had started teaching in elementary school, but then the Park needed extra workforce so they grabbed me from teaching and put me here as a full time employee to take care of the educational department.”
What’s your favourite thing about the job? “There is something about working here in different seasons, to see the beauty or even the beast arise at different times of year,” Torfi says looking around. “It’s just interesting to see how the place changes, how it evolves over the years.”
Being out in nature, however, isn’t the only aspect of his job that appeals to Torfi. Having been a teacher for years, he enjoys sharing his knowledge about the park with young, curious students who come by the park.
“I like teaching, although I didn’t like giving grades, so here I’m still doing the same,” he explains, smiling. “But if in class you tend to repeat the same things, here there is always something new. You never know what’s happening, every day. You arrive, you have a plan and then the plan goes out the window. It can be both frustrating sometimes, but it’s also very fun!”
What are the main challenges rangers face when it comes to protecting the Park? “Something to think about when dealing with mass tourism is how to somehow keep the place intact while still not interfering with the view and the nature too much,” Torfi explains.“In 2013 we started putting up these fences, which constitute a nice solution, as they’re still in line with the environment. They don’t catch the eye too much.”
And in the future? “We’ll continue to put more fences, as whenever this line ends, people start going around it,” Torfi says with a sigh. “But we must also think about designing signs that warn tourists about the vulnerability of the area but that are less invasive than this white ones we’ve got now. And that’s kind of a headache question.”


New UNDP study recommends reforms to prevent Asia electoral violence
Bangkok — Countries in Asia are still at risk of electoral violence which can be driven by real and perceived fraud, corruption, or patronage, according to a new study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“The mere suspicion or allegation of fraud is often enough, in democracies where there is a lack of confidence in authorities, for people to react violently,” says the study, a 20-page investigation of electoral processes in seven countries of South and South East Asia.
Understanding Electoral Violence in Asia studies electoral processes in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand, drawing lessons and making policy-, legislative- and institutional-level recommendations to reduce the risk of electoral violence.
In a number of cases political parties and political party supporters were the main instigators of physical violence, says the report, citing several types of groups and organizations that play key roles in either preventing or perpetuating electoral violence.
The study points to the design of political systems, the mandate and powers of electoral laws and election monitoring as key preventive measures. The role of civic education, media and civil society in informing voters also helps to reduce the likelihood of election-related violence.
Another “contributing factor in election order or disorder is the state itself,” says the report. “In instances where security forces are seen to be partisan or corrupt there is a higher chance that they will be purveyors of violence rather than protectors of peace.”
In addition, when media is controlled by special interests it can have a “destructive role in promoting narrow interests, inflammatory political rhetoric and retarding democratic processes,” says the report.
Key to prevention of electoral violence is the strengthening of election credibility, the report concludes. “Political parties have a crucial role to play in countries where electoral fraud and violence have become institutionalized.”
Among the measures recommended to strengthen election credibility are strong oversight and enforcement powers for election commissions in, for example, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, and wide-reaching dispute resolution mechanisms in, for example, Indonesia and Thailand.
Systems to track party political spending, for example in Nepal, should also be put in place, as well as ensuring perpetrators of electoral violence in, for example, the Philippines, are brought to justice.
The report can be downloaded.
+66 8 1 918 1564
In New York:


European landfill ban could slash greenhouse gases by 78 million tonnes
A European-wide landfill ban could cut 78 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, according to a new report from the European Environment Agency.
The study Waste opportunities – past and future climate benefits from better municipal waste management in Europe states there is a huge opportunity to cut the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from waste management practices, but European countries are not doing enough to embrace this.
Waste volumes continue to rise across the EU and could reach 558 kg per person by 2020 unless effective policies are put in place to reduce waste generation, the report warns. It takes a life-cycle approach to calculating emissions from waste, considering all direct emissions from municipal solid waste during processing and transport.
It also accounts for emissions that are avoided in other parts of the economy – for example, accounting for the reduction of emissions when fossil fuels are displaced by energy recovered from waste.
The study presents different scenarios for 2020, which illustrate that the potential for greenhouse gas savings largely depends on how countries implement EU waste policies, in particular whether they meet the EU Landfill Directive targets.
In a business-as-usual scenario, net greenhouse gas emissions from municipal waste management would be cut by 44 million tonnes until 2020, compared to 2008. The main factors responsible for this improvement are reduced methane emissions from landfill and increased avoided emissions through recycling.
If all countries fully meet the Landfill Directive’s waste diversion targets, potential life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from municipal waste management in 2020 could be cut by 62 million tonnes.
A complete ban on landfilling could cut emissions even further, reducing potential net emissions from waste management in 2020 by 78 million tonnes compared to 2008.
© Faversham House Ltd 2022 edie news articles may be copied or forwarded for individual use only. No other reproduction or distribution is permitted without prior written consent.


The Wonders of Wood
Discipline Director Andrew Wylie specialises in engineering with timber and timber hybrids. With the recent rise of timber hybrid construction he explains what it is about timber that makes him so keen on championing its use in construction.
One of the things I love most about building with timber is how interesting the resulting buildings can be, creating such exciting forms. One of the first timber buildings that grabbed my attention was the Weald and Downland Gridshell building in West Sussex, shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2002. It was the first gridshell building of its type to be built in Britain, and was designed by BuroHappold and Edward Cullinan Architects, not long before I joined the firm. Thinking back, it probably played an important part in making me keen to work here.
I have a long interest in timber construction – it was actually the subject of my Masters thesis some time ago. Wood is a product that has been used successfully for centuries but, but with the rise of steel and concrete technology it fell out of favour as a mainstream construction material, given that steel and concrete were better at addressing fire and durability challenges.
Now, though, we know that timber has far greater potential. There’s more to timber than chopping down a tree and milling it into simple stick elements. Knowledgeable design and new timber products make it possible to overcome challenges such as rotting and combustibility. Timber can be processed to make products that are really reliable for construction: hybrid products like cross-laminated and glue-laminated timber.
We think of these as fairly modern products, but glue-laminated timber was first used back in 1866 – on the sports hall at King Edward’s College, Southampton. It didn’t really take off until the late 20th century. Cross-laminated timber has come into its own more recently, in the past 10 years or so.
Combining materials to get the result you’re after is an old idea – think of cob walls and masonry-panelled buildings. But as material suppliers have specialised in single materials, say steel production, there has been a tendency – certainly in the UK construction industry – to be a bit blinkered and build with single materials. For hybrids to become a real possibility, contractors and suppliers have to be prepared to coordinate construction in multiple structural materials. As clients become more aware of the need to reduce carbon use, developing more of a conscience about sustainability and carbon consumption, we’re being asked to do more and more work with timber. We are one of relatively few firms with experienced timber engineers, so we’re able to use our knowledge and expertise to work with architects to realise clients’ dreams, even if architects haven’t used timber before. Designing and building with timber doesn’t have to be scary and challenging.
Timber enables us to design incredible, iconic timber constructions that make the most of the unique features of wood – for example, the Savill Building in Windsor Great Park and the Stihl Walkway at Westonbirt Arboretum. But it also has practical uses and could be used a lot more. When we worked on the refurbishment of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, the use of timber provided an answer to a particular challenge. The foundations were tricky to build, so finding a lighter way to build was transformative. Using a steel-frame with cross-laminated timber was lighter and cheaper, too.
What started as niche is becoming more mainstream. In fact, I believe it could be taken further: this type of solution could and should be consider for all build types and scales. At BuroHappold, we are always keen to pursue new challenges, and timber is one of the areas in which engineering structures can push boundaries.
“I’m thrilled that our Tree Management Centre for Westonbirt Arboretum won three RIBA Awards: this is a testament to a remarkable project. The engineering by BuroHappold was deceptively complex: the main timber structural members are possibly the biggest ever in UK construction (certainly for 150 years), and very few engineers have the nous like Andrew Wylie and Graham Clarke to understand how to use the unpredictable, ungraded, unprocessed, untreated timber directly from site. The Sustainability Award that we won is testament to their thinking.”
Piers Taylor – Invisible Studio
A lot of exciting things are happening in timber engineering now. One of my favourite recent projects was the Wolfson Tree Management Centre at Westonbirt Arboretum. The Wolfson was built entirely from timber available at Westonbirt, and was processed on site – a green solution. As Corsican Pines were the trees being harvested at that point, they were the trees we used for the construction. They influenced the shape of the building and the way in which it was engineered. A rather lovely feature is the way the specimen numbers (all trees in the Arboretum are numbered) have been incorporated into the Wolfson.”
Original link - www.burohappold.com


Lactose intolerance means that you cannot digest foods with lactose in them. Lactose is the sugar found in milk and foods made with milk. After eating foods with lactose in them, you may feel sick to your stomach. You may also have
- Swelling in your stomach
Your doctor may do a blood, breath or stool test to find out if your problems are due to lactose intolerance.
Lactose intolerance is not serious. Eating less food with lactose, or using pills or drops to help you digest lactose usually helps. You may need to take a calcium supplement if you don't get enough of it from your diet, since milk and foods made with milk are the most common source of calcium for most people.
NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
- Dairy Dilemma: Are You Getting Enough Calcium? (National Institutes of Health)
- Food Intolerance vs. Food Allergy: What's the Difference? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
- Milk Allergy (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
- What FDA Learned About Dark Chocolate and Milk Allergies (Food and Drug Administration) Also in Spanish
- What People with Lactose Intolerance Need to Know about Osteoporosis (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)
- lactose intolerance: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Lactose Intolerance (National Institutes of Health)
Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- Article: LACTOSE TOLERANCE AND RISK OF MULTIFACTORIAL DISEASES ON THE EXAMPLE OF...
- Article: The role of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and false positive diagnosis...
- Article: New insights into the molecular basis of lactase non-persistence/persistence: a brief...
- Lactose Intolerance -- see more articles


Joseph Mallord William Turner (c. 1775–1851), an English painter usually known for bright, colorful and picturesque landscapes, decided on a darker theme for this painting, known as the Evening of the Deluge. It was one of several scenes he painted based on the Biblical story of the Great Flood, serving as one entry in a series of paintings that captured moments before, during, and after the apocalyptic flood occurred. In this particular painting, Evening of the Deluge, the light is starting to be blotted out by the clouds, and ghostly outlines of animals and people can be seen through the downpouring rain and the rising waters. The inspiration for Turner’s series on the Deluge can be found in the Book of Genesis, which contains the famous story of Noah and the Ark:
“For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark” (Genesis 7: 17-23, NIV translation).
Such is the scene that was re-created in the painting above. Other artworks in Joseph Mallord William Turner’s series on the flood included The Deluge and Morning After the Deluge. Curiously, the paintings were created, or at least exhibited decades apart. The Deluge, the only one of the series to feature clear and up-close human figures, was unveiled around 1805, whereas the more abstract and obscure Evening and Morning paintings were exhibited in 1843.
Written by C. Keith Hansley


With summer upon us, Humane Society International reminds people to start thinking about how the warm weather will impact pets. Whether taking a walk, a drive or just hanging out in the backyard, there are extra precautions that people can take to keep their four-legged family members happy and safe.
Beat the heat
Never leave a pet unattended in the car on a warm or sunny day. Cars quickly heat up to a dangerous temperature, even with the window slightly open.
When taking a dog for a walk on a hot day, plan for shorter walks midday, when temperatures peak, and longer walks in the morning and evening when it’s cooler. Hot sidewalks can burn the pads on a dog’s paws, so walk on the grass when possible.
Never leave a dog outdoors unattended on a chain or tether. Long-term chaining during the hot summer months can result in countless insect bites, dehydration and heat stroke. Even short-term unattended tethering can pose risks such as theft or attacks by people or animals.
The summer months are the peak season for dog bites because so many kids and dogs are playing outside. Training, socialization and dog spaying or neutering a dog can reduce the risk of dog bites. Kids can learn to stay safe through good manners around pets and humane education.
Be sure to keep pets up-to-date on their vaccinations and preventative medications. Fleas and ticks stay busy in warm weather and summer is also the prime time for heartworms. Check with a veterinarian about the best way to keep pets healthy. Consulte con un veterinario acerca de la mejor forma de mantener a las mascotas sanas.
Keep cats indoors to keep them safe. Cars, other pets and wild animals can all pose risks to cats’ safety. By providing playtime, cat trees and other enrichment, a cat will be happy and content to stay indoors.
Beware of cocoa mulch and other gardening products. Cocoa mulch can be deadly if ingested and has an appetizing scent to some animals. Pesticides, fertilizers and other harsh chemicals can also be quickly fatal if ingested.
When driving with pets, be sure to keep them properly restrained and inside the vehicle. Special seatbelts and secured carriers can protect pets during accidents and prevent them from distracting the driver. The back of a pick-up truck is never a safe place for a pet to ride.
Don’t forget about the little guys
Pet rabbits should be kept indoors because they don’t tolerate heat well. Keeping a rabbit indoors will also provide protection from predators who might try to attack a rabbit in an outdoor hutch.
Be mindful of pets around our wild neighbors. When going for walks or playing in a fenced yard, don’t allow pets to harass birds, rabbits, squirrels or other wild animals.


New Resources for Cape Verde
The archipelago of Cape Verde became a Portuguese colony in 1462. A joint struggle for the liberation of Cape Verde and the mainland colony of Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau) began. Independence was achieved in 1975 with proposed union to the new state of Guinea-Bissau. In 1981 multi-party democracy was introduced to Cape Verde.
Find out more about Cape Verde with this two page timeline:
More on Cape Verde
• Map of Cape Verde
Rhodesia once again falls under British rule after the country's government voted itself out of office through the Constitution of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Bill. Ian Smith's government had announced a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965, heralding 14 years of white settler-rule. The end of UDI was the subject of a whites-only referendum held in January 1979, ahead of elections for a transitional government which brought Josiah Zion Gumede of the United African National Congress (UANC) into power.
The mainland of Tanzania became a German colony called Tanganyika in 1884 whilst the Sultanate of Zanzibar became a British Protectorate in 1890. Tanganyika became a British mandated territory in 1918 and achieved independence in 1961. In 1963 Zanzibar achieved independence, and a year later formed a union with Tanganyika under the new name of Tanzania.
Félix Houphouët-Boigny was the first president of Côte d'Ivoire, from 6 August 1960 until his death in office. He was a relatively paternal ruler who helped bring a sound economy and political stability to the country. Closely tied to US interests in the Cold War, Houphouët-Boigny severed ties with the Soviet Union in 1969 (they were rekindled in 1986), and refused to recognize China. Towards the end of his rule, conditions started to deteriorate, and rumors spread about the diversion of funds to private accounts. After Houphouët-Boigny's death, the country rapidly became unstable, suffered a couple of coup d'etats before civil war erupted in 2002.
Also see Quotes by Félix Houphouët-Boigny.
Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, Nobel Laureate, and world acclaimed international statesman, has died at home in Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa. He had been receiving medical care for a lung infection at home after several months in hospital.
Nelson Mandela had been the figurehead of South Africa's transition to black-majority rule, taking the post of president after the 1994 elections. He retired from public life ten years ago.
Tributes have been expressed around the world by International Statesmen, African Presidents, fellow South Africans, and the odd Celebrity. Find what has been said: The World Remembers Nelson Mandela
The cities of Melilla and Ceuta had been Spanish territory since 1497 and 1580 respectively, the latter handed over by Portugal. With the signing of the Treaty of Fez in March 1912, the sovereignty of the majority of Morocco passed to France, which declared the country a protectorate (this was part of a series of international agreements which saw recognition of French and Spanish territories in West Africa and the creation of a German colony Kamerun). A further agreement signed on 27 November 1912 between Spain and France established a Spanish Protectorate over the northern coastal zone which surrounded and joined Melilla and Ceuta, as well as Ifni on the Atlantic coast, and Tangiers (which became an International Zone in 1923).
In 1956 when French Morocco gained independence, Spain surrendered the majority of it's occupied territory - but not Ceuta, Melilla, Ifni, and Tarfaya. Tarfaya was prised back from Spain by Morocco in 1958, and Ifni followed in 1969. Spain, however, considers the cities of Melilla and Ceuta to be part of Spain proper and has refused Moroccan demands to return them.
New Resources for Mozambique
From the sixteenth century the Portuguese traded along the coast for gold, ivory, and slaves. Mozambique was made a Portuguese colony in 1752, with large tracts of land run by private companies. A war for liberation was started by FRELIMO in 1964 which ultimately led to independence in 1975. The civil war, however, continued into the 90's.
Find out more with the final two parts now added to the seven part timeline below
Timeline of Mozambique
• Part 1: From Prehistory to the Start of the 19th Century
• Part 2: From Start of the 19th Century to Founding of FRELIMO (25 June 1962)
• Part 3: From Founding of FRELIMO (25 June 1962) to FRELIMO Adopts Marxist-Leninist policies (March 1977)
• Part 4: From FRELIMO Adopts Marxist-Leninist Policies (March 1977) to Death of President Samora Machel (19 October 1986)
• Part 5: From Death of President Samora Machel (19 October 1986) to FRELIMO Drops Maxist-Leninist Policy (30 July 1989)
• Part 6: From FRELIMO Drops Maxist-Leninist Policy (30 July 1989) to Assassination of Carlos Cardoso (22 November 2000)
• Part 7: From Assassination of Carlos Cardoso (22 November 2000) to Present Day
From the diary of Howard Carter, 26 November 1922:
"After clearing 9 metres of the descending passage, in about the middle of the afternoon, we came upon a second sealed doorway ... The seal impressions were of Tutankhamun and of the Royal Necropolis, but not in any way so clear as those on the first doorway. The entrance and passage both in plan and in style resembled almost to measurement the tomb containing the cache of Akhenaten discovered by Davis in the very near vicinity; which seemed to substantiate our first conjecture that we had found a cache.Read More...


The Rebuild by Design Hurricane Sandy Design Competition changed the way the federal government responds to disaster and became the model now used in other regions to prepare communities for future uncertainties. Its success has also inspired other efforts. In 2014, President Obama launched the National Disaster Resilience Competition, which awarded $1 billion to 13 cities and states across the country to fund resilience-building projects. Internationally, The Rockefeller Foundation, in partnership with the USAID and The Swedish International Development Agency, developed the Global Partnership for Resilience based on the Rebuild by Design competition model and collaborative approach. The competition model’s success also led to the formation of the Rebuild by Design organization, which is helping cities and communities around the globe become more resilient through collaborative research and design.
Starting in 2015, a group of forward-thinking regional leaders began to develop a plan for a proactive regional design challenge modeled after Rebuild’s Hurricane Sandy Competition. The resilience plans developed in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley as part of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities effort identified a need for greater regional collaboration to address climate adaptation – despite the looming threat of climate change, there was no comprehensive regional plan to deal with the sea level in the Bay Area. The unique hydrology of the Bay warranted the type of collaboration the design challenge could facilitate, as shoreline protections in one area of the Bay could increase sea levels or wave action in another. Collaboration on this scale could help illuminate the need for each county to consider the impacts of their decisions on the other communities that share the shoreline. With hundreds of jurisdictions and countless communities sharing the shoreline, there was ample need to catalyze and inspire collaboration.


TUESDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) -- Greater availability of neurosurgeons could reduce the number of people who die from brain injuries suffered in traffic crashes, according to a new study.
Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death in the United States among people 34 years old and younger. Traumatic brain injury is the primary cause of death among people injured in car accidents; treatment of brain injuries is generally handled by neurosurgeons.
In this study, Dr. Atman Desai and colleagues from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., examined data from more than 3,100 rural and urban counties across the United States between 2004 and 2006. The average rate of car-crash-related deaths, they found, was 226 per 1 million people.
The largest number of neurosurgeons in a county was 372, the researchers discovered, but most counties had no such doctors.
The researchers calculated that an increase of one neurosurgeon per 1 million people would lead to between one and two fewer deaths from car accidents per 1 million people. This was true whether the county was rural or urban.
To achieve the same reduction in deaths would require an additional 33 primary care doctors or an additional six general surgeons per 1 million people, the researchers said.
The findings indicate that the availability of local neurosurgeons may improve a person's chances of surviving a car crash, and suggest the need to encourage medical students to choose neurosurgery as a career, the researchers concluded.
The study was published online July 24 in the Journal of Neurosurgery.
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about traumatic brain injury.
SOURCE: Journal of Neurosurgery, news release, July 24, 2012
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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The excavated remains of Arghishtihinili (Ancient Armavir) spread over two volcanic hills and the intervening ridge which rise out of the river plain. Site of an Armenian capital city in antiquity, the ruins are now a series of low stone walls and decaying mudbrick, strewn with ancient pottery fragments and the occasional ancient coin. On the S edge of Nor Armavir, a paved road runs E to the unprepossessing chapel and pilgrimage site of S. Davit, rebuilt in 1833 on a foundation of ancient boulders. The entire ridge above the church is occupied by the massive walls of the Urartian city of Argishtihinili, founded ca. 776 BC by Argishti I, who added the Arax valley and much of the rest of modern Armenia to his empire based near Lake Van. A cuneiform inscription discovered at the site says, "For the greatness of god Khaldi, Argishti son of Menua, speaks. I built a majestic fortress and gave it a name from my own, Argishtihinili. The earth was wilderness: nothing was built there. Out of the rivers I built four canals; the vineyards and the orchards were divided. I accomplished many heroic deeds there." There are still substantial remains of mud brick walls visible in the scarp, and an ample scattering of potsherds, some decorated, from the Iron Age to the Late Medieval period.
Source: Rediscovering Armenia Guidebook


- 08/22/13 | Adjusted: 03/02/17 | 1 file
- Grades 8
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Frederick Douglass, a freed slave, is asked to give a speech to a group of Americans on the 4th of July. Douglass uses the occasion to eloquently and forcefully address the hypocrisy of a nation celebrating freedom, while enslaving so many. With equal force, he strips bare the arguments for slavery, concluding with a call for radical action to end slavery in America. (Holt Elements of Literature, 2008)
This lesson was created as part of the Anthology Alignment Project, during which teachers created CCSS-aligned lessons for existing literary and information texts in anthologies. All page numbers and unit/week designations found in this lesson relate to the edition of the anthology named above. If you are using a trade book or different edition of this title, the page/unit/week references in this lesson will not match. Consult the content referenced in the body of the lesson to determine appropriate page numbers for your text.


Can it already be the 4th week of school? I’ve been busy trying to gather baseline data to start the year off right! When I think about collecting baseline data in preschool, I start with what materials to grab. This week I used my iPad, one book and my Jumbo Safari Counters from Learning Resources. You might think these manipulatives are just for math concepts but they have a ton of uses for SLP’s too! Learning Resources provided me with the Safari Counters to complete this review but the opinions are solely mine and no other compensation was provided. One lucky SpeechRoomNews follower will even win their own set! The Jumbo Safari Counters come in a storage bucket and include 6 colors of giraffe, elephant, lion, gorilla, and rhino.
– Classification (we talked about which animals are safari animals and named other animals that were not)
– Plurals (receptive: Give me lions expressive: What do you see? I see three lions.)
-Vocabulary (most of my kids couldn’t name rhino!)
-Verbs (we did lots of playing with our animals! run, jump, hop, fall, eat)
-WH questions (Who has a long neck? Why do gorillas have long arms?)
-Body parts (One of my little guys has a goal for this! We found our eyes then the eyes of the animals.)
-Basic Concepts (temporal and spatial concepts. ie: Who is under the desk?)
-Pronouns (the inside of the animals are hollow – we used them as puppet to work on I/Me)
-Following Directions (both giving and following single and multistep directions of varying complexity)
-Comparative/Superlative (tall, taller, tallest)
The possibilities are endless with these animals! That list is just what I used them for in two days of baseline data collection! One other benefit I want to add is the size of the counters. If you’re working with children who have fine motor difficulties, the larger size will be helpful!
The Sarafari Jumbo Counters retail for $19.99 but Learning Resources wants to give away a set too! Enter using the rafflecopter gadget below.
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What is the symbolic......
Q1) What is the symbolic significance of the old man and his enormous wings? Since he is call an "angel", is there a religious significance to his physical appearance? Why does the narrator stress such details as he "dirty and half-plucked" wings and his grossly physical, animalistic traits? How is the oxymoron "fresh-and-blood angel" central to the meaning?
Q2) The story contains almost no dialogue. Why is this appropriate? How does it relate to the point of view the author has chosen?
Q3) Discuss the blend of realistic and fantastic details. Does this blend make the story more or less effective? Does it require a different way of reading than other stories you have read that contain no elements of fantasy?
1 Answer | Add Yours
The author has chosen to make this a 3rd person omniscient point of view. We as readers gain the thoughts of many of the characters, though never the old man. The central focus of the story isn't so much the arrival and existence of the man, but how everyone reacts to him. If the focus was the man, then the author would have provided details about his past and the nature of his existence. Instead, we are meant to see how people treat him and how they explain him. This gives clues to human nature. Thus, dialogue is not important. Behavior alone is important. People lie often when they speak, but their actions have more truth. Therefore, dialogue in this story would just get in the way.
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Ethanol. Henry Ford called it the “fuel of the future” in the 1920s. Decades later, policymakers put laws in place to increase the amount of ethanol in our fuel supply. Environmentalists and the Midwest sold it as a way to decrease American dependence on foreign oil and a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But it’s accomplished neither and instead become an industry reliant on subsidies, mandates and protectionism. Washington needs to reverse these policies and Senator Coburn’s (R-OK) amendment to repeal the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) is a good first step.
The VEETC is a 45-cent blender’s credit that doles out $5-6 billion a year for petroleum refiners to blend ethanol into gasoline. Although some claim this is another handout for oil companies, the credit will be passed up the line to the ethanol producers and corn growers, or as the Wall Street Journal says, ethanol producers “can charge some 45 cents a gallon more than the market would otherwise bear.”
According to the supporters, the production of corn ethanol has caused rural employment to increase. It has, in the ten Midwestern states where most ethanol production occurs, but not in the other 40 states. Supporters of ethanol claim the loss of ethanol production will impact the economy negatively – through job loss particularly. However, “expected job loss is minimal because jobs in the ethanol industry are protected by the Renewable Fuels Standard.” In other words, because law requires production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022, the guaranteed share of the marketplace guarantees jobs. Even so, saving jobs isn’t a good reason to keep bad policy in place. If jobs related to ethanol production cannot survive without the government’s crutch, they should be reallocated to more efficient use. Broad economic growth creates jobs, not government policies that subsidize jobs and production at the expense of jobs and production elsewhere in the economy.
When you take into account the production mandate, there’s very little bang for the subsidized buck. Because there’s a production quota, the value of the blender’s tax credit is what additional ethanol will be produced with that money. A University of Missouri analysis pegs the cost at $4 per gallon for each additional gallon of ethanol produced as a result of VEETC. As the mandate ratchets up, your taxpayer dollar doesn’t even go that far. An Iowa State University study estimates that the VEETC will cost $7 per gallon of ethanol this year that if Congress continues to extend the VEETC, it will cost $30.40 per gallon.
To make matters worse, that’s not the end of the preferential treatment ethanol producers enjoy. We can’t even buy ethanol competitively. We could be importing Brazilian sugarcane ethanol, a fuel source that is less susceptible to crop disruption such as in the Midwest and is more environmentally friendly. Yet, there is a protective tariff against Brazilian sugarcane ethanol that eliminates a competitive market.
Then there’s the fact that corn ethanol actually produces a greater harm to the environment just from being created. “CO2-emitting fossil fuels are used to make fertilizer, operate farm equipment, power ethanol distilleries, and transport the ethanol to market.” On top of the damages from production there are the damages from the creation of production. In order to grow corn farmers must plow more land, the more land plowed not only means less area for trees but can also “release carbon previously locked up in soils and trees.”
Congress should get rid of all of three of these market-distorting policies. Senator Coburn’s amendment to eliminate the VEETC and consequently $6 billion in wasteful spending is a good place to start.
Although it may be a catchy sound bite, America is not addicted to oil. As the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Marlo Lewis says, “consumers will stop buying gasoline the moment a superior product comes along.” Ethanol and other biofuels may eventually be that superior product. Electric vehicles could as well. But it’s not the role for the government to force these sources of fuel and technologies into the marketplace.
In a free market, fuel producers and users should be allowed to make their own fuel decisions without federal bureaucrats and powerful special interests deciding that for them.
Sarah Murphy contributed to this post.
Nicolas Loris is a Research Assistant at The Heritage Foundation’s Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies. Loris studies energy, environment and regulation issues such as the economic impacts of climate change legislation, a free market approach to nuclear energy and the effects of environmental policy on energy prices and the economy.
Read more informative articles at Heritage – The Foundry


I once played a game with a fellow SIB colleague where we challenged each other to ‘SIB this!’; to come up with a theoretical SIB contract for random government services. If you get really creative, it’s hard to think of something a government couldn’t purchase using a SIB. But the major difference between this game and the reality of government is that a landscape of services already exist. SIBs so far have only been implemented in service gaps. And this is one of the limitations of the SIB expansion – it’s hard to find service gaps to insert a whole new service into, and then define it cleanly enough to satisfy the parties to a SIB.
Why do we use SIBs for service gaps?
- SIBs have largely been new prevention or early intervention services. They attempt to prevent or reduce people’s need for expensive existing services down the line. This is also the economic justification for SIBs – spend earlier to save later and help participants avoid worsening outcomes. So SIBs have been new services that try to reduce the need for existing services.
- For SIBs that measure improvement, the comparison is ‘no service’. (When I say ‘no service, I don’t mean that all other services are withheld, most participants will still engage in a range of services.)
Could SIBs spread to replace existing contracts?
Let’s examine this questions by splitting SIBs into two types (see the diagram above). The first is the type that pay for things that happen, without requiring evidence of improvement. For example per graduation, per job commencement, per child placed with a family. SIBs that look like this have been contracted by UK Department of Work and Pensions Innovation Fund for disadvantaged young people; It’s All About Me for adoption; Manchester City for children in care; Granite School District for early childhood education; Saskatchewan for single mothers.
So could a pay-per-participant-outcome SIB replace an existing contract?
The second type of SIB pays for improvement against what might have happened without the service (a comparison or counterfactual). It seems that when people say ‘Pay for Success’ in the US, this is what they are referring to. The first SIBs in the UK and US, Peterborough and Massachusetts, were set up like this. These SIBs allow people to say that if there is no improvement in outcomes, then government does not need to pay. And Rikers Island is a good example of this happening.
Theoretically yes. And it seems that most governments are looking to replace at least some of their existing contracts with outcome-based contracts. And this looks like the direction that those involved in SIBs are heading. The Harvard SIB Lab is now called the Government Performance Lab. The Centre for Social Impact Bonds is partnering with Oxford University to create the Government Outcomes Lab. But would these contracts include the social investment that would make them SIBs? In a SIB, investment is usually sought to cover the working capital gap until outcome payments are made. But if government is paying per participant outcome, there isn’t much of a working capital gap, so there isn’t much need for investment.
Could a pay-per-improvement SIB replace an existing contract?
Again, the answer on theoretical grounds is yes. But payments in this model are made when the SIB improves on a comparison. And where this comparison is ‘no service’ in SIBs so far, now the SIB is going to have to improve on an existing service. And I don’t think you’d find an investor willing to bet that the ‘business rigour’ they bring to the table is going to measurably improve on the services delivered by that 150 yr-old charity down the road.
I don’t think we’re going to see SIBs spread to take over existing service contracts (please let me know if I’m wrong)! So we’ll continue to see each commissioner/government limited to a few only. But what will spread is the learning – what we have seen in Australia is that lessons from SIBs in a service gap changed the way billions of dollars of existing services were procured.


The nursing home, care home, rest home and intermediate care center, is a place of residence for people who need continual nursing care and have striking difficulty managing with the required activities of daily living.
Nursing helpers and skilled nurses are 24 hours available a day for the residents comprise the elderly and younger adults with mental or physical disabilities. People in a nursing home receive physical, mental, occupational and other rehabilitative therapies. Residents have specific legal rights depend on the nation the facility is situated in.
A nursing house that provides facilities according to Islamic values by keeping Islamic laws and hadiths in mind is referred as a Muslims nursing home where Muslims elderly care services are offered professionally. Delivering high quality care to Muslim patients includes having an awareness of implications of the Islamic faith and beliefs.
Nurses should understand the inferences of spiritual and cultural values for clinical practices. They should be aware of the need for modesty and privacy, the appropriate use of touch, dietary requirement and use of medications should be very strictly checked whether it is halal or not. And if hospital meal times clashes prayer time alternate arrangement may be required.
Although some Muslim patients are exempted for health reasons while many want to fast during Ramadan so their meal should be taken care at pre-dawn and post evening. In case of life threatening emergency, there are no restrictions on the medical treatment that could be provided to Muslim patient.
Patient should get taken care of their neatness of their clothes and bodies, as neatness is an important aspect of living for a Muslim community. Islamic culture represents the customs & traditions which evolve from daily practice of people succeeding authentic teachings of Islam.
In general, when various culture of Muslim around the world is compared, the common features found in all countries and regions so the nurses should respect the Islamic cultural values and they should conduct the daily religious classes in the Muslims old folk home.
Main features of a Muslims Nursing Home
Following are the core facilities and features that a nursing home for Muslims should have.
Privacy and modesty
During hospitalization, Muslim patient’s modesty and privacy should be valued, and preferably, they should be take care by a nurse of same gender.
Islam has rules about types of food that is permissible (halal) and prohibited (haram). The key forbidden foods are, Pork and it’s by products, alcohol, Animal fats and meat that has not been slaughtered according to Islamic regulation.
Medications to treat the sick have same case of halal and haram, it is forbidden to use haram medication that uses Pork or alcohol.
The usage of left hand is considered unclean in Muslim cultures. To avoid offence the following objectives should be done by right hand, feeding, Medicine administration, handing items to patients.
Caring for Muslim patients in Muslims nursing home, involves meeting their needs in the context of their own culture and beliefs. Islam does not only provide guidance but also puts substantial emphasis on health and prevention.
Several Islamic beliefs will affect Muslim patients’ attitudes and behavior in nursing homes, hospital and community settings; it is important for nurses to have understanding of these so they can offer culturally appropriate care while performing Muslims elderly care.
When working for Muslims nursing home it is important to understand why certain acts are carried out, and why adherence or non-adherence to treatment may occur.


KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- We all know reading can be a challenge for many young children, but one third grade class gets an extra hand -- rather paw, every Thursday at Bearden Elementary School.
One dog is helping more than a dozen students improve their reading skills.
Meet five year old Bentley...
"He's the best thing that ever happened to me."
The black lab is much more than a furry friend to these third graders...
Ms. Libby Leinhart says, "He comes in for an hour a week and they take turns going back there and reading to him."
The students love to curl up to Bentley and take comfort in knowing he's all ears...
Student Connor says, "It's really enjoyable to do cause he listens very well and it's not like he's ignoring you, he's just listening to you."
Kathleen says, "It's just so fun to have him laying on us when we read."
Bentley has been coming to Ms. Leinhart's class since November through the "Ruff Readers" program.
Ms. Leinhart says it's amazing how much better her students are reading now.
"It's improved a lot because they get some extra fluency practice and fluency is related to comprehension."
Connor says, "I can probably read more than I ever could."
"It is phenomenal. The kids grow each time we come in and it's just great."
Bentley's owner Gail Alexander says her dog just may have the best job ever...He clearly loves a good book...
"When I pull out his identification badge to put on him, his tail starts wagging and he gets very excited and he knows it's time for him to go to work."
Ms. Libby says "He's non-judgemental. He doesn't care if he's heard the story four or five times. He's fine with it."
And the children couldn't be happier to share their stories...
"Pets and people--it doesn't get any better than that!"
the "Ruff Readers" program comes from UT's College of Veterinary Medicine...they also visit hospitals and nursing homes.
They're always looking for more volunteers. To find out how you can apply with your dog, go to VolunteerTV.com and click on the HotKey.
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We are used to thinking about snakes crawling or slithering on the ground. With their bellies touching the dry surface, they move in a deadly silence towards their next location or unsuspecting prey.
Little do many know that these slippery serpents have a hidden talent – all snakes can swim, with many able to swim on the surface of the water.
What Snakes Swim on Top of Water?
While all snakes possess the innate ability to swim, only a few manage to slither almost unsubmerged in the water. To name a few, snakes that can swim on top of the water include the cottonmouth snakes, copperhead snakes, rattlesnakes, and bull snakes.
The Agkistrodon piscivorus or the Cottonmouth snake gained its common name from the cotton-like white discoloration inside of its mouth.They are usually found in the Southeastern portion of the USA.
These snakes are semiaquatic pit vipers. This means that you have an equal opportunity to see them basking under the sun on ground or swimming on the water.
These snakes, otherwise known as water moccasins, are one of the most popular examples of snakes that have the ability to swim as if they are crawling above the water. You can find them in various bodies of water including lakes, ponds, streams, and even drainage areas.
The Copperhead snake, scientifically known as Agkistrodon contortrix, is a venomous pit viper rightfully named because of its head’s copper-red coloration. The greatest populations of this snake are usually found in North America but smaller groups can also be found in various areas in Australia.
This snake is typically a land snake and resides in forested areas or semiaquatic habitats. While they usually prefer to stay in forests and slither in trees or some form of shrubbery, they may occasionally wander out and swim in nearby lakes or streams.
An extremely popular snake in its own right, rattlesnakes or Crotalus are venomous vipers that also have the ability to swim on top of water.
Rattlesnakes are known for their unusual tail which possesses a “rattle” located at the very tip of the tail. This unique characteristic got its “rattle” name due to its appearance and the shaking sound it makes when the tail vibrates.
These snakes are also typically found on land, specifically in rocky areas that allow it to camouflage and hide from predators and threats. When they do swim, they usually swim partially submerged with their tail positioned above and away from the water. However, they also occasionally swim on top of the water to keep their tails dry.
Bullsnakes, known scientifically as Pituophis catenifer, are nonvenomous American constrictors. These slippery serpents got their common name from the imposing hissing sound that they make which closely resembles the grunt of a bull.
Despite being generally known as a prairie snake and residing on dry land, you can occasionally find these slippery creatures near river bluffs or wading in the rivers themselves.
Despite all this, most snakes, including the ones mentioned above, usually prefer to swim slightly submerged in the water with their head, neck, and/or tails above the surface as opposed to swimming completely on top of the water.
How Do Snakes Swim on Top of the Water?
Snakes are able to swim and glide on top of the water due to its ability to propel itself forward with the use of its body and scales.
This motion, also referred to as a serpentine motion, is utilized by snakes on land as well as on water. Basically, they move from a state of rest and use their scales to propel themselves to their next location. Without losing momentum, the snake keeps going using the force generated from the previous movement to move to the next point.
This serpentine motion is the reason why snakes form an “S” shape when they move as each curve illustrates the points and locations they propelled themselves to.
In water, this allows the snake to stay almost fully unsubmerged in the water. Its body, in a way, creates this surfing motion. This motion allows it to stay almost completely above water through the constant force applied to the water’s surface with the use of its belly scales.
However, it is important to note that while all snakes are able to swim, not all of them have been able to adapt and fully utilize this method. This explains why some snakes are able to fully swim on top of the water while others swim partially or fully submerged in it.
Are All Snakes Who Swim on Top of the Water Venomous?
One common but outdated belief that people used to determine if a snake was venomous or not was to see how a snake swam.
If a snake swam on top of the water, it was considered venomous. If it swam submerged with only its head and neck above the water’s surface, it was most probably nonvenomous.
This theory was based on the hypothesis that venomous snakes were considerably more buoyant than nonvenomous snakes. While this is used to be a good rule of thumb, it has now been rendered almost completely unreliable by latest findings.
Many nonvenomous snakes, such as the Bullsnake, are able to keep their bodies from being completely submerged underwater when swimming. At the same time, venomous snakes can also swim fully submerged underwater. Take the Coral snake, for example.
How Long Can Snakes Swim?
Snakes usually swim for around 5 minutes at a time. However, many species can swim long distances and stay submerged for almost two hours at a time.
Most of the time, snakes prefer to stay dry and on land for various reasons. When they do get into the water, it’s usually for one of two reasons: one, they need to get to a location across a certain body of water; or two, they need to either escape or pursue a predator or prey, respectively.
Given that, most snakes usually don’t spend much time in the water.
Can Snakes Swim on Saltwater and Freshwater?
Many snakes can swim on both saltwater and freshwater. However, most land snakes can only truly tolerate freshwater. Most of the time, only sea snakes can handle the saltwater.
Most snakes can survive in both types of water, but land snakes have been found to exhibit discomfort or shock when placed in saltwater. If they had to, they would be able to swim in saltwater but not for long as the saltwater can overwhelm them and lead them to drown.
Snakes can do a lot more than just slither on their bellies on the ground. They are extremely skilled hunters, deadly camouflage artists, and talented swimmers.
So if you thought that being in the water would protect you from these deadly creatures, then best think twice. While most will not harm you outright, some of these creatures will chase you away even through bodies of water if they feel even the slightest threat to their safety.


Tendency to procrastinate is a very dangerous sign, especially to your career. Procrastination is a habit, where people tend to avoid important and tedious tasks, and instead go for some more comfortable and enjoyable tasks. Basically, they do not want to take responsibilities or stress in life. But people do not realize that running away from the responsibilities or work will not lead them towards success.
The common reasons why people procrastinate are:
- Lack of self-confidence is one of the reasons. If people are not confident that they can do this work, they will try to delay or avoid the work.
- Some people have the misconception that if they avoid a certain work, some other person will do it.
- People may not feel motivated to do some tasks, as it may not be adding any value to their work and hence avoid them. But being at workplace, there will be such tasks which all must do, like some mandatory training, drills etc.
So, how can one avoid procrastination? The key lies in proper time management. If you manage your time effectively, it will give you more control on your workload and self-confidence.
The following steps can help you to avoid procrastination.
- Firstly, you need to accept that you have the tendency to procrastinate. Once you accept, ask yourself, why are you showing this behavior. After identifying the reasons, think about how can you overcome those reasons.
- Make a to-do list in a piece of paper and have it in front of you. Having the written to-do list in front of you, will not let you ignore your work for long.
- Get rid of the distractions that are making you avoid certain work. It can be your inclination to social media, smartphone, colleagues etc. Even a cluttered desktop or a desk can cause this behavior. So, tidy your desk and desktop, and then try to concentrate on the work.
- Discuss your work that you are finding difficult with others. Discussions may give you some ideas and more understanding about the work. Once you overcome your worries about that work, you will not tend to delay or avoid it.
- Constant thinking of failure also sometimes leads to procrastination. That fear prevents you to start that work. At such times, just get started on the work without thinking. Once you start working, you will gain some confidence and the fear of failure will be gone.
- Reward yourself. Yes, in the beginning set yourself a goal that, if you finish this work before the deadline you are going to reward yourself. Celebrate your success every time you accomplish a task on time.
Always be positive in your thoughts and put away all the negative thoughts. Once you start thinking positive, you will feel confident in taking up difficult tasks and kick the habit of procrastination.
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