11. EDUCATION - 2014

12.1 Education Apps from Walt Disney Co.
12.2 Liberal Arts Education
12.3 Ten ways to fix the mess that is kindergarten 

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12.1 Education Apps from Walt Disney Co.  (6/12/2014) 


NEW YORK — Mickey is getting into math — and science, art, reading and even teaching social skills.
The Walt Disney Co. is launching a new line of learning tools designed to help parents encourage kids 3 to 8 to learn outside of school. Disney Imagicademy begins with a series of mobile apps but will later expand into other products such as books and interactive toys. Over time, the target age will also grow to include older kids.
To start, Disney is launching an iPad app called "Mickey's Magical Math World" on Dec. 11, focused on math-based activities such as counting, shapes, logic and sorting. Within the app, there are five add-on activities such as "Minnie's Robot Count-Along" and "Goofy's Silly Sorting." The basic app is free to use, but the enhanced activities cost $4.99 each or $19.99 for all five. Future apps, on subjects ranging from life science using characters from Disney's "Frozen" to creative arts, will be similarly priced. The apps are ad free, keeping with laws that prevent targeting online advertising at kids under 13. ..
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/education/2014/12/05/disney-launches-education-apps/19892333/
12.2 Liberal Arts Education (8/12/2014)


There's also very good reason to believe that integrating the arts and sciences leads to creative breakthroughs that would not be possible when either was excluded. Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest academic honor society, reporting on a study published in the Journal of Psychology of Science and Technology notes that "90 percent of Nobel Laureates in the sciences say the arts should be part of every technologists' education. In fact, 80 percent of them can point to specific ways arts training boosted their innovative ability."
The problem with the liberal arts, therefore, isn't with the academic content of what's being taught in colleges and universities. Rather the problem is that the liberal arts are woefully misunderstood by most segments of society. To a large extent the fault for this situation lies with academics rather than with the general public. As Carol Geary Schneider, president of AAC&U, so provocatively said a while back, the academy has fostered a "conspiracy of voluntary silence" when it comes to the liberal arts. We've been fearful of promoting the liberal arts and liberal education because they sound soft and they're easily misunderstood.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-zimmerman/promoting-meaningful-educ_b_6286174.html
12.3 Ten ways to fix the mess that is kindergarten (16/12/2014) 
  
5. Expect occasional squirrelly behavior. It’s really hard for these little kids to sit still all day doing work—and not all of them have ADHD and need to be medicated. Early childhood educators understand that kids need hours of free playtime from their earliest days to develop healthy sensory systems that enable their brains to learn. Valerie Strauss recently posted a piece on this issue by Angela Hanscom titled, Why So Many Kids Can’t Sit Still in School Today. It’s worth reading Hanscom’s answer, as she is a pediatric occupational therapist as well as an advocate for more creative play in children’s lives...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/08/07/ten-ways-to-fix-the-mess-that-is-kindergarten/

Why so many kids can't  sit still in school today:
I recently observed a fifth grade classroom as a favor to a teacher. I quietly went in and took a seat towards the back of the classroom. The teacher was reading a book to the children and it was towards the end of the day. I’ve never seen anything like it. Kids were tilting back their chairs back at extreme angles, others were rocking their bodies back and forth, a few were chewing on the ends of their pencils, and one child was hitting a water bottle against her forehead in a rhythmic pattern.
This was not a special-needs classroom, but a typical classroom at a popular art-integrated charter school. My first thought was that the children might have been fidgeting because it was the end of the day and they were simply tired. Even though this may have been part of the problem, there was certainly another underlying reason.
We quickly learned after further testing, that most of the children in the classroom had poor core strength and balance. In fact, we tested a few other classrooms and found that when compared to children from the early 1980s, only one out of twelve children had normal strength and balance. Only one! Oh my goodness, I thought to myself. These children need to move!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/07/08/why-so-many-kids-cant-sit-still-in-school-today/

12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)

10. HEALTH - 2014

12.1 Danger in the crib?
12.2 Diabetes Ages the Brain 5 Years Faster then Normal
12.3 E-readers 'damage sleep and health', doctors warn
12.4 Mental Health Resolution for 2015





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12.1 Danger in the crib? (1/12/2014) 

 More than half of infants in the United States are still sleeping in unsafe conditions in cribs containing blankets, pillows and other loose bedding that has been shown to dramatically raise the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, a new government study finds.

...“It’s good to see that the proportion of infants sleeping with soft bedding has declined,” Shapiro-Mendoza said. “But it’s still surprising that despite recommendations against this kind of bedding 50 percent still are sleeping with it.”
The study comes more than a decade after a government-backed campaign urged parents to place infants on their backs on a firm, tight-fitting mattress without pillows, quilts or other soft bedding.
http://www.today.com/parents/danger-crib-more-half-u-s-babies-sleep-unsafe-conditions-1D80319494
12.2 Diabetes Ages the Brain 5 Years Faster then Normal (2/12/2014) 

Having diabetes in middle age appears to set the mind on a path toward greater cognitive decline, shaving off the equivalent of five years of brain health. These findings, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, are in line with previous research showing a link between type 2 diabetes and dementia. The results reinforce the need for early lifestyle interventions.
http://www.healthline.com/health-news/diabetes-ages-the-brain-5-years-faster-120114#1

12.3 E-readers 'damage sleep and health', doctors warn (23/12/2014) 


Twelve people were locked in a sleep laboratory for two weeks.
They spent five days reading from a paperback and five days from an iPad.
Regular blood samples showed the production of the sleep hormone melatonin was reduced by reading an e-book.
People also took longer to fall asleep, had less deep sleep and were more tired the next morning.
The researchers said other e-readers such as the Nook and Kindle Fire produced similar wavelengths of light and would have the same impact
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30574260
12.4 Mental Health Resolution for 2015 (26/12/2014) 


When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, our self-improvement efforts often focus on getting a better body. And we ignore that other, equally important part of our wellbeing: our mental health.

Certain health hazards come with warnings, like cigarettes or alcohol, but less obvious ones, like loneliness and rejection, can take just as great toll, says psychologist Guy Winch, author of Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure and Other Everyday Hurts. Research shows social isolation is linked to shorter lifespans, yet we often ignore our emotional hygiene. “If our dental hygiene were as poor as our emotional hygiene, we’d be all gums and no teeth,” says Winch.
... 7. Be informed on the impact of common psychological wounds and how to treat them. You know how to treat a cut or a cold, so you should also know how to treat rejection, failure, loneliness, guilt and other common emotional wounds. By becoming mindful about your psychological health and adopting habits of good emotional hygiene, you will not only heal your psychological injuries when you sustain them, but you will elevate your entire quality of life.
http://time.com/3641834/mental-health-resolutions/
12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)

9. ENVIRONMENT - 2014

12.1 Martin Litton, Fighter for Environment dies at 97



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12.1 Martin Litton, Fighter for Environment dies at 97  (7/12/2014) 

 “ ‘Be reasonable!’ they say. But I never felt it did any good to be reasonable about anything in conservation, because what you give away will never come back — ever. When it comes to saving wilderness, we can’t be extreme enough. To compromise is to lose.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/us/martin-litton-fighter-for-environment-dies-at-97.html?_r=0

 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)

8. WORLD AFFAIRS - 2014

12.1 Death penalty in USA
12.2 Jerusalem where economics triumphs over violence
12.3 Investors Keep Guessing Wrong About the Fed's Rate Moves lass 
12.4 Free access to science research (The Debate)
12.5 Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'


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12.1 Death penalty in USA (18/12/2014) 


The number of executions in the United States continued to decline in 2014, with 35 people put to death, compared with a peak of 98 in 1999 and 39 last year.
There were 72 death sentences imposed this year, the lowest in 40 years and down seven from last year, according to a report released Thursday from the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) in Washington.
The decline in the use of the death penalty stems from a combination of factors, including a large drop in violent crime between the late 1980s and early 2000s and the fact that all states with the death penalty now offer the alternative of life in prison without parole.

But various aspects surrounding how the death penalty is imposed have also been troubling to some state leaders in recent years.
“Six states since 2007 have abolished it completely.... They said the death penalty risks innocent lives, the death penalty costs a lot, the death penalty is biased in some cases,” says Richard Dieter, DPIC’s executive director.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2014/1218/This-year-US-imposed-fewest-death-sentences-in-four-decades
12.2 Jerusalem where economics triumphs over violence (21/12/2014) 


The Arabs of Jerusalem, totaling some 350 thousand people, account for about 40 percent of the city's population. They have a higher income than the Arabs of the West Bank, but the cost of living is also higher in Jerusalem - especially housing prices, which are sometimes four times higher than in the West Bank.
The Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem are codependent. Where one can separate Israel from Gaza and the West Bank with fences and barriers, in Jerusalem this is impossible, with the Jewish and Arab neighborhoods so intertwined.
So one may assume that economic rules will prevail over politics in Jerusalem, over incitement and over fear. There is no one to replace the tens of thousands of Arabs who work in the capital; not immigrants, not haredim and not the few middle class left in the Rehavia neighborhood.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4603851,00.html


12.3 Investors Keep Guessing Wrong About the Fed's Rate Moves lass  (22/12/2014) 

 The Federal Reserve keeps saying it’s going to raise interest rates. The markets keep believing it. And then rates stay glued to the floor. That’s been the pattern since at least 2008, early in the devastating recession, as this remarkable chart from Deutsche Bank Securities (DBK:GR) shows.

The underlying problem has been overoptimism about the economic outlook. ....
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-12-17/investors-keep-guessing-wrong-about-the-feds-rate-moves

12.4 Free access to science research (The Debate) (22/12/2014)


Virginia Barbour has worked at the Public Library of Science—one of the groups at the forefront of the open access battle—for ten years now. She says that the perception of which journals are most valuable is changing. “Alongside the growth of open access has been an increased understanding that measuring the journal that way isn’t really working anymore.”
Gezelter and Bates don’t agree. “No, I think it’s getting more entrenched,” Gezelter told me. “The people reviewing us aren’t necessarily reading our papers but they can count, so they’re counting our papers. This problem is actually not being helped.” Bates agreed. “I think it’s getting worse, and I think in some cases it’s getting much worse.”
... Here’s one way to understand the perceived distinction in journal status. Many people use something called an Impact Factor to measure how influential a journal is. The Impact Factor is a simple calculation: take the number of times articles were cited the year after they were published, and divide that by the total number of articles the journal published in the same year. Based on that ratio, Nature’s impact factor was 42 in 2013. The open-access journal Public Library of Science, One had an impact factor of 3.5 that year. Impact Factor has been heavily criticized, methodologically, and many have called for institutions and funding agencies to completely ignore it. But the fact is that they don’t. More than that, some universities don’t allow scientists to put any paper on their tenure application that was published in a journal with an impact factor below five.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/12/free-access-to-science-research-doesnt-benefit-everyone/383875/
12.5 Qatar's World Cup 'slaves' (26/12/2014)

25 Sept 2013:
Dozens of Nepalese migrant labourers have died in Qatar in recent weeks and thousands more are enduring appalling labour abuses, a Guardian investigation has found, raising serious questions about Qatar's preparations to host the 2022 World Cup.
This summer, Nepalese workers died at a rate of almost one a day in Qatar, many of them young men who had sudden heart attacks. The investigation found evidence to suggest that thousands of Nepalese, who make up the single largest group of labourers in Qatar, face exploitation and abuses that amount to modern-day slavery, as defined by the International Labour Organisation, during a building binge paving the way for 2022.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/revealed-qatars-world-cup-slaves
Dec 24, 2014:

Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup: One migrant worker dies every day

Human Rights Watch warned that hundreds of migrant workers are at risk of exploitation and abuse in Qatar and urged the government and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to commit to guaranteeing basic rights to workers. 

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/qatar-2022-fifa-world-cup-one-migrant-worker-dies-every-day-1480867

 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)

7. SPACE - 2014

12.1 That Time Congress Considered Building Cities In Space
12.2 Undiscovered lands and new worlds
12.3 GSLV Mark III
12.4 NASA emailed new socket wrench to ISS astronauts
12.5 Venus




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12.1 That Time Congress Considered Building Cities In Space (6/12/2014)

That Time Congress Considered Building Cities In Space

Forget the flying cars and robot maids, we're just a few precious generations away from ditching this hunk of space rock called Earth and living among the stars. The dream of off-world living is thanks, in large part, to a single Princeton physics professor who not only envisioned a new path for humanity but nearly convinced Congress to go along with it. Piers Biznoy explains just how close we came to building orbital habitats in the 1980s in his new book New Space Frontiers.

Cities in Space

Today it is hard to imagine a time when U.S. Senators listened in rapt attention while a charismatic lecturer argued for the construction of giant orbiting habitats as a way of easing environmental pressures on Earth. The structures, at least two miles long, would support thousands of people, all living in leafy suburbs. In January, 1976 it was possible for Gerard K. O'Neill, a physics professor at Princeton University, to talk about space colonies without sounding like a dreamer. Whatever happened to an idea that once captivated the world?

http://gizmodo.com/that-time-congress-considered-building-cities-in-space-1666207416
12.2 Undiscovered lands and new worlds (9/12/2014) 

 Undiscovered Lands and New Worlds:
http://vimeo.com/108650530

12.3 GSLV Mark III (18/12/2014) 


India has successfully launched its largest rocket and an unmanned capsule which could send astronauts into space.
The 630-tonne Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (MK III) blasted off from Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday morning.
The new rocket will be able to carry heavier satellites into space.
India has successfully launched lighter satellites in recent years, but has faced problems sending up heavier payloads.
The new rocket is capable of carrying communication satellites weighing 4,000kg, reports say, meaning India will not have to rely on foreign launchers to do so.
... The rocket's main cargo was an Indian-made capsule capable of carrying two to three astronauts into space.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-30527602

12.4 NASA emailed new socket wrench to ISS astronauts (22/12/2014) 

We have a winner for the most interesting email attachment of 2014! NASA recently provided the astronauts currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS) with a new tool via little more than a standard email. The attachment was actually instructions for a special 3D printer the astronauts have thanks to a delivery from a SpaceX Dragon capsule back in September. The printer is specially made to work in low gravity, and the emailed instructions included the design for a socket wrench that specifically needed.
http://www.slashgear.com/nasa-emailed-new-socket-wrench-to-iss-astronauts-21360275/

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Interesting! We can send a small robot factory to the Moon, which  will manufacture a larger robot factory, which will manufacture a still larger robot factory ....  eventually we can set up huge physical facilities on the moon (or elsewhere). Supporting humans appears to be the problem (which can be tackled later).

Regards,

Selvaraj
12.5 Venus (29/12/2014)

However, a strange thing happens just thirty miles above the surface of Venus. The atmosphere is much more forgiving and, as a matter of fact, the conditions about 30 miles above the surface of Venus are damn near exactly the same as those of Earth–perhaps more exact than any other place in the entire galaxy (that we know of right now).
The gravity at that altitude above Venus is just a little lower than the gravity on Earth. But more importantly, the atmospheric pressure is about the same and there is much more protection from solar radiation.
And so, NASA has developed HAVOC: the High Altitude Venus Operational Concept. This would basically be a series of blimp-esque vehicles that could carry technology and provide a somewhat habitable environment for a few astronauts to explore Venus more closely for upwards of 30 days.
The agency is now working on early versions, prototypes, for this project to see if and how it could be done.
http://www.piercepioneer.com/nasa-hopes-havoc-can-make-venus-trip-possible/36313
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Still the problem remains, from where do you get Hydrogen for water. Life of the type we have on Earth cannot manage without water. In this respect Mars would be superior to Venus.
The big question remains is there water on the Moon? How much? Could there be water under the ground on the Moon.
Regards,
Selvaraj
 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)

6. POSTURE - 2014

12.1 Texting can add up to 50 pounds of pressure on a person's spine
12.2 Posture and Dentistry
12.3 The rights of a child to a healthy life
12.4 The end of shop class



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12.1 Texting can add up to 50 pounds of pressure on a person's spine (10/12/2014)
 

By the time today’s youth reach college, they’ll already be experts at slumping over their cell phones. They will have hit the coveted 10,000-hour mark and their thumbs will deftly move over the virtual keys of their virtual keyboard, their necks bent downward at impossible angles. They might as well have a 7-year-old on their backs.

​​A new study published in Surgical Technology International finds that texting can add up to 50 pounds of pressure on a person’s spine, depending on the angle at which the person is texting. It upholds a new school of thought in the medical field that deplores many of the modern conveniences we’ve come to love: the toilet, the office chair, and, of course, the cell phone. It’s not that these technologies are necessarily evil, but that evolution has molded our bodies to function best without them. We in the Western world don’t seem to care.

(See figure)
http://www.medicaldaily.com/texting-puts-50-pounds-pressure-your-spine-adding-poor-postures-side-effects-311152
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Solving the postural problem is one of the most complex and rewarding tasks that our human society can take up.

I. Selvaraj, IITM, 72

12.2 Posture and Dentistry (3/12/2014)

 I wish professionals will treat us wholisticly instead of isolated parts as a field of specialization.

I've talked to 3 professors in dentistry- they at first didn't think of importance. They even felt I'm a bit crazy to linking the teeth to the body problems. Then I send them research done by some other doctors-they were astounded of the facts. Now even though they know it is logical but they are not willing to go beyond what was traditionally taught & practice by them-to be safe. The dentist I see feels everyone is asymmetry, it's normal to have pain & it's part of aging. In fact I see them having bad postures as they constantly need to bend at their neck & butt tuck in to treat patients.

They even boldly told me to go Italy or America to see those doctors to get myself treated instead. I was very disturbed with their attitude.

I've decided to use whatever knowledge I have to help myself, no choice & no use paying them for messing me up. To fix my bite-dentist gave me 2 expensive, difficult & irreversible choice. First to grind some teeth then put some crown or second redo braces to make my bite even. I told them I'm going for 3rd option-starecta, they're not willing to cooperate to help me-so I'm doing it myself.

I've got help from dentist to make me the bite guard & I'm going to modify it into a rectifier myself & adjust it every 2 weeks with help from Moreno and people from his group-they are more helpful & open than a lot of professionals. I've got almost all the stuff ready-just 1 more thing & I'm ready to go. I'm hoping by next week I can get myself fix. 

Great dentist exists but they are rare, haven't found any yet in place I stay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgoFfOAh2sE

http://occlusionconnections.com/Blog/bite-optimization-and-postural-alignment/



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Selvaraj,

I found this, thought you can research on this too. I'm embarking on similar journey with starecta technique as I could not find such dentist in my country.

I'm amazed how balancing the head from the bite can resolved so many problems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7OfgXu_b2A&list=UU2aJew8DVclC3CbwMqlQviA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I6JSXVZS8w




12.3 The rights of a child to a healthy life (24/12/2014) 
 http://naturalrightsofchildren.blogspot.com/

12.4 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)



 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)


 12.1 The end of shop class  (9/2/2012)