The importance of honeybees

I share a really interesting article about honeybees and the consequences their extinction may cause. www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/the-importance-of-honeybees

The elderly woman in this photo is a reminder to us all to put down our phones (Lucia Giulietti)

We should take a page from this lady's book.

Believe us, we get it—it's all too easy to get caught up in what's happening on your smartphone rather than simply enjoying the moment. But sometimes you have to remind yourself to just put down that phone and live.

At the September 15th premiere of the film Black Mass in Brookline, MA, John Blanding, a photographer for the Boston Globe, snapped the above picture of the enthusiastic crowd standing outside of the theater. At first glance, it seems like your standard photo of fans waiting for a chance to capture a snapshot of megastar Johnny Depp on their devices. But upon closer inspection, it turns out that the picture offers up an important life lesson.

Surrounded by folks with their smartphones whipped out, ready to take photos of the stars, you'll spot an elderly woman with gray hair and glasses standing front and center, leaning against the barricade. No smartphone in hand,  just simply smiling and taking the whole scene in.

The photo was recently shared on Twitter by user Wayne Dahlberg with the caption "This is my new favorite photo of all time," and it immediately went viral. Sure, some people are making jokes that maybe the woman's smartphone battery ran out, or that perhaps she's wearing Google Glass. But we know what's really up—this is one lady who truly knows how to live in the moment.

[via HuffingtonPost.com] 

10 Steps To Conquering Information Overload

We’ve all heard the phrase “information overload.” It reminds us of tweets, texts, emails, the endless stream of interesting articles on Facebook, those viral videos we can’t help but click on, the numerous phone photos and videos we take, Secret posts, fleeting Snapchat photos and more. But actually the cognitive flood can be even simpler than that, says Daniel Levitin, McGill University psychology professor and author of “The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload.” “In 1976, there were 9,000 products in the average grocery store, and now it’s ballooned to 40,000 products. And yet most of us can get almost all our shopping done in just 150 items, so you’re having to ignore tens of thousands of times every time you go shopping,” he says. By one calculation, he says, we’ve created more information in the last 10 years than in all of human history before that. “I’ve read estimates there were 30 exabytes of information 10 years ago and today, there’s 300 exabytes of information,” he says. All of this is more information than the brain is configured to handle. The conscious mind can pay attention to three, maybe four, things at once. “If you get much beyond that, you begin to exercise poorer judgment, you lose track of things and you lose your focus,” he says. Considering that Americans took in five times as much information every day in 2011 as they did in 1986, we have to make a conscious effort to beat back the flood. Here are Levitin’s top 10 tips for thinking straight, overcoming procrastination and putting in less time but getting more done. Daniel Levitin (ArsenioCoroa) Daniel Levitin (ArsenioCoroa) 1. Do a brain dump. Get things out of your head. Getting Things Done productivity guru David Allen recommends what he calls “clearing the mind.” This means creating a big list of everything floating around your head. Also, immediately write down any thought that interrupts your work flow. “Writing [these thoughts] down gets them out of your head, clearing your brain that is interfering with being able to focus on what you want to focus on,” he says in the book. It also gives permission to your mind to “relax its neural circuits so that we can focus on something else.” Once on paper, prioritize the items into these buckets: things to do today, things to delegate, things to do this week, and things to drop. Allen calls these categories: do it, delegate it, defer it, drop it. If you find an item that just keeps lingering on your list, it may be ill-defined — not actionable. For instance, you may write “decide whether or not to get a new car this year.” That would be better broken down into subtasks such as, find out what your car is worth on Kelley Blue Book, ask the car mechanic how much it would cost to keep your current car on the road, etc. The Forbes eBook To Succeed In A Brutal Job Market Don’t let a rotten economy spoil your goals. Use the career and money advice in The Millennial Game Plan to get and stay ahead for good. 2. Follow the two-minute rule. If you have a lot of little tasks, designate 45 minutes or an hour every day to plow through any items that will take you two minutes or less, like emails, phone calls, tidying up, checking your financial accounts, etc. If you’re not sure how long tasks take you, follow these time-tracking techniques from the most successful people. 3. Clump together similar tasks. If you have several bills, pay them all at once. If you’re going to clean the house, don’t get distracted by reorganizing your closet. Completing each task once you begin it is another way of being efficient with your mental resources — it forces you to keep attention on one item for a span of time. “This allows us to get more done and finish up with more energy,” writes Levitin. 4. Don’t multitask. Multitasking “costs” you by forcing you to decide whether to answer or ignore a text, how you should respond, how you should file this email, whether you should stick with what you’re working on or attend to the interruption. All those little decisions “spend” oxygenated glucose, the very fuel you need to focus on a task. Switching between tasks will actually make you feel exhausted, disoriented and anxious, writes Levitin. In contrast, “once we engage the central executive mode, staying in that state uses less energy than multitasking and actually reduces the brain’s need for glucose.” Multitasking trips us up in other ways. Stanford neuroscientist Russ Poldrack found that, for students who study and watch TV simultaneously, information that should go into the part of the brain for facts and storage may end up in the area for learning new procedures and new skills. If you find it especially hard to disengage, try adopting this one habit. 5. Limit the distractions of email. “Just having the opportunity to multitask is detrimental to cognitive performance,” writes Levitin. Glenn Wilson of Gresham College in London found that having an unread email in your inbox while you’re trying to complete a task can chop 10 points off your effective IQ. Wilson even showed that multitasking is even more of a detriment to memory and our ability to concentrate than smoking pot is. Since having emails come in every few minutes is so bad for your decision-making skills and impairs judgment, Levitin recommends tricking your brain into staying on track. For instance, set aside two or three times of day for email. Turn off notifications so you’re not constantly being interrupted. “Many people have their e-mail programs set to put through arriving e-mails automatically or to check every five minutes. Think about that: If you’re checking e-mail every five minutes, you’re checking it 200 times during the workday,” writes Levitin. (If you find it hard to avoid email in the morning when your energy is highest, try these tips.) 6. “Eat the frog” first thing in the morning. We start each day with our energy for that day. As the day goes on, every decision, whether trivial or momentous, consumes a bit of our glucose. Questions like “Should I use a blue or green pen?” draws from the same energy store as “I’ve just been diagnosed with cancer. Should I opt for radiation or surgery?” “Important decisions should be made at the beginning of the day, when gumption and glucose is highest,” says Levitin, adding that Oscar-winning producer Jake Eberts used to have a dictum: “Eat the frog.” “If you eat a frog first thing in the morning, the rest of the day goes better,” says Levitin. “So, whatever is the most unpleasant thing to do, do it first in the morning.” Set aside that time with all distractions turned off, and adopt the mindset that that task is the most important thing you could be doing at that time. 7. Spend only as much time on decisions, tasks and activities as they are worth. If you want to organize bills and receipts, there’s no need to go to the stationery store, color code files and spend the next six weekends organizing papers — unless you need to access these files all the time. “If you’re talking about organizing five-year-old bills and receipts, just throw them in a box and when you need something, look for it,” says Levitin. Find out more about why it’s so crucial to conserve your decision-making energy. 8. Take breaks. “People who take a 15-minute break every couple of hours are much more efficient in the long run,” says Levitin, adding that it gives the brain a chance to hit the reset button in a part of the brain called the insula. “So taking a break, taking a nap, taking a walk around the block, listening to music — these activities, although most bosses would think that they’re a waste of time, in fact, they’re a big adjunct to productivity and creativity.” On average, a 15-minute nap can increase your effective IQ by 10 points, he says, though there are individual differences. For most people, however, an hour or two is too long. 9. Let yourself daydream. The brain operates in two oppositional modes: “one is when you’re directing the thoughts, and the other is when the thoughts take over and run themselves,” says Levitin. Directing mode is the one that allows us to get our work done, whether we’re an office worker, chef or tile layer, but our minds can’t stay in one gear all day long. In daydreaming mode, says Levitin, “one thought melds into another and they’re not particularly related.” This daydreaming mode acts as a neural reset button and replenishes some of the glucose you use up in staying on a task. It also has the great benefit of fostering creativity. “The thoughts meander from one to another, creating links between things we might not have seen as linked before, and from that may come the solutions to problems,” says Levitin. Down time is one of seven types of experiences your brain needs during the day. 10. Push down authority. “Managers tends to think the workers below them as just doing the work for the paycheck,” says Levitin. “But most workers report they love their jobs, even in jobs where you wouldn’t think that’s possible, like working in city sewer systems, having to shovel manure out of the stable, or people doing heavy labor with jackhammers — things that might sound unpleasant.” For that reason, most workers like at least some autonomy — and that’s great for managers who may be suffering from information overload, because they can then push down authority and empower people under them to exercise their good judgment. For instance, General Stanley McChrystal told Levitin about how soldiers used to call him from Iraq in the middle of the night and say, “‘We’ve been watching this building and we think it might have some munitions in it. We’d like your permission to bomb it.’ He’d say, ‘There’s nothing you can tell me on the phone at 2am in five minutes that’s going to make me more expert than you already are. You’ve been watching this building for six weeks. If you think we should bomb it, you should bomb it.’” Laura Shin is the author of the Forbes eBook, The Millennial Game Plan: Career And Money Secrets For Today's World. Available for Apple iBooks, Amazon Kindle, Nook and Vook.

VIDEO ON SCIENCE

ON SCIENCE Sometimes we may wonder what science is. That is precisely the word WONDER if you want to watch a video on the way science works , watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDQ8ggroeE4

what is science? ALEJANDRO ALTIMIR

Some Definitions of Science ________________________________________ Definitions by goal and process: ________________________________________ 1. the systematic observation of natural events and conditions in order to discover facts about them and to formulate laws and principles based on these facts. 2. the organized body of knowledge that is derived from such observations and that can be verified or tested by further investigation. 3. any specific branch of this general body of knowledge, such as biology, physics, geology, or astronomy. Academic Press Dictionary of Science & Technology ________________________________________ Science is an intellectual activity carried on by humans that is designed to discover information about the natural world in which humans live and to discover the ways in which this information can be organized into meaningful patterns. A primary aim of science is to collect facts (data). An ultimate purpose of science is to discern the order that exists between and amongst the various facts. Dr. Sheldon Gottlieb in a lecture series at the University of South Alabama ________________________________________ Science involves more than the gaining of knowledge. It is the systematic and organized inquiry into the natural world and its phenomena. Science is about gaining a deeper and often useful understanding of the world. from the Multicultural History of Science page at Vanderbilt University. ________________________________________ Science consists simply of the formulation and testing of hypotheses based on observational evidence; experiments are important where applicable, but their function is merely to simplify observation by imposing controlled conditions. Robert H. Dott, Jr., and Henry L. Batten, Evolution of the Earth (2nd edition) ________________________________________ Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers in the preceeding generation . . .As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. Richard Feynman, Nobel-prize-winning physicist, in The Pleasure of Finding Things Out as quoted in American Scientist v. 87, p. 462 (1999). ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Definitions by contrast: ________________________________________ To do science is to search for repeated patterns, not simply to accumulate facts. Robert H. MacArthur, Geographical Ecology ________________________________________ A modern poet has characterized the personality of art and the impersonality of science as follows: Art is I; Science is We. Claude Bernard (1813-1878), Physiologist and "the father of modern experimental medicine" ________________________________________ Poetry is not the proper antithesis to prose, but to science. . . . The proper and immediate object of science is the acquirement, or communication, of truth; the proper and immediate object of poetry is the communication of immediate pleasure. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), Definitions of Poetry ________________________________________ Fiction is about the suspension of disbelief; science is about the suspension of belief. James Porter, UGA Ecology Professor, as quoted by Steve Holland ________________________________________ Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt. Richard Feynman, Nobel-prize-winning physicist ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Not quite definitions, but critical statements: ________________________________________ As a practicing scientist, I share the credo of my colleagues: I believe that a factual reality exists and that science, though often in an obtuse and erratic manner, can learn about it. Galileo was not shown the instruments of torture in an abstract debate about lunar motion. He had threatened the Church's conventional argument for social and doctrinal stability: the static world order with planets circling about a central earth, priests subordinate to the Pope and serfs to their lord. But the Church soon made its peace with Galileo's cosmology. They had no choice; the earth really does revolve around the sun. Stephen J. Gould, The Mismeasure of Man ________________________________________ The fuel on which science runs is ignorance. Science is like a hungry furnace that must be fed logs from the forests of ignorance that surround us. In the process, the clearing that we call knowledge expands, but the more it expands, the longer its perimeter and the more ignorance comes into view. . . . A true scientist is bored by knowledge; it is the assault on ignorance that motivates him - the mysteries that previous discoveries have revealed. The forest is more interesting than the clearing. Matt Ridley, 1999 Genome: the autobiography of a species in 23 chapters, p. 271. ________________________________________ There is no philosophical high-road in science, with epistemological signposts. No, we are in a jungle and find our way by trial and error, building our roads behind us as we proceed. We do not find sign-posts at cross-roads, but our own scouts erect them, to help the rest. Max Born (1882-1970), Nobel Prize-winning physicist, quoted in Gerald Holton's Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought ________________________________________ The stumbling way in which even the ablest of the scientists in every generation have had to fight throught thickets of erroneous observations, misleading generalizations, inadequate formulations, and unconscious prejudice is rarely appreciated by those who obtain their scientific knowledge from textbooks James Bryant Conant (1893-1978), Science and Common Sense ________________________________________ I think that we shall have to get accustomed to the idea that we must not look upon science as a "body of knowledge", but rather as a system of hypotheses, or as a system of guesses or anticiptations that in principle cannot be justified, but with which we work as long as they stand up to tests, and of which we are never justified in saying that we know they are "true" . . . Karl R. Popper (1902-1994), The Logic of Scientific Discovery ________________________________________ The real purpose of the scientific method is to make sure Nature hasn't misled you into thinking you know something you don't actually know. Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ________________________________________ We [scientists] wouldn't know truth if it jumped up and bit us in the ass. We're probably fairly good at recognizing what's false, and that's what science does on a day-to-day basis, but we can't claim to identify truth. Dr. Steven M. Holland, University of Georgia Geology Professor ________________________________________ Science is the most subversive thing that has ever been devised by man. It is a discipline in which the rules of the game require the undermining of that which already exists, in the sense that new knowledge always necessarily crowds out inferior antecedent knowledge. . . . . This is what the patent system is all about. We reward a man for subverting and undermining that which is already known. . . . . Man has a tendency to resist changing his mind. The history of the physical sciences is replete with episode after episode in which the discoveries of science, subversive as they were because they undermined existing knowledge, had a hard time achieving acceptability and respectability. Galileo was forced to recant; Bruno was burned at the stake; and so forth. An interesting thing about the physical sciences is that they did achieve acceptance. Certainly in the more economically advanced areas of the Western World, it has become commonplace to do everything possible to accelerate the undermining of existent knowledge about the physical world. The underdeveloped areas of the world today still live in a pre-Newtonian universe. They are still resistant to anything subversive, anything requiring change; resistant even to the ideas that would change their basic concepts of the physical world. Philip Morris Hauser (1909-), Demographer and Census Expert, as quoted in Theodore Berland's The Scientific Life ________________________________________ SOME FUN ________________________________________ A carpenter, a school teacher, and scientist were traveling by train through Scotland when they saw a black sheep through the window of the train. "Aha," said the carpenter with a smile, "I see that Scottish sheep are black." "Hmm," said the school teacher, "You mean that some Scottish sheep are black." "No," said the scientist glumly, "All we know is that there is at least one sheep in Scotland, and that at least one side of that one sheep is black

Tabloid journalism or tabloidism (sensational, inflammatory words and the history of tabloid journalism)

    This article casts a light upon how yellow press has gained territory over quality press.  This topic belongs to one of the units appearing on the book "Proficiency Expert" (Unit 4: Information). However, it doesn't mean that other students won't be able to read and analyse this piece thoroughly. Link: http://voiceseducation.org/content/sensationalism-inflammatory-words-and-history-tabloid-journalism.

News about refugees (13/09/15) (Inés Chesini)

Babies, children drown as migrant boat capsizes off Greek island

Thirty-four refugees, almost half of them babies and children, drowned when their boat sank off a Greek island today, almost certainly the largest death toll in those waters since the migrant crisis began, the coastguard said.

Four babies, six boys and five girls died when the wooden vessel carrying them overturned on Sunday morning, about 5 km east of the small island of Farmakonisi, close to Turkey's coast, the service added.

Tens of thousands of mainly Syrian refugees have braved rough seas this year to make the short but precarious journey from Turkey to Greece's eastern islands, mainly in flimsy and overcrowded inflatable dinghies.

Thousands have died, many of them taking the much longer crossing from Libya, in Europe's worst migrant crisis in decades.

Details of the nationalities and ages of the victims of Sunday's sinking off Farmakonisi were not immediately available.

The coastguard said 68 people were rescued from the water and another 30 survivors from the same boat were found on Farmakonisi.

On Lesbos, an island which has borne the brunt of Greece's migrant intake, a Reuters photographer saw 10 dinghies arriving within 90 minutes on Sunday.

One inflatable carrying about 70 refugees, including many children, burst about 100 metres (90 yards) from the shore. Locals pulled infants and toddlers - including a two-month old baby cradled by his father - ashore on rubber rings.

Greece has regularly called for more help from authorities in dealing with the influx, and caretaker Prime Minister Vasiliki Thanou urged the bloc on Sunday to agree a more comprehensive policy.

Other countries were wrong to criticise Greece's response to the flow of migrants, Thanou said during a trip to Lesbos.

"We would urge them to consider the responsibility of guarding a 16,000 km long coastline of European borders ... and whether a future Europe of principles can be constructed by building walls," she said.

The vast majority of refugees reaching Greece quickly head north to other countries, with Germany the most favoured destination.

EU states have so far failed to reach agreement over proposals by Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker to accept a mandatory quota system for accepting refugees.

REFUGEES: A tale of two refugees. (Inés Chesini)

A tale of two refugees: torment and agony

DEIR ZANOUN, Lebanon — Both women fled Syria after their normal lives were destroyed in the country’s civil war. Both are desperate to start a new life and see Europe as their best hope. But their fortunes are a world apart.

In the Jordan capital Amman, Amena Abomosa — her husband dead, her mother stricken with cancer — is one of the few lucky ones. She and her family received a rare visa from France and she is packing to fly to Paris today. That allows her to reach her dream without enduring the harrowing sea crossing and land trek that tens of thousands of migrants have endured this year.

In Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, Rim Helal is willing to risk that arduous, dangerous journey. But, among the poorest of the Syrian refugees across the region, she and her family can’t afford to pay a smuggler.

“We are ready to take risks. We are fed up with life,” said the 25-year-old Helal, sitting on the floor of her tent, her 17-month old son Mohammed in her lap, and husband Ghazi Helal sitting next to her. “Maybe life there is better than here.”

They’ve been living in a tiny make-shift camp for more than three years. Her husband is jobless and their food aid is being reduced. She doesn’t have money to buy medicine for Mohammed, who is suffering from a cold. She says sometimes she feels so miserable she asks herself why she even brought the child into the world.

“We came here (from Syria) thinking that Lebanon is better. It was not,” said Ibrahim Mahmoud who lives in a tent with his wife, three sons and daughter since they fled from the northern province of Aleppo more than three years ago. “I am ready to take risks in the sea even if I die but I have no money.”

War’s rude arrival

In Amman, Abomosa sees hope. The 43-year-old widow, her three kids and her mother were packed days before their flight. Along with photos of her deceased husband and some sand from Damascus as a memento, she’s taking a pile of documents detailing her family’s tragedy and resilience.

The war exploded into the family’s life on July 20, 2012 when a sniper shot her husband, Abdul-Razzaq Mardini, as he stooped to help a child wounded in a street battle in the capital Damascus. The scene was filmed then broadcast on an Arab TV station before going viral.

Soon government forces were knocking on Abomosa’s door, in the middle of the night at times, accusing her dead husband of terrorism, she said. She said they made her sign a document absolving the government of guilt, declaring her husband’s death natural.

On one visit, government troops stormed the house, crushing her beneath the glass and metal front door as they walked across it to enter.

A month later, still recovering from her injuries, she sold her gold jewelry and fled for Jordan, using the money to bribe her way through Syrian checkpoints along the way.

She applied for France’s direct settlement programme. It was a long shot. But with four binders of documents backing her story of her husband’s death, her suffering at the hands of security forces and her mother’s illness, she was convincing in the interview, she said. In February, the embassy told her it would bring her to France, provide health care for her mother, enroll her children in school, help her find work, and, if she wanted, provide for her continued education.

‘I will work, I’m eager’

“A good person is one who gives as much as she takes,” she said. “Educate my children, and in exchange people will become productive and society will take from them. ... I do not want to only take something. I will start my own project, I will work. I’m eager.”

Others see no hope except in the illegal journey. In the Lebanese village of Deir Zanoun, Rima Obeid said she is ready to take the risk. She, her husband and two children struggle to find food and water.

“Whatever God wants will happen and we will die whether here or in the sea,” the 26-year-old said, sitting with her 10-month-old daughter, Waad, in her lap.

TECHNOLOGY: THE NEW ADDICTION?? by MARTINA FALCINELLI

Technology: The New Addiction?

This modern world keeps offering new gadgets to make our lives easier. Cell phones make it easier to keep in touch with your friends and family. Personal digital assistants, or PDAs, let you access your email no matter where you are. There are several products that combine all kinds of uses into one hand-held tool. But as helpful as these things can be, can they also come to control us?

Some people may be becoming addicted to the technology they use (BBC, 2008). What starts out as a convenient way to stay in touch can turn into a compulsive need to use those devices and check messages at all hours of the day. Whether it’s on the phone or on the computer, technology addiction can be as destructive as alcoholism (LeClaire, 2006). Since daily life surrounds us with technology, it’s important to make wise choices about using it.

How does technology become an addiction?
Technology use can become overuse and addiction when it starts to take away from the time you’d normally spend on socializing with friends or family, relaxing, or doing a hobby. This isn’t saying it’s bad to check your email, but it may be an issue if you have to check it every few minutes. Some people even get up in the middle of the night just to check their messages (BBC, 2008).

Of course, it’s not that extreme for everyone. True addiction can be more difficult to notice than that. Other, more common, signs of possible addiction include:

• Loss of interest in hobbies and social interactions
• Inability to turn off the phone or PDA
• Keeping devices near or at easy access all the time
• Physical issues like carpal tunnel syndrome

These symptoms can range in seriousness. Sometimes problems with overuse may not be noticeable until they’re already out of hand. If you’re not sure whether your technology use is unhealthy, ask people around you if they’ve noticed any bad habits you may have missed.

Getting a rush from using technology can also be a sign of addiction. Feeling anxious about not checking messages also may be a concern. There are plenty of good reasons to use your digital devices. But when it stops being about keeping in touch and is more about the feeling you get, you may want to consider changing your patterns of use.

Tips for healthy living with technology
There are plenty of easy steps you can take to prevent technology use from becoming addiction. Here are a few tips to help stay in control over the devices.

Unplug for 30 minutes. “You never exactly leave the office unless you turn whatever you’ve got off,” says Wichita mayor Carlos Mayans (Wilson, 2005). When the business day is over, consider taking some time out. It’s okay to turn off the phone and the PDA for a while. Instead, why not read a book or have a quality family dinner?

Focus on the people around you. Whether it’s in a meeting or at home, the people you’re with deserve your attention. Try to listen to them and treat them with respect by putting off checking your messages until later.

Keep a healthy balance. Technology isn’t bad, but it’s important to try to balance it with other parts of your life. Don’t let every part of the day revolve around your computer or digital devices. Consider whether it’s really necessary to take it with you to the gym or the restaurant. Try to make a time and a place for each part of life.

Prioritize. Consider what’s more important, taking a phone call or spending time with your family? Checking your email or talking to your friend? You’re in control, so you can choose to put technology in its place and put relationships first.

Find more meaningful ways to spend your time. Try taking up a new hobby. It’s good to get out and be active to fight against the lure of technology. Why not go for a walk or a bike ride? When you start spending time and energy in other areas, you may end up wanting to check your messages less.

If you feel that someone you know might be overusing their technology, you may want to let them know. Some ideas of ways to approach them include:

Ask them to turn off their phones and PDAs. If you’re having a meeting or a conversation with someone, it’s okay to ask them not to use their devices. But be polite and gentle. Focus on asking, not demanding.

Encourage them. Let them know that you value their thoughts and input. When you notice that they’re paying attention, try telling them you appreciate it.

These are only a few suggestions. As newer technology fills our world, it’s important to be aware of what we’re getting into and how to adapt. Technology isn’t going away, so it’s good for everyone to know how to live with it in a healthy way.

LAUGHTER CLUBS BY MARTINA FALCINELLI

Laughter yoga

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Laughter Yoga with Madan Kataria

Laughter yoga (Hasyayoga) is a practice involving prolonged voluntary laughter. Laughter yoga is based on the belief that voluntary laughter provides the same physiological and psychological benefits as spontaneous laughter. Laughter yoga is done in groups, with eye contact and playfulness between participants. Forced laughter soon turns into real and contagious laughter.

History[edit]

Laughter yoga was made popular as an exercise routine developed by Indian physician Madan Kataria, who writes about the practice in his 2002 book Laugh For No Reason.^[1]

In the mid-1990s, laughter yoga was practiced in the early mornings in open parks, primarily by groups of older people. Later, a more formal version was created and popularized as "Laughter Clubs". Kataria's first Laughter Yoga Club began on 13 March 1995 in Mumbai, with five people in a local public park.^[2] The concept rapidly spread worldwide, and as of 2011, there were more than 8,000 Laughter Clubs in 100 countries.^[3] Each group is run by a "Laugh Captain" and operates independently.

Method[edit]

Laughter is easily stimulated in a group when combined with eye contact, 'childlike playfulness' and laughter exercises. Fake laughter quickly becomes real. Laughter Yoga brings more oxygen to the body and brain by incorporating yogic breathing which results in deep diaphragmatic breathing.^[4]

Anyone can laugh without needing to rely on humor, jokes or comedy. Laughter is initially simulated as a physical exercise while maintaining eye contact with others in the group and promoting childlike playfulness. In most cases this soon leads to real and contagious laughter. Laughter yoga is the only technique that allows adults to achieve sustained hearty laughter without involving cognitive thought.^[5]

It bypasses the intellectual systems that normally act as a brake on natural laughter.

Laughter yoga sessions start with gentle warm-up techniques which include stretching, chanting, clapping and body movement. These help break down inhibitions and develop feelings of 'childlike playfulness'. Breathing exercises are used to prepare the lungs for laughter, followed by a series of ‘laughter exercises’ that combine the method of acting and visualization techniques with playfulness. These exercises, when combined with the strong social dynamics of group behavior, lead to prolonged and hearty unconditional laughter. Laughter exercises are interspersed with breathing exercises.^[6] Twenty minutes of laughter is sufficient to develop full physiological benefits.

A laughter yoga session may finish with "Laughter Meditation". This is a session of unstructured laughter whereby participants sit or lie down and allow natural laughter to flow from within "like a fountain".^[7]

Scientific validity[edit]

A handful of small-scale scientific studies have indicated that Laughter Yoga may potentially have some medically beneficial effects, including benefits to cardiovascular health and mood.^[8] Benefits to mood in depressed patients have been found to be as good as exercise therapy.^[9] A study by Oxford University found that pain thresholds become "significantly higher" after laughter, compared to the control condition, and saw this as being due to laughter itself, rather than the mood of the subject. The study suggested that Laughter produced an "endorphin-mediated opiate effect" which could "play a crucial role in social bonding".^[10]

ELEPHANT HUNTING IN KENYA BY MARTINA FALCINELLI

Elephant hunting in Kenya

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

African elephant in Amboseli National Park, Kenya

Elephant hunting and elephant poaching and exploitation of the ivory trade are illegal in Kenya and pose a major threat to elephant populations. In the 1970s, 1900 elephants were killed in Kenya for their ivory tusks, increasing to 8300 elephants in the 1980s.^[1] In 1989, as a dramatic gesture to persuade the world to halt the ivory trade, Kenyan President Daniel arap Moiignited twelve tons of elephant tusks.^[2] Illegal elephant deaths decreased between 1990, when the 1990 CITES ban was issued, and 1997, when only 34 were illegally killed.^[1] Seizures rose dramatically since 2006 with many illegal exports going to Asia.^[3] Poaching spiked seven-fold between 2007 and 2010.^[4]Arrests continue at Nairobi's international airport, where 92 kilos^{[clarification needed]} of raw ivory were seized in 2010, and 96 kilos^{[clarification needed]} in 2011.^[5]

History[edit]

During colonial times, elephant hunting in Kenya was seen as a sport for noblemen and was exploited by the colonial governors.^[6] Among the game hunters, the bull elephant was said to be the most exhilarating form of elephant hunting. Small-bore rifles appeared to be the preferred option and aiming at the brain instead of the heart was another preference, though the motive was not always monetary for many of the hunters. However, many hunters were indiscriminate in their choice of elephants to kill – young, old, male or female, it did not matter, as the primary purpose was ivory to sell and meatto meet the food needs of their hunting party.^[7]

An elephant skull with tusk removed by poachers near Voi, Taita-Taveta District

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Kenyan poacher received approximately Shs. 3-4/lb ($.79–1.05/kg); by the 1970s, it was Shs. 100/kg ($12.74/kg), increasing the black market value for the primary producer from about one fifth to one third of the real value.^[8] In 1963, when elephant hunting was still legal, the Kenyan government issued 393 formal legal permits to hunters to hunt elephants.^[9] Elephant hunting was made illegal in Kenya in 1973 and all animal hunting without a permit in 1977.^[10] In the 1970s, Ngina Kenyatta (Mama Ngina), wife of then-President Jomo Kenyatta, and other high-level government officials were allegedly involved in an ivory-smuggling ring that transported tusks out of the country in the state private aeroplane.^{[11][12][13][14][15]} New Scientist claimed that there was now documentary proof that at least one member of Kenya's royal family had shipped over six tons of ivory to China.^[11] By the late 1970s, the elephant population was estimated around 275,000, dropping to 20,000 in 1989.^[16]

In the 1990s the widespread ban on commercial ivory trading reduced the industry to a fraction of what it had been and elephant populations have stabilised.^[14] But illegal poaching and sale on the black market still poses a serious threat, as does government bribery. The largest poaching incident in Kenya since the ivory trade ban occurred in March 2002, when a family of ten elephants was killed.^[16]

Response[edit]

Though elephant hunting has been banned for a 40-year period in Kenya, poaching has not reduced. Given the poverty of many of the people, and the high value of elephant tusks, they are shipped overseas and sold on the black market. Although Kenya has many national parks and reserves protecting wildlife, elephant populations are still at risk, a problem which is made worse by corruption and some officials supplementing their income with permitting poaching.^[17] The Kenyan government has attempted to crack down on elephant poaching with the aid of multi-nationals but has often been too late in preventing the poaching of many elephants whose tusks have been seized en masse in cases at Nairobi Airport and inBangkok Airport where Kenyan tusks have often been imported.

Trophy hunting, purely as sport and as a conservation action, is now being considered for adoption in Kenya, as such a programme appears to have yielded positive results in the other Africa countries of Namibia and South Africa under a community managed conservation programme titled “Community -Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM)”. Under this programme, while cash was offered as an incentive for sport hunting, the basic aim was wildlife control on the communal land for providing benefits to the community as a whole.^[18] It is believed^{[by whom?]} that trophy hunting might attract elephant poachers into moving into legal hunting and leaving elephant trading.

The Food and Agricultural Organization's (FAO) report states: "Trophy hunting is generally self-regulating because low off-take is required to ensure high trophy quality and marketability in future seasons. Trophy hunting creates crucial financial incentives for the development and/or retention of wildlife as a land use over large areas in Africa, including in areas where ecotourism is not viable. Hunting plays an important role in the rehabilitation of degraded wildlife areas by enabling the income generation from wildlife without affecting population growth of trophy species."^[19]

The policy of trophy hunting has been adopted in 23 sub-Saharan African countries. The income generated in total in Africa is quoted to be USD 201 million/year, derived from about 18,500 international hunting clients covering an area of 1.4 million km².^[19] Since there is a lack of consensus among the clients about the efficacy of this method of biodiversity conservation in Africa, a study carried out by the Africa Wildlife Conservation Fund indicates that if Kenya makes trophy hunting legal again, nearly 90% of the clients would be interested to pursue this activity in that country. In this context, the importance of effective regulation of hunting operators and clients has also been highlighted.^[20]

Between 1970 and 1977, Kenya lost more than half of its elephants.^[21] Large scale tourism promotion picked up in Kenya following the imposed hunting ban in Kenya since 1977. It has been noted that "photographic tourism", or non-consumptive wildlife use, is contributing 12% of Kenya’s GDP. Hence, some groups have recommended that tourism be promoted rather than any kind of hunting or consumptive wildlife use, as it could divert the attention of the government of Kenya from the policy goal of wildlife preservation.^[22]

This is a song performed by Slash, former guitarist of Guns and Roses, who talks about this problem nowadays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrJJz-VQWWg

PERFORMING ARTS BY MARTINA FALCINELLI

Performing arts are art forms in which artists use their voices and/or the movements of their bodies, often in relation to other objects, to convey artistic expression—as opposed to, for example, purely visual arts, in which artists use paint/canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Performing arts include a variety of disciplines but all are intended to be performed in front of a live audience.

Performers[edit]

Artists who participate in performing arts in front of an audience are called performers. Example of this include actors,comedians, dancers, magicians, circus artists, musicians, and singers. Performing arts are also supported by workers in related fields, such as songwriting, choreography and stagecraft.

A performer who excels in acting, singing, and dancing is commonly referred to as a "triple threat".^[1] Well-known examples of historical triple threat artists include Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, and Judy Garland.^[1]

Performers often adapt their appearance, such as with costumes and stage makeup, stage lighting, and sound.

Types[edit]

Performing arts may include dance, music, opera, theatre and musical theatre, magic, illusion, mime, spoken word,puppetry, circus arts, performance art, recitation and public speaking.

There is also a specialized form of fine art, in which the artists perform their work live to an audience. This is calledperformance art. Most performance art also involves some form of plastic art, perhaps in the creation of props. Dance was often referred to as a plastic art during the Modern dance era.^{[citation needed]}

Theatre[edit]

Main article: Theatre

A scene from The Nutcracker ballet (Watchon YouTube).

Theatre is the branch of performing arts; concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience, using a combination of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle. Any one or more of these elements is performing arts. In addition to the standard narrative dialogue style of plays. Theatre takes such forms as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, illusion,mime, classical Indian dance, kabuki, mummers' plays, improvisational theatre, stand-up comedy, pantomime, and non-conventional or contemporary forms like postmodern theatre,postdramatic theatre, or performance art .

Dance[edit]

In the context of performing arts, dance generally refers to human movement, typically rhythmic and to music, used as a form of audience entertainment in a performance setting. Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on social, cultural, aesthetic artistic andmoral constraints and range from functional movement (such as folk dance) to codified,virtuoso techniques such as ballet.^[2]

Dance is a powerful impulse, but the art of dance is that impulse channeled by skillful performers into something that becomes intensely expressive and that may delight spectators who feel no wish to dance themselves. These two concepts of the art of dance—dance as a powerful impulse and dance as a skillfully choreographed art practiced largely by a professional few—are the two most important connecting ideas running through any consideration of the subject. In dance, the connection between the two concepts is stronger than in some other arts, and neither can exist without the other.^[2]

Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who practices this art is called a choreographer.

History[edit]

History of Western performing arts[edit]

Main article: Western art history

Sophocles, as depicted in the Nordisk familjebok.

Starting in the 6th century BC, the Classical period of performing art began in Greece, ushered in by the tragic poets such as Sophocles. These poets wrote plays which, in some cases, incorporated dance (see Euripides). The Hellenistic period began the widespread use ofcomedy.

However, by the 6th century AD, Western performing arts had been largely ended, as the Dark Ages began. Between the 9th century and 14th century, performing art in the West was limited to religious historical enactments and morality plays, organized by the Church in celebration of holy days and other important events.

Renaissance[edit]

Main article: Renaissance

In the 15th century performing arts, along with the arts in general, saw a revival as the Renaissance began in Italy and spread throughout Europe plays, some of which incorporated dance, which were performed and Domenico da Piacenza credited with the first use of the termballo (in De Arte Saltandi et Choreas Ducendi) instead of danza (dance) for his baletti or balli. The term eventually became Ballet. The first Ballet per se is thought to be Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx's Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581).

Painting of a showing of Commedia dell'arte - dated 1657.

By the mid-16th century Commedia Dell'arte became popular in Europe, introducing the use ofimprovisation. This period also introduced the Elizabethan masque, featuring music, dance and elaborate costumes as well as professional theatrical companies in England. William Shakespeare's plays in the late 16th century developed from this new class of professional performance.

In 1597, the first opera, Dafne was performed and throughout the 17th century, opera would rapidly become the entertainment of choice for the aristocracy in most of Europe, and eventually for large numbers of people living in cities and towns throughout Europe.

Modern era[edit]

Main article: Modern world

The introduction of the proscenium arch in Italy during the 17th century established the traditional theatre form that persists to this day. Meanwhile, in England, the Puritans forbade acting, bringing a halt to performing arts that lasted until 1660. After that, women began to appear in both French and English plays. The French introduced a formal dance instruction in the late 17th century.

It is also during this time that the first plays were performed in the American Colonies.

During the 18th century, the introduction of the popular opera buffa brought opera to the masses as an accessible form of performance. Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni are landmarks of the late 18th century opera.

At the turn of the 19th century, Beethoven and the Romantic movement ushered in a new era that led first to the spectacles of grand opera and then to the musical dramas of Giuseppe Verdi and the Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) of the operas of Richard Wagner leading directly to the music of the 20th century.

The 19th century was a period of growth for the performing arts for all social classes, technical advances such as the introduction of gaslight to theatres, burlesque, minstrel dancing, and variety theatre. In ballet, women make great progress in the previously male-dominated art.

Isadora Duncan, one of the developers of free dance.

Modern dance began in the late 19th century and early 20th century in response to the restrictions of traditional ballet.

Konstantin Stanislavski's "System" revolutionized acting in the early 20th century, and continues to have a major influence on actors of stage and screen to the current day. Bothimpressionism and modern realism were introduced to the stage during this period.

The arrival of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (1909–1929) revolutionized ballet and the performing arts generally throughout the Western world, most importantly through Diaghilev's emphasis on collaboration, which brought choreographers, dancers, set designers/artists, composers and musicians together to revitalize and revolutionize ballet. It is extremely complex.

With the invention of the motion picture in the late 19th century by Thomas Edison, and the growth of the motion picture industry in Hollywood. In the early 20th century, film became a dominant performance medium throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

Rhythm and blues, a cultural phenomenon of black America, became to prominence in the early 20th century; influencing a range of later popular music styles internationally.

In the 1930s Jean Rosenthal introduced what would become modern stage lighting, changing the nature of the stage as theBroadway musical became a phenomenon in the United States.

Post-War performance[edit]

Post-World War II performing arts were highlighted by the resurgence of both ballet and opera in the Western world.

Modern street theatre performance in La Chaux-de-Fonds

Postmodernism in performing arts dominated the 1960s to large extent.

History of Eastern performing arts[edit]

Middle East[edit]

The earliest recorded theatrical event dates back to 2000 BC with the passion plays of Ancient Egypt. This story of the god Osiris was performed annually at festivals throughout the civilization, marking the known beginning of a long relationship between theatre and religion.

The most popular forms of theater in the medieval Islamic world were puppettheatre (which included hand puppets, shadow plays and marionetteproductions) and live passion plays known as ta'ziya, where actors re-enact episodes from Muslim history. In particular,Shia Islamic plays revolved around the shaheed (martyrdom) of Ali's sons Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali. Live secular plays were known as akhraja, recorded in medieval adab literature, though they were less common than puppetry andta'ziya theater.^[3]

Iran[edit]

In Iran there are other forms of theatrical events such as Naghali (story telling), ٰRu-Howzi, Siah-Bazi, Parde-Khani, 'Mareke giri.

India and Pakistan[edit]

Main articles: Theatre in India, Theatre in Pakistan and Sanskrit drama

Folk theatre and dramatics can be traced to the religious ritualism of the Vedic peoples in the 2nd millennium BC. This folk theatre of the misty past was mixed with dance, food, ritualism, plus a depiction of events from daily life. The last element made it the origin of the classical theatre of later times. Many historians, notably D. D. Kosambi, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, Adya Rangacharaya, etc. have referred to the prevalence of ritualism amongst Indo-Aryan tribes in which some members of the tribe acted as if they were wild animals and some others were the hunters. Those who acted as mammals like goats, buffaloes, reindeer, monkeys, etc. were chased by those playing the role of hunters.

Bharata Muni (fl. 5th–2nd century BC) was an ancient Indian writer best known for writing the Natya Shastra of Bharata, a theoretical treatise on Indian performing arts, including theatre, dance, acting, and music, which has been compared toAristotle's Poetics. Bharata is often known as the father of Indian theatrical arts. His Natya Shastra seems to be the first attempt to develop the technique or rather art, of drama in a systematic manner. The Natya Shastra tells us not only what is to be portrayed in a drama, but how the portrayal is to be done. Drama, as Bharata Muni says, is the imitation of men and their doings (loka-vritti). As men and their doings have to be respected on the stage, so drama in Sanskrit is also known by the term roopaka, which means portrayal.

The Ramayana and Mahabharata can be considered the first recognized plays that originated in India. These epics provided the inspiration to the earliest Indian dramatists and they do it even today. Indian dramatists such as Bhasa in the 2nd century BC wrote plays that were heavily inspired by the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Kālidāsa in the 1st century BC, is arguably considered to be ancient India's greatest dramatist. Three famous romantic plays written by Kālidāsa are the Mālavikāgnimitram (Mālavikā and Agnimitra), Vikramuurvashiiya (Pertaining to Vikrama and Urvashi), and Abhijñānaśākuntala (The Recognition of Shakuntala). The last was inspired by a story in theMahabharata and is the most famous. It was the first to be translated into English and German. In comparison to Bhasa, who drew heavily from the epics, Kālidāsa can be considered an original playwright.

The next great Indian dramatist was Bhavabhuti (c. 7th century). He is said to have written the following three plays: Malati-Madhava, Mahaviracharita and Uttar Ramacharita. Among these three, the last two cover between them, the entire epic ofRamayana. The powerful Indian emperor Harsha (606–648) is credited with having written three plays: the comedyRatnavali, Priyadarsika, and the Buddhist drama Nagananda. Many other dramatists followed during the Middle Ages.

There were many performing art forms in the southern part of India, Kerala is such a state with different such art forms likeKoodiyattam, Nangyarkoothu, Kathakali, Chakyar koothu and there were many prominent artists like Painkulam Raman Chakyar and others.

China[edit]

Main article: Chinese theatre

There are references to theatrical entertainments in China as early as 1500 BC during the Shang Dynasty; they often involved music, clowning and acrobatic displays.

The Tang dynasty is sometimes known as "The Age of 1000 Entertainments". During this era, Emperor Xuanzong formed an acting school known as the Children of the Pear Garden to produce a form of drama that was primarily musical.

During the Han Dynasty, shadow puppetry first emerged as a recognized form of theatre in China. There were two distinct forms of shadow puppetry, Cantonese southern and Pekingese northern. The two styles were differentiated by the method of making the puppets and the positioning of the rods on the puppets, as opposed to the type of play performed by the puppets. Both styles generally performed plays depicting great adventure and fantasy, rarely was this very stylized form of theatre used for political propaganda. Cantonese shadow puppets were the larger of the two. They were built using thick leather that created more substantial shadows. Symbolic color was also very prevalent; a black face represented honesty, a red one bravery. The rods used to control Cantonese puppets were attached perpendicular to the puppets' heads. Thus, they were not seen by the audience when the shadow was created. Pekingese puppets were more delicate and smaller. They were created out of thin, translucent leather usually taken from the belly of a donkey. They were painted with vibrant paints, thus they cast a very colorful shadow. The thin rods that controlled their movements were attached to a leather collar at the neck of the puppet. The rods ran parallel to the bodies of the puppet then turned at a ninety degree angle to connect to the neck. While these rods were visible when the shadow was cast, they laid outside the shadow of the puppet; thus they did not interfere with the appearance of the figure. The rods attached at the necks to facilitate the use of multiple heads with one body. When the heads were not being used, they were stored in a muslin book or fabric lined box. The heads were always removed at night. This was in keeping with the old superstition that if left intact, the puppets would come to life at night. Some puppeteers went so far as to store the heads in one book and the bodies in another, to further reduce the possibility of reanimating puppets. Shadow puppetry is said to have reached its highest point of artistic development in the 11th century before becoming a tool of the government.

In the Song dynasty, there were many popular plays involving acrobatics and music. These developed in the Yuan Dynastyinto a more sophisticated form with a four- or five-act structure. Yuan drama spread across China and diversified into numerous regional forms, the best known of which is Beijing Opera, which is still popular today.

Thailand[edit]

Further information: Ramakien

Hanuman on his chariot, a scene from the Ramakien in Wat Phra Kaew,Bangkok

In Thailand, it has been a tradition from the Middle Ages to stage plays based on plots drawn from Indian epics. In particular, the theatrical version of Thailand's national epic Ramakien, a version of the Indian Ramayana, remains popular in Thailand even today.

Cambodia[edit]

In Cambodia, at the ancient capital Angkor Wat, stories from the Indian epicsRamayana and Mahabharata have been carved on the walls of temples and palaces. Similar reliefs are found at Borobudur in Indonesia.

Japan[edit]

Main articles: Noh, Bunraku, Kabuki and Butoh

During the 14th century, there were small companies of actors in Japan who performed short, sometimes vulgar comedies. A director of one of these companies, Kan'ami (1333–1384), had a son, Zeami Motokiyo (1363–1443) who was considered one of the finest child actors in Japan. When Kan'ami's company performed for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358–1408), the Shogun of Japan, he implored Zeami to have a court education for his arts. After Zeami succeeded his father, he continued to perform and adapt his style into what is today Noh. A mixture of pantomime and vocal acrobatics, this style has fascinated the Japanese for hundreds of years.

Japan, after a long period of civil wars and political disarray, was unified and at peace primarily due to shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1600–1668). However, alarmed at increasing Christian growth, he cut off contact from Japan to Europe and China and outlawed Christianity. When peace did come, a flourish of cultural influence and growing merchant class demanded its own entertainment. The first form of theatre to flourish was Ningyō jōruri (commonly referred to as Bunraku). The founder of and main contributor to Ningyō jōruri, Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653–1725), turned his form of theatre into a true art form. Ningyō jōruri is a highly stylized form of theatre using puppets, today about 1/3d the size of a human. The men who control the puppets train their entire lives to become master puppeteers, when they can then operate the puppet's head and right arm and choose to show their faces during the performance. The other puppeteers, controlling the less important limbs of the puppet, cover themselves and their faces in a black suit, to imply their invisibility. The dialogue is handled by a single person, who uses varied tones of voice and speaking manners to simulate different characters. Chikamatsu wrote thousands of plays during his lifetime, most of which are still used today.

Kabuki began shortly after Bunraku, legend has it by an actress named Okuni, who lived around the end of the 16th century. Most of Kabuki's material came from Nõ and Bunraku, and its erratic dance-type movements are also an effect of Bunraku. However, Kabuki is less formal and more distant than Nõ, yet very popular among the Japanese public. Actors are trained in many varied things including dancing, singing, pantomime, and even acrobatics. Kabuki was first performed by young girls, then by young boys, and by the end of the 16th century, Kabuki companies consisted of all men. The men who portrayed women on stage were specifically trained to elicit the essence of a woman in their subtle movements and gestures.