Which Bird Are You?

Early Bird Or Night Owl?

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Russian Tunnel of Death - YouTube

Russian Tunnel of Death - YouTube:

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 by koltregaskes on Jul 15, 2009


The 3,150 m long Lefortovo tunnel in Russia , is the longest in-city tunnel in ll the world. It is nicknamed 'The Tunnel of Death'.

See for yourself why. There is a river running over the tunnel,and water leaks through in some areas. When the temperature reaches nearly 0°C (like it does during the Winter in Russia ), the road freezes and becomes as slippery as hell. The result is the attached videos which were taken during a single day with the tunnel Surveillance camera . Congratulations to the dual-carriage bus driver...imagine the passengers in the back! What a ride!

The next time you complain about traffic, remember this video...Russian Engineering at its best!




License:
Standard YouTube License



'via Blog this'

Monday, January 9, 2012

Sleep Facts



 







 

40 FACTS ABOUT SLEEP YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW

-The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.

- It's impossible to tell if someone is really awake without close medical supervision. People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even being aware of it.

- Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you're sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you're still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.

- A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year

- One of the best predictors of insomnia later in life is the development of bad habits from having sleep disturbed by young children.

- The continuous brain recordings that led to the discovery of REM (rapid eye-movement) sleep were not done until 1953, partly because the scientists involved were concerned about wasting paper.

- REM sleep occurs in bursts totalling about 2 hours a night, usually beginning about 90 minutes after falling asleep.

- Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM sleep, also occur (but to a lesser extent) in non-REM sleep phases. It's possible there may not be a single moment of our sleep when we are actually dreamless.

- REM dreams are characterised by bizarre plots, but non-REM dreams are repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery - obsessively returning to a suspicion you left your mobile phone somewhere, for example.

- Certain types of eye movements during REM sleep correspond to specific movements in dreams, suggesting at least part of the dreaming process is analagous to watching a film

- No-one knows for sure if other species dream but some do have sleep cycles similar to humans.

- Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM sleep, but lie down for REM sleep.

- Some scientists believe we dream to fix experiences in long-term memory, that is, we dream about things worth remembering. Others reckon we dream about things worth forgetting - to eliminate overlapping memories that would otherwise clog up our brains.

- Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations - sleep and consciousness.

- REM sleep may help developing brains mature. Premature babies have 75 per cent REM sleep, 10 per cent more than full-term bubs. Similarly, a newborn kitten puppy rat or hampster experiences only REM sleep, while a newborn guinea pig (which is much more developed at birth) has almost no REM sleep at all.

- Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain's sleep-wake clock.

- British Ministry of Defence researchers have been able to reset soldiers' body clocks so they can go without sleep for up to 36 hrs. Tiny optical fibres embedded in special spectacles project a ring of bright white light (with a spectrum identical to a sunrise) around the edge of soldiers' retinas, fooling them into thinking they have just woken up. The system was first used on US pilots during the bombing of Kosovo.

- Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.

- The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role.

- The NRMA estimates fatigue is involved in one in 6 fatal road accidents.

- Exposure to noise at night can suppress immune function even if the sleeper doesn’t wake. Unfamiliar noise, and noise during the first and last two hours of sleep, has the greatest disruptive effect on the sleep cycle.

- The "natural alarm clock" which enables some people to wake up more or less when they want to is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this reflects an unconscious anticipation of the stress of waking up.

- Some sleeping tablets, such as barbiturates suppress REM sleep, which can be harmful over a long period.

- In insomnia following bereavement, sleeping pills can disrupt grieving.

- Tiny luminous rays from a digital alarm clock can be enough to disrupt the sleep cycle even if you do not fully wake. The light turns off a "neural switch" in the brain, causing levels of a key sleep chemical to decline within minutes.

- To drop off we must cool off; body temperature and the brain's sleep-wake cycle are closely linked. That's why hot summer nights can cause a restless sleep. The blood flow mechanism that transfers core body heat to the skin works best between 18 and 30 degrees. But later in life, the comfort zone shrinks to between 23 and 25 degrees - one reason why older people have more sleep disorders.

- A night on the grog will help you get to sleep but it will be a light slumber and you won't dream much.

- After five nights of partial sleep deprivation, three drinks will have the same effect on your body as six would when you've slept enough.

- Humans sleep on average around three hours less than other primates like chimps, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys and baboons, all of whom sleep for 10 hours.

- Ducks at risk of attack by predators are able to balance the need for sleep and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into sleep mode.

- Ten per cent of snorers have sleep apnoea, a disorder which causes sufferers to stop breathing up to 300 times a night and significantly increases the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

- Snoring occurs only in non-REM sleep

- Teenagers need as much sleep as small children (about 10 hrs) while those over 65 need the least of all (about six hours). For the average adult aged 25-55, eight hours is considered optimal

- Some studies suggest women need up to an hour's extra sleep a night compared to men, and not getting it may be one reason women are much more susceptible to depression than men.

- Feeling tired can feel normal after a short time. Those deliberately deprived of sleep for research initially noticed greatly the effects on their alertness, mood and physical performance, but the awareness dropped off after the first few days.

- Diaries from the pre-electric-light-globe Victorian era show adults slept nine to 10 hours a night with periods of rest changing with the seasons in line with sunrise and sunsets.

- Most of what we know about sleep we've learned in the past 25 years.

- As a group, 18 to 24 year-olds deprived of sleep suffer more from impaired performance than older adults.

- Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet.

- The extra-hour of sleep received when clocks are put back at the start of daylight in Canada has been found to coincide with a fall in the number of road accidents.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/sleep/facts.htm
 







Wednesday, October 12, 2011






Developing a lesson plan




While there are many formats for a lesson plan, most lesson plans contain some or all of these elements, typically in this order:





Title of the lesson





Time required to complete the lesson

List of required materials





List of objectives, which may be behavioral objectives (what the student can do at lesson completion) or knowledge objectives (what the student knows at lesson completion)





The set (or lead-in, or bridge-in) that focuses students on the lesson's skills or concepts—these include showing pictures or models, asking leading questions, or reviewing previous lessons





An instructional component that describes the sequence of events that make up the lesson, including the teacher's instructional input and guided practice the students use to try new skills or work with new ideas





Independent practice that allows students to extend skills or knowledge on their own





A summary, where the teacher wraps up the discussion and answers questions





An evaluation component, a test for mastery of the instructed skills or concepts—such as a set of questions to answer or a set of instructions to follow





Analysis component the teacher uses to reflect on the lesson itself —such as what worked, what needs improving





A continuity component reviews and reflects on content from the previous lesson





A well-developed lesson plan reflects int...

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http://www.adprima.com/lesson.htm









Lesson Planning, Lesson Plan Formats and Lesson Plan Ideas

Dr. Bob Kizlik

Updated August 14, 2011

Lesson planning...who needs it, or needs to know how to do it? Well, maybe, just maybe, you do! Having the skill to plan lessons really does help you to "own" the subjects you are teaching or will be teaching.

Lesson planning is a special skill that is learned in much the same way as other skills. It is one thing to surf the Net to retrieve lesson plans from other sites and adapt them to your needs. It is quite another thing to have the skill to develop your own lesson plans. When you are able to create your own lesson plans, it means you have taken a giant step toward "owning" the content you teach and the methods you use, and that is a good thing. Acquiring this skill is far more valuable than being able to use lesson plans developed by others. It takes thinking and practice to hone this skill, and it won't happen overnight, but it is a skill that will help to define you as a teacher. Knowing "how to" is far more important than knowing "about" when it comes to lesson plans, and is one of the important markers along the way to becoming a professional teacher. It is also in keeping with a central theme of this site that you should learn to plan lessons in more than one way. The corollary is, of course, that there is no one "best way" to plan lessons. Regardless of the form or template, there are fundamental components of all lesson plans that you should learn to write, revise, and improve. The old adage, "Practice doesn't make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect" is at the core of learning this skill. Trust me on this.

This is among the most popular pages on the ADPRIMA web site, and for good reason. Good lesson plans do not ensure students will learn what is intended, but they certainly contribute to it. Think of a lesson plan as a way of communicating, and without doubt, effective communication skills are fundamental to all teaching. Lesson plans also help new or inexperienced teachers organize content, materials, and methods. When you are learning the craft of teaching, organizing your subject-matter content via lesson plans is fundamental. Like most skills, you'll get better at it the more you do it and think of ways of improving your planning and teaching based on feedback from your students, their parents, and other teachers. Developing your own lesson plans also helps you "own" the subject matter content you are teaching, and that is central to everything good teachers do.

It's simple; effective lesson plans communicate, ineffective ones don't. Teachers create lesson plans to communicate their instructional activities regarding specific subject-matter. Almost all lesson plans developed by teachers contain student learning objectives, instructional procedures, the required materials, and some written description of how the students will be evaluated. Many experienced teachers often reduce lesson plans to a mental map or short outline. New teachers, however, usually find detailed lesson plans to be indispensable. Learn to write good lesson plans - it is a skill that will serve you well as a teacher. If you're really serious, become proficient in writing effective learning objectives. All lesson plans begin, or should begin with an objective. Toward that end, I have developed a self-instructional, interactive program that teaches this important skill within the context of lesson planning. Go to this link to find out more:http://www.adprima.com/wlo5.htm It is inexpensive and effective!

For those of you visiting the ADPRIMA web site in search of lesson plans, you will find some links here that point to some of the best anywhere on the Internet.

ADPRIMA Help on Learning to Write Lesson Plans



Mistakes in writing lesson plans and how to avoid them Do it! Nip your problems in the bud!
Lesson Plans the Easy Way! A different take on writing lesson plans.
How to Write Behavioral Objectives This is about how to express instructional intent in behavioral form.
Rationale for Behavioral Objectives. A little background on behavioral objectives can deepen your understanding.
Measurement, Assessment, Evaluation A brief explanation of these three terms that might be helpful.
Verbs for Behavioral Objectives Using the correct verb makes a big difference.
Lesson Planning: Teaching Questions A set of questions that will help you provide a more effective and meaningful learning experience for your students.
How to Write an Assessment Based on an Objective Some thoughts about this often difficult, confusing, yet integral part of lesson planning.
Examples of Behavioral Verbs See how the verbs are us





Monday, October 10, 2011

Be Present In Your Life.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Imagery for Getting Well

Creating the image of meaning in despair, finding joy in crisis, and imaging hope in tragedy.  In other words, it is about seeing the pony in the mire of a life-threatening or chronic condition.

- Deirdre Davis Brigham, author "Imagery for Getting Well -Clinical Applications of Behavioral Medicine

Imagery for Getting Well

Creating the image of meaning in despair, finding joy in crisis, and imaging hope in tragedy.  In other words, it is about seeing the pony in the mire of a life-threatening or chronic condition.

- Deirdre Davis Brigham, author "Imagery for Getting Well -Clinical Applications of Behavioral Medicine

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Beginner's Mind

Sit down before facts like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion.  Follow humbly whatever and to whatever abyss nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.
- T.H. Huxley