7 Secrets of the Super Organized A few years ago, my life was a mess. So was my house, my desk, my mind. Then I learned, one by one, a few habits that got me completely organized. Am I perfect? Of course not, and I don’t aim to be. But I know where everything is, I know what I need to do today, I don’t forget things most of the time, and my house is uncluttered and relatively clean (well, as clean as you can get when you have toddlers and big kids running around). So what’s the secret? Are these obvious principles? If your life is a mess, like mine was, I don’t recommend trying to get organized all in one shot. So here are the 7 habits: Reduce before organizing. If you take your closet full of 100 things and throw out all but the 10 things you love and use, now you don’t need a fancy closet organizer. How to reduce: take everything out of a closet or drawer or other container (including your schedule), clean it out, and only put back those items you truly love and really use on a regular basis.
OATD – Open Access Theses and Dissertations The Collection Educational Videos and Games for Kids about Science, Math, Social Studies and English Expands xConsortium to Asia and Doubles in Size with Addition of 15 New Global Institutions EdX Expands xConsortium to Asia and Doubles in Size with Addition of 15 New Global Institutions CAMBRIDGE, MA – May 21, 2013 – EdX , the not-for-profit online learning initiative composed of the leading global institutions of the xConsortium, today announced another doubling of its university membership with the addition of its first Asian institutions and further expansion in the Ivy League. The xConsortium is gaining 15 prestigious higher education institutions, bringing its total to 27, including Tsinghua University and Peking University in China, The University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University of Science & Technology in Hong Kong, Kyoto University in Japan, and Seoul National University in South Korea, and Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. EdX also welcomes nine universities from North America, Europe and Australia. While MOOCs, or massive open online courses, have typically focused on offering free online courses, edX's vision is much larger. Asia – Australia - Europe -
Library of Congress Maps Collections The Library of Congress Search by Keyword | Browse by Geographic Location Index | Subject Index | Creator Index | Title Index The Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress holds more than 4.5 million items, of which Map Collections represents only a small fraction, those that have been converted to digital form. The focus of Map Collections is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases and, in general, are restricted to items that are not covered by copyright protection. Map Collections is organized according to seven major categories. Searching Map Collections The mission of the Library of Congress is to make its resources available and useful to Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations. The Library of Congress presents these documents as part of the record of the past. Special Presentations: Places in History
Education Technology - theory and practice: Pearltrees for teachers Year 2012 last post is a guest post from Finnish teacher Tommi Viljakainen. He is a teacher in Elimäki lower and upper secondary school. He teaches English, French and P.E. He is also interested in social media, iPad and the future of education. 10 tips for teachers: 1. The new social media tools make it possible for us to take the learning to the next level. Links:The program:Pear app (iPad, iPhone) Me and Pearltrees:My blog writings (in Finnish) Semantic web, Web 3.0:Content Curation by people not - The Third Web Fr 3.0 and the Smart eXtended
Res Obscura Old-Maps - the online repository of historic maps - home page What an Effective Teacher's Classroom Looks Like Another school year is approaching and many novice teachers are preparing to enter their own classrooms for the first time. To help them on their way, MiddleWeb is publishing a series of brief articles offering good advice and food for thought. What We See in Effective and Ineffective Classrooms by Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker In our ongoing observations of teachers, we continue to notice that the most effective teachers’ classrooms all look uncannily similar. And, of course, the same can be said for the less effective teachers—their classrooms all look uncannily similar. It seems that no matter where we go, the students all act the same in the classrooms of the most effective teachers. Let’s take a look inside of less effective teachers’ classrooms first. Here is what they all seem to have in common: ◆ The classroom looks disorganized. Now for the good news We could go on, but we think we’ve made the point. Here’s what we saw in the classrooms of the most effective teachers:
The Science of "Chunking," Working Memory, and How Pattern Recognition Fuels Creativity by Maria Popova “Generating interesting connections between disparate subjects is what makes art so fascinating to create and to view… We are forced to contemplate a new, higher pattern that binds lower ones together.” It seems to be the season for fascinating meditations on consciousness, exploring such questions as what happens while we sleep, how complex cognition evolved, and why the world exists. Joining them and prior explorations of what it means to be human is The Ravenous Brain: How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning (public library) by Cambridge neuroscientist Daniel Bor in which, among other things, he sheds light on how our species’ penchant for pattern-recognition is essential to consciousness and our entire experience of life. To illustrate the power of chunking, Bor gives an astounding example of how one man was able to use this mental mechanism in greatly expanding the capacity of his working memory. Donating = Loving Share on Tumblr
Geoscientists Can Now Access Over 18,000 Maps From SEPM Through Elsevier's Geofacets Geoscientists Can Now Access Over 18,000 Maps From SEPM Through Elsevier's Geofacets NEW YORK, September 17, 2012 — (PRNewswire) — Collaboration makes over 225,000 maps available on-demand to help geoscientists quickly and accurately assess the opportunities and risks involved in oil & gas exploration Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services, and SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) today announced the integration of more than 18,000 geological maps from SEPM into Elsevier's web-based research tool, Geofacets. First announced in April 2012, and now available to Geofacets users, the integration grants geoscientists access to scientific information that can provide key insight into the potential of regions for oil and gas exploration, allowing geoscientists to make predictions and guide exploration with greater confidence. About SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) About Geofacets About Elsevier
50 Kick-Ass Websites You Need to Know About It's time to update the entries in your browser's links toolbar. But with recent estimates putting the size of the internet at well more than 100 million distinct websites, it's getting harder and harder to get a handle on all the great stuff that's out there. That's why we've compiled this list. And unlike some lists you may have seen, which try to name the very "best" websites, but end up just telling you a lot of stuff you already know, we've chosen instead to highlight 50 of our favorite sites that fly under most people's radar. Think of it as the Maximum PC blog roll (remember those?). You might have heard of some of these sites, but we'll bet you haven't heard of all them. Demoscene.tv See What Can Be Done with 4 Kilobytes If you’re any kind of nerd at all, you probably know about the demoscene, where talented programmers create complex videos rendered in real-time, stored in incredibly small files. lite.Facebook.com Clutter-Free Social Networking You can admit it. Soyouwanna.com
Discussion Forums - Tamgas or not? Extraneous motifs on weavings Posted by James Blanchard on 03-30-2006 12:44 PM: Yomut mafrash - eagle symbol? Hi all, I recently picked up this Yomut mafrash in a small shop in a bazaar in New Delhi. In the end I decided to get it partly because it still has a back and therefore retains some appeal for me as a "utilitarian" piece (and the price was now very good for me, about 18 months after I first saw it). Structure: symmetric knotting (approx. 8h x 18v = 144 kpsi), warp looks mostly like fine, dark goat hair, with some lighter hair mixed in. James. Posted by James Blanchard on 03-31-2006 03:15 AM: One more thing... Since this trapping has understandably not elicited much of a response, I apologize for one more query about it. The devices at the end of the kepse guls have two small and almost identical projections ("tear drop" shaped) from the top corner (identified by the yellow lines). Posted by R. Hi James - And there has been clear color transfer from the red into white areas and onto the back. Just my view. Regards, R.