More intelligent than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking... the schoolgirl, 11, with an IQ of 162
She is 11 years old and enjoys swimming and playing the recorder. But while Victoria Cowie insists she is just like any other girl her age, in one respect she is very different.
The schoolgirl has just been admitted to Mensa after scoring 162 in an IQ test – better than the 160 thought to have been achieved by Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates.
The result puts her in the top 1 per cent of the British population in terms of intelligence.
Victoria, who has been offered scholarships to four prestigious fee-paying schools, said: ‘When I got the results, I was really surprised.
‘It’s quite daunting to be compared to great minds, but it feels good also to be thought of as that clever.
‘I really enjoy puzzles and working things out and I think I’ll go on to study sciences, especially biology, when I’m older.’
Victoria took the adult admission tests for Mensa, the society for people with a high IQ.
As well as surpassing brilliant scientists and Microsoft founder Mr Gates, her score gives her a higher IQ than Sigmund Freud, who is thought to have had an IQ of 156, Napoleon Bonaparte, with 145, and Hillary Clinton, with 140.
Only those with an IQ of 148 and above – the top 2 per cent of the population – qualify for Mensa. The average IQ is 100.
Victoria, an only child, said she hadn’t yet told her friends about her astonishing results.
She said: ‘I really enjoy science and doing experiments, but I also love acting and dancing and playing musical instruments.
‘I do theatre workshops and loads of sports like swimming and I really enjoy creative subjects.
‘But my favourite subject is biology and I want to be a vet when I’m older because I love animals and I don’t mind blood and things like that.’ Victoria’s parents, who live in Claverley, near Wolverhampton, and run a health and safety consultancy, said they had always known their daughter was bright, but had not quite realised she was at genius level.
Her mother Alison, 44, said she was proud of her daughter. ‘When she was at nursery she had the reading ability of a child twice her age and she won science awards at school,’ Mrs Cowie added.
‘We always knew she was clever – she was always in the top sets and her teachers always praised her – but we never quite thought she’d be in Mensa.
BIG BRAIN: WHO VICTORIA BEATS FOR IQ
Napoleon - 145
Stephen Hawking - 160
Albert Einstein - 160
Bill Gates - 160
Sigmund Freud - 156
Arnold Schwarzenegger - 135
Madonna - 140
Quentin Tarantino - 160
Hillary Clinton - 140
Bill Clinton - 135
Nicole Kidman - 132
Tampilkan postingan dengan label education. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label education. Tampilkan semua postingan
Senin, 09 Desember 2013
Jumat, 06 Desember 2013
The Differences Between Men's and Women's Brains
How Men's Brains Are Wired Differently Than Women's
Male brains have more connections within hemispheres to optimize motor skills, whereas female brains are more connected between hemispheres to combine analytical and intuitive thinking.
Brain networks showing significantly increased intra-hemispheric connectivity in males (Upper) and inter-hemispheric connectivity in females (Lower). Intra-hemispheric connections are shown in blue, and inter- hemispheric connections are shownImage: agini Verma et al, University of Pennsylvania
Men aren't from Mars and women aren't from Venus, but their brains really are wired differently, a new study suggests.
The research, which involved imaging the brains of nearly 1,000 adolescents, found that male brains had more connections within hemispheres, whereas female brainswere more connected between hemispheres. The results, which apply to the population as a whole and not individuals, suggest that male brains may be optimized for motor skills, and female brains may be optimized for combining analytical and intuitive thinking.
"On average, men connect front to back [parts of the brain] more strongly than women," whereas "women have stronger connections left to right," said study leader Ragini Verma, an associate professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania medical school. But Verma cautioned against making sweeping generalizations about men and women based on the results.
Previous studies have found behavioral differences between men and women. For example, women may have better verbal memory and social cognition, whereas men may have better motor and spatial skills, on average. Brain imaging studies have shown that women have a higher percentage of gray matter, the computational tissue of the brain, while men have a higher percentage of white matter, the connective cables of the brain. But few studies have shown that men's and women's brains areconnected differently.
In the study, researchers scanned the brains of 949 young people ages 8 to 22 (428 males and 521 females), using a form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) known as diffusion tensor imaging, which maps the diffusion of water molecules within brain tissue. The researchers analyzed the participants as a single group, and as three separate groups split up by age.
As a whole, the young men had stronger connections within cerebral hemispheres while the young women had stronger connections between hemispheres, the study, detailed today (Dec. 2) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found. However, the cerebellum, a part of the brain below the cerebrum that plays a role in coordinating muscle movement, showed the opposite pattern, with males having stronger connections between hemispheres.
Roughly speaking, the back of the brain handles perception and the front of the brain handles action; the left hemisphere of the brain is the seat of logical thinking, while the right side of the brain begets intuitive thinking. The findings lend support to the view that males may excel at motor skills, while women may be better at integrating analysis and intuitive thinking.
"It is fascinating that we can see some of functional differences in men and women structurally," Verma told LiveScience. However, the results do not apply to individual men and women, she said. "Every individual could have part of both men and women in them," she said, referring to the connectivity patterns her team observed.
When the researchers compared the young people by age group, they saw the most pronounced brain differences among adolescents (13.4 to 17 years old), suggesting the sexes begin to diverge in the teen years. Males and females showed the greatest differences in inter-hemisphere brain connectivity during this time, with females having more connections between hemispheres primarily in the frontal lobe. These differences got smaller with age, with older females showing more widely distributed connections throughout the brain rather than just in the frontal lobe.
Currently, scientists can't quantify how much an individual has male- or female-like patterns of brain connectivity. Another lingering question is whether the structural differences result in differences in brain function, or whether differences in function result in structural changes.
The findings could also help scientists understand why certain diseases, such as autism, are more prevalent in males, Verma said.
Male brains have more connections within hemispheres to optimize motor skills, whereas female brains are more connected between hemispheres to combine analytical and intuitive thinking.
Brain networks showing significantly increased intra-hemispheric connectivity in males (Upper) and inter-hemispheric connectivity in females (Lower). Intra-hemispheric connections are shown in blue, and inter- hemispheric connections are shownImage: agini Verma et al, University of Pennsylvania
Men aren't from Mars and women aren't from Venus, but their brains really are wired differently, a new study suggests.
The research, which involved imaging the brains of nearly 1,000 adolescents, found that male brains had more connections within hemispheres, whereas female brainswere more connected between hemispheres. The results, which apply to the population as a whole and not individuals, suggest that male brains may be optimized for motor skills, and female brains may be optimized for combining analytical and intuitive thinking.
"On average, men connect front to back [parts of the brain] more strongly than women," whereas "women have stronger connections left to right," said study leader Ragini Verma, an associate professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania medical school. But Verma cautioned against making sweeping generalizations about men and women based on the results.
Previous studies have found behavioral differences between men and women. For example, women may have better verbal memory and social cognition, whereas men may have better motor and spatial skills, on average. Brain imaging studies have shown that women have a higher percentage of gray matter, the computational tissue of the brain, while men have a higher percentage of white matter, the connective cables of the brain. But few studies have shown that men's and women's brains areconnected differently.
In the study, researchers scanned the brains of 949 young people ages 8 to 22 (428 males and 521 females), using a form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) known as diffusion tensor imaging, which maps the diffusion of water molecules within brain tissue. The researchers analyzed the participants as a single group, and as three separate groups split up by age.
As a whole, the young men had stronger connections within cerebral hemispheres while the young women had stronger connections between hemispheres, the study, detailed today (Dec. 2) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found. However, the cerebellum, a part of the brain below the cerebrum that plays a role in coordinating muscle movement, showed the opposite pattern, with males having stronger connections between hemispheres.
Roughly speaking, the back of the brain handles perception and the front of the brain handles action; the left hemisphere of the brain is the seat of logical thinking, while the right side of the brain begets intuitive thinking. The findings lend support to the view that males may excel at motor skills, while women may be better at integrating analysis and intuitive thinking.
"It is fascinating that we can see some of functional differences in men and women structurally," Verma told LiveScience. However, the results do not apply to individual men and women, she said. "Every individual could have part of both men and women in them," she said, referring to the connectivity patterns her team observed.
When the researchers compared the young people by age group, they saw the most pronounced brain differences among adolescents (13.4 to 17 years old), suggesting the sexes begin to diverge in the teen years. Males and females showed the greatest differences in inter-hemisphere brain connectivity during this time, with females having more connections between hemispheres primarily in the frontal lobe. These differences got smaller with age, with older females showing more widely distributed connections throughout the brain rather than just in the frontal lobe.
Currently, scientists can't quantify how much an individual has male- or female-like patterns of brain connectivity. Another lingering question is whether the structural differences result in differences in brain function, or whether differences in function result in structural changes.
The findings could also help scientists understand why certain diseases, such as autism, are more prevalent in males, Verma said.
Rabu, 06 November 2013
DO NOT MISS "THE GREAT GATSBY"! MINGLE WITH YOUNG PROFESSIONALS AND SUPPORT A GREAT CAUSE!!
You are invited to the "The Great Gatsby”, an elegant event put together by AfriPRO Houston, in partnership with the U.S. Bilateral African Chamber of Commerce. This roaring 20’s party recreates the mood of that era, and will feature music, dancing and a few other surprises. Mingle with young professionals with a passion for humanitarian causes.
There will also be a benefit for “Slum2School”, a nonprofit organization that sends slum children in Nigeria to school. The benefit will also help raise awareness for “Hannah’s House”, an international ministry that advocates for women and children’s health, education, and community development.
Guests are inquired to bring school supplies and toiletries to donate to the benefit.
DATE| Wednesday, Nov. 20th, 2013 at 4 p.m.
LOCATION:
The Sam Houston Hotel
1117 Prairie St.
Houston, TX 77002
WEBSITE| http://www.afriprohouston.org/
PHONE| 832-452-7784
TICKET INFO| $30
Facebook| https://www.facebook.com/afriprohouston
Twitter| https://twitter.com/AfriPRO_Houston
Kamis, 25 April 2013
How To Make Money From Short Stories
Richard Bausch wins $30,000 Rea Award for short stories
NEW YORK - One of the country's top short story writers has won a $30,000 prize.
Richard Bausch, author of eight story collections and winner of numerous other honors, is this year's recipient of the Rea Award for the Short Story.
The prize, announced Thursday, is given for making a "significant contribution" to the art of short story writing. Bausch's books include "Something Is Out There" and "Someone to Watch Over Me." He also has written 11 novels and has been praised for his lyrical style and his insights into a wide a range of people and emotions.
The Rea Award was established in 1986. Previous winners include Eudora Welty, John Updike and Lorrie Moore.
NEW YORK - One of the country's top short story writers has won a $30,000 prize.
Richard Bausch, author of eight story collections and winner of numerous other honors, is this year's recipient of the Rea Award for the Short Story.
The prize, announced Thursday, is given for making a "significant contribution" to the art of short story writing. Bausch's books include "Something Is Out There" and "Someone to Watch Over Me." He also has written 11 novels and has been praised for his lyrical style and his insights into a wide a range of people and emotions.
The Rea Award was established in 1986. Previous winners include Eudora Welty, John Updike and Lorrie Moore.
Rabu, 24 April 2013
The Most Wanted Secrets How To Have A Stronger Memory
Clenching your fists creates a stronger memory
Need to remember some important facts for that big presentation at work? Clench your right hand while preparing to remember. When giving that talk, ball up your left hand and you’ll call to mind those details, no problem.
That’s the finding from a new study authored by Ruth Propper, an associate professor and director of the cerebral lateralization laboratory at Montclair State University. Propper has long been intrigued by how body movements impact how the brain works. While most people realize that the brain influences the body (the brain tells your arm there is an itch, and you feel it), less is understood about how the body sways the brain.
Past research suggests that clenching our hands can evoke emotions. When people ball up their right hands, for example, the left sides of their brains become more active, causing what’s known as “approach emotions,” feelings such as happiness or excitement. By squeezing the left hand, people engage the right side of the brain, which controls “withdrawal emotions” such as introversion, fear, or anxiety. (It probably seems like these might be less useful, but they come in handy in dangerous situations.)
Propper theorized that if clenching hands impacted feelings, these gestures might influence the brain in other ways.
To learn how hand clenching influenced memory and recall, she asked 51 right- handed subjects to memorize 72 words and randomly assigned each person to one of five hand-clenching groups or a control group that did nothing. Only righties were included because lefties exhibit better episodic memory overall so they’d have an unfair advantage. She found the perfect combination for better memory and recall occurs when a subject clenches his right hand while memorizing and balls up his left hand while trying to recall the memory.
“It is interesting to compare to not clenching at all. It’s almost 15 percent better [to clench right then left] than sitting there,” she says.
While a 15 percent improvement is on the edge of being statistically significant, Propper notes 15 percent can be the difference between an A and a C on test.
Propper admits that more research needs to be conducted on how bodily movements enhance brain function, but she recommends that people try squeezing their hands to aid with memory.
“I would say that it would be worth trying,” Propper says. Take parking your car in the parking lot. “(A)s you park you can clench your right hand and when you are trying to find it, clench your left hand.”
Need to remember some important facts for that big presentation at work? Clench your right hand while preparing to remember. When giving that talk, ball up your left hand and you’ll call to mind those details, no problem.
That’s the finding from a new study authored by Ruth Propper, an associate professor and director of the cerebral lateralization laboratory at Montclair State University. Propper has long been intrigued by how body movements impact how the brain works. While most people realize that the brain influences the body (the brain tells your arm there is an itch, and you feel it), less is understood about how the body sways the brain.
Past research suggests that clenching our hands can evoke emotions. When people ball up their right hands, for example, the left sides of their brains become more active, causing what’s known as “approach emotions,” feelings such as happiness or excitement. By squeezing the left hand, people engage the right side of the brain, which controls “withdrawal emotions” such as introversion, fear, or anxiety. (It probably seems like these might be less useful, but they come in handy in dangerous situations.)
Propper theorized that if clenching hands impacted feelings, these gestures might influence the brain in other ways.
To learn how hand clenching influenced memory and recall, she asked 51 right- handed subjects to memorize 72 words and randomly assigned each person to one of five hand-clenching groups or a control group that did nothing. Only righties were included because lefties exhibit better episodic memory overall so they’d have an unfair advantage. She found the perfect combination for better memory and recall occurs when a subject clenches his right hand while memorizing and balls up his left hand while trying to recall the memory.
“It is interesting to compare to not clenching at all. It’s almost 15 percent better [to clench right then left] than sitting there,” she says.
While a 15 percent improvement is on the edge of being statistically significant, Propper notes 15 percent can be the difference between an A and a C on test.
Propper admits that more research needs to be conducted on how bodily movements enhance brain function, but she recommends that people try squeezing their hands to aid with memory.
“I would say that it would be worth trying,” Propper says. Take parking your car in the parking lot. “(A)s you park you can clench your right hand and when you are trying to find it, clench your left hand.”
Selasa, 23 April 2013
The Secrets How To Do Cinnamon Challenge Safely!
Doctors warn teens about taking the 'cinnamon challenge' in new report
CHICAGO – Don't take the cinnamon challenge. That's the advice from doctors in a new report about a dangerous prank depicted in popular YouTube videos but which has led to hospitalizations and a surge in calls to U.S. poison centers.
The fad involves daring someone to swallow a spoonful of ground cinnamon in 60 seconds without water. But the spice is caustic, and trying to gulp it down can cause choking, throat irritation, breathing trouble and even collapsed lungs, the report said.
Published online Monday in Pediatrics, the report said at least 30 teens nationwide needed medical attention after taking the challenge last year.
'Orange burst of dragon breath'
The number of poison control center calls about teens doing the prank "has increased dramatically," from 51 in 2011 to 222 last year, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
"People with asthma or other respiratory conditions are at greater risk of having this result in shortness of breath and trouble breathing," according to an alert posted on the association's website.
Thousands of YouTube videos depict kids attempting the challenge, resulting in an "orange burst of dragon breath" spewing out of their mouths and sometimes hysterical laughter from friends watching the stunt, said report co-author Dr. Steven E. Lipshultz, a pediatrics professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Cinnamon is made from tree bark and contains cellulose fibers that don't easily break down. Animal research suggests that when cinnamon gets into the lungs, it can cause scarring, Lipshultz said.
'It's not cool, and it's dangerous'
Dr. Stephen Pont, a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics and an Austin, Texas pediatrician, said the report is "a call to arms to parents and doctors to be aware of things like the cinnamon challenge" and to pay attention to what their kids are viewing online.
Related: Michigan teen hospitalized after attempting 'cinnamon challenge'
An Ypsilanti, Mich., teen who was hospitalized for a collapsed lung after trying the cinnamon challenge heartily supports the new advice and started her own website -- http://nocinnamonchallenge.com -- telling teens to "just say no" to the fad.
Dejah Reed, 16, said she took the challenge four times -- the final time was in February last year with a friend who didn't want to try it alone.
"I was laughing very hard, and I coughed it out, and I inhaled it into my lungs," she said. "I couldn't breathe."
Her father, Fred Reed, said he arrived home soon after to find Dejah "a pale bluish color. It was very terrifying. I threw her over my shoulder" and drove to a nearby emergency room.
Dejah was hospitalized for four days and went home with an inhaler and said she still has to use it when she gets short of breath from running or talking too fast. Her dad said she'd never had asthma or breathing problems before.
Dejah said she'd read about the challenge on Facebook and other social networking sites and "thought it would be cool" to try.
Now she knows "it's not cool and it's dangerous."
CHICAGO – Don't take the cinnamon challenge. That's the advice from doctors in a new report about a dangerous prank depicted in popular YouTube videos but which has led to hospitalizations and a surge in calls to U.S. poison centers.
The fad involves daring someone to swallow a spoonful of ground cinnamon in 60 seconds without water. But the spice is caustic, and trying to gulp it down can cause choking, throat irritation, breathing trouble and even collapsed lungs, the report said.
Published online Monday in Pediatrics, the report said at least 30 teens nationwide needed medical attention after taking the challenge last year.
'Orange burst of dragon breath'
The number of poison control center calls about teens doing the prank "has increased dramatically," from 51 in 2011 to 222 last year, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
"People with asthma or other respiratory conditions are at greater risk of having this result in shortness of breath and trouble breathing," according to an alert posted on the association's website.
Thousands of YouTube videos depict kids attempting the challenge, resulting in an "orange burst of dragon breath" spewing out of their mouths and sometimes hysterical laughter from friends watching the stunt, said report co-author Dr. Steven E. Lipshultz, a pediatrics professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Cinnamon is made from tree bark and contains cellulose fibers that don't easily break down. Animal research suggests that when cinnamon gets into the lungs, it can cause scarring, Lipshultz said.
'It's not cool, and it's dangerous'
Dr. Stephen Pont, a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics and an Austin, Texas pediatrician, said the report is "a call to arms to parents and doctors to be aware of things like the cinnamon challenge" and to pay attention to what their kids are viewing online.
Related: Michigan teen hospitalized after attempting 'cinnamon challenge'
An Ypsilanti, Mich., teen who was hospitalized for a collapsed lung after trying the cinnamon challenge heartily supports the new advice and started her own website -- http://nocinnamonchallenge.com -- telling teens to "just say no" to the fad.
Dejah Reed, 16, said she took the challenge four times -- the final time was in February last year with a friend who didn't want to try it alone.
"I was laughing very hard, and I coughed it out, and I inhaled it into my lungs," she said. "I couldn't breathe."
Her father, Fred Reed, said he arrived home soon after to find Dejah "a pale bluish color. It was very terrifying. I threw her over my shoulder" and drove to a nearby emergency room.
Dejah was hospitalized for four days and went home with an inhaler and said she still has to use it when she gets short of breath from running or talking too fast. Her dad said she'd never had asthma or breathing problems before.
Dejah said she'd read about the challenge on Facebook and other social networking sites and "thought it would be cool" to try.
Now she knows "it's not cool and it's dangerous."
Minggu, 21 April 2013
The Hottest Temperatures for 1,400 Years
Late 20th century was warmest in 1,400 years
PARIS, France - Earth was cooling until the end of the 19th century and a hundred years later, the planet's surface was on average warmer than at any time in the previous 1,400 years, according to climate records presented on Sunday, April 21.
In a study spanning two millennia published in Nature Geoscience, scientists said a "long-term cooling trend" around the world swung into reverse in the late 19th century.
In the 20th century, the average global temperature was 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.7 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than that of the previous 500 years, with only Antarctica bucking the trend.
From 1971-2000, the planet was warmer than at any other time in nearly 1,400 years.
This measure is a global average, and some regions did experience warmer periods than that -- but only for a time. Europe, for instance, was probably warmer in the first century AD than at the end of the 20th century.
The investigation is the first attempt to reconstruct temperatures over the last 2,000 years for individual continents.
It seeks to shed light on a fiercely-contested aspect in the global-warming debate.
Skeptics have claimed bouts of cooling or warming before the Industrial Revolution -- including two episodes in Europe called the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age -- are proof that climate variations are natural, not man-made.
The new study does not wade into the debate about greenhouse gases, but points to two planetary trends.
The first is a clear, prolonged period of cooling. It may have been caused by a combination of factors, including an increase in volcanic activity, with stratospheric ashes reflecting the sunlight, or a decrease in solar activity or tiny changes in Earth's orbit, both of which would diminish sunlight falling on the planet.
The cooling -- between 0.1-0.3 C (0.2-0.6 F) per thousand years, depending on the region -- went into reverse towards the end of the 19th century, and was followed by an intensifying period of warming in the 20th, the paper said.
Beneath this global trend over 2,000 years were episodes of continental cooling or warming, some of which were quite long.
And some continents lagged the overall planetary trend, but with the exception of Antarctica, all followed it.
"Distinctive periods, such as the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age stand out, but do not show a globally uniform pattern on multi-decadal time scales," said Heinz Wanner of the University of Bern in Switzerland, one of 78 researchers from 24 countries who took part in the project.
"There are things that are common to all the regions of the planet -- long-term cooling, until the 19th century, followed by warming on all continents, except for Antarctica, where it is less clear, but also strong variations from one region to another," Hugues Goosse, a climatologist at Belgium's Catholic University of Leuven, told AFP.
Previous research into climate change has pointed to a warming spurt in the 20th century and attributed it to the rise of heat-trapping carbon gases emitted by burning coal, oil and gas.
The warming trend shifted up a gear in the middle of the 1970s, in line with record-breaking levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), according to this past research.
2012 saw the 36th straight year that global temperatures were above average since 1880, when scientifically acceptable records were first kept, and was the ninth or 10th warmest on record, US scientists said in January.
The temperature reconstruction published on Sunday was coordinated by a scientific initiative called the Past Global Changes (PAGES) 2K Network.
It brings together weather data as well as telltales of temperature variation from tree rings, pollen, corals, lake and marine sediments, ice cores and stalagmites garnered at 511 locations across seven continental-scale regions.
PARIS, France - Earth was cooling until the end of the 19th century and a hundred years later, the planet's surface was on average warmer than at any time in the previous 1,400 years, according to climate records presented on Sunday, April 21.
In a study spanning two millennia published in Nature Geoscience, scientists said a "long-term cooling trend" around the world swung into reverse in the late 19th century.
In the 20th century, the average global temperature was 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.7 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than that of the previous 500 years, with only Antarctica bucking the trend.
From 1971-2000, the planet was warmer than at any other time in nearly 1,400 years.
This measure is a global average, and some regions did experience warmer periods than that -- but only for a time. Europe, for instance, was probably warmer in the first century AD than at the end of the 20th century.
The investigation is the first attempt to reconstruct temperatures over the last 2,000 years for individual continents.
It seeks to shed light on a fiercely-contested aspect in the global-warming debate.
Skeptics have claimed bouts of cooling or warming before the Industrial Revolution -- including two episodes in Europe called the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age -- are proof that climate variations are natural, not man-made.
The new study does not wade into the debate about greenhouse gases, but points to two planetary trends.
The first is a clear, prolonged period of cooling. It may have been caused by a combination of factors, including an increase in volcanic activity, with stratospheric ashes reflecting the sunlight, or a decrease in solar activity or tiny changes in Earth's orbit, both of which would diminish sunlight falling on the planet.
The cooling -- between 0.1-0.3 C (0.2-0.6 F) per thousand years, depending on the region -- went into reverse towards the end of the 19th century, and was followed by an intensifying period of warming in the 20th, the paper said.
Beneath this global trend over 2,000 years were episodes of continental cooling or warming, some of which were quite long.
And some continents lagged the overall planetary trend, but with the exception of Antarctica, all followed it.
"Distinctive periods, such as the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age stand out, but do not show a globally uniform pattern on multi-decadal time scales," said Heinz Wanner of the University of Bern in Switzerland, one of 78 researchers from 24 countries who took part in the project.
"There are things that are common to all the regions of the planet -- long-term cooling, until the 19th century, followed by warming on all continents, except for Antarctica, where it is less clear, but also strong variations from one region to another," Hugues Goosse, a climatologist at Belgium's Catholic University of Leuven, told AFP.
Previous research into climate change has pointed to a warming spurt in the 20th century and attributed it to the rise of heat-trapping carbon gases emitted by burning coal, oil and gas.
The warming trend shifted up a gear in the middle of the 1970s, in line with record-breaking levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), according to this past research.
2012 saw the 36th straight year that global temperatures were above average since 1880, when scientifically acceptable records were first kept, and was the ninth or 10th warmest on record, US scientists said in January.
The temperature reconstruction published on Sunday was coordinated by a scientific initiative called the Past Global Changes (PAGES) 2K Network.
It brings together weather data as well as telltales of temperature variation from tree rings, pollen, corals, lake and marine sediments, ice cores and stalagmites garnered at 511 locations across seven continental-scale regions.
Sabtu, 20 April 2013
Naked Teacher On School
Naked Teacher Shows Up to School Praising His ‘Third Eye’
You know that common recurring nightmare where you're wandering around your elementary school after hours, and you stumble into your teacher, and he's completely naked and wanting to talk to you about enlightenment? No? Maybe it's just me. Anyway — that scenario has played itself out in real life. What does it all mean?
Harlan Porter, a 31-year-old teacher at B.C. Haynie Elementary School in Georgia, was discovered by another teacher walking through the school completely naked at 3:20 p.m. on Friday. Porter had recently learned that his contract wouldn't be renewed.
The students had already gone home, sparing Porter a charge of child molestation, but he was jailed and charged with public indecency and indecent exposure. The police officer who arrested him didn't fail to see the humor in the situation — particularly when the teacher started babbling in New Age-speak.
The arresting officer wrote in the incident report that Porter spoke of a "new level of enlightenment" and said "he wanted everybody to be free now that his third eye was open."
"I then explained the obvious problem with his third eye being opened in public," the officer wrote. "He readily agreed that his decision to remove his clothing posed a problem and stated that he understood why I would likely have to place him under arrest."
The police report went on to say that teachers had noticed other strange behavior in Porter: The strict vegan had been spotted binging on Taco Bell just hours before his nude stroll. Which — everybody now! — goes a long way towards explaining that gaping third eye.
You know that common recurring nightmare where you're wandering around your elementary school after hours, and you stumble into your teacher, and he's completely naked and wanting to talk to you about enlightenment? No? Maybe it's just me. Anyway — that scenario has played itself out in real life. What does it all mean?
Harlan Porter, a 31-year-old teacher at B.C. Haynie Elementary School in Georgia, was discovered by another teacher walking through the school completely naked at 3:20 p.m. on Friday. Porter had recently learned that his contract wouldn't be renewed.
The students had already gone home, sparing Porter a charge of child molestation, but he was jailed and charged with public indecency and indecent exposure. The police officer who arrested him didn't fail to see the humor in the situation — particularly when the teacher started babbling in New Age-speak.
The arresting officer wrote in the incident report that Porter spoke of a "new level of enlightenment" and said "he wanted everybody to be free now that his third eye was open."
"I then explained the obvious problem with his third eye being opened in public," the officer wrote. "He readily agreed that his decision to remove his clothing posed a problem and stated that he understood why I would likely have to place him under arrest."
The police report went on to say that teachers had noticed other strange behavior in Porter: The strict vegan had been spotted binging on Taco Bell just hours before his nude stroll. Which — everybody now! — goes a long way towards explaining that gaping third eye.
Highschool Teacher Porn Web
Panel affirms firing of Calif. teacher over porn
STOCKTON, Calif. — State officials have affirmed a Northern California school district's decision to fire a 37-year-old high school teacher accused of using a school-issued laptop to help set up pornographic websites.
A three-member panel from the state Office of Administrative Hearings said it found that numerous files on the Lincoln Unified School District laptop once used by Heidi Kaeslin were pornographic, lewd, vulgar or repugnant. It also said her conduct was immoral.
The school board on Wednesday adopted the panel's March 29 ruling, The Record of Stockton reported Thursday.
Kaeslin was a special education teacher and former girls' soccer coach at Lincoln High School in Stockton when she was fired last year. The district accused Kaeslin of keeping thousands of pornographic and erotic images on her school-issued laptop, then lying about her activities when administrators questioned her.
The district said it was subject to embarrassment due to the now-defunct websites and other online references to Kaeslin's involvement with them, which officials say lasted from late 2010 until at least April 2011.
Kaeslin has said her involvement in the websites with former Stockton police officer Richard Fields, who was assigned to the high school as a resource officer, lasted only a few days.
Kaeslin told the newspaper last month that she is the victim of a vendetta by her estranged husband, who was angered by her extramarital affair with Fields.
Kaeslin said she and her husband are embroiled in divorce proceedings and share custody of their two young children. She said she used working on the websites as a pretext for spending time with Fields.
"From Day One, Rich wanted my help, and we joked about how we're business partners because that was the way that we could have our affair," Kaeslin said.
Kaeslin said she admits using the district laptop to access files containing pornographic material. But she add added she purposely did not save the files to the computer's hard drive and never realized they would nonetheless remain on the device.
Kaeslin said if she had been assisting Fields in the "hot-air balloon business," she "wouldn't be in the same spot." Fields has said the allegations against Kaeslin were overblown.
"I did make a bad decision," Kaeslin said. "When I said that I stopped, I felt like I corrected that part of my bad decision-making process."
Kaeslin said her mistakes included the affair. She added: "Yeah, I made some bad choices. Do I feel like I should be fired over it? No."
The district said Kaeslin has until April 26 to ask the state panel to reconsider its ruling, and until May 27 to appeal the decision in court.
STOCKTON, Calif. — State officials have affirmed a Northern California school district's decision to fire a 37-year-old high school teacher accused of using a school-issued laptop to help set up pornographic websites.
A three-member panel from the state Office of Administrative Hearings said it found that numerous files on the Lincoln Unified School District laptop once used by Heidi Kaeslin were pornographic, lewd, vulgar or repugnant. It also said her conduct was immoral.
The school board on Wednesday adopted the panel's March 29 ruling, The Record of Stockton reported Thursday.
Kaeslin was a special education teacher and former girls' soccer coach at Lincoln High School in Stockton when she was fired last year. The district accused Kaeslin of keeping thousands of pornographic and erotic images on her school-issued laptop, then lying about her activities when administrators questioned her.
The district said it was subject to embarrassment due to the now-defunct websites and other online references to Kaeslin's involvement with them, which officials say lasted from late 2010 until at least April 2011.
Kaeslin has said her involvement in the websites with former Stockton police officer Richard Fields, who was assigned to the high school as a resource officer, lasted only a few days.
Kaeslin told the newspaper last month that she is the victim of a vendetta by her estranged husband, who was angered by her extramarital affair with Fields.
Kaeslin said she and her husband are embroiled in divorce proceedings and share custody of their two young children. She said she used working on the websites as a pretext for spending time with Fields.
"From Day One, Rich wanted my help, and we joked about how we're business partners because that was the way that we could have our affair," Kaeslin said.
Kaeslin said she admits using the district laptop to access files containing pornographic material. But she add added she purposely did not save the files to the computer's hard drive and never realized they would nonetheless remain on the device.
Kaeslin said if she had been assisting Fields in the "hot-air balloon business," she "wouldn't be in the same spot." Fields has said the allegations against Kaeslin were overblown.
"I did make a bad decision," Kaeslin said. "When I said that I stopped, I felt like I corrected that part of my bad decision-making process."
Kaeslin said her mistakes included the affair. She added: "Yeah, I made some bad choices. Do I feel like I should be fired over it? No."
The district said Kaeslin has until April 26 to ask the state panel to reconsider its ruling, and until May 27 to appeal the decision in court.
Chief Pornography Officer - Wanted !!!
Chief pornography officer wanted in Beijing, who are interested in this job?
The Chief Pornography Officer will need to keep abreast of all types of obscene material.
An alliance of Chinese companies intent on cleaning up the internet is seeking a Chief Pornography Officer to research websites for obscene material and "manage and rate" the results of their findings.
Anquan Lianmeng ( 安全联盟literally "Safety Alliance") describes itself as a "neutral and impartial third-party organisation" looking to establish industry standards for internet safety and to monitor Chinese users' access to obscene material. It was jointly organized by 800 Internet companies including Baidu, Tencent and Kingsoft.
Candidates have overwhelmed the human resources department of the newly-formed alliance, lured by the 200,000 yuan (£21,000) annual salary and the hope of bringing moral fortitude to their nation while consuming endless hours of pornography.
Yang Jilong, the group's human resources chief, said that they have received over 5,000 CVs for the Chief Pornography Appraiser position since publicizing the job ad on Weibo last week.
He explained the purpose of the job was one of sifting true smut from merely naughty material for Chinese users, and admitted that some websites might require further inspection from a higher authority.
"As we find vulgar information and safety risks on websites, we'll remind Web users with an online label, while for those that we're not sure about, we'll ask law school professors and government administrators for help," he said.
Skills in foreign languages are essential for the job, as much of the material the officer will assess will originate from Europe, the US and Japan, and good teamwork skills and a strong "sense of responsibility" are a plus.
Free fruit and yoghurt on week days are an added bonus for the successful applicant.
The production and distribution of pornography are officially banned in China, but the government has struggled to keep such material behind what was once described as the "great firewall of China" in an age of mobile phones and tools such as virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow users to appear to be in different countries when they log on.
Cai Yifan, a 23-year-old applicant from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, said he heard about the job through Tencent Weibo and had already sent his resume.
The graduate, who majored in English and is proficient in Japanese, took part in an online test for the job, but claimed it was too difficult.
"The questions covered many fields, such as translation, legal knowledge and psychology. I'm interested in the job, but my chances of success are slim, as the standards were too high," he added.
Job Responsibilities: Quickly and accurately identifying pornographic and obscene websites.
Job Description:
1. Research and study pornographic videos and images, formulate criteria for determining obscenity.
2. Deploy courseware on the standards of obscenity determination, and study materials such as educational videos on pornography.
3. Manage and rate pornographic resources (including BT seeds, images, and online videos).
Job Requirements:
1. Familiarity with the different standards of determination of pornographic content of different countries;
2. Familiarity with the standards of determination and express regulations concerning pornography in China’s law;
3. Familiarity with the standards of pornography identification used by CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) and various major internet providers;
4. A bachelor’s degree or above; age between 20-35; all genders;
5. Possesses good teamwork skills, and a strong sense of responsibility.
Benefits:
1. National standard insurances and additional allowance for meals, transportation and phone.
2. Expenses on relevant books can be reimbursed. Free fruits and yogurt each week day.
3. Free physical examination once every year, and gift for birthday, wedding and child birth.
Interview questions:
An alliance of Chinese companies intent on cleaning up the internet is seeking a Chief Pornography Officer to research websites for obscene material and "manage and rate" the results of their findings.
Anquan Lianmeng ( 安全联盟literally "Safety Alliance") describes itself as a "neutral and impartial third-party organisation" looking to establish industry standards for internet safety and to monitor Chinese users' access to obscene material. It was jointly organized by 800 Internet companies including Baidu, Tencent and Kingsoft.
Candidates have overwhelmed the human resources department of the newly-formed alliance, lured by the 200,000 yuan (£21,000) annual salary and the hope of bringing moral fortitude to their nation while consuming endless hours of pornography.
Yang Jilong, the group's human resources chief, said that they have received over 5,000 CVs for the Chief Pornography Appraiser position since publicizing the job ad on Weibo last week.
He explained the purpose of the job was one of sifting true smut from merely naughty material for Chinese users, and admitted that some websites might require further inspection from a higher authority.
"As we find vulgar information and safety risks on websites, we'll remind Web users with an online label, while for those that we're not sure about, we'll ask law school professors and government administrators for help," he said.
Skills in foreign languages are essential for the job, as much of the material the officer will assess will originate from Europe, the US and Japan, and good teamwork skills and a strong "sense of responsibility" are a plus.
Free fruit and yoghurt on week days are an added bonus for the successful applicant.
The production and distribution of pornography are officially banned in China, but the government has struggled to keep such material behind what was once described as the "great firewall of China" in an age of mobile phones and tools such as virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow users to appear to be in different countries when they log on.
Cai Yifan, a 23-year-old applicant from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, said he heard about the job through Tencent Weibo and had already sent his resume.
The graduate, who majored in English and is proficient in Japanese, took part in an online test for the job, but claimed it was too difficult.
"The questions covered many fields, such as translation, legal knowledge and psychology. I'm interested in the job, but my chances of success are slim, as the standards were too high," he added.
Job Responsibilities: Quickly and accurately identifying pornographic and obscene websites.
Job Description:
1. Research and study pornographic videos and images, formulate criteria for determining obscenity.
2. Deploy courseware on the standards of obscenity determination, and study materials such as educational videos on pornography.
3. Manage and rate pornographic resources (including BT seeds, images, and online videos).
Job Requirements:
1. Familiarity with the different standards of determination of pornographic content of different countries;
2. Familiarity with the standards of determination and express regulations concerning pornography in China’s law;
3. Familiarity with the standards of pornography identification used by CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) and various major internet providers;
4. A bachelor’s degree or above; age between 20-35; all genders;
5. Possesses good teamwork skills, and a strong sense of responsibility.
Benefits:
1. National standard insurances and additional allowance for meals, transportation and phone.
2. Expenses on relevant books can be reimbursed. Free fruits and yogurt each week day.
3. Free physical examination once every year, and gift for birthday, wedding and child birth.
Interview questions:
Rabu, 17 April 2013
Dinosaurs in Tech World
Don't Be the Office Tech Dinosaur
As Younger Colleagues Speak Fluent Twitter, How Old Pros Find Ways to Upgrade Their Skills, Fight Insecurity
For many people, being on the far side of 40 in the workplace brings the confidence of experience, of having hit a certain professional stride.
It can also bring a nagging insecure feeling that younger colleagues—the ones with 5,000 Twitter followers, who designed their first website in middle school—are fast becoming the new office stars.
Doug Gould, a 50-year-old advertising veteran, says some of that anxiety arose when co-workers called him by nicknames like "Uncle Doug" and "Coach."
"I think those were terms of endearment," says Mr. Gould, a creative director for the Boston ad agency Allen & Gerritsen, who started his career back in 1984 using tracing paper and markers to design newspaper ads. "But if you read between the lines, it also meant 'old guy.' I get nervous about what that means."
For many people in the back half of their careers, the meaning is becoming all too clear: To keep from drifting, or being nudged, into an early retirement, it's time to add more high-tech arrows to their professional quiver—to refresh their skills with, say, some social-media or mobile-app expertise. As Mr. Gould has learned, competing with younger colleagues who grew up texting, tweeting, using Facebook (FB) and playing videogames requires constant work to stay up-to-date.
Even with an impressive résumé filled with more than a dozen industry awards—and two memorable Super Bowl ads—Mr. Gould knows he can't rest on his laurels. "Fifteen years ago, I thought I knew everything," says the husband and father of two teenagers who says he intends to work another 15 years or so. Now, "there is new technology out there I don't know the first thing about, that could easily turn me into a dinosaur if I don't continue to adapt."
In the past few years, he has taken more than 10 new-technology courses, both online and at a professional training center—from a seminar in the location-based social network Foursquare to a recent class in Adobe (ADBE) Muse, which lets him design and publish HTML websites without writing code. He now also tweets and blogs.
Rather than leaving hands-on work to underlings, as many executives do at his stage, he continues to use new design and animation programs to generate creative products like print, digital and broadcast ads and websites. "If I become a manager and nobody wants a manager, how am I going to thrive in my later years?" he says. "The lifeboat for me is to be able to still do the work."
He also looks for new challenges. He worked for a decade at a big agency, Hill Holliday, and was comfortable there. But he left two years ago to take a similar title at Allen & Gerritsen because he wanted a chance to help a midsize agency grow. "That was something I hadn't done before. I saw this as a challenge," he says.
Older workers have accumulated knowledge that is hard to replace, research shows. But lagging tech skills are one reason job-loss rates for experienced older workers 55 and over have exceeded those for younger workers by a growing margin for the past decade, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show.
Mr. Gould worries about surviving in a field where most of his counterparts are in their 30s or 40s. While he was quick in his late 20s to embrace new computer graphics programs that made hand drawings obsolete, he saw many older colleagues fall by the wayside. "Some of them didn't want to learn, or were afraid to learn," he says. "I thought, 'I hope this will never happen to me.'"
When social media and digital technology turned advertising upside down again many years later, Mr. Gould says, "I looked in the mirror and said, 'Oh my god, it's possible that I could become that person who fails to keep up.' "
Mr. Gould resisted using Twitter at first. "I said, 'You're kidding me—140 characters? That's it? The whole world is moving to phrases?' "
But after coming to see it as an efficient way to share information—instead of a truncated form of personal communication—he made Twitter the basis last fall of a campaign for the nonprofit City Year, #makebetterhappen, which has drawn more than 20,000 tweets from volunteers telling upbeat stories from the classroom.
Gillian Smith, City Year's chief marketing officer, says Mr. Gould's "great creative work" sparked a 37% year-over-year increase in City Year's website traffic.
Mr. Gould also tries to learn from younger colleagues. Ben Daly, 33, an associate creative director at Allen & Gerritsen who specializes in digital art and design, says Mr. Gould sat with him about two years ago and asked him to explain changes he was making in the agency's website so it would function well on tablets and phones as well as on computers. Mr. Daly says Mr. Gould quickly saw the technology's potential for their clients' sites as well. Allen & Gerritsen has a reverse-mentoring policy to encourage such exchanges.
Of course, the help can go both ways. According to Mr. Gould, "somebody like me can teach people who are so ridiculously tech savvy how to handle themselves in a meeting when things go wrong." Mr. Daly says Mr. Gould sometimes coaches younger co-workers during client presentations, stepping in to help them over rough patches, without stealing the show.
While he has successfully leveraged social media in specific projects, he isn't as immersed in it as many younger professionals. Mr. Gould follows 158 feeds on Twitter, from the Harvard Business Review to the Onion, but only tweets occasionally to his 180 followers. "I tweet when I feel like I have something to say," he says. He blogs occasionally on Tumblr about politics, sports or personal topics. Twice a day he checks Facebook, where he has 517 friends.
He is selective in his social-media use, bypassing Foursquare and the social-network Google (GOOG) Plus, for example. "There's pressure these days to get into everything, but you have to stop yourself," he says.
In the evening, he turns everything off when he goes home. "I don't believe you can listen to your kids when you're staring at a screen," he says. He always tries to have dinner with his family, and he has breakfast with 17-year-old daughter Abby, a high-school senior. His wife of 22 years, Julie, 49, runs a custom window-treatment business from home. He talks by phone weekly with their 19-year-old son, Davis, a sophomore at West Virginia University.
Those boundaries come with a cost. Mr. Gould worries when he sees new hires walk in the door knowing technology he hasn't learned. "You're working 50 hours a week, through lunch, and when you go home you're trying to raise a family. And you see the company hiring these new people who just spent four years in college learning to do what you can't do, that you have no time for," he says.
"The speed of change makes you uncomfortable on a regular basis," he says. "That's so difficult for people who are paying mortgages, buying cars, trying to give their kids the things they had, to get them through school. You want to feel confident in the last 15 years of your career that after 25 or 30 years of effort, it's just going to work," he says. "But it isn't so. And I don't think you ever get over the fear of not knowing."
As Younger Colleagues Speak Fluent Twitter, How Old Pros Find Ways to Upgrade Their Skills, Fight Insecurity
It can also bring a nagging insecure feeling that younger colleagues—the ones with 5,000 Twitter followers, who designed their first website in middle school—are fast becoming the new office stars.
Doug Gould, a 50-year-old advertising veteran, says some of that anxiety arose when co-workers called him by nicknames like "Uncle Doug" and "Coach."
"I think those were terms of endearment," says Mr. Gould, a creative director for the Boston ad agency Allen & Gerritsen, who started his career back in 1984 using tracing paper and markers to design newspaper ads. "But if you read between the lines, it also meant 'old guy.' I get nervous about what that means."
For many people in the back half of their careers, the meaning is becoming all too clear: To keep from drifting, or being nudged, into an early retirement, it's time to add more high-tech arrows to their professional quiver—to refresh their skills with, say, some social-media or mobile-app expertise. As Mr. Gould has learned, competing with younger colleagues who grew up texting, tweeting, using Facebook (FB) and playing videogames requires constant work to stay up-to-date.
Even with an impressive résumé filled with more than a dozen industry awards—and two memorable Super Bowl ads—Mr. Gould knows he can't rest on his laurels. "Fifteen years ago, I thought I knew everything," says the husband and father of two teenagers who says he intends to work another 15 years or so. Now, "there is new technology out there I don't know the first thing about, that could easily turn me into a dinosaur if I don't continue to adapt."
In the past few years, he has taken more than 10 new-technology courses, both online and at a professional training center—from a seminar in the location-based social network Foursquare to a recent class in Adobe (ADBE) Muse, which lets him design and publish HTML websites without writing code. He now also tweets and blogs.
Rather than leaving hands-on work to underlings, as many executives do at his stage, he continues to use new design and animation programs to generate creative products like print, digital and broadcast ads and websites. "If I become a manager and nobody wants a manager, how am I going to thrive in my later years?" he says. "The lifeboat for me is to be able to still do the work."
He also looks for new challenges. He worked for a decade at a big agency, Hill Holliday, and was comfortable there. But he left two years ago to take a similar title at Allen & Gerritsen because he wanted a chance to help a midsize agency grow. "That was something I hadn't done before. I saw this as a challenge," he says.
Older workers have accumulated knowledge that is hard to replace, research shows. But lagging tech skills are one reason job-loss rates for experienced older workers 55 and over have exceeded those for younger workers by a growing margin for the past decade, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show.
Mr. Gould worries about surviving in a field where most of his counterparts are in their 30s or 40s. While he was quick in his late 20s to embrace new computer graphics programs that made hand drawings obsolete, he saw many older colleagues fall by the wayside. "Some of them didn't want to learn, or were afraid to learn," he says. "I thought, 'I hope this will never happen to me.'"
When social media and digital technology turned advertising upside down again many years later, Mr. Gould says, "I looked in the mirror and said, 'Oh my god, it's possible that I could become that person who fails to keep up.' "
Mr. Gould resisted using Twitter at first. "I said, 'You're kidding me—140 characters? That's it? The whole world is moving to phrases?' "
But after coming to see it as an efficient way to share information—instead of a truncated form of personal communication—he made Twitter the basis last fall of a campaign for the nonprofit City Year, #makebetterhappen, which has drawn more than 20,000 tweets from volunteers telling upbeat stories from the classroom.
Gillian Smith, City Year's chief marketing officer, says Mr. Gould's "great creative work" sparked a 37% year-over-year increase in City Year's website traffic.
Mr. Gould also tries to learn from younger colleagues. Ben Daly, 33, an associate creative director at Allen & Gerritsen who specializes in digital art and design, says Mr. Gould sat with him about two years ago and asked him to explain changes he was making in the agency's website so it would function well on tablets and phones as well as on computers. Mr. Daly says Mr. Gould quickly saw the technology's potential for their clients' sites as well. Allen & Gerritsen has a reverse-mentoring policy to encourage such exchanges.
Of course, the help can go both ways. According to Mr. Gould, "somebody like me can teach people who are so ridiculously tech savvy how to handle themselves in a meeting when things go wrong." Mr. Daly says Mr. Gould sometimes coaches younger co-workers during client presentations, stepping in to help them over rough patches, without stealing the show.
While he has successfully leveraged social media in specific projects, he isn't as immersed in it as many younger professionals. Mr. Gould follows 158 feeds on Twitter, from the Harvard Business Review to the Onion, but only tweets occasionally to his 180 followers. "I tweet when I feel like I have something to say," he says. He blogs occasionally on Tumblr about politics, sports or personal topics. Twice a day he checks Facebook, where he has 517 friends.
He is selective in his social-media use, bypassing Foursquare and the social-network Google (GOOG) Plus, for example. "There's pressure these days to get into everything, but you have to stop yourself," he says.
In the evening, he turns everything off when he goes home. "I don't believe you can listen to your kids when you're staring at a screen," he says. He always tries to have dinner with his family, and he has breakfast with 17-year-old daughter Abby, a high-school senior. His wife of 22 years, Julie, 49, runs a custom window-treatment business from home. He talks by phone weekly with their 19-year-old son, Davis, a sophomore at West Virginia University.
Those boundaries come with a cost. Mr. Gould worries when he sees new hires walk in the door knowing technology he hasn't learned. "You're working 50 hours a week, through lunch, and when you go home you're trying to raise a family. And you see the company hiring these new people who just spent four years in college learning to do what you can't do, that you have no time for," he says.
"The speed of change makes you uncomfortable on a regular basis," he says. "That's so difficult for people who are paying mortgages, buying cars, trying to give their kids the things they had, to get them through school. You want to feel confident in the last 15 years of your career that after 25 or 30 years of effort, it's just going to work," he says. "But it isn't so. And I don't think you ever get over the fear of not knowing."
The World's Most Brutal College Hazing Rituals
The 14 Most Brutal College Hazing Rituals
What's the worst sorority/fraternity hazing rituals? From being sexually assaulted using knives, pens and household tools, to being forced to consume deadly amounts of controlled substances, to being locked in a room with excrement, here are the worst, most brutal college hazing rituals reported from all around the United States. These are 14 scary hazing stories indeed.
1. Boob Ranking
In a story run by ABC News, author and researcher Alexandra Robbins reported that the worst kind of emotional hazing she saw in sororities was "boob ranking."
In this procedure, the sisters forced pledges to strip off their shirts and bras in a cold room, and then line up in order of breast size.
This is mostly because what this did was reinforce insecurities that the girls were probably already saying to themselves.
The older "sisters" would then make fun of them and play mental games with their vulnerable and helpless victims.
2. The Elephant Walk
Vermont passed an anti-hazing law in 1999 due to an incident at University of Vermont where members of the hockey team forced freshman players to drink warm beer until they vomited and perform something called an "Elephant Walk", which is horrible and a form of rape, if forced upon someone.
ELEPHANT WALK: Definition
According to the Urban Dictionary, there are many forms of the "Elephant Walk".
1) A group of males walks in a straight line, each person putting one thumb in their mouth and the other thumb inside the anus of the male in front of them.
2) A group of males walks in a straight line holding onto the (erect) penis of the males behind and in front of them.
3) A group of males walks in a straight line holding onto the (erect) penis of the males in behind them while putting one thumb into the anus of the males in front of them.
Any of these iterations does NOT sound like an effective mode of transportation, or a fun way to spend any afternoon.
3. Cocaine or Dildo: Your Choice
Sororities are just as sexually cruel, if not infinitely moreso, than Fraternities. Looking at this list, it's apparent that the women in Sororities are more interested in emotional and social humiliation than the males. Males tend to angle towards the physical feats of strength or disgustingness. Both (freely) exercise public humiliation, but the levels of both differ and definitely run deeper in female circles. FOR EXAMPLE...
The Hazing Prevention Center, one of the leading non-profit organizations working to eradicate hazing, receives hundred of emails from traumatized victims of sorority and fraternity hazing. One e-mail was from a girl who reported that she had to either use a d***o in front of all her "sisters" or take a hit of cocaine.
So it's either your morals... or your morals? Or your common sense vs... your common sense? It's a toss-up, but an elicit drug that can cause permanent brain damage and is HIGHLY illegal or sexual, social, public humiliation? Which would you choose?
4. Paddling (It's Worse Than It Sounds)
Paddling is what some may think a classic. Though it's what's most commonly associated with the ancient tradition of hazing. Paddling sounds funny, but is still one of the worst. In fact, many have gone to the hospital with severe bodily injuries due to the violent act.
This infliction of harm upon each other is often meant to strengthen the bonds between the victim and group (don't ask how that works), but often it's just plain harm. One girl reported to The Star-Ledger that she was told the beatings would "humble" her and build love and trust between the sorority sisters.
However, after seven nights of beatings and being struck a total of 201 times, the pledge went to the hospital because she was no longer able to sit due to the blood clots and welts all over her buttocks.
Another paddling incident that resulted in the victim in a hospital took place in 2007.
Two Florida A&M fraternity brothers were given two years in prison for paddling a pledge with wooden canes.
One of the Kappa Alpha Psi members was paddling the pledge while the other member was an encourager (in the grimmest sense), urging the pledge to take the paddling and reviving him when he passed out. Aw, what a good brother.
5. Raped by a Sharpie Marker
No, this isn't the kind of " Sharpie rape " you see in most schools that really just means getting marked on by a Sharpie (a permanent marker) unexpectedly. This is actual, sexual, penetration; using a Sharpie.
In 2002, seven football players from Methodist College in North Carolina were arrested on hazing charges for restraining a freshman, stripping him of his underwear, writing all over his butt and smacking it numerous times.
The worst part is that to "seal the deal", as it were, the player with the most ironic position-name, Antonio Wilkerson (wide receiver for the team) sexually assaulted the freshman athlete with a Sharpie marker after everything had been said and done.
He, along with the other Methodist players involved, were suspended after their November 14 arrests and did not partake in the team's final game; unfortunately because getting benched, or even sitting down, was probably the last thing on the victim's mind.
6. All the Alcohol You Can('t) Take in 90 Minutes
Adam Marszal and Russell Taylor, two former students at California Polytechnic State University, were sentenced to jail after hazing a freshman who died of alcohol poisoning while pledging Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
The boy, 18, died after drinking large amounts of alcohol in 90 minutes. There was no afterparty.
The boy, at his time of death, had a Blood Alcohol Level of .44. Just to put it into perspective, that is more than 5 times the legal limit for driving and actually exceeds the levels of the effects of surgical anesthesia.
7. Drinking Two Gallons of A Drink Called "Death"
A brother known as the "pledge father" says, "We want to see you down this stuff, balls to the wall."
And then you start chugging a spicy and thick drink known as "Death" before you don't-die-but-almost-feel-like-dying for about 5 hours.
Each pledge of Lambda Phi Epsilon, a historically Asian fraternity, must drink about two gallons worth of this time-honored concoction (probably a mixture of ketchup and Tabasco sauce).
This usually takes about 4 to 5 hours for everyone to finishing drinking, then puking, then drinking some more. Click here for more information on this delicious, popular, new drink.
8. Exercises in Feces and Urine
There's nothing that says brotherly love more than feces and urine. Although it is said that many frats force their pledges to drink urine, few documented examples beyond just hearsay have surfaced with discreet details (at least as far as college hazing rituals go... military hazing rituals are a whole OTHER can of worms).
An incident took place at Hartwick College where pledges of Alpha Chi Ro were forced to carry feces-covered rocks through a forest and do push-ups and up downs in urine-soaked garbage. It's worse than it sounds.
The garbage also contained glass and dirty diapers.
The basement was in the house of Peter Torabkhan, who along with two other guys were charged by state police at Oneonta with first-degree hazing (a criminal offense nowadays).
Another man, Yury Pertsovsky, who was not a student at Hartwick, was also charged with second-degree aggravated harassment for making threatening phone calls to the freshman who reported the incident.
9. Trivia Questions: Choose Your Object
Alexandra Robbins, author of the book "Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities," spent a year undercover and witnessed one incident where the pledge class had to answer trivia questions and drink straight vodka when they got the question wrong. Not too bad, right? Just a normal, run-of-the-mill drinking game (involving minors), right?
If they got enough wrong, though, they were presented with a Sharpie (what is it with these things), a knife, a hammer and a dildoo, with the threat that one of those objects would violate them.
10. Raw Liver, No Teeth
This is a vintage piece with about as much panache as any modern-day hazing ritual.
In 1959, the pledges of Kappa Sigma had to swallow pieces of raw liver (each as big as a club sandwich) soaked in oil without chewing.
Richard Swanson was not successful in swallowing the liver and after his fourth try, the liver lodged in his throat forcing him to be taken to the hospital.
The attendant in the ambulance, however, did not know about the liver and Swanson died at the hospital less than two hours after he began choking.
I repeat: two hours of choking. Needless to say this liver-swallowing is not so widely practiced anymore; instead people just stick to ruining theirs.
11. Water Overdoses
When somebody goes to college and dies from a WATER overdose, you know they've really missed out on the whole college experience. This is exactly what happens at a fraternity hazing ritual at the State University of New York.
In March 2003, Walter Dean Jennings III was pledging Psi Epsilon Chi when he was forced to drink numerous pitchers of water, often to the point of vomiting. He ended up drinking so much that his brain swelled and he died from water intoxication. That's right, there's such a thing.
21 students were punished by the university and 13 were charged with crimes that included criminally negligent homicide.
Another incident of water intoxication took place in 2005 at California State University Chico (the classiest of the CSUs).
Matthew Carrington and a friend were pledging the Chi Tau fraternity when they were doused with gallons of cold water and powerful fans blew cold air on them.
If that wasn't enough, they were forced to do calisthenics while standing on one foot and drink several gallons of cold water. As any normal human being would do under such extreme conditions, Carrington collapsed.
He unsurprisingly had hypothermia and brain swelling from water intoxication, and died two hours later. Oh, and this was during the Winter semester.
After all was said and done, no need to worry as the cold-hearted "brothers" were brought to justice.
12. Boiling Hot Water On Back, Chest, Genitals
At Tulane University, pledges for Pi Alpha Kappa were put under boiling water for the most physically enduring pain they'd ever had. Fraternity brothers used boiling water containing pepper spray and a "crab boil" seasoning mixture containing cayenne pepper to pour over their victims' backs.
Oddly enough, the ones who screamed didn't get burned as badly, but those who held it in got the worst of it. As the evening went on the water get hotter and the burns get deeper.
One pledge suffered second- and third-degree burns to his back, chest, buttocks and genitals and was subjected to twice-daily burn treatments by doctor's orders.
He was also not able to take his exams or travel that semester.
10 of the "brothers" faced charges of aggravated second-degree battery; so needless to say, justice was served as they seemed to end up in some pretty hot water.
13. Circling the Fat on Your Body
As if they didn't already have to endure this enough as an awkward teen in high school, body critiquing STILL exists in the university "Greek" system as a heinous part of the hazing process for many sororities.
Because what's more humiliating than being told you're "ugly" and "fat" in front of a new set of peers you want so badly to impress? Well... nothing. So, often times what happens is that they get one of the pledges to walk across a table in their underwear so that the rest of the sisters can draw on her body to circle the parts of her that need physical improvement.
This form of hazing and psychological warfare is one of the more (physically) benign, but surprisingly common practices found in hazing rituals around the U.S.
14. Public Body-Critiquing Assembly
Another humiliating case reported by Alexandra Robbins was a woman who was forced to stand on a bench in front of an entire fraternity, completely exposed.
When she got up onto the bench, the fraternity would give public critiques by yelling out the parts of her body that needed "work".
After talking to one of the women that endured this type of scrutiny and humiliation just to become a part of some social group, she said, "This happened in the '90s and almost a decade later she still had emotional scars."
1. Boob Ranking
In a story run by ABC News, author and researcher Alexandra Robbins reported that the worst kind of emotional hazing she saw in sororities was "boob ranking."
In this procedure, the sisters forced pledges to strip off their shirts and bras in a cold room, and then line up in order of breast size.
This is mostly because what this did was reinforce insecurities that the girls were probably already saying to themselves.
The older "sisters" would then make fun of them and play mental games with their vulnerable and helpless victims.
2. The Elephant Walk
Vermont passed an anti-hazing law in 1999 due to an incident at University of Vermont where members of the hockey team forced freshman players to drink warm beer until they vomited and perform something called an "Elephant Walk", which is horrible and a form of rape, if forced upon someone.
ELEPHANT WALK: Definition
According to the Urban Dictionary, there are many forms of the "Elephant Walk".
1) A group of males walks in a straight line, each person putting one thumb in their mouth and the other thumb inside the anus of the male in front of them.
2) A group of males walks in a straight line holding onto the (erect) penis of the males behind and in front of them.
3) A group of males walks in a straight line holding onto the (erect) penis of the males in behind them while putting one thumb into the anus of the males in front of them.
Any of these iterations does NOT sound like an effective mode of transportation, or a fun way to spend any afternoon.
3. Cocaine or Dildo: Your Choice
Sororities are just as sexually cruel, if not infinitely moreso, than Fraternities. Looking at this list, it's apparent that the women in Sororities are more interested in emotional and social humiliation than the males. Males tend to angle towards the physical feats of strength or disgustingness. Both (freely) exercise public humiliation, but the levels of both differ and definitely run deeper in female circles. FOR EXAMPLE...
The Hazing Prevention Center, one of the leading non-profit organizations working to eradicate hazing, receives hundred of emails from traumatized victims of sorority and fraternity hazing. One e-mail was from a girl who reported that she had to either use a d***o in front of all her "sisters" or take a hit of cocaine.
So it's either your morals... or your morals? Or your common sense vs... your common sense? It's a toss-up, but an elicit drug that can cause permanent brain damage and is HIGHLY illegal or sexual, social, public humiliation? Which would you choose?
4. Paddling (It's Worse Than It Sounds)
Paddling is what some may think a classic. Though it's what's most commonly associated with the ancient tradition of hazing. Paddling sounds funny, but is still one of the worst. In fact, many have gone to the hospital with severe bodily injuries due to the violent act.
This infliction of harm upon each other is often meant to strengthen the bonds between the victim and group (don't ask how that works), but often it's just plain harm. One girl reported to The Star-Ledger that she was told the beatings would "humble" her and build love and trust between the sorority sisters.
However, after seven nights of beatings and being struck a total of 201 times, the pledge went to the hospital because she was no longer able to sit due to the blood clots and welts all over her buttocks.
Another paddling incident that resulted in the victim in a hospital took place in 2007.
Two Florida A&M fraternity brothers were given two years in prison for paddling a pledge with wooden canes.
One of the Kappa Alpha Psi members was paddling the pledge while the other member was an encourager (in the grimmest sense), urging the pledge to take the paddling and reviving him when he passed out. Aw, what a good brother.
5. Raped by a Sharpie Marker
No, this isn't the kind of " Sharpie rape " you see in most schools that really just means getting marked on by a Sharpie (a permanent marker) unexpectedly. This is actual, sexual, penetration; using a Sharpie.
In 2002, seven football players from Methodist College in North Carolina were arrested on hazing charges for restraining a freshman, stripping him of his underwear, writing all over his butt and smacking it numerous times.
The worst part is that to "seal the deal", as it were, the player with the most ironic position-name, Antonio Wilkerson (wide receiver for the team) sexually assaulted the freshman athlete with a Sharpie marker after everything had been said and done.
He, along with the other Methodist players involved, were suspended after their November 14 arrests and did not partake in the team's final game; unfortunately because getting benched, or even sitting down, was probably the last thing on the victim's mind.
6. All the Alcohol You Can('t) Take in 90 Minutes
Adam Marszal and Russell Taylor, two former students at California Polytechnic State University, were sentenced to jail after hazing a freshman who died of alcohol poisoning while pledging Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
The boy, 18, died after drinking large amounts of alcohol in 90 minutes. There was no afterparty.
The boy, at his time of death, had a Blood Alcohol Level of .44. Just to put it into perspective, that is more than 5 times the legal limit for driving and actually exceeds the levels of the effects of surgical anesthesia.
7. Drinking Two Gallons of A Drink Called "Death"
A brother known as the "pledge father" says, "We want to see you down this stuff, balls to the wall."
And then you start chugging a spicy and thick drink known as "Death" before you don't-die-but-almost-feel-like-dying for about 5 hours.
Each pledge of Lambda Phi Epsilon, a historically Asian fraternity, must drink about two gallons worth of this time-honored concoction (probably a mixture of ketchup and Tabasco sauce).
This usually takes about 4 to 5 hours for everyone to finishing drinking, then puking, then drinking some more. Click here for more information on this delicious, popular, new drink.
8. Exercises in Feces and Urine
There's nothing that says brotherly love more than feces and urine. Although it is said that many frats force their pledges to drink urine, few documented examples beyond just hearsay have surfaced with discreet details (at least as far as college hazing rituals go... military hazing rituals are a whole OTHER can of worms).
An incident took place at Hartwick College where pledges of Alpha Chi Ro were forced to carry feces-covered rocks through a forest and do push-ups and up downs in urine-soaked garbage. It's worse than it sounds.
The garbage also contained glass and dirty diapers.
The basement was in the house of Peter Torabkhan, who along with two other guys were charged by state police at Oneonta with first-degree hazing (a criminal offense nowadays).
Another man, Yury Pertsovsky, who was not a student at Hartwick, was also charged with second-degree aggravated harassment for making threatening phone calls to the freshman who reported the incident.
9. Trivia Questions: Choose Your Object
Alexandra Robbins, author of the book "Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities," spent a year undercover and witnessed one incident where the pledge class had to answer trivia questions and drink straight vodka when they got the question wrong. Not too bad, right? Just a normal, run-of-the-mill drinking game (involving minors), right?
If they got enough wrong, though, they were presented with a Sharpie (what is it with these things), a knife, a hammer and a dildoo, with the threat that one of those objects would violate them.
10. Raw Liver, No Teeth
This is a vintage piece with about as much panache as any modern-day hazing ritual.
In 1959, the pledges of Kappa Sigma had to swallow pieces of raw liver (each as big as a club sandwich) soaked in oil without chewing.
Richard Swanson was not successful in swallowing the liver and after his fourth try, the liver lodged in his throat forcing him to be taken to the hospital.
The attendant in the ambulance, however, did not know about the liver and Swanson died at the hospital less than two hours after he began choking.
I repeat: two hours of choking. Needless to say this liver-swallowing is not so widely practiced anymore; instead people just stick to ruining theirs.
11. Water Overdoses
When somebody goes to college and dies from a WATER overdose, you know they've really missed out on the whole college experience. This is exactly what happens at a fraternity hazing ritual at the State University of New York.
In March 2003, Walter Dean Jennings III was pledging Psi Epsilon Chi when he was forced to drink numerous pitchers of water, often to the point of vomiting. He ended up drinking so much that his brain swelled and he died from water intoxication. That's right, there's such a thing.
21 students were punished by the university and 13 were charged with crimes that included criminally negligent homicide.
Another incident of water intoxication took place in 2005 at California State University Chico (the classiest of the CSUs).
Matthew Carrington and a friend were pledging the Chi Tau fraternity when they were doused with gallons of cold water and powerful fans blew cold air on them.
If that wasn't enough, they were forced to do calisthenics while standing on one foot and drink several gallons of cold water. As any normal human being would do under such extreme conditions, Carrington collapsed.
He unsurprisingly had hypothermia and brain swelling from water intoxication, and died two hours later. Oh, and this was during the Winter semester.
After all was said and done, no need to worry as the cold-hearted "brothers" were brought to justice.
12. Boiling Hot Water On Back, Chest, Genitals
At Tulane University, pledges for Pi Alpha Kappa were put under boiling water for the most physically enduring pain they'd ever had. Fraternity brothers used boiling water containing pepper spray and a "crab boil" seasoning mixture containing cayenne pepper to pour over their victims' backs.
Oddly enough, the ones who screamed didn't get burned as badly, but those who held it in got the worst of it. As the evening went on the water get hotter and the burns get deeper.
One pledge suffered second- and third-degree burns to his back, chest, buttocks and genitals and was subjected to twice-daily burn treatments by doctor's orders.
He was also not able to take his exams or travel that semester.
10 of the "brothers" faced charges of aggravated second-degree battery; so needless to say, justice was served as they seemed to end up in some pretty hot water.
13. Circling the Fat on Your Body
As if they didn't already have to endure this enough as an awkward teen in high school, body critiquing STILL exists in the university "Greek" system as a heinous part of the hazing process for many sororities.
Because what's more humiliating than being told you're "ugly" and "fat" in front of a new set of peers you want so badly to impress? Well... nothing. So, often times what happens is that they get one of the pledges to walk across a table in their underwear so that the rest of the sisters can draw on her body to circle the parts of her that need physical improvement.
This form of hazing and psychological warfare is one of the more (physically) benign, but surprisingly common practices found in hazing rituals around the U.S.
14. Public Body-Critiquing Assembly
Another humiliating case reported by Alexandra Robbins was a woman who was forced to stand on a bench in front of an entire fraternity, completely exposed.
When she got up onto the bench, the fraternity would give public critiques by yelling out the parts of her body that needed "work".
After talking to one of the women that endured this type of scrutiny and humiliation just to become a part of some social group, she said, "This happened in the '90s and almost a decade later she still had emotional scars."
Advanced Placement Test Apps
Need Some AP Test Prep? These $40 Apps May Help
High school students at more than 18,000 schools are preparing for May's Advanced Placement exams, which bestow college credit upon high scorers.
Now Macmillan's adaptive learning startup is preparing to market its study tools directly to those students for the first time.
The company Prep-U is launching AP test-prep apps for US History, AP Chemistry and AP Psychology on Thursday.
Based on technology previously sold as an online study companion to textbooks, the apps first determine a student's current mastery level through a series of quizzes. Thereafter, they serve up quiz questions at that level.
The idea is to never ask a question the student already knows for sure or one that will completely stump them, thereby focusing attention where it's needed.
As students progress, they'll get harder questions. They can track their progress in each category of expertise on a dashboard. If teachers assign the app, they can check in on students' progress as well.
Prep-U's technology is based on a theory most commonly referred to as adaptive learning. It's a system around which — as Barbara Rifkind, an independent consultant who advises education enterprises and a former vice president at Pearson Education, put it in a November interview — “There’s relatively little controversy in theory."
The idea of adjusting questions for individual students' levels is something most textbook publishers, as well as several startups, are dabbling in. In November, Pearson announced it would be integrating startup Knewton's adaptive learning technology in more than 750 textbook titles.
McGraw-Hill has an adaptive learning product called LearnSmart complete with mobile apps, and a startup called Grockit surrounds an individualized test-prep learning path with social features.
Prep-U previously powered textbook companions for third-party textbook companies. It says 98,700 students purchased its technology for $20 as part of their required college course materials.
Each AP test prep app will cost $40, and Prep-U will develop the content — between 1600 and 3600 questions — without the help of a third-party publisher. The new apps' success depends on whether students are willing to pay for the apps without necessarily being required to do so.
"We believe there’s a market direct-to-student," Troy Williams, a vice president at global publisher Macmillan, says. "We’re willing to invest to build this ourselves."
High school students at more than 18,000 schools are preparing for May's Advanced Placement exams, which bestow college credit upon high scorers.
Now Macmillan's adaptive learning startup is preparing to market its study tools directly to those students for the first time.
The company Prep-U is launching AP test-prep apps for US History, AP Chemistry and AP Psychology on Thursday.
Based on technology previously sold as an online study companion to textbooks, the apps first determine a student's current mastery level through a series of quizzes. Thereafter, they serve up quiz questions at that level.
The idea is to never ask a question the student already knows for sure or one that will completely stump them, thereby focusing attention where it's needed.
As students progress, they'll get harder questions. They can track their progress in each category of expertise on a dashboard. If teachers assign the app, they can check in on students' progress as well.
Prep-U's technology is based on a theory most commonly referred to as adaptive learning. It's a system around which — as Barbara Rifkind, an independent consultant who advises education enterprises and a former vice president at Pearson Education, put it in a November interview — “There’s relatively little controversy in theory."
The idea of adjusting questions for individual students' levels is something most textbook publishers, as well as several startups, are dabbling in. In November, Pearson announced it would be integrating startup Knewton's adaptive learning technology in more than 750 textbook titles.
McGraw-Hill has an adaptive learning product called LearnSmart complete with mobile apps, and a startup called Grockit surrounds an individualized test-prep learning path with social features.
Prep-U previously powered textbook companions for third-party textbook companies. It says 98,700 students purchased its technology for $20 as part of their required college course materials.
Each AP test prep app will cost $40, and Prep-U will develop the content — between 1600 and 3600 questions — without the help of a third-party publisher. The new apps' success depends on whether students are willing to pay for the apps without necessarily being required to do so.
"We believe there’s a market direct-to-student," Troy Williams, a vice president at global publisher Macmillan, says. "We’re willing to invest to build this ourselves."
The Top Secrets How To Kiss A Girl With No Chance of Rejection
How to Kiss a Girl Smoothly with No Chance of Rejection
Going for a kiss is a scary moment for most guys. Just like the initial approach, and just like when you ask for a number, it is a point where you could be rejected. Most guys will talk for a few minutes, or hours and then lunge in for a kiss, or they will wait for a movie moment style kiss outside her house.
Steps
1. Touch her in increasingly more sensual ways leading up to the kiss.
Touch her arm for emphasis when you are talking.
Touch her hand. Looking at jewelry is a good excuse.
Touch her hair. Asking if it is her natural color, if she ever wears it up, has ever cut it short/used to have it long, or even when she washed it is a good excuse. If she is comfortable with you touching her hair and doesn't recoil at all, then she is kissable, you can go for it here.
2. Take her hand and hold it as you talk. If you have done the above, it will be acceptable at this point. Don't look at her hand or draw attention to it, just do it.
3. Squeeze her hand and see if she squeezes back, this is another kiss-tell. No girl ever squeezes back if she isn't ready to kiss.
4. Stop talking, pause, tilt head and look at her. See if she is comfortable. If she is you can kiss.
If she turns her head away when you try to kiss: Kiss her cheek and then her neck! She will turn around and kiss you. This is not a rejection but most guys assume it to be and back away. Do this and you can turn her on even more.
5. Establish a sexual vibe as you escalate the physical contact. You do this by:
More intense eye contact
Slower, smoother, deeper voice
6. Look at her in a sexual way, start to look at her lips as well as her eyes and see if she reciprocates. If she does she is imagining kissing you.
7. Sometimes, even with no work on your part, she will want you. When a girl wants to kiss you:
She squeezes your hand.
She looks at your lips or looks down.
She touches your chest instead of arm.
She is comfortable with hard eye contact even when no one is speaking.
She touches her own lips for a second then pulls away quickly
Going for a kiss is a scary moment for most guys. Just like the initial approach, and just like when you ask for a number, it is a point where you could be rejected. Most guys will talk for a few minutes, or hours and then lunge in for a kiss, or they will wait for a movie moment style kiss outside her house.
Steps
1. Touch her in increasingly more sensual ways leading up to the kiss.
Touch her arm for emphasis when you are talking.
Touch her hand. Looking at jewelry is a good excuse.
Touch her hair. Asking if it is her natural color, if she ever wears it up, has ever cut it short/used to have it long, or even when she washed it is a good excuse. If she is comfortable with you touching her hair and doesn't recoil at all, then she is kissable, you can go for it here.
2. Take her hand and hold it as you talk. If you have done the above, it will be acceptable at this point. Don't look at her hand or draw attention to it, just do it.
3. Squeeze her hand and see if she squeezes back, this is another kiss-tell. No girl ever squeezes back if she isn't ready to kiss.
4. Stop talking, pause, tilt head and look at her. See if she is comfortable. If she is you can kiss.
If she turns her head away when you try to kiss: Kiss her cheek and then her neck! She will turn around and kiss you. This is not a rejection but most guys assume it to be and back away. Do this and you can turn her on even more.
5. Establish a sexual vibe as you escalate the physical contact. You do this by:
More intense eye contact
Slower, smoother, deeper voice
6. Look at her in a sexual way, start to look at her lips as well as her eyes and see if she reciprocates. If she does she is imagining kissing you.
7. Sometimes, even with no work on your part, she will want you. When a girl wants to kiss you:
She squeezes your hand.
She looks at your lips or looks down.
She touches your chest instead of arm.
She is comfortable with hard eye contact even when no one is speaking.
She touches her own lips for a second then pulls away quickly
Climb The Mountain to Go to SCHOOL - COOL !
That's one to get to the top of the class… The terrifying climb of Chinese schoolchildren as young as five forced to scale sheer cliffs to get to school
Mountain-top village of only 100 residents is cut off from the outside world, apart from ladders leading to valley below
Brave schoolchildren use the wooden ladders with no safety precautions to get to school every day
Five-year-old Liu Dan explained: 'It's quite high but I try not to look down'
Terrifying: Children clamber down these unsecured ladders to get to school in Hunan province, China
Isolated: The village in the steep mountains where the children set off from every day to go to the valley below
These schoolchildren in southern China are so keen to get to school that they make the perilous journey on narrow wooden ladders every day, with no safety precautions.
Their village in the remote Badagong mountains in Sangzhi county is surrounded by sheer drops on every side, making the school run a daily struggle.
The only way out of Zhang Jiawan village, unless the children have time for a four-hour cross country detour, is via a series of rickety-looking ladders leading down to the valley.
Their anxious parents have no choice but to let them use the ladders if they want to get an education.
So when youngsters like five-year-old Liu Dan start school at the nearest town, the first thing they have to learn is how to climb.
'In centuries past these mountains were a fortress for the villagers. The land is good and the farms thrive but it is hard to get in and out,' said one local.
Liu admitted: 'It's quite high but I try not to look down.'
'My parents showed me how to do it safely and now I don't think too much about how high it is,' she added.
Villagers have asked local officials to supply a road down to the valley so that these children do not have to risk their lilves.
However, the road over the difficult terrain would cost nearly £10 million so residents are not getting their hopes up that it will happen any time soon.
'There are fewer than 100 people living there. It would be cheaper to buy them all helicopters,' said one.
Mountain-top village of only 100 residents is cut off from the outside world, apart from ladders leading to valley below
Brave schoolchildren use the wooden ladders with no safety precautions to get to school every day
Five-year-old Liu Dan explained: 'It's quite high but I try not to look down'
Terrifying: Children clamber down these unsecured ladders to get to school in Hunan province, China
These schoolchildren in southern China are so keen to get to school that they make the perilous journey on narrow wooden ladders every day, with no safety precautions.
Their village in the remote Badagong mountains in Sangzhi county is surrounded by sheer drops on every side, making the school run a daily struggle.
The only way out of Zhang Jiawan village, unless the children have time for a four-hour cross country detour, is via a series of rickety-looking ladders leading down to the valley.
Their anxious parents have no choice but to let them use the ladders if they want to get an education.
So when youngsters like five-year-old Liu Dan start school at the nearest town, the first thing they have to learn is how to climb.
'In centuries past these mountains were a fortress for the villagers. The land is good and the farms thrive but it is hard to get in and out,' said one local.
Liu admitted: 'It's quite high but I try not to look down.'
'My parents showed me how to do it safely and now I don't think too much about how high it is,' she added.
Villagers have asked local officials to supply a road down to the valley so that these children do not have to risk their lilves.
However, the road over the difficult terrain would cost nearly £10 million so residents are not getting their hopes up that it will happen any time soon.
'There are fewer than 100 people living there. It would be cheaper to buy them all helicopters,' said one.
Sell The Daughter for Prostitute
Thai mum jailed for prostituting daughter
A Thai prostitute who sold her daughter for sex for seven years, from the age of nine, has become the first person in Australia to be jailed for child trafficking.
In sentencing the 41-year-old woman to nine years' jail, Brisbane Supreme Court Justice David Boddice slammed her behaviour as the "horrendous" exploitation of an innocent child who was simply trying to please her mother.
"This behaviour was particularly shocking, despicable and reprehensible as it was undertaken by a parent for financial profit ... with no regard for common decency," he said.
The court heard on Tuesday that the abuse started when the child visited her mother on a holiday to Australia in 2004.
Prosecutor Todd Fuller SC said the woman brought the child permanently to Brisbane when she turned 11, making her a partner in the business.
Mr Fuller said the woman encouraged the child to perform a wide range of sexual services and threatened her with violence if she refused.
The woman told the daughter to exploit her clients - who paid her handsomely for services - for additional gifts and possible marriage.
"She regarded her daughter's virginity as a commodity that she could sell," Mr Fuller said.
The offending was discovered in 2011 when the girl complained to a family friend, who reported it to police.
The 41-year-old woman pleaded guilty to 20 charges, including child trafficking, procuring prostitution of a child, indecent treatment of a child and maintaining a sexual relationship with a child.
She will be eligible for parole after serving four years.
A Thai prostitute who sold her daughter for sex for seven years, from the age of nine, has become the first person in Australia to be jailed for child trafficking.
In sentencing the 41-year-old woman to nine years' jail, Brisbane Supreme Court Justice David Boddice slammed her behaviour as the "horrendous" exploitation of an innocent child who was simply trying to please her mother.
"This behaviour was particularly shocking, despicable and reprehensible as it was undertaken by a parent for financial profit ... with no regard for common decency," he said.
The court heard on Tuesday that the abuse started when the child visited her mother on a holiday to Australia in 2004.
Prosecutor Todd Fuller SC said the woman brought the child permanently to Brisbane when she turned 11, making her a partner in the business.
Mr Fuller said the woman encouraged the child to perform a wide range of sexual services and threatened her with violence if she refused.
The woman told the daughter to exploit her clients - who paid her handsomely for services - for additional gifts and possible marriage.
"She regarded her daughter's virginity as a commodity that she could sell," Mr Fuller said.
The offending was discovered in 2011 when the girl complained to a family friend, who reported it to police.
The 41-year-old woman pleaded guilty to 20 charges, including child trafficking, procuring prostitution of a child, indecent treatment of a child and maintaining a sexual relationship with a child.
She will be eligible for parole after serving four years.
Selasa, 16 April 2013
Blow Job in Public for Thailand Hazing Rituals
Hazing rituals gone wrong in Thailand
Here in Thailand the ever popular hazing an often ritualistic test and a task, which may constitute harassment, abuse or humiliation with requirements to perform random, often meaningless tasks, sometimes as a way of initiation into a social group is getting out of hand at certain education institutions.
So this means new university students who attend orientation week are put through such tasks. Some vary from mundane tasks, humiliating acts to violent and dangerous rituals. Here some new female students had to perform simulated oral sex on male students, here in Thailand society looks down on this behaviour very badly, it is not tolerated especially being broadcast across media, if behind close doors and people don’t see or hear about it, all is fine.
In Thailand Technology schools, schools that teach trade skills usually get bad raps and for good cause, as they are the ones that commit the most serious and dangerous initiation rites. Technology school are full of kids from the wrong side of the tracks, kids who didn’t make it through school, dropped out or got terrible grades and couldn’t get into a university. I am not trying to pigeon hole these kids but they are often in the media here for all the wrong reasons.
A case in the paper 2 weeks ago you can read here, a new student had his back spray painted or branded in paint with “Industrial Engineering” stenciled on his back(picture above). This was harmless enough until three senior students set it alight, it burnt his back as you can see in the picture. Also students were forced to “dip” their genitals into chilli paste and also had their “pubic hair” burnt.
The three students are facing a 1 or 2 semester suspension, which is way too lenient. The university will pay the hospital costs of the student who suffered the burns. The family of the student is going to take the case further; I hope they sue the students and university for millions of Baht.
Here is another case: a student burnt and scarred, also this article is about Higher Education Commission (HEC) had sent letters to public and private universities nationwide warning them to strictly oversee initiation rituals.
They shouldn’t be overseeing anything, hazing should be completely banned. In western cultures hazing is also practiced, in the USA some students are branded and there have also been recorded deaths from initiations, many universities have strict rules and severe punishments for those caught performing hazing rites.
When I attended university we had orientation week which turned out to be a week long party of drinking and some silly activities, all pretty harmless. If hazing rituals could be guaranteed to be something that was harmless and practiced relatively safely, then no complaints.
The problem is that this isn’t the case for many, the rituals go too far and cause maiming, severe injuries and even mental scarring. There was a student who committed suicide in Thailand in 1995 after being humiliated in a hazing incident, another boy died after being forced to drink an excessive amount of water and the list goes on.
If the Ministry of Education set severe punishments for students and also the education institutions where these hazing rituals take place, they may be stamped out. If an institution is looking at millions of Baht in fines and the MOE revoking their education licence, they might stamp out the hazing rites completely.
Students who commit hazing rites that maim or humiliate someone should face a mandatory jail sentence, and a large fine. With such discouragements senior students may think twice about burning, humiliating or raping new students at their universities.
Here in Thailand the ever popular hazing an often ritualistic test and a task, which may constitute harassment, abuse or humiliation with requirements to perform random, often meaningless tasks, sometimes as a way of initiation into a social group is getting out of hand at certain education institutions.
So this means new university students who attend orientation week are put through such tasks. Some vary from mundane tasks, humiliating acts to violent and dangerous rituals. Here some new female students had to perform simulated oral sex on male students, here in Thailand society looks down on this behaviour very badly, it is not tolerated especially being broadcast across media, if behind close doors and people don’t see or hear about it, all is fine.
In Thailand Technology schools, schools that teach trade skills usually get bad raps and for good cause, as they are the ones that commit the most serious and dangerous initiation rites. Technology school are full of kids from the wrong side of the tracks, kids who didn’t make it through school, dropped out or got terrible grades and couldn’t get into a university. I am not trying to pigeon hole these kids but they are often in the media here for all the wrong reasons.
A case in the paper 2 weeks ago you can read here, a new student had his back spray painted or branded in paint with “Industrial Engineering” stenciled on his back(picture above). This was harmless enough until three senior students set it alight, it burnt his back as you can see in the picture. Also students were forced to “dip” their genitals into chilli paste and also had their “pubic hair” burnt.
The three students are facing a 1 or 2 semester suspension, which is way too lenient. The university will pay the hospital costs of the student who suffered the burns. The family of the student is going to take the case further; I hope they sue the students and university for millions of Baht.
Here is another case: a student burnt and scarred, also this article is about Higher Education Commission (HEC) had sent letters to public and private universities nationwide warning them to strictly oversee initiation rituals.
They shouldn’t be overseeing anything, hazing should be completely banned. In western cultures hazing is also practiced, in the USA some students are branded and there have also been recorded deaths from initiations, many universities have strict rules and severe punishments for those caught performing hazing rites.
When I attended university we had orientation week which turned out to be a week long party of drinking and some silly activities, all pretty harmless. If hazing rituals could be guaranteed to be something that was harmless and practiced relatively safely, then no complaints.
The problem is that this isn’t the case for many, the rituals go too far and cause maiming, severe injuries and even mental scarring. There was a student who committed suicide in Thailand in 1995 after being humiliated in a hazing incident, another boy died after being forced to drink an excessive amount of water and the list goes on.
If the Ministry of Education set severe punishments for students and also the education institutions where these hazing rituals take place, they may be stamped out. If an institution is looking at millions of Baht in fines and the MOE revoking their education licence, they might stamp out the hazing rites completely.
Students who commit hazing rites that maim or humiliate someone should face a mandatory jail sentence, and a large fine. With such discouragements senior students may think twice about burning, humiliating or raping new students at their universities.
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)
