Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Vitamin "F"
"My Vitamin F"
A Friend shared this article with me and I want to share it with you.
Why do I have a variety of friends who are all different in character ?
Some of them can be considered marginal even ?
How do I get on with them all ?
I think that each one helps to bring out a "different" part of me...
With one of them I am polite.
I joke with another friend.
I sit down and talk about serious matters with one of them.
With another I giggle at every silly thing.
I have my wine with one
And dance with another.
I listen to one friend's problems and give them advice
Then I listen to another advising me.
They are all like pieces of a jigsaw,
When completed they form a treasure box.
A treasure of friends!
They are my friends who understand me better than myself,
who support me through good days and bad days.
They are like colourful anti-depressants that I take on different days.
Real Age doctors tell us that friends are good for our health.
Dr. Oz calls them Vitamins F (from Friends) and counts the benefits of friends to our well being.
Research shows that people in strong social circles have less risk of depression and terminal strokes. If you take Vitamin F constantly you can be up to 30 years younger than your real age. The warmth of friendship stops stress and even in your tense moments, it decreases the chance of a cardiac arrest or stroke by 50 %.
I am so happy that I have a stock of Vitamins F!
In summary we should value our friends and keep in touch with them.
We should try to see the funny side of things and laugh together, not forgetting
to open our mouths big to swallow the floating vitamins F !!!!
Thank you for being one of my vitamins!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Ramadhan Al-Mubarak
http://ukinbahrain.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-bahrain/Ramadan
Ramadan Al Mubarak (meaning "the Blessed") is the 9th month of the Muslim calendar. Ramadan is singled out for acts of worships and fasting because the first verses of the Holy Qur'an were revealed to the Prophet during a period of meditation and solitude in a cave near Mecca in the 7th Century.
Ramadan, for Muslims is a month of fasting, spiritualism, meditation and abstinence from food, drinks, smoking and continence in all respects between dawn and dusk. It also calls for more prayers and meditation coupled with increased tolerance towards one's fellow beings. Only the sick, the infirm, women in their menstruation periods, nursing mothers and travellers are exempt from fasting, but they are expected to make up the lost days at another time. Ramadan is also a month of charity and compassion. Alms are given to the poor. Special foods and sweetmeats are prepared for breaking of the fast each evening throughout the month.
After the discipline of prayers fasting and meditation, Ramadan culminates with the joyous celebration of Eid Al Fitr. Muslims observe a three days holiday marked by mass prayers, family reunions, social visits and exchange of courtesies and gifts. People meet together and greet one another with the traditional phrase of "Eid Mubarak".
Some useful Ramadan phrases
Ramadan Kareem: Happy Ramadan. (Response: Allahu Akram)
Ramadan Mubarak: Ramadan blessings.
Siam Maqbool wa Iftar shahee: Well fasted and enjoy breaking fast. (to be said at sunset)
Kul sana wa inta tayyib: Every year you are fine. (Response: Wa inta)
Selamat berpuasa to all my Muslim friends.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Today's children are digital learners!
http://jasonmessinger.glogster.com/glogs/sortedBy/favorites
So much has been said about we oldies being digital immigrants and our children being born digital natives. How far is this true? No doubt we are learning about technology and immersing ourselves in it everyday but however fast we are, our kids are one step ahead of us. So much has been said about preparing ourselves for the 21st century, so where are we. What is 21st century learning and what do we mean by 21st century learning skills? Whatever is meant, we have no choice but to move forward, to equip ourselves with the knowledge to face the ever changing technology that surrounds us so that we can prepare to face our children, our students who seem to have everything at their finger tips. How to move from teacher-centered learning to student-centered learning. Accessibility and knowledge of how things work and where to get the information. 21st century skills include the 4 skills of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication. Everyone's talking about web 2.0 tools for teaching and learning. Do you use them? I have read successful stories and they are the in-thing now. Suffice to say, we should get ourselves on the bandwagon, shape up or ship out. We have to learn to keep up else we be left behind. I am trying to read more, google more and do depend heavily on my favorite site the wikis. So I got myself a BB so I can keep up with the latest techno, so I can chat with my kids more and acquire skills that are just a finger tip away...to everyone who is also facing techno fever, good luck and keep up the good work.
Moving on...
It's already August...where am I? Have I achieved what I set out to do thus far...according to my New Year resolutions? Time has just passed me by and I have let it pass. Mum is still living in pain, I am still trying to clear my QE...my youngest girl has just been diagnosed with hyperthyroid this week. So what have I been doing a a mum? I have been so busy working and trying to complete my three chapters that I have somehow "neglected" the complaints of my girl. So now I really have to be more a mum than anything else. As they say, work can wait but family can't. So this Raya too, we will spend time with family from Penang and also drop by in JB to see my mum, and my daughter who is studying in Singapore.
Yes, its time to move on with the things that matter most to our hearts and our lives. It's family time and we also miss my son who is in Miri, Sarawak.
Whatever else happens, family should come first and everything else second, agreed?
Yes, its time to move on with the things that matter most to our hearts and our lives. It's family time and we also miss my son who is in Miri, Sarawak.
Whatever else happens, family should come first and everything else second, agreed?
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Nicol David wins Australian Women Open 2011
CANBERRA: Malaysian squash superstar Nicol David claimed the Australian Open women's title at her first attempt when she downed England's Jenny Duncalf in straight games in Canberra on Sunday.
David was at the brilliant best as she shut out Duncalf 11-8, 11-4, 11-6.
The world number one took control from the first game, jumping out to a 6-1 lead, and although Duncalf fought back to level terms the Englishwoman was always playing catch up and David never looked like relinquishing her grip.
"I knew that today was going to be a tough final, she knows my game really well and we play each other a lot," David said.
"I really had to stay consistent in there, I was moving well, I focused well and I just stayed on my game."
Nicol Ann David is a Malaysian female professional squash player. She is currently ranked world number 1 in women's squash, and is the first Asian woman to achieve this. She won the British Open title in 2005, 2006 and 2008, as well as the World Open title in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Nicol is the first squash player to have won the World Junior title twice; in 1999 and 2001 under the tutelage of Richard Glanfield. She remained the only female squash player to have achieved this, until Raneem El Weleily emulated Nicol's feat by winning her second World Junior Championship in 2007. Nicol joined WISPA and turned professional in 2000 when she won her first WISPA title, after only a month in the tour. The victory came in February, when she defeated Salma Shabana in the final of the Savcor Finnish Open. On June 7, 2008, Nicol David was honoured with the Order of Merit (Darjah Bakti) or D.B. in conjunction with the birthday of the His Majesty Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin. She was the first recipient of the award which was established on June 26, 1975. Nicol was also invited to carry the Olympic torch for Malaysia during the build up to the Athens Olympics in 2004 and being appointed as UNDP National Goodwill Ambassador for Malaysia.
Nicol David's other notable achievements include the Asian Squash Championship, which she won with a record of eight times (in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011). She also held a 13-month, 51-match winning streak, from March 2006 until April 2007, when she finally lost to Natalie Grinham in the final of the 2007 Seoul Open. Nicol has also obtained the WISPA Player of the Year on six consecutive occasions, from 2005 until 2010
(wikipedia)
David was at the brilliant best as she shut out Duncalf 11-8, 11-4, 11-6.
The world number one took control from the first game, jumping out to a 6-1 lead, and although Duncalf fought back to level terms the Englishwoman was always playing catch up and David never looked like relinquishing her grip.
"I knew that today was going to be a tough final, she knows my game really well and we play each other a lot," David said.
"I really had to stay consistent in there, I was moving well, I focused well and I just stayed on my game."
Nicol Ann David is a Malaysian female professional squash player. She is currently ranked world number 1 in women's squash, and is the first Asian woman to achieve this. She won the British Open title in 2005, 2006 and 2008, as well as the World Open title in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Nicol is the first squash player to have won the World Junior title twice; in 1999 and 2001 under the tutelage of Richard Glanfield. She remained the only female squash player to have achieved this, until Raneem El Weleily emulated Nicol's feat by winning her second World Junior Championship in 2007. Nicol joined WISPA and turned professional in 2000 when she won her first WISPA title, after only a month in the tour. The victory came in February, when she defeated Salma Shabana in the final of the Savcor Finnish Open. On June 7, 2008, Nicol David was honoured with the Order of Merit (Darjah Bakti) or D.B. in conjunction with the birthday of the His Majesty Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin. She was the first recipient of the award which was established on June 26, 1975. Nicol was also invited to carry the Olympic torch for Malaysia during the build up to the Athens Olympics in 2004 and being appointed as UNDP National Goodwill Ambassador for Malaysia.
Nicol David's other notable achievements include the Asian Squash Championship, which she won with a record of eight times (in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011). She also held a 13-month, 51-match winning streak, from March 2006 until April 2007, when she finally lost to Natalie Grinham in the final of the 2007 Seoul Open. Nicol has also obtained the WISPA Player of the Year on six consecutive occasions, from 2005 until 2010
(wikipedia)
Are Today's Youth Less Creative & Imaginative?
Published August 12, 2011
LiveScience
It sounds like the complaint of a jaded adult: Kids these days are narrow-minded and just not as creative as they used to be.
But researchers say they are finding exactly that. In a 2010 study of about 300,000 creativity tests going back to the 1970s, Kyung Hee Kim, a creativity researcher at the College of William and Mary, found creativity has decreased among American children in recent years. Since 1990, children have become less able to produce unique and unusual ideas. They are also less humorous, less imaginative and less able to elaborate on ideas, Kim said.
Has modern society really extinguished the creative spark among our youth?
Experts say creativity is innate, so it can't really be lost. But it needs to be nurtured.
"It's not that creativity can necessarily disappear," said Ron Beghetto, an education psychologist at the University of Oregon. "But it can be suppressed in particular contexts."
The current focus on testing in schools, and the idea that there is only one right answer to a question, may be hampering development of creativity among kids, Beghetto said. "There's not much room for unexpected, novel, divergent thought," he said.
But the situation is not hopeless, Beghetto said. In fact, there's evidence to suggest that, worldwide, youngsters are very creative, particularly with their use of digital media, Beghetto said. And a recent study found that, at least in their playtime, kids are becoming more imaginative.
Experts agree changes can be made in the classroom to cultivate creativity.
No child gets ahead
In her study, Kim analyzed results from the Torrance test, an exam that measures an aspect of creativity called divergent thinking. In this test, kids might be shown two circles and asked to draw something out of these shapes.
Interestingly, scores on the Torrance test have been decreasing while SAT scores are increasing. However, better test scores do not necessarly translate to improved creativity, Kim said. You can do well on a test by studying a lot, but it won't encourage original thinking.
Kim said No Child Left Behind, an act of Congress passed in 2001 that requires schools to administer annual standardized tests as a way to assess whether they are meeting state education standards, may be partly responsible for the drop in creativity scores.
"I believe No Child Left Behind … really hurt creativity," Kim said. "If we just focus on just No Child Left Behind — testing, testing, testing — then how can creative students survive?" Kim said. Other culprits may be the rise in TV watching, a passive activity that doesn't require interactions with others, Kim said.
Kim's work has also shown creativity declines in adulthood as we become more aware of the notions of right and wrong answers, she said.
But just because we are doomed to become less imaginative as adults does not mean society shouldn't work to salvage creativity in children. After all, ideas in childhood may lead to future career pursuits.
"If this trend continues then students who look different, nonconformists, will suffer, because they are not accepted," Kim said. Research shows that if creative personalities don't adjust to the school system, they can become underachievers and drop out of school, she said.
Time to play
Kids also nurture their creativity abilities when they "pretend," said Sandra Russ, a psychologist at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, who was not involved in Kim's study. Elements of insight, fantasy and emotional expression all go into this type of story-making, Russ said.
Nowadays, with kids' overbooked schedules, there is less time for pretend play, Russ said.
Russ looked back at studies she has conducted on pretend play since 1985. In all, the studies involved close
to 900 children ages 6 to 9, who were asked to make up a story using two puppets. Stories were rated based on how many ideas the kids came up with, the novelty of the ideas, and the emotions expressed within the tales.
Russ found that, over time, imagination in the stories increased, with the stories in 1985 showing significantly less imagination than stories (created by different groups of kids) in 2008.
"Given the changes in [our] culture, we were surprised, and I would say encouraged," Russ said.
The results suggest kids are resilient, and may be finding ways to develop these abilities through other means besides strict playtime. For instance, some video games call for creative problem-solving strategies, Russ said.
The results do not necessarily contradict Kim's findings. The researchers can't be sure whether kids will actually apply their playtime imagination to the real world, Russ said.
Hide and seek
So how can we make sure not to squelch kids' creativity once they step inside a classroom?
Beghetto said the interaction between students and teachers has become one of "intellectual hide and seek." The students try to match what they think the teacher wants to hear.
"If you can do that, you can be 'successful' in school," Beghetto said.
Teachers don't spend a lot of time exploring unexpected ideas because they might not be sure where it will lead, Beghetto said. As a result, "out-of-the-box" thinking gets discouraged.
Beghetto is not blaming teachers, who may even feel as though they cannot teach creativity.
But teaching to prepare for tests and teaching to develop creativity are not mutually exclusive, Beghetto said. Teachers should recognize that unexpected answers may still lead to meaningful conversation and learning in a classroom, he said.
And schools may be able to implement tests that assess students broadly and allow for more creativity.
"I think there should be a variety of ways to assess what students know and how they know it," Beghetto said.
Follow staff writer Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/08/12/are-todays-youth-less-creative-imaginative/#ixzz1V0Nm5VdT
LiveScience
It sounds like the complaint of a jaded adult: Kids these days are narrow-minded and just not as creative as they used to be.
But researchers say they are finding exactly that. In a 2010 study of about 300,000 creativity tests going back to the 1970s, Kyung Hee Kim, a creativity researcher at the College of William and Mary, found creativity has decreased among American children in recent years. Since 1990, children have become less able to produce unique and unusual ideas. They are also less humorous, less imaginative and less able to elaborate on ideas, Kim said.
Has modern society really extinguished the creative spark among our youth?
Experts say creativity is innate, so it can't really be lost. But it needs to be nurtured.
"It's not that creativity can necessarily disappear," said Ron Beghetto, an education psychologist at the University of Oregon. "But it can be suppressed in particular contexts."
The current focus on testing in schools, and the idea that there is only one right answer to a question, may be hampering development of creativity among kids, Beghetto said. "There's not much room for unexpected, novel, divergent thought," he said.
But the situation is not hopeless, Beghetto said. In fact, there's evidence to suggest that, worldwide, youngsters are very creative, particularly with their use of digital media, Beghetto said. And a recent study found that, at least in their playtime, kids are becoming more imaginative.
Experts agree changes can be made in the classroom to cultivate creativity.
No child gets ahead
In her study, Kim analyzed results from the Torrance test, an exam that measures an aspect of creativity called divergent thinking. In this test, kids might be shown two circles and asked to draw something out of these shapes.
Interestingly, scores on the Torrance test have been decreasing while SAT scores are increasing. However, better test scores do not necessarly translate to improved creativity, Kim said. You can do well on a test by studying a lot, but it won't encourage original thinking.
Kim said No Child Left Behind, an act of Congress passed in 2001 that requires schools to administer annual standardized tests as a way to assess whether they are meeting state education standards, may be partly responsible for the drop in creativity scores.
"I believe No Child Left Behind … really hurt creativity," Kim said. "If we just focus on just No Child Left Behind — testing, testing, testing — then how can creative students survive?" Kim said. Other culprits may be the rise in TV watching, a passive activity that doesn't require interactions with others, Kim said.
Kim's work has also shown creativity declines in adulthood as we become more aware of the notions of right and wrong answers, she said.
But just because we are doomed to become less imaginative as adults does not mean society shouldn't work to salvage creativity in children. After all, ideas in childhood may lead to future career pursuits.
"If this trend continues then students who look different, nonconformists, will suffer, because they are not accepted," Kim said. Research shows that if creative personalities don't adjust to the school system, they can become underachievers and drop out of school, she said.
Time to play
Kids also nurture their creativity abilities when they "pretend," said Sandra Russ, a psychologist at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, who was not involved in Kim's study. Elements of insight, fantasy and emotional expression all go into this type of story-making, Russ said.
Nowadays, with kids' overbooked schedules, there is less time for pretend play, Russ said.
Russ looked back at studies she has conducted on pretend play since 1985. In all, the studies involved close
to 900 children ages 6 to 9, who were asked to make up a story using two puppets. Stories were rated based on how many ideas the kids came up with, the novelty of the ideas, and the emotions expressed within the tales.
Russ found that, over time, imagination in the stories increased, with the stories in 1985 showing significantly less imagination than stories (created by different groups of kids) in 2008.
"Given the changes in [our] culture, we were surprised, and I would say encouraged," Russ said.
The results suggest kids are resilient, and may be finding ways to develop these abilities through other means besides strict playtime. For instance, some video games call for creative problem-solving strategies, Russ said.
The results do not necessarily contradict Kim's findings. The researchers can't be sure whether kids will actually apply their playtime imagination to the real world, Russ said.
Hide and seek
So how can we make sure not to squelch kids' creativity once they step inside a classroom?
Beghetto said the interaction between students and teachers has become one of "intellectual hide and seek." The students try to match what they think the teacher wants to hear.
"If you can do that, you can be 'successful' in school," Beghetto said.
Teachers don't spend a lot of time exploring unexpected ideas because they might not be sure where it will lead, Beghetto said. As a result, "out-of-the-box" thinking gets discouraged.
Beghetto is not blaming teachers, who may even feel as though they cannot teach creativity.
But teaching to prepare for tests and teaching to develop creativity are not mutually exclusive, Beghetto said. Teachers should recognize that unexpected answers may still lead to meaningful conversation and learning in a classroom, he said.
And schools may be able to implement tests that assess students broadly and allow for more creativity.
"I think there should be a variety of ways to assess what students know and how they know it," Beghetto said.
Follow staff writer Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/08/12/are-todays-youth-less-creative-imaginative/#ixzz1V0Nm5VdT
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
The world's fastest growing airport.
Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport is the world's fastest growing airport, according to a new report released by Airports Council International (ACI) August 1.
The World Airport Traffic Report 2010, which analyzed the performance of over 1,300 airports in 157 countries around the world last year, suggests that traffic at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport, completed in 2009, jumped by 75 percent last year.
That puts it considerably ahead of Campinas in Brazil, the world's second-fastest growing airport, and Rio de Janeiro, the third.
Charleroi in Belgium and Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport rounded off the top five list.
Overall, traffic through the world's airports grew by 6.6 percent in 2010, the report shows, a total of 5.04 billion passengers -- the first time global air travel has passed the 5 billion mark.
The fastest growth was observed in Latin America and the Caribbean (13.2 percent), ACI said, followed by the Middle East (12 percent), Asia-Pacific (11.3 percent) Africa (9.5 percent), Europe (4.3 percent) and North America (2.5 percent).
Preliminary statistics show that for the first six months of this year, global passenger traffic is up by six percent again.
The busiest airports in the world overall were Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson in the US, Beijing, Chicago in the US, London Heathrow and Tokyo Haneda.
However, stripping out domestic passengers to include just international travel, London Heathrow holds the top spot, followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle, Hong Kong International, Dubai International in the United Arab Emirates and Frankfurt in Germany.
The world's fastest-growing airports
1. Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport, Turkey
2. Viracopos-Campinas, Brazil
3. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
4. Charleroi, Belgium
5. Moscow Sheremetyevo, Russia
6. Belo Horizonte, Brazil
7. Bogota, Colombia
8. Phuket, Thailand
9. Shanghai Pudong, China
10. Muscat, Oman
11. Ankara, Turkey
12. St Petersburg, Russia
13. Medan, Indonesia
14. Shanghai Hongqiao, China
15. Milwaukee, WI, USA
Data from Airports Council International - http://www.airports.org/
*KLIA...wherefore art thou?
The World Airport Traffic Report 2010, which analyzed the performance of over 1,300 airports in 157 countries around the world last year, suggests that traffic at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport, completed in 2009, jumped by 75 percent last year.
That puts it considerably ahead of Campinas in Brazil, the world's second-fastest growing airport, and Rio de Janeiro, the third.
Charleroi in Belgium and Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport rounded off the top five list.
Overall, traffic through the world's airports grew by 6.6 percent in 2010, the report shows, a total of 5.04 billion passengers -- the first time global air travel has passed the 5 billion mark.
The fastest growth was observed in Latin America and the Caribbean (13.2 percent), ACI said, followed by the Middle East (12 percent), Asia-Pacific (11.3 percent) Africa (9.5 percent), Europe (4.3 percent) and North America (2.5 percent).
Preliminary statistics show that for the first six months of this year, global passenger traffic is up by six percent again.
The busiest airports in the world overall were Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson in the US, Beijing, Chicago in the US, London Heathrow and Tokyo Haneda.
However, stripping out domestic passengers to include just international travel, London Heathrow holds the top spot, followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle, Hong Kong International, Dubai International in the United Arab Emirates and Frankfurt in Germany.
The world's fastest-growing airports
1. Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport, Turkey
2. Viracopos-Campinas, Brazil
3. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
4. Charleroi, Belgium
5. Moscow Sheremetyevo, Russia
6. Belo Horizonte, Brazil
7. Bogota, Colombia
8. Phuket, Thailand
9. Shanghai Pudong, China
10. Muscat, Oman
11. Ankara, Turkey
12. St Petersburg, Russia
13. Medan, Indonesia
14. Shanghai Hongqiao, China
15. Milwaukee, WI, USA
Data from Airports Council International - http://www.airports.org/
*KLIA...wherefore art thou?
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