Who Sees the Real You and Why?

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The Science of Happiness - An Experiment in Gratitude

Expressing your gratitude will make you a happier person...

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Stephen Hawking's Best Ideas Made Simple

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Life

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(Reblogged from Letters of Note)

In 1961, immediately after overhearing her parents discuss the possibility of Soviet nuclear tests at the North Pole, 8-year-old Michelle Rochon grabbed a pencil and wrote a letter to U.S. President John F. Kennedy, in which she asked him to prevent the tests for one particular reason. Her letter, and the reply she soon received from Kennedy, can be read below.

(Source: The Letters of John F. Kennedy, published by Bloomsbury Press on October 29, 2013; Photo above: 8-year-old Michelle holding Kennedy’s letter.)

Dear Mr. Kennedy,

Please stop the Russians from bombing the North Pole because they will kill Santa Claus. I am 8 years old. I am in the third grade at Holy Cross School.

Yours truly,

Michelle Rochon

—————————————

THE WHITE HOUSE

October 28, 1961

Dear Michelle:

I was glad to get your letter about trying to stop the Russians from bombing the North Pole and risking the life of Santa Claus.

I share your concern about the atmospheric testing of the Soviet Union, not only for the North Pole but for countries throughout the world; not only for Santa Claus but for people throughout the world.

However, you must not worry about Santa Claus. I talked with him yesterday and he is fine. He will be making his rounds again this Christmas.

Sincerely,

(Signed, ‘John Kennedy’)

Miss Michelle Rochon
Marine City, Michigan

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Keyboard Shortcuts

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Oxygen

For those of you who’ll be studying Chemistry this year (or those who already did), we’d like you to have a look at this fun video regarding some of the reactions and properties of Oxygen when exposed to other elements of the periodic table.

Did you know that Oxygen…

... repels Hellion?

… causes most metals to rust (e.g. Iron)?

… is often used as ignition in engines? (and Barium is used in fireworks)

Let’s see what happens when confronted to two molecules of Hydrogen!

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non commercial purposes.

The Time You Have Left

If from now on we consider the time we’ll be occupied on duties like sleeping, eating, drinking, preparing food, working, travelling, watching television, doing housework, shopping, caring for others, bathing, grooming, doing community activities, taking classes… how much time do we have left to do other stuff? And most importantly, what are we going to do with this time?

Transcript:

These are roughly 28,835 Jelly Beans. I counted out 500 of them and used those to weigh the rest. In this pile, there is one Jelly Bean for each day that the average American will live. You might have more beans in your life, or maybe less, but on average this is the time we have. Here's a single bean. It's your very first day. A special day, but kind of a rough day on everyone involved. Add 364 more and you have the first year of your life. Now for a sense of scale, here are your first fifteen years. 5,475 days, which brings us to the threshold of adulthood. And at that moment this is the time that we have left. And this is, on average, what we will do with all that time. We will be asleep for a total 8,477 days. If we're lucky some of the time will be sleeping next to someone we love. We will be in the process of eating, drinking, or preparing food for 1,635 days. We will be at work, hopefully doing something satisfying for the equivalent of 3,202 of those days. 1,099 days will be spent commuting or travelling from one place to another, maybe a little bit more if you live in LA. On average we will watch television in one form or another for a total of 2,676 days. House hold activities, like chores and tending to our pets and shopping will take another 1,576 days. And we will care for the needs and well being of others, our friends and family, for 564 days. We will spend 671 days bathing, grooming, and doing all other bathroom related activities. And another 720 will go to community activities like religious and civic duties, charities, and taking classes. After we remove all those beans, this is what remains. This is the time that we have left. Time for laughing, swimming, making art, going on hikes, text messages, reading, checking facebook. Playing softball, maybe even teaching yourself how to play the guitar. So what are you going to do with this time? How much of it do you think you've already used up? If you only had half of it, what would you do differently? What about half of that? How much time have you already spent worrying instead of doing something that you love? What if you just had one more day? What are you going to do today?

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The Gold Voice Man

...And after 17 years of homelessness... Ted Williams's life was turned upside down for good overnight!

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Literary Birthday - Roald Dahl

(Reblogged from Amanda on Writing)

Source for Image

Literary Birthday - 13 September

Happy Birthday, Roald Dahl, born 13 September 1916, died 23 November 1990

13th September is known as Roald Dahl Day

12 Quotes

1. Don’t gobblefunk around with words.
2. I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.
3. I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours, a fixed salary, and very little original thinking to do.
4. Nowadays you can go anywhere in the world in a few hours, and nothing is fabulous any more.
5. The life of a writer is absolute hell … if he is a writer of fiction he lives in a world of fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not.
6. A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.
7. Two hours of writing fiction leaves this writer completely drained. For those two hours he has been in a different place with totally different people.
8. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like so long as somebody loves you.
9. If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.
10. If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.
11. A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it.
12. Though my father was Norwegian, he always wrote his diaries in perfect English.

Follow this link to read what Dahl’s illustrator, Quentin Blake, had to say about his famous writing hut.

Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, fighter pilot and screenwriter. He became one of the world’s best-selling authors. His short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children’s books for their unsentimental, dark humour. His works include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Witches,George’s Marvellous Medicine and The BFG.

In 1989, a 7-year-old girl named Amy sent Roald Dahl a beautiful gift: one of her dreams, contained in a bottle. This letter was his response:

. 

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Paraskevidekatriaphobia

Paraskevidekatriaphobia - (noun) The fear of Friday 13th... Today!!!!

Paraskeví (Παρασκευή, “Friday”), dekatreís (δεκατρείς, “thirteen”), phóbos (φόβος, “fear”)

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Excellent speech by HRH Prince Philip

Labor students,

Watch His Royal Highness Prince Philip's wonderful speech (from 1.45) and please note his pronunciation, rhythm, stance, eye-contact... There is a lot to learn from him in just under 6 minutes.

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Can you trust your eyes?

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Atlas, by Coldplay (from the film 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)

'Atlas' is set to be the first song released from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack, and also marks the first time that Coldplay have ever recorded an original song for a film. The follow-up to 2012's The Hunger Games, meanwhile, will be released in cinemas worldwide on November 22.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

I read because...

“I read because one life isn’t enough, and in the page of a book I can be anybody;
I read because the words that build the story become mine, to build my life;
I read not for happy endings but for new beginnings; I’m just beginning myself, and I wouldn’t mind a map;
I read because I have friends who don’t, and young though they are, they’re beginning to run out of material;
I read because every journey begins at the library, and it’s time for me to start packing;
I read because one of these days I’m going to get out of this town, and I’m going to go everywhere and meet everybody, and I want to be ready.”

—	Richard Peck, Anonymously Yours

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Football makes us dream

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Better in Original Version

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The Lord of Fire 2.0

(Reblogged from El Solitario MC)

Since Galician forests are still burning, as every summer, we felt the urge to recuperate this gem from the past, now enhanced and translated into English so that all of you can better understand the nature of this natural sociopathic disaster that is not only a local phenomenon.

THE LORD OF FIRE (July 2011)

Last week, another young hero lost his life while his aircraft was helping to suffocate any given fire in the Galician forests. In this part of the world, to solve human deeds with fire, has been a cultural tradition and nowadays it has almost put an end to our natural resources.

How to Become an Early Riser?

(Reblogged from 99u.com)

ESO Students,

The beginning of a new schoolyear is approaching and we bet your work routines have faded during the summer... or at least they should have, because that is, after all, what holidays is about: forget school, forget work, have the nicest of times out with friends, enjoy the sun and the beach...

The bad news is now we need to get back to regular life and its routines.... and you need to get up early again! We hope these pieces of advice can help you achieve it. Yes, we know it will be hard, but it will be worth it.

Getting up early is like most any habit that makes you a more productive creative: It’s hard at first. Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Set an exact time to get out of bed. If you normally get up at 11am, it’s unrealistic to start abruptly getting up at 6am. Think about what time you’d like to be getting up in the morning, and work up to it. Try to wake up 30 minutes earlier every week, until you get to the desired time.

2. Move up your bedtime in sync with the time you plan to get up. Seven to eight hours of sleep is the recommended dosage for maximal productivity (with a few super-human exceptions). So if you’re getting up at 6am, you’ll want to go to bed by 11pm at the latest. If you try to go to bed at midnight and get up at 5am, you’re eventually going to run into some problems.

3. Get out of bed immediately. The moment that you start procrastinating – read: hit the snooze button – it’s very easy to convince yourself of a multiplicity of reasons why you wouldn’t want to get out of bed yet. Don’t even allow those thoughts to kick in – just get up!

4. Expose yourself to sunlight. Sunlight is key to adapting yourcircadian rhythms. If you’re having trouble getting up, don’t close your blinds all the way, so you have some natural light as your wake-up call. Once you’re up, a short walk (or run) outside helps reinforce the message with your body.

5. Develop a routine for your morning. Whether it’s taking in the sunrise, brewing a cup of tea and reading the paper, or walking to the café down the street for a cup of joe, you’re more likely to continue to get up early if you develop a brief routine that is, in itself, a reward.

6. Stick with it. Know going in that it’s going to take some time to adapt to waking up early – probably about 30 days. Don’t expect to feel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed from Day 1. But if you stick with it, getting up early is likely to become one of your favorite rituals.

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What Teachers Make, by Taylor Mali & Gavin Aung Than

Labor students,

Back in October 2010 we gave you the wonderful poem What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali. And now artist Gavin Aung Than has turned it into a brilliant comic:

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.