Clipmarks | thekay's clips

Bohemian Rhapsody- muppet style

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:51:50 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: finance.yahoo.com

Viral Video: The Muppets Do "Bohemian Rhapsody"

[Video]

Hovering the cosmos

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:27:10 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Hovering the cosmos : A honeybee hovers over a cosmos flower during the Japan Cup cycle road race at Utsunomiya city in Japan's Tochigi prefecture.

8 mind-boggling optical illusions

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:56:16 GMT

clipped by: thekay
clipper's remarks: photos from flickr and other amazing artists!

Clip Source: health.yahoo.com

8 Mind-Boggling Optical Illusions

Flowing Leaves

Pulsing Vortex

Waves

Hypnosis

Kaleidoscopes

Wormhole

Bull’s-Eye

Starbursts

Tags: optical illusions

Reading Rainbow ends

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:41:51 GMT

clipped by: thekay
clipper's remarks: clipped whole article as it was short

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Last chapter arrives for 'Reading Rainbow' on PBS

LOS ANGELES – The "Reading Rainbow" is at an end on PBS.

The program aired its final episode Friday, wrapping a more than two-decade run that began in 1983. "Reading Rainbow," hosted by LeVar Burton, was designed to spark a love for books in its young audience.

The once-popular show's ratings had slipped and production on new episodes stopped several years ago, PBS said. Along with the end of the broadcasts, the "Reading Rainbow" site at pbskids.org will be discontinued in December.

But the program will remain available for classrooms with off-air educational rights in effect for a year, according to a PBS Web site.

PBS and member station WNED, producer of "Reading Rainbow," are in discussions to create a literacy Web site and to continue the show's local story contests for kids on a national level.

fast food trash into paper tree art

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:03:23 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: www.fastcompany.com

Artist Turns Fast Food Trash into Delicate Paper Trees

The brown paper bags that McDonald's hands out along with Happy Meals and fries are an unlikely art medium, but artist Yuken Teruya has managed to turn the grease-stained vessels into beautiful, delicate paper forests.

In the Notice-Forest series, Teruya cuts one side of a paper bag in a tree shape. The cut-out tree is folded down so that it appears to be part of a diorama to onlookers who look inside the bag. According to Teruya, the diorama is meant to look like a real tree positioned against the shadows of other trees in a forest. In other words, Teruya reclaims paper bags back into what they once were--trees.

Teruya isn't the only artist of late to take disposal fast food items and turn them into unexpected pieces of art. Designer Scott Jarvie's Clutch Light uses hundreds of plastic drinking straws to create a vibrant multi-colored lamp.

what KUTGW means

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:09:24 GMT

clipped by: thekay
clipper's remarks: WDYM (“What do you mean?”
HBU (“How about you?”)
CIL (“Check in later”

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

Quick! Tell Us What KUTGW Means

WOMBAT (“Waste of money, brains and time”)

NSFW

Not safe for work

UG2BK . . . . . . . You got to be kidding
GBTW. . . . . . . . Get back to work
NMP . . . . . . . . . Not my problem
PIR . . . . . . . . . . Parent in room
GFTD. . . . . . . . . Gone for the day
FYEO. . . . . . . . . For your eyes only
BI5 . . . . . . . . . . Back in five minutes
DEGT . . . . . . . . Don’t even go there
BIL . . . . . Boss is listening
PAW. . . . Parents are watching
99 . . . . . . Parents are no longer watching
PCM . . . . Please call me
IMS. . . . . I am sorry
TOY. . . . . Thinking of you
KUTGW. . Keep up the good work
CID . . . . . Consider it done
FWIW. . . For what it’s worth
HAND . . . Have a nice day
IAT . . . . . I am tired
NRN . . . . No response necessary
4COL. . . . For crying out loud
WRUD. . . What are you doing
LMIRL. . . Let’s meet in real life
^5 . . . . . . High five

TTYL

Talk to you later

IMO

In my opinion

ROFL

Rolling on the floor laughing

SWDYT

So what do you think?

hummingbird

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:18:54 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

A ruby-throated hummingbird is silhouetted against the afternoon light as it comes in for a landing on a feeder, Tuesday, July 21, 2009, in Tallahassee, FLa.

Bilingualism and children

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:04:58 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Unraveling how children become bilingual so easily

WASHINGTON – The best time to learn a foreign language: Between birth and age 7. Missed that window?

New research is showing just how children's brains can become bilingual so easily, findings that scientists hope eventually could help the rest of us learn a new language a bit easier.

Each language uses a unique set of sounds. Scientists now know babies are born with the ability to distinguish all of them, but that ability starts weakening even before they start talking, by the first birthday.

Mastering your dominant language gets in the way of learning a second, less familiar one, Kuhl's research suggests. The brain tunes out sounds that don't fit.

While new language learning is easiest by age 7, the ability markedly declines after puberty.

If you speak a second language, speak it at home. Or find a play group or caregiver where your child can hear another language regularly

Tags: esl

kids prefer veggies with cool names!

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:13:39 GMT

clipped by: thekay
clipper's remarks: dips help too =)

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Kids Prefer Veggies With Cool Names

Kids won't eat their vegetables? Rename them, scientists say.

In a new study, 186 four-year-olds were given regular carrots and, on other lunch days, they were given the same vegetables renamed X-ray Vision Carrots. On the latter days, they ate nearly twice as many.

The study suggests the influence of these names might persist.

Children continued to eat about 50 percent more carrots even on the days when they were no longer labeled as anything special.

Similar results have been found with adults. A restaurant study showed that when the Seafood Filet was changed to Succulent Italian Seafood Filet, sales increased 28 percent and taste rating increased by 12 percent

Colorado school district does away with grade levels

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:34:43 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

A Colorado school district does away with grade levels

For starters, when the elementary and middle-school students come back next fall, there won't be any grade levels – or traditional grades, for that matter. And those are only the most visible changes in a district that, striving to reverse dismal test scores and a soaring dropout rate, is opting for a wholesale reinvention of itself, rather than the incremental reforms usually favored by administrators.

Students help craft own lesson plans

Scheduling is a big one. It's also unclear what will happen if large numbers of kids arrive in high school still unable to demonstrate proficiency in certain subjects, like math, and a bottleneck gets created. Since no student can move forward without a "B" equivalent, it's also essentially impossible for students to have lower than a 3.0 GPA, which could be a challenge to explain to colleges.

children need recess

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 06:07:29 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

U.S. school children need less work, more play: study

CHICAGO (Reuters) – All work and no play may be a hazard for some U.S. school children.

Researchers reported on Monday that a growing trend of curbing free time at school may lead to unruly classrooms and rob youngsters of needed exercise and an important chance to socialize.

recess may play an important role in the learning, social development, and health of children

But today many children get less free time and fewer physical outlets at school "because many school districts responded to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 by reducing time committed to recess, the creative arts, and even physical education in an effort to focus on reading and mathematics

recess periods may be the only opportunity for them to practice their social skills with other children

DVD teaches autistic kids what a smile means

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:01:53 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

DVD teach autistic kids what a smile means

Jenny's adventures are part of a DVD for autistic children released this week in the United States called The Transporters.

The DVD teaches autistic children how to recognize emotions like happiness, anger and sadness through the exploits of vehicles including a train, a ferry, and a cable car.

Autism, Baron-Cohen believes, is a condition where people perceive systems and patterns while remaining almost oblivious to other people and their feelings.

"To teach autistic children something they find difficult, we needed an autism-friendly format," Baron-Cohen said. Autistic children are particularly drawn to predictable vehicles that move on tracks like trains and trams.

Other experts said the video was not a replacement for working and playing with real people.

DVD sells for $57.50 and includes interactive quizzes and a booklet

available online at http://www.thetransporters.com

Half of the profits go to autism charities and research

Tags: autism

Panda Yoga

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:27:35 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

In this photo released by Chiuna's Xinhua News Agency, giant pandas Tuan Tuan, left, and Yuan Yuan play in a breeding base in Ya'an, southwest China's Sichuan Province on Feb. 17, 2006. The pair of pandas left China Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008 on a long-awaited goodwill journey to their new home in Taiwan in the latest move symbolizing the warming ties between the rivals.

Tags: pandas

Give me a boost?

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:27:00 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

In this photo released by Chiuna's Xinhua News Agency, giant pandas Tuan Tuan, top, and Yuan Yuan play in a breeding base in Ya'an, southwest China's Sichuan Province on Feb. 17, 2006. The pair of pandas left China Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008 on a long-awaited goodwill journey to their new home in Taiwan in the latest move symbolizing the warming ties between the rivals.

Tags: pandas

14 percent of US Adults can't read

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:16:27 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

14 Percent of U.S. Adults Can't Read

About 14 percent of U.S. adults won't be reading this article. Well, okay, most people won't read it, given all the words that are published these days to help us understand and navigate the increasingly complex world.

But about 1 in 7 can't read it. They're illiterate.

Statistics released by the U.S. Education Department this week show that some 32 million U.S. adults lack basic prose literacy skill. That means they can't read a newspaper or the instruction on a bottle of pills.

More than 1 million people lost their jobs in 2008 and the new unemployment figures are the highest in 16 years," Harvey said. "A large number of the unemployed are low-skilled individuals who struggle with everyday reading, writing and math tasks

ProLiteracy also estimates:

63 percent of prison inmates can't read

774 million people worldwide are illiterate

Two-thirds of the world's illiterate are women

If parents can't read, there's a good chance children will be poor readers

Tags: literacy