Clipmarks | Comprehension Clips

8 Essential Skills They Didn’t Teach You In School

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:43:54 GMT

clipped by: spherepet

8 Essential Skills They Didn’t Teach You In School

August 15th, 2008

BrianArmstrong

Lately, I’ve been simultaneously using less and less of what I learned in school while discovering more and more skills that are vital to success which were never even offered in school!

If I were to be 100% honest, probably the most valuable skill I learned in college was how to talk to girls (certainly a vital skill for happiness and success, but not what I was there to learn).

it wasn’t until after school that my education really began.

the top skills that should be taught

How to make people like you and network

essential to success that affects every area of your life

How to speed read and the power of audio books

speed reading and speed comprehension is real

How to set goals and manage time

How to read a financial statement

How to negotiate, use contracts, and not get taken advantage of

How to save and invest

How to be successful in life

How to spread an idea and basic marketing

Conclusion

wish you’d learned?

Tags: skills

Machines will revolutionize education

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:53:17 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: These education machines will also become the home of future artificial intelligence that will complement the teacher’s ability, guiding students through course work, supplementing the teacher’s knowledge and answering simple queries to liberate teachers to concentrate on individuals without the rest of the class sitting idle.

To a larger degree than ever before, students will explore information and educate themselves, calling on teachers when they need extra help or special insight. Computers have infinite patience and time and can easily adapt to the skill and knowledge level of individual children without making them feel backward. Children will fearlessly ask questions of a computer that they wouldn’t dare ask in front of their classmates.

Clip Source: memebox.com

By as early as 2010, Microsoft, IBM and others will introduce software enabling students to communicate with computers similar to how we communicate with each other – using words, body language, and gestures.

These sophisticated new computers will understand ordinary everyday spoken words in English, Spanish, Chinese, or any major language, and will use avatars – on-screen images that could appear as Einstein, Columbus, or even a local classroom teacher – to communicate on a personal level with each student.

These future teaching machines will bring education to life. Utilizing virtual reality, they will take students on virtual trips to interesting places and events in the world, fly into space, or wander inside a human cell.

Interactive computers will gather and process video, graphics, and information from anywhere on Earth via the Internet, and reformat this data into words and images that will be clearly understood by each student, regardless of their comprehension level.

Tags: education, computers, artificial intelligence, man machine interface

Revolution to Reading, Learning and Social Responsibility

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:30:45 GMT

clipped by: gtroxell

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

As teenagers’ scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated, some argue that the hours spent prowling the Internet are the enemy of reading — diminishing literacy, wrecking attention spans and destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books.

But others say the Internet has created a new kind of reading, one that schools and society should not discount. The Web inspires a teenager like Nadia, who might otherwise spend most of her leisure time watching television, to read and write.

Some Web evangelists say children should be evaluated for their proficiency on the Internet just as they are tested on their print reading comprehension. Starting next year, some countries will participate in new international assessments of digital literacy, but the United States, for now, will not.

Tags: reading, learning, online, social responsibility, web, books, literacy

Why the World Still Needs Philosophy

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:35:21 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.oycf.org

This new century has the potential to be either the worst or the best of times for humanity. The worst of times because there is no end in sight to the struggle between a dehumanizing global economy and the irrational forces (sexism, racism, and superstition) threatened by its hegemony. Unlike any other time in history, ours has sufficient stupidity, power and hatred to destroy the conditions for the possibility of life on this planet before they may be preserved anywhere else; the destructive powers at our disposal far exceed our present capacity to express love or altruism. Yet, it could very easily be the best of times because we finally have technological resources sufficient to provide a good life for the entire
population of the earth.

While the desires of human beings are at least potentially finite, most of us, with varying degrees of comprehension, allow our lives to run by insatiable institutions

artificial entities have no motive other than profit and unlimited accumulation

Tags: perspectives

Reading - books vs the Internet

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:32:09 GMT

clipped by: ruralart

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?

Critics of reading on the Internet say they see no evidence that increased Web activity improves reading achievement. “What we are losing in this country and presumably around the world is the sustained, focused, linear attention developed by reading,” said Mr. Gioia of the N.E.A. “I would believe people who tell me that the Internet develops reading if I did not see such a universal decline in reading ability and reading comprehension on virtually all tests.”

Nicholas Carr sounded a similar note in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” in the current issue of the Atlantic magazine. Warning that the Web was changing the way he — and others — think, he suggested that the effects of Internet reading extended beyond the falling test scores of adolescence. “What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation,” he wrote, confessing that he now found it difficult to read long books.

Tags: reading, books, internet

Another Reading Comprehension FAIL! The Right gets the APS Position Wrong!

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:37:33 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Another FAIL for the Right (and not a few clippers here). It helps to:

1. Read articles,documents and reports, fully and completely.

2. Reading comprehension is necessary. Otherwise you are wasting everybody's time.

3. The Three Rs are useless if you don't know how to apply them.

4. Denying is not the same as truth telling. Learn the difference!

Clip Source: climateprogress.org

APS Position Remains Unchanged

The American Physical Society reaffirms the following position on climate change, adopted by its governing body, the APS Council, on November 18, 2007:

“Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the atmosphere in ways that affect the Earth’s climate.”

An article at odds with this statement recently appeared in an online newsletter of the APS Forum on Physics and Society, one of 39 units of APS. The header of this newsletter carries the statement that “Opinions expressed are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the APS or of the Forum.” This newsletter is not a journal of the APS and it is not peer reviewed.

Read: APS Climate Change Statement [which states, “The evidence is incontrovertible” and “We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now.”

Tags: fail, climate change, climate, world, science, truth, scientist, far, right, self delusion

Tech FAQ

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:14:20 GMT

clipped by: janclip1300
clipper's remarks: Very useful and user-friendly site that gives easy-to-understand answers about technology questions. If you want to know how Voip works, don't use Google, use Tech FAQ !

Clip Source: www.tech-faq.com

Welcome to the Tech FAQ!

At the Tech FAQ, the technical answers you have been looking for are answered in detail, yet in a way the average person can understand. The problem with many technical websites that seek to explain technical questions is they are frequently over the comprehension level of those individuals searching for the information in the first place.

We pride ourselves on answering all of your toughest technology questions, yet in a way that you can comprehend. If you want to know what VoIP is or how to rid your computer of spyware, not to mention learning how to network your home office you will find all the answers at the Tech FAQ.

Every day new questions and answers are added to the Tech FAQ to provide you with answers to all of your technical questions in one convenient location. All too often you have several technical questions and spend hours on the web trying to find answers to each one that are comprehensive, yet comprehendible.

Tags: technology, tech, faq

To believe or not to believe?

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:38:29 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: , contrasting disbelief and belief showed increased brain response in the left inferior frontal gyrus, the anterior insula and the dorsal anterior cingulate, all associated with responses to negative stimuli, pain perception and disgust. Finally, contrasting uncertainty with both belief and disbelief revealed elevated neural action in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region associated with conflict resolution.

What do these results tell us? “Several psychological studies appear to support [17th-century Dutch philosopher Benedict] Spinoza’s conjecture that the mere comprehension of a statement entails the tacit acceptance of its being true, whereas disbelief requires a subsequent process of rejection”

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Skepticism is the fine art and technical science of understanding why rejecting everyone else’s reality and substituting your own almost always results in a failed belief system

Where in the brain do such belief processes unfold? To find out, neuroscientists Sam Harris, Sameer A. Sheth and Mark S. Cohen employed functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of 14 adults at the University of California, Los Angeles, Brain Mapping Center.

The findings were revealing. First, there were significant reaction time differences in evaluating statements; responses to belief statements were significantly shorter than responses to both disbelief and uncertainty statements

, contrasting belief and disbelief in the brain scans yielded a spike in neural activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, associated with decision making and learning in the context of rewards.

aiki-jo

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:28:36 GMT

clipped by: aikiryu

Clip Source: aikiryu-shin.eu

Prolongement "yin" de l'Aïkitaï, l'Aïkijô se travaille dans notre école avec un jô, bâton de bois d'une longueur de 1m28. L'Aïkijô est l'élément "terre" de notre pratique. Sa compréhension passe par le travail et l'intégration des déplacements.
Sa pratique nous vient du Jô (jô-jutsu), mais aussi de l'étude de la lance (yari-jutstu et so-jutsu).

L'Aïkijô, c'est avant tout la terre, la relation de l'homme à la terre.

En dehors d'un enchaînement que nous a laissé maître Kobayashi, il se travaille essentiellement autour de trois principes de base :
Choku-tsuki : frappe au cœur
Kaeshi-tsuki : frappe au temporal
Furikomi-tsuki : frappe au menton

Il existe aussi une pratique du Jô avec un partenaire sans arme, appelée Jô-dori.

Yellowcake Uranium Found In Iraq, Bush Was Right! Well, Not So Much

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:42:26 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: And guess what:

Top recommended post at Redstate:

Yellowcake uranium found in Iraq, Saddam’s legacy, Bush was right!

Reading comprehension?

FAIL!

Clip Source: www.crooksandliars.com

This article from the AP was posted yesterday, reporting the sale and transport of 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium from Iraq to Canada. Some of the leading right wing blogs were quick to hail the find as a significant victory for the Bush administration and proof of Saddam’s WMD program, but as Daniel De Groot at Open Left Points out, their celebrations may be a bit premature, if not dishonest:

I noted last night that a supply of uranium from Iraq had been successfully moved to Montreal in secrecy.

If you check into this, you’ll quickly find that the uranium a) was not weapons grade and b) was well known to the UN and IAEA and was being stored legally by Saddam’s government. It was legally in Iraq according to international law.

I wondered if the right wing echo chamber would use this as “proof” that the WMD claims were true after all. I got even better than I hoped, as not only do they use it that way, but they reveal how dishonest they are by the way they have done this.

Tags: yellowcake, iraq, wmds, the, lie, nukes, saddam

Electricity company without grounds.

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:01:27 GMT

clipped by: notareargunner
clipper's remarks: As tragic as this incident is, the greater tragedy comes when people do not read the article correctly. I publish this reply from a Daily Mail reader as example.
Surely EON have a case to answer in causing this tragic death. I would be taking them to the highest court in the land for millions! A disgrace beyond comprehension.

- Guy, Exeter, 04/7/2008 17:26
What part of suicide bid does the reader not understand

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

War veteran, 84, in suicide bid after energy firm hounded him for £6,600 that he didn't owe

A war veteran driven to despair by soaring electricity prices tried to commit suicide when a power company broke into his home and installed a pre- payment meter he did not know how to use.

Walter Bargate, 84, swallowed 100 sleeping pills and painkillers after spending three freezing days without heating, lighting or cooking facilities in the middle of winter.

Tags: veteran, services, electricity

Arthur C. Clarke's Alien Monolith

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:39:24 GMT

clipped by: revenantdm
clipper's remarks: I do not claim the veracity of this story... I always repeat my Mantra: "I am a Collector of Curiosities..." Well, this struck me as few things could as definitively Curious.
If anyone has seen hard evidence (like NASA site photos) then let me know right now I will say it is interesting..

Clip Source: www.alienvideo.net

Alien Monolith Found on Saturn's Moon Iapetus?

In the deep reaches of our solar system, 40,000 kms away, orbiting the planet Saturn - exists a moon with a most interesting feature.

The moon is Iapetus.

This planetary body that defies what we know about moons & planets. Recent images sent from NASA's Cassini probe have revealed a gigantic equilateral "ridge" circling the equator. The epic proportions of the ridge are not seen anywhere else in the universe.

The magnitude of this 20 KM high equilateral ridge is almost beyond comprehension. In photographs taken of Iapetus you can clearly see the ridge, visible from space. These are not your "wall of China" proportions.

Mt. Everest highest peak is about 9 KM. This ridge is double that size and circles almost the entire planet

Clarke's Alien Monolith

"2001: A Space Odyssey", Arthur C. Clarke, writes about Iapetus. In the final chapters of the book, astronaut Dave Bowman finds an enigmatic alien monolith waiting for him on the surface of Iapetus

Tags: space, anomaly, ridge, iapetus, saturn, 2001, space odyssey

karma

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:47:33 GMT

clipped by: bobbyg2291

Clip Source: www.californiapsychics.com

Have you ever had an experience, even a relationship, that affected you so deeply you cried for weeks, months or even years? A connection that felt so intense it is beyond comprehension or explanation? A situation that continued to present itself over and over again - whether it was with the same person each time or not? These are just a few examples of karma at work.

Called by different names in different traditions, karma can be loosely summed up as the universe's way of teaching you the lessons you need to learn - over and over again until you actually learn them. In some traditions, this can take multiple lifetimes. In others, the lessons may or may not ever be learned. It can simpy be a case of your individual ability and willingness (or not!) to evolve.

Cheif Justice George assults individual rights

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:28:38 GMT

clipped by: rustajb
clipper's remarks: This is a bait and switch exactly as Lincoln did. If you read the 13th Amendment very carefully you will realize that in no place does it mention anything about freeing the slaves. What it actually does is make us all equal. There is a huge difference between the two and this is always overlooked by educational institutions. It was a way of removing some individual rights and redefining us all under the Union whether everyone liked it or not. the details are too much to go into here in a clip. I only bring this up because the recent ruling in California allowing gay marriage was handled identically. The guy who wrote this article did an excellent job of breaking this fact down. Our laws apply to us as members of a group now and not as individuals as this shows. It is extremely dangerous for us as a nation to allow laws to be worded in this way and subtly shows the erosion of individual rights unless framed in a corporate environment.

Clip Source: www.freeliberal.com

Chief Justice George Was Right (Though Horribly Wrong)

The argument is simple. Gov. Jim McGreevy wasn't denied a marriage license because he is a "gay American." His gender was fine, so his application was processed. Cole Porter wasn't denied a marriage license because he was homosexual. He was allowed to marry Linda Lee Thomas because their genders were opposite.

Instead of basing his conclusion on the respect for persons — on the acknowledgment that a person's personhood is not dependent on her or his gender — Chief Justice George bases his conclusion on the elevation of groups over persons, and on the derivation of personal rights from corporate rights.

How Chief Justice George was able to turn a decision supporting the dignity of persons into one of the most staggering attacks on personhood in recent memory is beyond comprehension.

Evidently, persons are by nature government-dependent.

Once again, the person derives value from the group, for Chief Justice George.

Reforming K-12 Education

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:18:57 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks:
I suggest those eight periods go as follows:

1. critical thinking / debate / recognizing deceit
2. math
3. science (methodology) / sciences
4. reading / comprehension
5. writing / speaking
6. Lunch
7. history
8. social studies / civics / life skills

That's a K-12 curriculum, BTW. At the 12+ point either specialization (such as technical training in one area... electronics, mechanics, furniture carving, plumbing) or long term educational undertakings with broader underpinnings would be considered.

Clip Source: www.kuro5hin.org

Reforming K-12 Education

By fyngyrz in Culture
Thu May 29, 2008 at 07:25:00 PM EST
Tags: education (all tags)

I am absolutely convinced that K-12 schooling is done all wrong. That's why it fails to consistently produce well educated people. I'd like you, dear reader, to consider the following set of suggestions. I'd like to specifically ask that you consider them in a holistic manner, that is, the ideas as presented taken as a whole, rather than trying to pick apart individual points before you've considered the entire presentation. Then — of course — let me have it right between the eyes.

I'd like to see six hours of schooling, broken into 45 minute segments, which gives you seven useful chunks of forty minutes and one of forty-five (lunch) presuming you need five minutes to transition between events. School should start at eight am and end at two pm. There would be no homework. There would be no sports. No drama. No clubs. No study halls. No trips. No art. No music. No dances.