7 Secrets of the Super Organized A few years ago, my life was a mess. So was my house, my desk, my mind. Then I learned, one by one, a few habits that got me completely organized. Am I perfect? Of course not, and I don’t aim to be. But I know where everything is, I know what I need to do today, I don’t forget things most of the time, and my house is uncluttered and relatively clean (well, as clean as you can get when you have toddlers and big kids running around). So what’s the secret? Are these obvious principles? If your life is a mess, like mine was, I don’t recommend trying to get organized all in one shot. So here are the 7 habits: Reduce before organizing. If you take your closet full of 100 things and throw out all but the 10 things you love and use, now you don’t need a fancy closet organizer. How to reduce: take everything out of a closet or drawer or other container (including your schedule), clean it out, and only put back those items you truly love and really use on a regular basis.
OATD – Open Access Theses and Dissertations The Collection Newspapers on Flickr at LOC In 2008, the Library of Congress began offering historical photograph collections through Flickr in order to share some of our most popular images with a new visual community. Now, the Library of Congress has expanded its Flickr collections to include illustrated and visual content from historic American newspapers available in its online collections. We invite you to tag and comment on the pages and provide additional descriptive insights—many of these newspapers include interesting subjects! To view the photos on Flickr, go to: and select the Historic Newspapers collection. We are offering sets of digitized historic newspaper pages in Flickr that incorporate various visual elements. For more information about the Library of Congress project, see Library of Congress Photos on Flickr or the Library of Congress Newspapers on Flickr FAQ.
Educational Videos and Games for Kids about Science, Math, Social Studies and English Expands xConsortium to Asia and Doubles in Size with Addition of 15 New Global Institutions EdX Expands xConsortium to Asia and Doubles in Size with Addition of 15 New Global Institutions CAMBRIDGE, MA – May 21, 2013 – EdX , the not-for-profit online learning initiative composed of the leading global institutions of the xConsortium, today announced another doubling of its university membership with the addition of its first Asian institutions and further expansion in the Ivy League. The xConsortium is gaining 15 prestigious higher education institutions, bringing its total to 27, including Tsinghua University and Peking University in China, The University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University of Science & Technology in Hong Kong, Kyoto University in Japan, and Seoul National University in South Korea, and Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. EdX also welcomes nine universities from North America, Europe and Australia. While MOOCs, or massive open online courses, have typically focused on offering free online courses, edX's vision is much larger. Asia – Australia - Europe -
Library of Congress Maps Collections The Library of Congress Search by Keyword | Browse by Geographic Location Index | Subject Index | Creator Index | Title Index The Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress holds more than 4.5 million items, of which Map Collections represents only a small fraction, those that have been converted to digital form. The focus of Map Collections is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases and, in general, are restricted to items that are not covered by copyright protection. Map Collections is organized according to seven major categories. Searching Map Collections The mission of the Library of Congress is to make its resources available and useful to Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations. The Library of Congress presents these documents as part of the record of the past. Special Presentations: Places in History
Chickamauga Animated Map « Back to Maps | More on Chickamauga » « View All Animated Maps | More Animated Maps: JavaScript and Adobe Flash 9 are required to view the CWPT Animated Maps. Watch our animated map of the Battle of Chickamauga, produced by Wide Awake Films. Learn more about this important Civil War battle in Georgia. More New Animated Maps Let Us Know Have feedback?
Education Technology - theory and practice: Pearltrees for teachers Year 2012 last post is a guest post from Finnish teacher Tommi Viljakainen. He is a teacher in Elimäki lower and upper secondary school. He teaches English, French and P.E. He is also interested in social media, iPad and the future of education. 10 tips for teachers: 1. The new social media tools make it possible for us to take the learning to the next level. Links:The program:Pear app (iPad, iPhone) Me and Pearltrees:My blog writings (in Finnish) Semantic web, Web 3.0:Content Curation by people not - The Third Web Fr 3.0 and the Smart eXtended
Res Obscura Old-Maps - the online repository of historic maps - home page What an Effective Teacher's Classroom Looks Like Another school year is approaching and many novice teachers are preparing to enter their own classrooms for the first time. To help them on their way, MiddleWeb is publishing a series of brief articles offering good advice and food for thought. What We See in Effective and Ineffective Classrooms by Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker In our ongoing observations of teachers, we continue to notice that the most effective teachers’ classrooms all look uncannily similar. And, of course, the same can be said for the less effective teachers—their classrooms all look uncannily similar. It seems that no matter where we go, the students all act the same in the classrooms of the most effective teachers. Let’s take a look inside of less effective teachers’ classrooms first. Here is what they all seem to have in common: ◆ The classroom looks disorganized. Now for the good news We could go on, but we think we’ve made the point. Here’s what we saw in the classrooms of the most effective teachers:
The Science of "Chunking," Working Memory, and How Pattern Recognition Fuels Creativity by Maria Popova “Generating interesting connections between disparate subjects is what makes art so fascinating to create and to view… We are forced to contemplate a new, higher pattern that binds lower ones together.” It seems to be the season for fascinating meditations on consciousness, exploring such questions as what happens while we sleep, how complex cognition evolved, and why the world exists. Joining them and prior explorations of what it means to be human is The Ravenous Brain: How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning (public library) by Cambridge neuroscientist Daniel Bor in which, among other things, he sheds light on how our species’ penchant for pattern-recognition is essential to consciousness and our entire experience of life. To illustrate the power of chunking, Bor gives an astounding example of how one man was able to use this mental mechanism in greatly expanding the capacity of his working memory. Donating = Loving Share on Tumblr
Geoscientists Can Now Access Over 18,000 Maps From SEPM Through Elsevier's Geofacets Geoscientists Can Now Access Over 18,000 Maps From SEPM Through Elsevier's Geofacets NEW YORK, September 17, 2012 — (PRNewswire) — Collaboration makes over 225,000 maps available on-demand to help geoscientists quickly and accurately assess the opportunities and risks involved in oil & gas exploration Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services, and SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) today announced the integration of more than 18,000 geological maps from SEPM into Elsevier's web-based research tool, Geofacets. First announced in April 2012, and now available to Geofacets users, the integration grants geoscientists access to scientific information that can provide key insight into the potential of regions for oil and gas exploration, allowing geoscientists to make predictions and guide exploration with greater confidence. About SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) About Geofacets About Elsevier