Archive for January, 2010
Without going into detailed child psychology a new born baby is largely devoid of experiences outside of its mother. By the child’s second day it has doubled all the experiences of day one. If you are twenty years old you would need to be forty before you doubled your life experiences, so you can see a young child’s experience of the world is far greater than an adult’s.
The emotional accumulation of positive and negative experiences has far more effect in childhood. This is amplified by the fact that a child does not start to reason, or think things out until it is much older.
Let’s say for example later in life you had someone tell you that you are as dumb as a fence post, you would look at the person who said it and evaluate very quickly how much weight you would give to their opinion. If it’s a psychiatrist in a white coat you would take him seriously. If it’s a drunk in a bar looking for a fight, you certainly wouldn’t believe that what he said was true.
Right education for your child begins with observation. Seeing there reactions and movements. Children do not have the logic of thinking until they are much older, which is why they are so susceptible to what we say.
Understanding and observing there needs and encouraging them with positive feelings along with being there for them with your tender care and support, will help provide the child with all it needs to live a happy and healthy life. This will give your child the confidence it needs to ask questions and to understand and live intelligently.
President Obama released four top-secret memos which gave bracing details about enhanced interrogation techniques used on terrorist suspects during the Bush administration.
“Exceptional circumstances surround these memos and require their release,” the president said. “Withholding these memos would only serve to deny facts that have been in the public domain for some time. This could contribute to an inaccurate accounting of the past, and fuel erroneous and inflammatory assumptions about actions taken by the United States.”
The 126 page document include massive amounts of detail never before divulged by the government, including clinical explanations of how interrogation techniques were performed and the intended effects on detainees.
Guantanamo Bay history:
• On February 16, 1903, a lease agreement was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt with Cuba’s new government granted the U.S. “the right to use and occupy the waters adjacent to said areas of land and water… and generally to do any and all things necessary to fit the premises for use as coaling or naval stations only, and for no other purpose.”
• The U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay is the oldest existing U.S. military base outside U.S. territory, and sits on a 45-square-mile area.
• When the Revolution triumphed in 1959, the U.S. banned its soldiers stationed at the bay from entering Cuban territory. The Cuban government asserts that Guantánamo should have been returned to Cuba at this time.
• In January, 2002, Guantanamo Bay turned into the controversial detention center.
• If you recall, late 2001 through 2002 was a fearful period in America. After the 9/11 attacks, almost everyone was braced for another follow-up attack. Public awareness of al Queda and Osama bin Laden was becoming wide-spread in the U.S., and letters containing the anthrax virus appeared randomly, killing 5 people and temporarily closing down the House of Congress, US Postal facilities, and terrified the public.
According to the Brookings Institution, a non-profit public policy organization based out of Washington, D.C., the population rose to 558 in 2004, when the Pentagon instituted a review system and the number began to decline. It was only in February of 2004 that the first of the Guantanamo detainees were charged. In all, 779 detainees had passed through the facility by late 2008.
By the time President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Jan. 22, 2009, to close the center within a year, the number of detainees at Guantanamo had fallen to 245 men.
Surfacing of Mistreatment:
May 2005, Newsweek magazine ran a story about U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrating the Qur’an to get inmates to talk, including placing the holy book on a toilet and, in one case, flushing it down the toilet. The report sparked anti-American riots in Afghanistan in which 17 people died. The magazine later retracted the story, saying it was based on a U.S. government source whose story was in doubt. In June 2005, the Pentagon confirmed a list of abuses to the Qur’an, calling them relatively minor.
The abuses included:
• Splashing urine on a prisoner and his Qur’an.
• Stepping on and kicking the Qur’an, throwing water on it, and scratching an obscenity on the inside cover.
Call for Rights and Closure:
Lawyers continued to challenge the Bush administration policy in Guantanamo. In January 2005, one U.S. district judge ruled that the prisoners should be covered by the U.S. Constitution, noting, “the right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law is one of the most fundamental rights of the U.S. Constitution.” The administration appealed the ruling. Britain’s third most senior judge, Judge Johan Steyn, criticized the U.S. for holding terror suspects in Guantanamo, calling it a “monstrous failure of justice.” “By denying the prisoners the right to raise challenges in a court about their alleged status and treatment, the United States government is in breach of the minimum standards of customary international law,” he said.
• February 2006, a United Nations human rights report called on the United States to immediately close the Guantanamo detention center.
• May 2006, another United Nations report – this one from the United Nations Committee Against Torture – called on the United States to stop using the prison at Guantanamo.
• June 29, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the military tribunals arranged by the Bush administration for detainees at Guantanamo are illegal.
• July 11, 2006, a U.S. Defense department memo declared that all detainees held in
• U.S. military custody around the world is entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions.
Many people who want to learn a new language, often make the decision to pursue this goal after they have graduated from high school or even college.
Some are well beyond the ideal “language learning” years, but are usually better students than those who are forced to learn a language because it is a program requirement. These people have learning a new language as a goal, and they are looking for the best way to make that dream come true.
There are two major types of options available when in comes to learning a language like Italian. You can choose from a traditional classroom setting or a language software program. There are benefits and drawbacks to each mode of instruction, but language software appears to have many more benefits.
Setting the Schedule
With a language software program, the user is able to fit his or her learning into their own time schedule. For many people, conforming to a typical day or evening class schedule simply isn’t feasible. The software allows the user to access the lessons during any hour of the day or night.
Set the Pace
When learning Italian in a traditional classroom setting, the student is expected to keep up with the pace of the teacher, as well as the other students. If the student falls behind, tutoring may be available, but it is usually at a price.
And if the student is ready to move on, they are forced to wait for the instructor to present the next lesson. Italian language software makes it possible to slow down or speed up depending on the learner’s needs.
Lessons can also be accessed repeatedly for review or if the concept was too difficult the first time around.
Correct Pronunciations
Often, instructors in high school and college classrooms are teachers who have learned the Italian language as a second language. Although they have surely studied for years, native speakers will naturally have correct pronunciations.
It is possible to find native speakers in classroom settings, but this criteria is usually guaranteed as part of a software program.
Voice Analysis
Along those same lines, one aspect of Italian language learning that most classrooms will not have available is newer, voice analysis software. This computer software analysis your voice as you attempt to speak the language you are learning.
University campuses around the globe are filled with clubbing enthusiasts. Surviving uni isn’t easy. Of course, you need to develop a study plan, motivate yourself, assessments are harder and exams are tough. They say the first week is the hardest and for many people, that’s true. To embrace all that life as a university student has to offer, there are many rituals you need to participate in and observe. Here, we hand you your survival guide for getting through your first week of university.
One: Making friends
Its definitely one of the most difficult things to do, but there are many ways to meet new people. If you’re living in a college style of accommodation, try to spend your time in the communal areas of the house like the lounge room, kitchen or dining hall. Take the opportunity to socialise with people either at uni bar parties, college pub crawls, meal times or join a sporting team. You could sign up to be part of a club like a reading group, a film society or a wine community. It’s also important to really know the guys and girls in your course. They help with homework, introduce you to other people and you’re studying the same degree so chances are that your interests will be quite similar.
Two: Going out
Uni is all about embracing everything new and different about being in a new place with new people. Sure, we expect and encourage you to hit the books once in a while, but letting your hair down is also a huge part of being a university student. Don’t just think the explosion of pub crawls, uni bars, parties and game nights are only in the first week. Let me inform you, they are on through the entire semester. Remember to drink stacks of water between drinks and just before you head to bed. Take some vitamins like Berocca and have a substantial meal before heading out on the booze.
Three: sex and drugs
A huge part of going to uni involves experimentation. It’s a time where you can figure out who you are, but there are often times where your judgment can be clouded. If your going to have sex be sure to know your partner for more than two seconds, use protection and watch for STIs. When it comes to drugs, you should remember that drugs aren’t regulated well and you can never be sure what has been added to them.
Four: food
For most of us, starting university means moving out of home and away from mum’s lamb roasts. While I’m a fan of the frozen dinners, others get take out, but if you’re like me and finances are limited, cooking is your best option. You don’t have to be a master chef to survive, keep it simple. If you are up in time for breakfast, toasts are cheap, quick, easy and don’t require a plate so less washing up. Universities usually have really cheap, healthy meals on offer at their cafes and meal halls for five or 10 bucks. Pasta and rice with a few vegetables or chicken are easy and cheap as well. Best of all, they are dishes you can reheat and eat the next day, share with others and are healthy.
Five: Have fun
Uni isn’t easy, not for anyone. Remember to manage your time, get a good balance of food, sleep and relaxation into your day. Study hard – that is what you are there for in the first place. Do what makes you happy, don’t be afraid to try something new and don’t ever feel pressured to do anything you’re not comfortable with – uni is your time. Don’t waste it, use it wisely!