The majority of people who have motor damage, for example those with cerebral palsy, have mild to serious communication difficulties. Damage to the central nervous system may interfere with the ability to produce speech sound or rhythm. The most common characteristics of motor speech disorders are imprecise production of consonant sounds, slow strenuous speech, and difficulty in controlling pitch and loudness. When muscle function is impaired, speech may be accompanied by facial distortions, drooling, and random body movement.
These behaviors are often distracting to listeners and make them feel uncomfortable; you may have to make a conscious effort to pay close attention to what the speaker is saying. Also, the physical tension associated with speaking and the difficulty in being understood often discourage those with disabilities from attempting to communicate; to overcome this reluctance, it is important to offer acceptance, a relaxed attitude, and true interest.
Those with severe physical disabilities may not be able to communicate effectively using speech. As an alternative, there are hundreds of existing communication systems that exist. Besides sign language and communication boards, there are many high tech computer generated speech output devices that can accommodate the various ranges of physical disability.
TIPS:
1. Acknowledgment. When you meet a person with an unfamiliar disability, avoid staring but don't avoid eye contact altogether just because you feel uncomfortable. Look at the person as a person, the same way you look at nondisabled people, with eye contact, a smile, or a greeting.
2. Give it some time. Speech intelligibility of a person with a speech impairment will often improve after you've spent some time and grown accustomed to their speech patterns. A good way to familiarize yourself to these patterns is to ask questions that require more than a “yes” or “no” answer or by having him or her read aloud.
3. Patience. Allow extra response time from someone who has a speech impairment.
4. Be encouraging. Don't be offended if a person with speech difficulties is reluctant to participate in coversation. To those with an impairment, speaking takes alot of effort. Create an encouraging atmosphere by having an accepting attitude, use eye contact, smile, lean forward, and nod to show that you are interested.
5. Alternative communication. If a communication device or other nonspeech method is used, get acquainted with how the system works. Respect and use whatever form is most functional to that person.
6. Space bubble. Always respect the personal space of someone with a physical disability. You might be eager enough to communicate but remember that someone with a physical disability may have little control or ability to protect their own personal space. Any equipment used by the individual is their personal space. For example, leaning on a person's wheelchair could be just as rude and inappropriate as leaning on a person's shoulder or sitting on their lap when you first meet.
7.Be accessible. If the person with a disability must be seated, you should try to sit also to maintain the same eye level. Even at a comfortable distance, you may still appear as threatening or dominant if you stand. Nobody likes to be talked down to.
8. Sensitivity. Keep in mind that certain touches, even a hug or pat on the back could be irritating or startling to someone with neurological damage. Move slowly and use firm pressure, light touches may tickle or be uncomfortable.
9. Use their name. To help hold the attention of a distractible or hyperactive person when you're trying to communicate, call the person's name frequently or touch their arm or shoulder. Limit distractions in whatever area you're in, unnecessary equipment, background noise, or an uncovered window.
10. Don't overdo it. If you notice signs of fatigue, anxiety, irritability, or disinterest, take a break. Don't press on, change activities. You will most likely start getting repetition responses when an individual is tired or the task is too difficult.
11. Lastly and probably most important, leave your assumptions at the door. Physical disabilities and speech disorders do not mean a lack of intelligence. Focus on the person's individual and unique abilities rather than their disabilities.
Many might not know that a large portion of psychological research involves animals of all types—monkeys, pigeons, rats, dogs, etc. Psychologists often believe they need animals to perform the experiments that cannot be ethically conducted with humans. These experiments test concepts that could be helpful to humans, such as in psychotherapy, education, and medicine. The problem is that many such experiments entail a treatment of animals that some might regard as harmful or painful. Researchers have shocked animals with electrical current, subjected them to painful situations, and injected them with harmful drugs, to name but a few of the research practices to which some people have objected. Why is this treatment of animals in research permitted? This leads us to a very important point of discussion. Should animal research in psychology be eliminated?
This is a controversial issue that I am sure many will argue very strongly on either side. What are the justifications of eliminating animal research in psychology? On the contrary, what are the benefits of doing animal research in psychology? I believe that even though animal research looks cruel and seems to commit speciesism, the benefits human get still outweighs the cost of it. In the following paragraphs, I will summarize the pro, con positions and my position on the topic - should animal research in psychology be eliminated. I will also apply my perspectives to the literacies of: critical, civic, science, and values.
In my research I have learned that many animal abolitionists believe that engaging in animal research is to commit speciesism, often without any important research findings at all. For example, Singer describes that “in some detail many different types of animal research in psychology but finds none that justifies that suffering of the animals involved” (Singer 79). I also learned that when animals are subjected to harmful procedures, they are unjustifiably discriminated against (speciesism) in the same way that other races might be unjustifiably discriminated against (racism). The main points in favor of eliminating animal research in psychology are Lower and higher animals (humans) do not absolutely differ on any factor relevant to their suffering in psychological experimentation; many psychological experiments using animals are conducted for insignificant reasons; the members of many animal-use committees are biased toward the use of animals in questionable experiments; experimenters have been trained to ignore or overlook the incredible suffering of animals in psychological research (Singer 79).
In a word, whenever experimenters claim that their experiments are important enough to justify the use animals, we should ask them whether they would be prepared to use a brain-damaged human being at a similar mental level to the animals they are planning to use. If not, it shows that we are favor the one in our species, revealing a bias no defensible than racism or any other form of arbitrary discrimination.
Contrary to those who believe that we should eliminate animal research in psychology, there are those who believe that “the consequences of engaging in animal research provide clear benefits to humans that offset the costs to animals involved in the research” (Frey 87). The benefits involved here are understood to include such things as advances in knowledge as well as things more commonly regarded as benefits, such as improvements in diseases diagnosis and treatment. A lot of evidence shows that animal research has been bringing human great benefits, for example, “Genetic research involving animals promises new treatments for diseases that previously were thought to be intractable defects in the human condition. AIDS research proceeds apace, with animal research playing a crucial role. One aspect of genetic engineering that is become carriers of human organs for human transplants. Cross-species transplants—xenografts—that should result from these efforts will benefit the thousands of people who die each year while waiting on the queues for human organs” (Frey 89). With the prospect of such remarkable discoveries on the horizon, I do not think it likely that very many people will agree to eliminate animal research. Also from another perspective, it is clear that animals should be used for research because their qualities of lives are lower than that of most human. By saying this I do not mean that the qualities of all human beings are higher than all animals. I only said that the quality of most animal lives is lower than human. Every hospital in the land uses quality-of-life consideration s in making all kinds of judgments, including life-or-death judgments. Hospitals use such considerations constantly in human health care, including situations in which they decide who will receive treatment and of what sort, who will be saved, and who left to nature’s course. If quality-of-life is ubiquitous in making health care decisions for humans, how can it be sundered from medicine’s bedrock- experimentation? Clearly not (Frey 95).
It is unimaginable that we do a drug test on a human, which might cause the death of human rather than on an animal.
I agree that the benefit of doing animal research greatly outweighs the losses or suffering of the animals involved in experimentation. It was proven that animal research can improve human knowledge in diseases diagnosis and treatment, which can save thousands of human lives. Also it is true that most human beings do have a higher quality of life than most of the animals. As a human being, it will never seem right to me that doing an experiment on a human being, which might cause the death of the human being, in the mean time we have the option of doing it on an animal. I am pretty sure about one thing that most of the animal right supports eat animals. If it is not justifiable to do animal research, why is it acceptable for humans to eat animals? Using animals in research might not kill an animal, but eating an animal will for sure cost an animal’s life. If animal research is not reasonable, does this mean that humans should be limited to eat animals too? The above reasons make me believe that it is justifiable to do use animal in experimentation. However, I do criticize some students or scientists use animals in some insignificant experiments. I also agree that, everything country should have an animal-use committees to regulate the use of animal, preventing misusing animals in experimentation.
Critical Literacy: critical thinking is an ability to evaluate information an opinion in a systematic, purposeful, efficient manner. In the pro side, author Peter Singer mainly uses speciesism to support the elimination of animal research in psychology. He believes that “when animals are subjected to harmful procedures, they are unjustifiable discriminated against in the same way that other races might be unjustifiably discriminated against” (79). He refutes the notion that lower animals are absolutely different from higher animals (human). He also uses a lot of detail stories, revealing many animals are being used in a lot of insignificant experimentation. I think it is creative that Peter Singer expends speciesism into racism. It is convincing to use speciesism point. Speciesism is about the same as racism in context. When we have the option to choose our species and other species in experimentation, we favor our species, which is the same logic that racism favors its own race; however, when Peter Singer uses detailed stories about how animals are misused in the experimentation, he does not compared the losses of the animals with the great benefits that animal research might bring us, which makes it less convincing. In the con side, Frey uses the great benefits of animal research bringing to us to justify that animal research should not be eliminated. This is a very convincing point. He compares the losses of animals in experimentation and the benefits that animal research bringing to us, clearing showing that the benefits of saving thousands of human lives by the animal research outweigh the losses of animals. By only using this point, I think it is strong enough to convince us to believe that animal research is justifiable.
Civic Literacy: It is pretty obvious that animal research has been bringing society huge benefits. The results of animal research can save thousands of human lives. For example, “genetic engineering that is likely to have an impact in the near future involves transforming animals to become carriers of human organs for human transplants” which might be able to save thousands of people who die each year while waiting on queues for human organs. Inevitable, society is also affected by the down side of animal research. A lot of animals are misused every year in some insignificant experimentation.
Science literacy: Animal research is essential in a lot of fields of science, especially in medical science and psychological science. The outcomes of animal research bring valuable information to science. For example, “genetic research involving animals’ promises new treatments for diseases that previously were thought to be intractable defects in the human condition. AIDS research proceeds apace, with animal research playing a crucial role. Cloning of animals is another scientific breakthrough holds out the prospect of genetic replacement as the solution to some presently incurable medical disorders” (89). The remarkable discoveries on animal research are pushing the development of science forward.
Value Literary: Both authors in the articles have used different values to defend their sides. Singer uses ethical angle to tell us that it is unethical to use animals in experimentation. Doing animal research is also to tend to commit speciesism, which is similar to racism. Frey uses utilitarianism perspective. He compares the outcomes of using animals in experimentation and the losses of animals in research and shows us that the benefit of doing animal research greatly outweighs the costs. By using two different values, both authors tries to reach the goal that whether using animal in experimentation is justifiable.
Both authors give reasonable arguments about should animal research in psychology be eliminated? It does seem to commit speciesism by using animal in experimentation. It is also a fact that a lot of animals are misused in researches by experimenters; however, the benefits of animal research have been bringing society huge benefits; thousands of hundreds of human’s lives are being saved by the results of animal research. Every coin has both sides; using animals in research does have its downsides, but compared with the benefits it brings to us, it is too small to be mentioned. I also want to suggest that every country should set up “a animal-use committees specifically in charge with examining whether or not the significance of such experiments are sufficient to justify the use of animals (79)”. Maybe that is the best solution for the recent arguments.
The smart way to hire workersWHEN it comes to online networking, cyberspace often mimics the real world. There are networks such as Facebook and MySpace that are mainly for socialising with friends, and there are others such as LinkedIn, France’s Viadeo and Germany’s Xing that concentrate on work-related matters. The sites aimed at professionals, although much smaller than the ones for hanging out with friends, are already having a big effect on labour markets. In many ways the world of commerce is a perfect place for a social network to flourish. Doing business, after all, boils down to managing a complex web of relationships with customers, suppliers and others. Professional networks make it easier for people to maintain such relationships and to forge new ones. LinkedIn, for instance, has over 500,000 groups—some better than others—on specialised subjects that people can join to share ideas and make new contacts. …
Gerald Murphy was a Boston born American pop artist who was best known for his hard-edged still life paintings he completed in Europe between 1921 and 1929. He is best known for his 'Wasp and Pear' and 'Watch' paintings. He was the heir of the family that ran the Mark Cross Company, which made leather goods.
Another famous pop artist is Charles Demuth, an American watercolorist that developed a style known as Precisionism. His best known painting is The Figure 5 In Gold, which he painted as a tribute to his creative friends. These painting were done as part of a series of nine different paintings.
An early American modernist painter, Stuart Davis was born in Philadelphia and later studied art under Robert Henri, who was the leader of the modern art group, The Eight. Davis' works displays jazzy, proto pop art styles, which were bold, brash and beautiful at the same time. He is best known for his hard-edged paintings, abstract still lifes and landscapes. But he was also known for using contemporary items such as cigarette packages and sparkplug advertisements as his art pieces.
Another famous pop artist, Takashi Murakami, created highly abstract, surrealist and post modernist style drawings. His inspirations came from anime and street culture, which came through in his works. Targeting the Japanese youth, his messages and the imagery influenced left a cultural impact. He is well known for the “Smooth Nightmare” piece, which features his trademark mushroom image within the painting.
Another Japanese artist, Aya Takano, used nude children in her drawings, portraying their innocence through their anime influenced style. Her drawings had a cartoonish feel to it, but also contained a social message behind each piece. She is known for her 2004's Subterraned comic book series, and the World After 800,000,000 Years video.
But the most famous pop artist of all is Andy Warhol. His most famous pieces are the Campbell's Soup Cans, which is the drawing of the Tomato Soup cans, and portraits of famous people like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Troy Donahue, drawn within bright colors to give it its distinctive look.
He crossed over into filmmaking, where he made over 60 films in five years. His films like Sleep and Empire used an avant garde look at someone sleeping and the Empire State Building at dusk. Each of his films has a distinct look and a feeling that stood on its own.
Despite undeniable gains in African American student reading performance, there is statistical evidence to indicate that a racial gap still exists among children in U.S. schools. According to the 2005 Assessment of Educational Progress the average reading score for African American students in the eighth grade was 243, while the average score for white student in the same grade was 271. Other longitudinal studies confirm that as reading skills become increasingly essential, African Americans fall behind white students in reading, comprehension and analysis.
Lamont A. Flowers, a Professor of Educational Leadership and the director of the Charles H. Houston Center for the Study of the Black Experience in Education at the Eugene T. Moore School of Education, at Clemson University issued a paper in which his goal is to identify and define factors that contribute to lower reading skills among African American students. Flowers expressed a desire to identify strategies and proposals for future research that will improve reading education among African American students.
Among the problems Flowers identified is that parents and teachers don't spend time reading materials African American students value. This is made obvious by the need for “Black History Month.” African-American history, heroes, culture, and heritage must be integrated across the curriculum to engage African-American readers.
In order to implement African American heritage and culture across the curriculum there must be an examination and evaluation of teacher understanding of African American culture and heritage. There must also be an evaluation of teacher understanding of the reading gap that African-American students face in the classroom. Evaluating teacher understanding of diversity will allow researchers to observe how that understanding affects classroom management and lesson plans.
Professor Flowers also suggests that African-American students are not always familiar with communication and speech patterns encountered in traditional schools. Flowers expressed concern that this may affect African-American scores on standardized testing. He suggests that further research be conducted to understand why African-Americans lag behind whites and even other ethnic groups in standardized tests scores in reading.
This is essential because No Child Left Behind elevates standardized tests as the measuring stick for school and government evaluation of school s, teachers, and students. Professor Flowers suggests looking at instructions, socio-economic status as they correlate with test results, student background knowledge as it applies to understanding reading questions, the students' attitude toward academics, and school safety. Flowers suggests that other concerns dominating the minds of African American students; like safety, financial issues in the home, relationships, low expectations, etc; may have an effect on student scores. This is an area that should be examined. It may have broader implications about standardized testing for all students.
Professor Lamont A. Flowers, of Clemson University does not suggest one single strategy will fix the problem of African-American reading scores. He does suggest that effective understanding of the problems affecting African-American readers, on a number of levels, and the application of a combination of teaching and learning strategies offers hope for improving the racial gap in reading skills.
Flowers offers a few alternatives which merit further research and understanding. One suggestion has been bantered about for years, that is the development of more authentic standardized tests to measure African-American reading skills. The other is to offer more stimulating tests.
He also suggests that teachers be better trained to use test scores in developing better teaching strategies. Teacher thought and curriculum paradigms may need to shift based on standardized test results. Training to interpret and use test scores, according to Flowers, should be a part of teacher education.
Standardized tests be used to help motivate and elevate African-American expectations of their potential as readers. He believes that African-American students should be taught test taking skills to help them achieve that goal.
Flowers says after-school programs, extended school days, and interconnected programs with social programs and secondary education schools are underutilized. He believes these programs could be used to benefit African-American learners.
Research and innovation must take place to develop strategies that will involve teachers and parents working together to produce good readers. Flower's admits this will require new ideas, including working to find out what skills parents need in order to help their children.
Professor Flowers hopes that reading research will take place based on empirical findings spurred by his suggestions. He encourages research that will profoundly and permanently change curriculum development and teaching approaches that will bridge the gap in reading achievement between all races.
Resources:
LAMONT A. FLOWERS. ” Recommendations for research to improve reading achievement
for African American students ” Clemson University, South Carolina
The Beginning: A Bare Slate
When building a new home the first thing that happens is all the land gets cleared of any trees and plants. So when the building is completed and it is time to do the landscaping, you start planning with a bare slate. In order to cut costs we opted to skip the professional landscaper and do the landscaping ourselves. This is how we did it.
It has been almost ten years now since we moved into our dream home that we designed. For over a year, we watched daily as it began to take shape as it was built from the ground up. The house is on the side of a steep hill that had just enough land leveled to build the house on. In discussing the design, we decided we wanted a swimming pool. Because of the shape of the house there would be no way to get the big equipment required to dig a hole for a swimming pool into the back yard after the house was built. Therefore, the swimming pool was the first thing that we broke ground on.
Bare Hill + Heavy Rain = Mud Slides into the Pool
The swimming pool has a unique feature. A thirty foot plus long waterfall cascades down into the pool. With the hill continuing up in the backyard it seemed like the natural thing to do. Because of the hill, the far side of the pool has retaining walls to help hold the hill in place. We placed catch bins with drains beside the wall at the bottom of the hill to divert rain water and prevent muddy water from going into the swimming pool. In the beginning, this did not work. Sometimes when it rained we would have what we call “gully washers.” That's rain so hard that you can't see two feet in front of you. The results of those gully washers were mudslides into the pool. It would take days of vacuuming and running the pool pump to get all the mud out and the dirty water filtered.
The Left Side: Tier the Hill
One of the reasons the rain water jumped the walls and put mud into the pool was because we opted to skip the professional landscaper. We quickly discovered that doing the landscaping ourselves was going to take time and there was no quick fix.
We call the hill “the right side” and “the left side” with the waterfall being the dividing line. The left side was where most of the dirty water was coming from and it is steep. It is hard to work on a steep hill so we began to try to tier the left side in an effort to make it easier for us to maneuver on the hill. The only way to move the dirt while trying to level out a tier was with a bucket. It was slow-going, hard work, and it was nice to have teenage boys that were willing to help with this chore. We then built walls on the tiers we had cut out using leftover rocks and stones we had from the waterfall bed.
The Right Side: Plant, Seed, Plant
The right side of the hill is a whole different ballgame. The right side of the hill is where most of the mudslides occurred. In the beginning we had “The steps that go nowhere.” We had the building contractor build concrete steps up the first ten feet or so of the hill because the hill was so steep there. When the hard rains came those steps became a natural waterfall for the mud to slide down into the pool. This side is hard and very rocky so it is hard to get anything to grow on the hill. Hoping for a quick fix we purchased a couple of boxes of mixed wildflower seed and covered the hill with the seeds.
Receiving Plants from Friends and Family
The first plants that we planted came from my aunt. We went to her house and dug up enough monkey grass to fill two thirty-gallon garbage bags. We then chopped the monkey grass into little sprigs using an ax. When we finished plugging them into the ground we had over three hundred sprigs of monkey grass. That sounds like a lot, but the hill still looked sparse. So back to my aunt's house we went. This time we received some day lilies and some irises. These are great plants. They easily multiply and spread plus they produce beautiful flowers in the spring. (View our irises here.) We also planted sprigs from a periwinkle vine and planted some nandina seedlings that we brought from our previous yard. Other various plants and flowers came from friends.
Oh No - A Wedding!
In July of 2008, my son was married poolside on our back deck with a Jimmy Buffet “Parrot Head” themed wedding. (Read about the wedding here.) So that spring and early summer was spent sprucing up the yard. An impending wedding with a lot of guests invited is a good reason to get a fire going under you to get things done. The “stairs to nowhere” had an addition to them, so now they actually go somewhere - to the top of the hill/waterfall. We leveled off the ground to make steps, added stepping stones and then added pebbles around the stepping stones. Some of the steps have stained landscape timber in front of them for extra stability which also adds an extra pop to the landscape. Stained landscape timber walls were added in additional spots - one on the left hill and three on the right hill. We added some fast-growing butterfly shrubs and on the day of the wedding one bush was covered in what we believe were white moths, but everyone there called them butterflies.
The Backyard Hill Today
Today, after almost ten years of hard work, we have a very green hill with a variety of plants and flowers and we hardly ever get muddy water in the pool anymore. (Knock on wood!) The monkey grass and all the other plants have matured and filled in most of the previously bare hillside. The bare spots we have showing on the hill today is because the ground is so hard in that particular spot of the hill that we cannot dig to plant anything. Currently on the hillside we have pompous grass, zebra grass, mums, zinnias, black-eyed susans, daisies, butterfly bushes, sunflowers, creeping phlox (phlox grows good in the rocky soil, but it is slow to multiply), gladiolas, Easter lilies, green elephant ears, black elephant ears, hibiscus, roses, bamboo (transplanted from the river bank), hosta, nandina, salvia, and azaleas.
To save money on plants it helps to have family and friends you can get cuttings, seeds, or seedlings from. Those plants will mean more to you than any you buy at the store. Your friends or family will probably be happy to let you cull out their seedlings if they have an overcrowded bed of plants. After all, you'd be doing some of their gardening for them, but in return you get “free” plants or flowers. When you are doing your own landscaping it takes time for the plants to mature for you to see the results. So, remember, patience is a virtue when gardening.
If you are any good with a paint brush and roller then interior painting is an excellent way to earn a part-time or full-time income. Interior painting can be a work from home small business that is easy to start and find customers who want your services. The materials needed to do interior painting are simple and can be found at your local Ace hardware or Home Depot store.These interior painting tools include:
a good all synthetic bristle brush 4inches wide for general interior painting.
2 inch brush to be used to cut in corners and along windows and doors.
1/2 inch angled sash brush for fine touch ups.
paint roller and several thick nap covers and paint pan plus extension pole
plastic drop cloths (comes in rolls)
painters blue masking tape
6 ft. step ladder
Every small business needs promoting. If you have read any of my previous articles you will know that I am a big fan of fliers. They are a great way of targeting a specific area/demographic. Newspaper classifieds and Internet sites like craigslist bring scattered response from many distant areas, often far from your home base. Use those two media as a back up to your fliers and take only the prospects you feel are worth the travel time.
I research the competition's yellow page and online ads first before I create my interior painting flier, then shamelessly mimic those ads. I usually start with 500 printed at Kinko's, then I distribute them in my target affluent/upscale neighborhoods. I will hang them on mail boxes, place under vehicle wiper blades at shopping areas. It's a good idea to hand out all 500 within a day or two. This way you get fast results, as in phone calls.
Let's assume you get a call from a prospect in need of having two rooms painted. What do you say? I recommend sitting down before hand and writing out a sales script containing what you intend to say and answers to any questions the prospect may come up with. Call a few local interior painters as a curious possible client. Take notes on how they handle your call and questions. Including their pricing. Call it research, it's good to know what the competition is doing as a guideline to structure your services.
The question of paint color is very important. I try to get the future client to go and buy the primer (if needed) and paints. This cuts down on in home visits, showing a color chart, and if the exact tint is a few shades off what is expected it's the client fault not yours. Your idea or a forest green may not match your clients preception of the same color. So, be safe, let them choose and buy the paint.
Always recommend the purchase of top quality wall covers such as Behr, Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin-Moore, Dutch Boy etc. On the question of primers, some paints come with a primer in their mixture. A primer paint helps the top coat adhere better to the surface and can prevent the old color bleeding through into the new color, especially if the older color is darker than the new finish. Please visit you local paint store, Home Depot or Ace hardware, they have lots of written info on paints and primers. Educate yourself in your new work from home small business business. The more you know the more you will earn.
Here is how you paint a room:
First remove wall paintings and move furniture otu of the way, cover floors against drips and remove hardware like switch covers and cover the remaining switches and holes with painters masking tape.
Sand all surfaces with a fine grit paper using an extension pole. You can feel for rough areas with the bare hand. Smooth out the needed areas but sand all surfaces. Remove drips or bumps from molding with a scraper. Vacuum the wall of all paint dust or you can use a fine broom or brush for this. Rinse down the walls with water mixed with dish detergent until completely clean and smooth.
Fill in all gaps and holes with caulk around the baseboards, door and window frames and woodwork. Use joint compound to fill in plaster/wall board. Allow to dry and use a fine grit sandpaper to smooth and even out. Clean the areas with a damp sponge.
Using the 2″ brush loaded with paint, cut in the areas abound the corners, woodwork, doors, windows. This will give you some leeway when rolling the walls later and won't get paint where it's not desired.
Now you can use the roller to finish the rest of thewall areas. Be sure the roller is damp before you dip it in the roller pan. Use the ribbed tray to evenly distribute paint on the roller, be sure the roller is covered completely. Roll the paint on in a W or M pattern then smooth out with criss-cross overlapping patterns.
Lastly paint the trim and molding with the 2″ brush. Use the angled sash brush to cut evenly along the trim and wall.
I can't give you all you need to know in this article. As with any home based small business it is important to educate yourself. Take advantage of the treasure of information about interior painting at your library, on the Internet and at specialty stores. For now get those 500 fliers created and distributed to get you off to a good start. Happy hunting and good luck.
There are plenty of ways to improve your pool game, although it always comes down to practice, practice, practice. Sometimes, though, there's simply not enough time or - probably more frustrating when it happens - something still just doesn't feel quite right. While getting some practice time in before an upcoming tournament, the latter was my problem. With the tournament looming on the horizon and the road of practice leading nowhere but disheartening frustration, I had to do something. Trying to simply relax and take the stress out of the situation, I closed my eyes.
At first, it was just to relax. It was just some time to not focus on anything; a reset button of sorts. At first, that is. Once I opened my eyes and began looking over the table once more, I started running through possible problems with my game. It seemed to me to fall into two categories:
1. During my shot, I would change my mind on how I wanted to proceed, whether it be on the power of the shot, different type of english, or even as bad as deciding I had actually wanted to shoot a different ball.
2. Getting either too relaxed or too wound up. Too relaxed, and my stroke would begin to wobble, adding unintended english or even throwing the shot off completely. Too wound up, and I would stop stroking smoothly through the cue ball, instead jabbing at it, ruining draw and follow shots and, again, sometimes throwing shots off completely.
All around, it wasn't a good situation to be in, although it seemed like they should both be easy problems to fix. My aim seemed alright and, despite the occasionally mishap in judgment (largely caused by the first problem above) my game seemed to be coming along well. In a perfect world, of course, I would be the perfect amount of relaxed, and there would never be the need to change my mind. Alas, no such luck. I had to do something. So, I closed my eyes. It worked out well in reducing frustration, why couldn't it work for helping my stroke? It seemed like a good idea, so I gave it a shot.
1. I broke as usual. I wasn't having trouble with it at the time and, well, I break hard enough to be concerned with the idea of closing my eyes while doing so…
2. Looking at the table and deciding on a shot went just as usual, as with the break. Everything up to and including lining up the shot remained untouched.
3. Now that the shot had been decided and lined up, it was time to try something new. As I took my usual practice strokes, I closed my eyes completely. At first, I focused on keeping everything straight but, as that got more comfortable in the darkness, I began to focus less on this and simply enjoyed the feeling of my stroke without distraction.
4. Once comfortable, I finished my stroke.
5. The stroke complete, I opened my eyes to see how I had done.
It turns out, it works well. Really well. By the time I was done practicing that day, the problems I was having were pretty much gone. After an occasionally slip up here or there, closing my eyes for the shot would set me back straight.
By closing my eyes, I could no longer change my mind during my stroke. I decided everything before-hand and, after that, everything was set. Without the distraction of the table before me, I would no longer decide to add that extra little bit of english at the last minute. I would no longer decide to hit the cue ball with an extra bit of strength to move it around the table. Everything was settled before and, eyes closed, that was the plan I would stick to. Possibly an even better side-effect of doing this, aside from simply improving my individual shot, was the extra bit of planning that had to go into each shot in order to do it eyes shut. Everything, including how hard to stroke, had to be decided beforehand. This forced extra planning and more completely thought out shots, which can be just as important as a good stroke, if not more.
Eliminating this extra bit of thinking during the shot also allowed me to focus on the bare bones of my stroke. Focusing on each part of it, and only it, I realized when I was too wound up, I had the tendency to twist my wrist inward, changing the angle at which I would hit the cue ball. A couple closed-eye shots focusing on this, and twisting my wrist during a shot felt so awkward, I don't even know how I managed to do it before.
In the end, much of what makes a good pool shot is taking yourself out of it. In practice, you're training your mind to decide what shots to take and your body and muscle memory to actually take those shots. The problem I, and a lot of pool players I know, had was making that distinction. All too often, my thoughts would get in the way of the hard work I had put into muscle memory. With something as simple as closing my eyes during practice, I have come a long way in improving this, and my pool game has become much more consistent for it.
The Ali Institute of Education in Lahore hosted a Children's Shakespeare Festival from November 3rd to 6th that boasted a surprisingly high turnout and has been deemed a great success. It was the first such Shakespeare festival to take place at Ali Institute, after an extremely successful children's film festival over the summer.
The festival ran for four days and involved several different area schools including SISA (School of International Studies in Sciences and Arts), LGS (Lahore Grammar School) Shah Jamal, LGS Model Town, Beaconhouse on Raiwind Road and in Model Town, Rosan's Islamic School, Laurelbank, Lahore Alma, Learning Alliance, The Educators' Tahir Campus, Linderholf, Al Ala International Islamic School, DPS Model Town, and Resource Academia, Salamat School System, and Message Grammar School among others.
Students from the primary, elementary, and secondary levels were chosen from each school to compete in sonnet reading and soliloquy reading competitions. Students at all levels did an excellent job, and the judges were quite surprised at the caliber of talent on display during the competition. Some students even showed up in period costumes to look the part of Shakespeare's characters. Soliloquies were chosen from “A Midsummer Night's Dream” and “Othello.” Students who attended the festival were given in depth study guides for these two plays to help them understand the main themes.
Highlights of the festival included not only the reading competitions, but also a variety of film showings, a poster competition, and live performances of “A Midsummer Night's Dream” by SISA students. The drama was directed by Wasif W. Mir and Azma Khan, and was performed on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. All performances were packed and it was tough to get a ticket to Thursday evening's final performance. Getting the tickets was well worth it though, as spectacular costumes and scenery complimented the student actors' hard work.
The institute's director, Steve Ryan, expressed surprise that the film showing on Wednesday morning was attended by over 500 students! Since the auditorium has only 300 seats, many students were sitting in the aisles. Tents and snack booths were also set up outside for children to relax and discuss the films.
Hopefully this event will serve as an event to open doors for more of its kind throughout Lahore. Pakistani students are generally challenged to focus on academics, and not as much time is spent on developing creative arts such as drama, painting or music. It is not uncommon for a student, even an “A” student, to go from school to endless tuitions in various subjects with little time for sports, relaxation, or other extra curricular activities. Ali Institute, dedicated teachers, parents and students who seek to increase arts education in schools will hopefully use the Shakespeare Festival as a stepping stone to the development of a home grown arts scene right here in Lahore.
My college-aged son had no idea, so you might not either: on February 22, 2010, you can't get a credit card if you're under 21 unless an adult co-signs on your card or you show proof that you can pay off the debt.
This is a provision of the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which you can read more about here
It's unfair. At age 18, you can vote for president, go to jail as an adult and join the army. But beginning Feb. 22, you can't get a credit card. Why? Because some banking executives got greedy and Congress passed new restrictions.
But this provision gives you a chance to rethink how you manage your college and work finances. Now is the perfect time to look at other options, both new and old, for managing your money responsibly. Here are a few choices:
- Deposit money for a secure credit card. A1,000 deposit gives you a line of credit between500 and1,000. You pay on your debt monthly as with a regular credit card. If you default on a payment, the card issuer can recover the amount from your deposit. Your deposit acts as the “means to pay off the debt” stipulated by the law. The benefit is that most issuers report regularly to the major credit bureaus, so you start building a positive credit history. Here's the catch: fees and service charges exceed the already skyrocketing fees for ordinary, non-secured credit cards. Also, the issuer typically does not use your deposit when you miss one or two payments but uses it when closing your delinquent card when the balance exceeds the credit limit. In this case, you have an unpaid debt, which is a negative hit on your credit record, and you lose your deposit as well.
- Get a credit card with your parent as a co-signer. That's probably what banks would love you to do. Be aware though that your card statements will most likely be mailed to your parent's address, not to you. So, be prepared to communicate with your parent about your transactions and about paying the card bill. Also, you parent's hard-earned and long-standing credit record is now in your hands: any misstep on your part will hurt your parent.
- Skip credit cards altogether and get a checking account with an ATM or debit card. There is no risk to your parent or your own credit record. However, this does not come cheap. A recent survey from financial advisory firm Bretton Woods Inc. available here, shows that it will cost you between $200 and $350 per year in fees to have a simple checking account, not to mention minimal opening balance requirements imposed by many banks. And if you think that “free checking accounts” are really free, read about how banks are actually making them seriously expansive with the “overdraft protection” fees.
- If the Internet is part of your daily life, consider opting for an online prepaid card account. (In the interest of full disclosure, my company offers this kind of account.) This is similar to a checking account plus debit card, but without overdraft fees or physical bank buildings. You have probably seen prepaid cards sold on J-hooks in many stores, but those retail cards do not bear your own name and limit how many times you can reload them. You want to go for the personalized accounts that you apply for online. No credit record necessary: all you need is a social security number and a valid address in the US. You receive a Visa or MasterCard branded card in the mail, which you load with direct-deposited salaries, cash or bank transfers from your parents. Some of these online prepaid card accounts offer cell phone and Facebook access, and also the ability to have paper checks sent on your behalf to pay the rent to your landlord.
Here is a quick summary of the pros and cons of each option:
So some politicians and bankers are out to limit your credit card options. You're a young, smart generation that can do things better anyway.
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