Daily we read newspaper and knowing latest and fresh news is not only purpose of reading it, but it provides us with many facts, interesting stats about different topics. For researchers, academics and volunteers facts, figures and stats are very important.
But what about getting only stats and figures about any topic?
Worldometers.info is filled with stats about health, economics, population, demographics, and energy. Other interesting stats include military expenditure by governments worldwide, book titles published this year, forest lost this year, and dollars spent on dieting in the USA this year alone.
Sources are carefully selected from the most prestigious institutions in the world.

More about the site!(In their own words):

“Worldometers is managed by an international team of developers, researchers, and volunteers with the goal of making world statistics available in a thought-provoking and time relevant format to a wide audience around the world.
Sources are carefully selected to include only data published by the most reputable organizations and statistical offices in the world.The counters that display the real-time numbers are based on Worldometers’ algorithm that processes the latest and most accurate statistical data available together with its estimated progression to compute the current millisecond number to be displayed on each counter based on the specific time set on each visitor’s computer clock.”

To know more about the site check: Faqs

Do we think how and where we are spending our lives? —–

To my opinion, if you are utilizing your skills, living a meaningful life with a purpose in mind, making it a good place for humanity then you are alive and vice versa if you are living a life like a machine, serving yourself only, and not even thinking about your life, meaning of it—then you are a dead person.

TV has become a part of our life, but have you ever thought how much time we spend in front of this “idiot box“, and how much our new generations are affected from it.?

 This post is to raise an awareness among ourselves, parents, and educators about effects of watching TV (providing you some links for further reading)

Do you know????
“American children and adolescents spend 22 to 28 hours per week viewing television, more than any other activity except sleeping. By the age of 70 they will have spent 7 to 10 years of their lives watching TV.” (The Kaiser Family Foundation)

This quote is taken from Macword Magazine (February 2004),

* Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer and Pixar, said, “You watch television to turn your brain off and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on.”

* Marilyn vos Savant (the woman who holds the Guinness record for the highest IQ) in her book “Brain Building in Just 12 Weeks” suggests that TV reduces your capacity for rational thought. She said,

“One reason is that TV oversimplifies reality. You’re presented with subjects in a matter of minutes where everything is nicely wrapped up at the end. Reality is reduced to labels like good or bad, funny or serious, smart or dumb.
These harms clear thinking by conditioning you to expect that most problems have a simple, clear solution (and if not, then it will be an overly dramatic solution). But real people and events defy labels. Real life weaves a much richer tapestry than TV, and too much TV viewing can make it hard to see and appreciate that tapestry for what it is. TV skews your map of reality.”

Television’s Effect On Reading And Academic Achievement:

• American children, ages 2-17, watch television on average almost 25 hours per week or 3 ½ hours a day. Almost one in five watch more than 35 hours of TV each week (Gentile & Walsh, 2002).
• Twenty percent of 2- to 7-year-olds, 46% of 8- to 12-year-olds, and 56% of 13- to 17-year-olds have TVs in their bedrooms (Gentile & Walsh, 2002).
• Children spend more time watching television than any other activity except sleeping.
• Television’s impact on reading and other academic skills depends not only on the amount of television watched, but also on what is being watched as well as the age of the child (Reinking, 1990).
• Successful readers read often.

Here are some suggested guidelines:
Suggested guidelines
1. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that total television time be limited to no more than 1 to 2 hours per day.
2. They also recommend that programs watched should be geared to the age of the child, non-violent in nature and should reinforce language and social skills.
3. Parents should establish healthy television viewing habits in the pre-school years. Young children’s television viewing should be limited to careful, thought-out, educationally-oriented programs.
4. To foster reading skills, give your young child exposure to books. Read to them often. Support your early reader with reading practice and limit television viewing.
5. Homework should be completed away from background television.

Source of information:
Media Family
The MediaWise Network is a FREE online resource for everyone who cares about kids and media’s impact on their lives.

Another site dealing in providing useful information is : Turn off your TV The Kill Your Television site was created to try and get people to think about the amount of television they watch.

According to a report published by American Academy of Pediatrics Studies show that TV viewing may lead to more aggressive behavior, less physical activity, altered body image, and increased use of drugs and alcohol.
According to “AAP”. They suggest: By knowing how television affects your children and by setting limits, you can help make your child’s TV-watching experience less harmful, but still enjoyable.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not recommend television for children younger than two years of age. For older children, the AAP recommends no more than one to two hours per day of quality screen time.
Full article:
full report

Another article link: The Impact of Television

In my previous post I have given some information and links for parents and teachers to help our children safe online. This is another post regarding the safety of our children at the internet.

This post is for parents, guardians and teens, who use internet and love to pass time browsing or participating at social networking sites. There are some good and bad sides of using web, but how we can train our teens to use it constructively and beware of the expected dangers is the main purpose of this report. This report is about one site, but we can take guideline from it, and get the knowledge about using these kind of social networking sites.

Every user of web is familiar with Myspace. It is a social networking site that has become a favorite of young generation. You can easily publish your own homepages, pictures, your hobbies, and any kind of personal information. You can easily create a network of friends to chat with.

How popular is MySpace?
According to Alexa.com, April 2006 report says that it is the 5th most visited site on the internet. And as to an estimate there are currently over 80 members on MySpace.

3 bad sides of using MySpace!

1- The first big danger is exposure of personal information to the entire world. And most of this information comes from the answering the questionnaire that this site provides to you. MySpace is so easy to search, that even non-members can locate your zip code, school, and address.
2- Only thing required to join MySpace is an e-mail address. It provides a very easy way to create different identities using sexes and ages to snare teens into starting chatting or conversations with them.
3- As MySpace provides a snapshot into the users personality and life. It is a perfect site for sexual predators and pedophiles to browse and locate their next target.

“Parents Guide to My space.com provides guideline for parents and teens to help them understand the good and bad site of Myspace and how to navigate it.

Here are some points to remember:
Guidelines for Parents
1. Make sure the computer your child is using is in a public place, such as the living room , and not in their private bedroom. Placing the computer in a group area will allow parents to see exactly what their teenager or young adult is doing online and allow them to monitor the activities on the computer.
2. Don’t allow your teenager to password protect their identity on the computer. Parents should have full access to the computer to monitor the child and know exactly what your teen is doing on the computer.
3. Talk to your teen and insist that no compromising personal information is added to their profile such as their last name, school they attend, place of employment, address, phone numbers, date of birth, or where they hang out.
4. Talk to your teen about not using a real photo of themselves. If they must have a photo advise them to use a fake or modified photo or an anime (popular Japanese artistic drawing). This provides some anonymity. Their real friends will already know what they look like.
5. If you suspect your teen is doing something inappropriate online, try to find their profile and talk to them about it. If they aren’t forthcoming about it, you could install parental filtering software or a key logger to change their minds.
6. Ask your teen not to interact with people who are over 18 unless they know them personally. They may end up receiving some material that was meant for adults instead. Although, a person’s age could be forged, most predators will probably fake their age to be younger instead of older.
7. If you are over 18, don’t flirt with minors. Be an adult.

Guidelines ForTeens and Young Adults
1. Build your site keeping it PG-rated. Avoid inappropriate comments, sexual imagery, and adult themes. This will keep your parents satisfied and also keep your site from being taken down by MySpace.com management or others who find it inappropriate.
2. Don’t list the city where you live or any other personally identifiable information.
3. Never use MySpace to threaten or abuse anyone. Your presence on MySpace can be tracked by IP address and other means. Don’t do anything illegal or there can be consequences.
4. Never share your MySpace email address with anyone or your profile may be the target of hacking if anyone discovers your password.
5. Don’t try to circumvent access restrictions to MySpace or other sites that your school may have in place. Doing so may lead to disciplinary actions from your school.
6. Avoid indirect links to adult web cams or adult-oriented sites. Such links can bring the wrong person to your site or be reason for your site being banned by MySpace.
7. Don’t be someone you are not. If you are 16, be sixteen and don’t try to act 25. You may not like the outcome.
8. Don’t judge a profile only by the comments on a page. Many people with hundreds of friends may not have the time or energy to delete questionable posts with objectionable material made by so-called friends.
9. You don’t need to accept all friend requests. Be sure to deny or block users that harass you, spam you, or look suspicious. Use your privacy settings to hide your online presence and only accept friends that you know.
Links and for more information:
Guidelines for parents and teens
Is MySpace bad

May 8, 2006

The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), announced the beginning of a national awareness campaign titled, “Help Keep Kids Connected and Protected” to educate teachers and parents about safe online practices for teens using social networking sites or online communities.

About NCSA:

NCSA is a public-private alliance of companies, associations and government agencies dedicated to cyber security awareness and education for home users, small businesses, and the education community.

Millions of teens use social networking sites to interact with their peers, but they are unaware of the threats these sites can pose,” said Ron Teixeira, executive director of the NCSA. “This collaborative national effort is focused on encouraging teachers and parents to talk to their teens about safe online practices.”

Usually young generation apply common sense principles and rules taught at home and school to avoid harmful situations, but they don’t apply the same rules in the online world. Today social networking sites are a big attraction for teens, as these sites encourage and allow people to exchange information about themselves, using blogs, chat rooms, email, and instant messaging.

We can educate or guide our kids about safe use of internet. Here are 2 reports suggesting tips and guidelines for educators or parents.

1- Tips For Educators or Parents:
How to Talk to Young People about Socializing Safely Online

2- Guidelines For Parents and Guardians:

How to Help Keep Kids Connected and Protected