Phoenix

Most American children now have access to home computers and are using them for everything from playing games to doing schoolwork to chatting with friends via e-mail to surfing the Web. Although research on the effects of children’s use of home computers is still sketchy and ambiguous, some initial indications of positive and negative effects are beginning to emerge.

Displacement of other activities
When children use computers at home instead of watching television, it is generally viewed as positive; but when children use computers instead of participating in sports and other physical activities, it raises concerns about the possible effects on their physical and psychological well-being. Yet little research exists on how children’s growing use of computers may be displacing activities other than television viewing, and the few findings that exist are ambiguous. Some evidence indicates that children who use home computers may watch less television than nonusers, but other evidence suggests that television viewing remains the same or might even increase with the use of home computers.
Children in homes with computers also spent less time watching videotapes and more time doing schoolwork and reading magazines or newspapers, compared with children in homes without computers
Still others suggest that, because of the growing trend to link the content of various media – as exemplified by the ‘tie-ins’ between children’s television shows, computer games, and Web sites – computer use may not displace television, but may instead lead to an increase in television viewing. Furthermore, it appears that greater access to home computers may actually be increasing children’s total ‘screen time’, that is, time spent using a computer, playing video games, and watching television combined. As the combined amount of time children spend across these various media increases, the likelihood of displacing time spent on organized sports and other physical activities also increases, thus exacerbating the impact on children’s physical and psychological well-being.

The impact of home computer use on children’s activities and development

The tool, once considered a toy for the elite, has today crossed social and geographical boundaries to find its way into the hands of the young, the old, the rich and the poor, even in communities largely untouched by new technologies.

Teenagers have become the conduits through which mobile phones have found their way into the wider society. For the young throughout the world the sense of freedom of movement and the privacy afforded by the mobile are highly valued.

How the mobile phone changed the world

Advances in Technology, especially the extensive use of computers in business and for private use, have brought with them new kinds of crime, such as the crimes of stealing. And it is not only money that is stolen by computer. It is estimated that approximately 2 billion dollars worth of computer software is stolen from the Internet each year. Then there is the theft of information.

There are also crimes associated with selling over the Internet. For example, a fake company can set up a website and offer goods for sale, goods that don’t actually exist. The unsuspecting consumer may be tricked into sending money or credit card details to the company. Or the goods for sale may be counterfeit. One U.S Company that investigates businesses on the Internet estimates that up to 20 percent of all brand-name goods sole over the Net are fakes.

Computers and crimes

We often hear and read about controversial issues in science and technology. For example, will radiation from electronic equipment negatively change or destroy the environment? Should the DNA samples of convicted criminals be put into a computer database so investigators can compare it to the DNA of blood at murder scenes? Should medical scientists change gene structures to prevent genetic disease or to create "more perfect" human beings? While people are arguing about these and other controversial subjects, technology continues to influence every aspect of everyday life - the home, health and education, entertainment and communication.

Some people carry on active social lives with computers – their own or the ones available at terminals in public places like cafes, social centers and libraries. Communicating with others on electronic bulletin boards or in chat rooms, computer users can get to know people they might never meet in traditional ways. Some look for potential dates or mates by computer: they might place personal ads with photos on the screen or produce digitized video segments for their Websites. With webcams, two people with cameras in their computers can see and talk to each other from separate places.

Everyday Uses of Technology

Multinationals are large international companies which produce goods in many countries throughout the world. Some well-known ones are Ford, Shell, Coca-Cola, Sony and Unilever. Their turnover is huge, in some cases greater than the national income of some countries. Because they are so big, they attract a lot of media attention, and their business methods are usually carefully watched by foreign governments.

Multinationals

Advertising has a major influence on everyday life. It allows a company to persuade a potential customer of the benefits of a product or service. The most effective advertisements catch the attention of their target audience, and say something that is both meaningful and believable.

Different advertisers try to appeal to people in different ways. They try to persuade people by appealing to their feelings (emotional appeal) or to their thoughts and ideas and intelligence (factual appeal). Some advertisements use a combination of both types of appeal. As well as products, advertisements can advertise a service.

The style of the advertising campaign is often determined by an advertising agency that the company hires. The agency may use a number of strategies and techniques to promote the product in its campaign.

Repetitive advertising
The most important technique is repetitive advertising which is a technique that uses frequent showings of an advertisement to remind consumers about a particular product. Advertisers believe that if the general public is constantly exposed to the ad, they are more likely to buy the product being promoted. A typical example of this is fast food advertisements, which are run during commercial breaks on television. For instance, the same advertisement for McDonalds may be repeated several times during one break or shown once during each break throughout a movie or sporting event. Viewers who are bombarded by these junk food images find them fixed in their mind and, as a result, difficult to resist. This is the way that repetitive advertising works.

Slogans
Another technique employed in advertising is the use of slogans. Slogans are short phrases which are easy to remember. American Express uses the slogan ‘Don’t leave home without it’. This slogan is used repeatedly so that people readily associate it with the credit card.

Appeal of advertisements

Children are spending more and more time in front of a screen, TV or computer, according to studies around the world. Some children spend at least two hours each day watching television. For each hour of commercial broadcasting, children may see as many as 30 advertisements. When they play computer games, however, there are no such estimates to rely on. As well as watching television, many children play online games with their friends.
When they play computer games there is little parental involvement. This creates an opportunity, like never before, for advertisers to reach children directly.

Through innocent eyes

Advertising is the part of the business that is concerned with the way that a product is promoted. It is an important part of a company’s marketing strategy which involves decisions on a product’s price and distribution as well as the development of an advertising campaign. It is such a profitable business that the cost of advertising a product is often more than the cost of making it. For example, a box of cereal costs three or four dollars. However, the grain only costs about 10 cents, the packaging costs about 90 cents and much of the other two or three dollars pays for advertising.
Advertisements try to persuade us to buy things or do things. One way of doing this is by making opinions sound like facts.

Advertising

Marketing is the part of a business that is concerned with the way a product, service or idea is sold. For example, the marketing department of a business thinks of and develops a product, and then decides on the price of the product, the particular place - shops or areas where the product should be sold (distribution) and the promotion - the way the product should be advertised. These four Ps are known as the marketing mix. The word "mix" is used to describe the importance of combining all four elements into a marketing plan for a successful exchange of a particular product, service or idea between manufactures and consumers.

Advertising and marketing

It turns out that a scientist can see the future by watching four-year-olds with a sweet. The researcher invites the children into a plain room. You can have this sweet right now, he says, but if you wait while I go out for a few minutes, you can have two sweets when I get back. Then he leaves.
Some children grab the treat the moment he's out of the door. Some last a few minutes before they give in, but others are determined to wait. They cover their eyes, they put their heads down, they sing to themselves, they try to play games or even fall asleep. When the researcher returns, he gives these children their sweets, and then, science waits for them to grow up.

Emotional Intelligence

For an increasing number of high school students it seems hard work is no substitute for cheating in examinations. It is evident in many high schools all around the world. At one school, bags of ‘cheat sheets’ (i.e. small pieces of paper taken into tests to help students cheat) were discovered.

Prosperous cheats

Many of the latest scientific accomplishments fall in the realm of 'pure' science. This is research for the sack of increasing man's knowledge without concern about how the knowledge is going to be used. In contrast with pure science is 'applied' science. The production of synthetic diamonds is an example of applied science. In applied science the facts and principles of pure science are used in the solution of a problem which was or will have immediate economic and social importance.

Pure science and applied science

It is very important to have healthy teeth. Good teeth help us to chew our food. They also help us to look nice.
How does a tooth go bad? The decay begins in a little crack in the enamel covering of the tooth. This happens after germs and bits of food have collected there. Then the decay slowly spreads inside the tooth. Eventually, poison goes into the blood, and we may feel quite ill.
How can we keep our teeth healthy? First, we ought to visit our dentist twice a year, he can fill the small holes in our teeth before they destroy the teeth. He can examine our teeth to check that they are growing in the right way. Unfortunately, many people wait until they have toothache before they see a dentist.

Keeping our teeth healthy

Some people believe that soon schools will no longer be necessary. These people say that because of the Internet and other new technologies, there is no longer any need for school buildings, former classes, or teachers. Perhaps this will be true one day, but it is hard to imagine a world without schools. In fact, we need to look at how we can use new technology to make schools better, not to eliminate them.

Will technology replace schools?

As you fall asleep, you enter what could be called another world, as far from this one as any distant star. In that remote space, even familiar voices and sounds seem alien and strange. It is a world utterly removed from the one where we spend our waking hours, a world where the mind is free to roam.

You are lying in bed in that foggy zone between consciousness and sleep when the telephone of your bedside rings. It takes a tremendous effort to reach out for the receiver, almost as if you were moving underwater. You fumble to get the right ends aligned with your mouth and ear and manage to mumble, “Hello?” Who is the voice on the other end of the line, and what does that person say to you?

Source: Kokology - The Game of Self-Discovery

Midnight caller

When you see a tiger or leopard at the zoo, you can’t help feeling it looks a little tame, as though something in its wild nature has been lost. Even huge creatures like elephants or grizzly bears seem diminished when they’re locked up in a cage. That may be the reason safari parks have become so popular. The impact of seeing wild animals is so much greater when you can watch them in their natural state, and the thrill is that much more when only a thin car window stands between you and a hungry lion.

You are on a safari park tour, following the road through the open savanna. A short distance from the trail, you see a lion and lioness feeding, hungrily tearing at and devouring hunks of raw meat. What are you thinking as you watch this scene of untamed savagery?

Source: Kokology - The Game of Self-Discovery

Untamed

Fairy tales have happy endings. They’re supposed to, anyway. But what would you do if the happy ending you were waiting for didn’t turn out as expected?

Picture yourself as Cinderella, standing by as the handsome prince tries to fit your lost slipper on your wicked and ugly stepsister’s foot. Then imagine seeing her ecstatic grin as her foot slides in effortlessly— a perfect fit! How would you react to this unpleasant surprise? Describe in detail how you’d feel and what you’d do about it.

Source: Kokology - The Game of Self-Discovery

(Not So) Happily Ever After

The rags-to-riches story of a girl whose dreams come true, Cinderella is one of the classic fairy tales in world literature. Of all the memorable scenes in the tale, which stands out most in your mind? (click a picture to see the result)

Cinderella suffering at the hands of her wicked stepmother.

Cinderella being transformed into a beautiful princess by her fairy godmother.

Cinderella losing her slipper on the steps to the palace as the clock strikes midnight.

The scene where the prince finally finds her and fits the glass slipper on her foot.

Source: Kokology - The Game of Self-Discovery

1. Which continent has the largest land area? a. Africa b. Asia c. North America
2. Which is the longest river? a. Yangzi b. Nile c. Mekong
3. Which river is the largest? a. Yangzi b. Ganges c. Amazon
4. Which is the largest gulf? a. Gulf of Thailand b. Gulf of Mexico c. Gulf of Carpentaria (Australia)
5. Where is the lowest point of land? a. Dead Sea, Jordan-Israel b. Mahovae Desert, U.S.A. c. Rift Valley, Kenya
6. Which is the largest island? a. Greenland b. Madagascar c. Hainan, China
7. Which is the highest mountain? a. Mt. Fuji b. Mt. Everest c. Mt. Kilimanjaro
8. Which is the longest mountain range? a. Andes, South America b. Himalayas, Asia c. Rockies, North America
9. Which is the smallest ocean? a. Atlantic b. Arctic c. Pacific

1 I am good listening to people
2 I enjoy helping people with their problems
3 I don't mind earning a very large salary
4 I'd like to work as part of a team
5 I am good at making quick decisions
6 Taking risks doesn't stress me
7 I don't find difficult to work by myself
8 I'm not afraid of managing large amounts of money
9 I am good at expressing myself
10 I always try following my instincts
11 It's important for me to be creative
12 I enjoy improvising
13 Doing complex calculations is not difficult for me
14 I enjoy solving logical problems
15 I find it easy to understand theoretical principles
16 I am able to calculate space and distance

1 I enjoy talking to people I haven't met before
2 I don't worry or feel anxious about life
3 I enjoy trying new food and drink
4 I listen to my instinct
5 When I need to calm down I just go to a quiet place
6 I try to learn from my mistakes
7 I try to get what I want from life
8 I expect people I meet to be pleasant, friendly, and helpful
9 I'm an optimist. I look on the bright side of life
10 When things are bad I think things will get better soon
11 I don't think about bad luck I have had in the past
12 I expect good things to happen to me in the future

Short term: by the year 2050

1 The flattering statement

2 Identifying common medical problems

1 My Fair Lady film type: Teacher and pupil

Where do they go?

Why is it good for you?

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