A doormat is the tiniest, yet an essential element of your home design. It’s the first thing a person sees before entering your house - so a properly chosen doormat can set up the mood and create expectations.

For Real Geeks:

“Enter” doormat styled as a computer key: you gotta love this (via bigbolt.com)!

IPhone-styled doormat: slide to unlock (via Meninos):

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Planning to get an underground water tank? Then, please have a look at this website first. Outbackwatertanks.com gives you information about different kinds of water tanks. You can even order the water tanks you want to buy from this site.

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Do you want to get your roof repaired? Then, this site is just for you. Adelaideroofingexpert.com answers all you questions about house roofing and puts you in charge of your roofing project. This is the best website to visit for all the information about roofing in Adelaide.

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Plumbing problems are a total nightmare to live with. But if you live in Sydney, the dr.drip.com.au is there to get rid of all your plumber related problems. Their urgent plumbing service makes sure that nobody has to live with a blocked drain Sydney.

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If you are looking for underground water tanks to harvest rain water or ensure constant water supply, then RainWaterTanksDirect.Com.au. This website sells different types of water tanks and delivers them on the spot.

You might have seen multiple photos of luxury bath designs - where everything is glowing with somewhat cold beauty. This post is not about that. Instead, I made my best to find most unusual bathtub designs, those that connect several functions or spot a completely new concept.

This awesome shoe-shaped bathtub spots unique design and absolutely new concept; I’d love to have one - available in multiple color schemes, it can be also custom designed! (via luxurylaunches.com)

The following multi-purpose bathroom unit turns the traditional bath on its head: it transforms from bath to shower as the whole unit revolves (via topblogposts.com)

(more…)

Yellow is the color of sun, that’s why people think it can save them from depression and attempt to use it in the interior to lighten up the mood. However not everything is that simple. Let’s have a look at a few most controversial features of the color yellow:

However the controversial nature of the color doesn’t mean you should avoid it completely. Knowing both sides of this complex color will help you to make the most of it. It is recommended to use yellow in entry way, powder room, and halfways as well as transitional areas. (more…)

Why Tetris? Inspired by the once popular Soviet video game, this type of furniture has a number of important advantages:

• It is functional, I’d say “multi-functional”: you can use it for many purposes;
• It is space-saving (as any assembled furniture is);
• It is playful: you can re-design your apartment again and again;
• It looks fresh and appealing.

Tetris Shelves: Blocks can be attached to one another the way you like it: you can change it weekly or monthly once your eye gets used to it (designed by Brave Space Design):

More book shelves designs: multi-feature T-style blocks assembled in a number of constructions

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Who said a small kitchen cannot be sweet and stylish? Let’s have a look at a few gadgets for your small kitchen design:

Space-Saving Kitchen Suits:

The “Nobody” island is an ideal choice for your small kitchen. This modern Japanese design allows for two looks: close it for compact Yin and Yang that can be arranged to suit your space and open it up to entertain your guests (via trendir.com):

More examples of space-saving kitchen designs:

Compact yet complete Ritual Evolution kitchen:

Alright Kitchen:

A place saving dish rack has dual purpose: it stores your dishes and mugs and waters your plants! What’s more, this unit is environmentally friendly: it uses every bit of Nature resources and doesn’t waste water (via 2modern.blogs.com). (more…)

That’s the cute and tiny version of this image, which shows graduation rates in America’s 50 largest cities in an awesome coast-to-coast viewing. The data for the image came from the EPE Research Center and their 2009 Report: Cities in Crisis.

The numbers are dismal (only about half of high school students in those cities graduate) but have begun to show some improvement. Included in the findings are the economic consequences of dropping out. Not to ruin the ending, but it turns out that it’s better for the students, their future career- and education-earning potential, and the local economy if they earn their high school diplomas.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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I wouldn’t necessarily classify myself as a teetotaler, but I’m fairly certain everyone who knows me wouldn’t hesitate to slap that label across my sober forehead. It’s not that I have anything against the imbibing of drugs or alcohol, I just haven’t ever tended toward any sort of relationship with chemicals. And yet, even freakishly squeaky-clean me has seriously entertained the idea of dipping into the family of oomph-producing drugs.

On two separate occasions I gave at least an hour’s worth of deep thought to obtaining and using something speedier than caffeine. (Dork that I am, I was immediately shaken out of these moments of idiocy when I realized I hadn’t the faintest idea how one goes about acquiring any substance stronger than green tea.) Both of these flirtations with chemical dependency occurred when I was in school and was so buried I felt like I was at the bottom of the cold, dark sea and I would never have the time nor the energy to finish all of my papers, labs, exams and assignments in time to swim to the surface and breathe again.

When the mental image you have of yourself at the daily grind is a fully-clothed you walking along the sea floor, dragging your responsibilities behind you, and everything is cold and dark and devoid of breathable oxygen and the weight of the water above is crushing the life out of you, it’s probably time for some reevaluation. Or, for the modern-day super student, it’s time for some ass-kicking neuroenhancing drugs. Margaret Talbot has an eye-opening article in the New Yorker that makes me feel like I have simultaneously missed out on being a more incredible version of me, and have dodged a big fat, expensive, chemical-laced bullet with crazy numbers of strings attached.

Previous Posts and Further Reading:

Joe Schmoe, B.S.*, M.S.*, M.D.*, Ph.D.*
More Students Turning Illegally To ‘Smart’ Drugs
Brain Enhancers: ‘Professor’s Little Helper’?

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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This week’s Teaching Carnival is hosted by AcademHack. The theme is The Future of Education and is worth a thorough perusal. The most intriguing string of thoughts were Jim Moulton’s post about technology in education and what he observed on a recent trip as to India’s attitudes toward education (they are not effing around), and the follow-up comment Rajagopal Yadavalli made as someone who grew up in India, went to the U.S. for university, and is now living back in India. The differences between the two countries vis-á-vis how the students are taught and how they ultimately learn to learn are fascinating.

From Jim Moulton’s post at The Future of Ed Blog:

I did not see technology playing a widespread role in Indian private schools. Any success they have in producing academically strong students must, therefore, come from someplace else. Sure, some of it is simply a game of numbers - with enough people you will have some succeed to high levels. But as I became more aware of “how things worked” in these schools, I came to believe that the following things make a difference:

>>…hard work. Period. Show up, listen, engage, do the work. Including half a day on Saturday.

>>…discipline and organization, as in, “don’t question authority - just do the assignments.” As a result work gets done. By all. And if one does not want to do the work, that 1.2 billion population figure assures someone waiting to take any seat vacated. This discipline was clear in the teacher ranks as well, as they stood when I entered the room, and would stand to answer any question I might put to them during the workshop.

>>…parents’ willingness to sacrifice material comfort to provide the best education they can afford for their children. The vast majority of Indian families do not live beyond their means.

>>…internalization of guilt by the children. Their academic success is a responsibility to their family, and it must be met. Sadly, this guilt was negatively reflected in the several accounts I read of young people taking their lives following release of major exam results.

>>…education as an industry. School, the right school, is heavily marketed as the key to happiness and success. Learning is heavily marketed, and the marketing works. With 1.2 billion people, one is constantly confronted by what it means to not have education. I have to think that a desire to not be part of the endless stream of unskilled citizenry makes it easy for the marketing to stick…

As I return from my trip, I am reminded that there is no digital solution to a fundamentally human challenge, and education is just that. Opportunities to learn must be available, but for the opportunity to translate into accomplishment at any level the individual must want it, the family must want it, and the culture as a whole must want it. The value of the “product” must be clear to all.

From Rajagopal Yadavalli’s Comment:

Interesting analysis presented here on Indian education. As someone who was born and brought up in India, and then studied and lived in USA, and now is back in India.. I completely agree with Jim here.

The importance of education is cultural. The middle class has shown the way over the last 20 years and now more and more believe that success in academics is the key to material success.

… The pressure on the students to do well academically is also all pervasive. As they approach their high school it starts to peak and is at its worst when they attempt the various entrance tests that determine their acceptability into the professional undergraduate programs.

However, what I find missing in the overall process is the application of knowledge. I think today’s education should be more focused on ability to find the information, determine its accuracy and then the ability to apply it to solve everyday problems. I do not find this happening yet in the Indian schools. Most schools are still focused on learning by rote - where discipline can make it happen.

As an graduate student in US University, I was amazed at the knowledge of undergrad students and their ability to solve real life problems with their learning from class. The application of knowledge is not something that is taught at schools in India. This is where the American Universities score big and why they are still the most sought schools of learning.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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Washington State University is rounding out their already-successful business degree program with an Online MBA degree starting Fall 2009. It’ll start out as a part-time program for the first year, but by Fall 2010, it will be available as a part-time or a full-time degree program.

The program is geared toward professionals already working, so WSU has a day-job-friendly system set up for students who work all day and would have inevitable scheduling conflicts:

The Online MBA program consists of 39 semester credit hours and is comparable to WSU’s Accelerated One-Year MBA offered on the Pullman campus. Like all WSU College of Business academic programs, the Online MBA is accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Courses are offered completely online, with no campus visits required.

[Mark] Fuller noted that WSU Online MBA courses are accessible 24/7 in an asynchronous format, allowing maximum flexibility for working professionals. “We use a variety of online tools, which allows significant interaction between faculty and students,” he said. “Those same tools allow students to participate in group projects and team presentations.”

In addition to 24/7 course access and tech support, Online MBA students will have support services, including advising, financial aid and career counseling, registration assistance and help maneuvering the WSU system.

Further Reading and Resources:

WSU Online MBA Degree
Online MBA Programs
Consider a Well-Rounded MBA

Posted by Alexa Harrington

While on the one hand we’ve got a major teacher retirement upheaval about to hit the American school system, during which we’ll be losing a third of the current teaching force, on the other hand we’ve got a sketchy economy that’s sending boatloads of career-types running for the safety (I use the term loosely) of the business end of a classroom. Stock markets can crash, but barring a new world order, there will always be schools full of kids to teach.

For anyone out there who might be considering a career in the educating arts, please read this collection of short pieces in the New York Times written by three teachers, one professor of education, and one economist, about how hard teaching really is and the fact that, just because there’s a shortage coming down the pike, it doesn’t mean landing aand keeping a teaching job is going to be a piece of cake.

You might also want to read Teacher Man, by Frank McCourt, the most realistic, unromantic, non-Hollywood memoir about McCourt’s career as an English teacher in the New York public school system. It’s amazing and beautiful, but it would never serve to convince anyone to become a teacher unless the urge to educate was present in their bones prior to reading the book and had managed to stay put through to the last page. Teacher Man does not do for the teaching profession what Top Gun did for naval fighter pilots. It doesn’t make the teaching profession sexy in the slightest; it makes it terrifying and frustrating and also a tad eviscerating. (Is it possible to only be a tad eviscerated?)

Teacher Man is a beautiful story because Frank McCourt is who he is and because he wrote the way he did about how he felt about his students and his teaching of them. No other teacher will have the same relationships or career experiences, so for god’s sake don’t go becoming a teacher so you can be the next Frank McCourt. He writes honestly enough (he’s painfully blunt) that I feel certain reading his book will serve as an excellent chaff separator.

Further Reading:

A ‘Tsunami’ of Boomer Teacher Retirements is on the Horizon
As Economy Falters, Interest in Teaching Surges
Report Envisions Shortage of Teachers as Retirements Escalate
‘Relentless Pursuit’: A Year Teaching in America
Alternate Route to Teaching is Now a Road More Traveled
Education Degree Resources

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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