Is Technology Aiding Creativity?

Technology will be a hindrance to creativity until its potential is harnessed. The more we use the ability of technology, the more creative we become. When we see a screen, mobile, tablet or computer, we need to see it as a medium for creative expression.Research has shown that everyone is born with creative powers, some are creatively active and others keep creativity dormant. The creative potential in our lives is immense and we need to bring it to the fore. A question that crosses the mind more often than not is, how to do it? In this age of technology, it’s much easier to keep creativity intact and free-flowing.Education system
The constrained education system prevents students from thinking creatively leading to assembly line workers rather than intellectually creative individuals. To address this situation, the need of the hour is to take creativity back to classrooms and use technology to enhance it.With the capability of technology to transcend time and space, students have more opportunities to produce creative assignments and projects in a jiffy. As institutions of higher learning are encouraging the use of technology in classrooms, many educators are supporting the students creative minds. Number of Universities are turning to ICT (Information Communication Technology) to blend in technology and creativity for their students.Creativity, Technology and Students
Technology has given engineering students an opportunity to be creative and innovative. Streams like robotic have given students to play around with and create something more humane. For these students using technology and creativity is being career ready.For media students, professors are giving more opportunities and freedom to create and design assignments. The animation and gaming industry is technology and creativity driven. Students in this industry are relying on technology and programming to create new games and innovative solutions in everyday life. In the media industry, technology is creatively used to bring news, views, and events on to different platforms. Creativity and technology are inseparable where films, animation, and media industry are concerned.The newage social media is also encouraging creativity among the gen x students. On platforms like YouTube, Instagram and Tumblr students are creating resources and information which can be accessed globally with the help of technology and creativity. Students are able to collaborate with like-minded people across the globe and engage in online discussion on various topics and come out with creative output.As we are turning into the new millennium, students are using technology to expand creativity within and outside classrooms. It’s like using both the sides of our brains to advance technology to enhance our creativity.

Does the SEO Firm You Hired Really Know SEO?

Congratulations! You just hired an SEO firm to climb up the SERPs and enjoy a tsunami of targeted visitors to your site. However, before finally sending in the money against the invoice, stop and think!Are you really sure that the firm you hired the SEO packages from really knows their game? Or did this question itself kicked off warning bells inside your head? For if it did, we have the right 5 pointers to help you know which is the ideal SEO company and which is not!1. Meta Tags: Check for the Meta Tags on the pages. Meta tags can be a great warning sign for any potential client to check out the authenticity and the efficacy of a SEO firm. The more potent and targeted Meta Tags for a SEO firm is, the more you can trust on the people who will be working for you.2. SEO Content: Don’t fall for tall claims from SEO agencies that they have the best copywriting hands on deck. Check their content as a sample. Shabby, grammatically incorrect, academically written blocks of texts etc that has been passed off as SEO copy can be another sign that this is not the firm you had been looking for, irrespective of how affordable the packages can be.3. 301 Re-direct: 301 Re-direct has to be executed right by any and every SEO company. The one that doesn’t do it (a re-direct to the www version of the site whenever the “www” has not been typed into the URL) is not worthy of your investment, money or time!4. Range of Services or SEO Packages: The extent of the SEO company’s acumen is also a fair indicator of the company’s ability to deliver on the promises it makes. So if you find a SEO firm that looks decent and offers almost all of the branches in an SEO package deal (viral marketing, Organic SEO, PPC, content development, Blogging etc) – you should know that you have struck gold!5. The SEO Firm’s Own Rankings: ‘People living in glass houses can mirror the world best.’ So you know, the more SEO-competitive and well-established an SEO agency is, the better it will be in handling your SEO assignments through its customized SEO packages. So the next you are on the lookout for the best SEO packages, turn the tables on the SEO firm. Ask for a targeted keyword, Google it, and let the consequent rankings influence your decision.See, it’s easy to identify the best from the rest. All you need is some basic SEO knowledge – and as a layman, understand of the way SEO packages are structured and customized. And oh yes, you need to have the aforementioned points in mind too!With these tips in your arsenal, the possibility of being fleeced by amateur SEO firms is as bleak as Steve Jobs going bankrupt! On a serious note, if you have been a hawk-eye as far as selecting SEO packages are concerned, you will have safe passage to the top of SERPs in no time!

Finding the Right Insurance Quotes

Thanks to the internet, finding the right insurance for your needs is easier than ever. You can compare insurance quotes from several insurance providers without even leaving the comfort of your home.Insurance of all types are important, but you have to make sure that you buy insurance that works for your particular situation. If you have insurance that does not cover your issues, then you are wasting money. You first need to determine the types of coverage that are your must haves. For instance, if you are shopping for health insurance and you have a condition that has you taking prescription medication, you need an insurance plan that gives heavy discounts on prescriptions. Having health insurance that does not cover prescriptions, can leave you with heavy expenses at the pharmacist’s register.You have to make sure that the insurance companies that you are researching, have coverage in your state. Depending on which form insurance that you seek, the area in which you reside can have an effect on your online insurance quotes. If you live in an an area that is prone to flooding, your home owner’s insurance is likely to be more expensive than home owner’s insurance for a house in an area that is deemed less of a flood risk.You may want to look into the long term customer incentives that an insurance provider has when you compare insurance quotes. Does the company reward customer loyalty with discounts? If you are shopping for car insurance, are the insurance providers that have caught your eye the type to give you a discount for being a safe driver? Does the insurer have a good roadside assistance plan? If you find yourself on the road a good deal, you may want to have one.While gathering online insurance quotes is a great way to find the right insurance plan for your needs, you may want to enlist the help of an independent insurance agent. An independent agent can gather information from several insurance companies. A skilled agent may be able to show you some deals that you were not able to run across on your own. If you have a big budget that is set aside for insurance, then you can simply focus on the type of coverage that you need. If your coffers are not as full, then you have to heavily weigh cost with coverage.If you have ever been in a position to need assistance of some sort, but not had the funds to cover it, then you know why insurance is a must. It is similar to having a savings account for emergency issues, but tends to cover beyond what you have put into it. You cannot just go with the same insurance that your family has always used, if it does not cover your needs. You have to take control of your situation. Get active and get free insurance quotes. If you need more assistance, contact an independent insurance agent. Make sure that you but the best insurance coverage for all of your needs. Do not leave yourself or your family unprotected. You can find the right insurance for your unique situation.

Loneliness or aloneness: for single parents

Loneliness has to be coped with properly, or it can lead to symptoms related to depression. It is faulty relationships, or in this instance, a lack of healthy relationships that lead to undesirable consequences.

However, when you take a closer look at the experience of loneliness, it indicates dependency upon someone to meet your need for enjoyment, fun, and self-fulfillment. While it is desirable to have healthy and caring relationships which indeed help our mental health, dependency upon someone else to meet our need for enjoyment, fun, and self-fulfillment may in fact be unhealthy.

Learn to memorize information better and faster

Attention and the ability to focus and memorize information give you a huge advantage when it comes to career and business. It’s those soft skills you are not likely to mention in your resume. But you’ll definitely put them to good use as soon as you start a new job.

Below you’ll find 9 memorization strategies and techniques. They’ll help you process information, avoid forgetting things and memorize stuff immediately and forever. You can program your mind. That’s a fact.

1. Storytelling

Stories have everything you need to memorize information. Bright imagery, characters, plotlines, to name a few. Think of various images that include things you need to memorize. Combine them into a sequence of events and create a coherent story your mind can follow.

Practice it: attach images of your favorite pet to things you need to memorize. Or imagine your favorite actor do what you need to do.

2. Breakdown and systematization

Something that has a clear structure is easier to memorize than random numbers, ideas, and words. Search for patterns is part of our experience and it’s what our brain is tuned to.

Practice it: combine concepts based on semantic coding. Group various separate concepts based on context and templates.

3. Association and conglomeration

Things you understand well are more likely to stick to your memory. Make it all make sense by connecting facts and concepts to something you already know. It’s easy to memorize something that’s related to the information that already lives in your head.

Practice it: associate new information with the knowledge you have. If new ideas fall under a certain context that already exists in your mind, they are likely to stay.

4. Expression and artistry

Express the things you are trying to memorize with the help of motions and gestures. Add emotions to dry facts. Present information as if you are performing on a scene. Say it out loud clearly and loudly.

Practice it: if you have to memorize a large chunk of text, try to yell it out loud. To learn certain words and statements, pronounce them loudly.

5. Change of scene

The human brain tends to connect places to living memories. Memory stocks to space, context, sounds. Use this when you need to memorize a large piece of information.

Practice it: separate the material into logical conceptual blocks and try to memorize each one in a new environment. Memorize which places are connected to certain parts of the material. Let your memory travel through all those places to weave the chunks of information together.

6. The Feynman technique

It’s a complex approach to memorizing information. It combines visual, associative, intervallic, and logical techniques. It works best when you need to memorize complex materials heavy with specialized terminology.

Practice it: write down the key theses of the material and try to explain them using simple language. Turn the entire piece of information into a fully-fledged story, say it out loud, record it and pay special attention to the hardest pieces.

7. The Roman Room technique

Also known as Cicero’s method. This is a technique for building a material structure. It implies arranging objects in a familiar room and in a certain order. You only have to picture the space in your mind to remember the information you need.

Practice it: walk around your place and mentally place the key points of information in a certain order. Use any space that’s very familiar to you.

8. The Edge Effect

Psychologists have long discovered that we remember the beginning and the end of a performance, a lecture, or a play the best. Try to trick your brain into memorizing the hardest pieces of information.

Practice it: structure the information so that the hardest part is in the beginning.

9. Visualization and contextual imagery

Activate your visual memory and turn words and concepts into images. Even if you are not a visual learner by nature, people, in general, memorize visual information faster. Besides, when you use all your senses to help information stick to your memory your brain will easily remember it when you need it. Make these images bright and emotionally charged and your brain will never forget them.

Practice it: create a visual skeleton for the piece of information you need to memorize with the help of associative symbols and images that relate to certain words and concepts.

Find explanations for things, ask questions, check yourself, and keep your mind in order. More importantly, believe in the power of your mind. Your memory matters a great deal.

Top five green living tips

Making your home healthy and green can be easy with the following green living tips. With all the global warming, pollution, and excessive use of our natural resources, we all have to do our part to help keep our planet green and safe for future generations, of humans, animals and plants.

Some simple and inexpensive do it yourself green living tips are listed below. These tasks can dramatically save on energy and water, and make your home a healthier place to live. You can actually turn this into a fun project and involve your family. Your kids could even write a report about at school and your kids will be proud too. Healthy green living is for everyone and with a little effort you can improve your life and the health of your family.

Seal all the drafts in your windows and doors in your home

Inspect your windows and doors and look closely where the window frames and door frames meet the siding for any gaps. The older your home is, the more prone to gaps it will be. You may choose to install weatherstripping. You will need to choose the appropriate weatherstripping for your area and type of home. This tip could save you lots of money over time.

The water-saving devices

There are flow-control valves, flow restrictions, and aerators that be added to existing fixtures. If you have an older toilet, you can fill a plastic bottle with water and place it in the tank to reduce the volume of water. Do not use a brick, it could disintegrate and cause plumbing problems. Saving water helps us in water cost savings and is helping to use less of our planet’s resources.

Always have your refrigerator and freezer full and well-stocked

A half-empty refrigerator and freezer use more energy than a full one. If you do not have anything else to add to fill the space, fill plastic containers to fill the void. Do not leave the doors open, or just leave them open and gape at the contents for a few minutes.

Use cold water to wash your clothes

Cold water will do the job and use less energy, and there are many natural products out there that do the job. These natural products will be much more healthy for you and your family. Green living encompasses many aspects of our daily lives, even the daily chores in our lives.

Clean your home thoroughly and often

Use natural cleaning products or common household items. Vacuum, dust, clean your floors, and regularly change the filters on your heater, vacuum cleaner bags, dryer lint filter, and any other air purifiers systems you may have. The air you breathe in your home will have much less dust, dirt, and germs. It will also help with removing air-borne allergies and asthma. You will also have reduced odors in your home. A clean home is healthy and green.

Even if you use one tip from this article, it will be worth it. The world will be a little greener, healthier, and you will be a part of contributing to a healthy green life for yourself, your family, and everyone else. There will never be a better time than now to start going green.

A green living lifestyle is a healthy lifestyle, and the more green you put in your life, the better it is for our wonderful planet.

5 minimalist décor ideas for the winter holidays

If you prefer minimalist style for your home, you are certainly not alone. Although minimalism has been around for quite some time now, it is still very much in vogue today and does not seem to lose its popularity anytime soon now. However, as the winter holidays approach, many of us crave to add more festivity and colors to our monochrome clean-lined spaces. But how do you do that? After all, minimalism and Christmas décor don’t go that well together—right? Actually, wrong! A minimalist home can absolutely be spruced up for the winter holidays. Here are some of the ways for you to do it.

1. Winter branches

Winter branches make great Christmas decorations. You can buy them at the store, but better yet, go for a long walk and forage some yourself. Pick the ones you like and cut the needed length. Dry them carefully before putting the branches into a glass vase to make a gorgeous table centerpiece. You can also spray some white or silver paint over them for a frozen look.

Another option is to hang the branches with ornaments and LED lights. Don’t overdo it though. Remember to keep it as simple as possible.

2. Monochrome ornaments

One cannot imagine the winter holidays without decorating a Christmas tree. Unfortunately, colorful and festive ornaments don’t always go well with minimalist environments. The solution to this problem is quite simple. Choose monochrome decorations! White or silver glass ball ornaments are beautiful and elegant. They will give your Christmas tree a subtle yet sophisticated look. Remember that minimalism puts timeless simplicity and quality over fashion and quantity, so do invest in some quality glass ornaments, too. These will last you for years!

3. Make use of candles and candleholders

Nothing creates a holiday atmosphere better than the flickering light of candles. It will turn even the most ordinary living room into a magical and cozy wonderland. To stay true to your minimalist aesthetic choose white candles and simple glass candleholders. Use them to decorate your Christmas table or combine them with pine branches to style your shelves and mantelpiece.

4. Decorate your Christmas table in a monochrome color scheme

Monochrome and minimalism often go hand in hand, so make use of that when decorating your space for the winter holidays. For instance, a grey tablecloth and white tableware will look elegant combined with an accent centerpiece made of green pine branches. A black and white table setting will also create a beautiful and stylish contrast.

5. Christmas tree alternatives

elledecor.com
elledecor.com
Not a fan of Christmas trees? Or do you find them out of place in your minimalist living room? There’s an interesting DIY alternative you can try instead. Create a small pine forest on your bookshelf, table, or on top of your mantelpiece. Cut a few triangular shapes out of a piece of cardboard or wood. Fashion them to look more like pine trees by making a few small symmetrical notches on both sides. With acrylic paint, color your wooden trees green, white, and blue. This abstract decoration will give your living room a wintery feel, but will not interfere with its clean minimalist look.

Tips for staying in a good exercise routine while holiday season

It’s getting dark and cold out there. November brings not only the first snow, but also the deep desire to turn off my alarm and snuggle back under the covers. We are hungrier, and disappointingly less interested in exercise. This usually commences around Halloween, and ends in January. The combination of the hibernation/bulk-up-for-survival instinct, the cold and dark, and the holidays full of treats can create a perfect storm of inactivity.

The problem is not only the weight gain, it is also that psychologically this is a time when we need physical activity the most. We need it to stave off the blues that often come with less light, and to help us deal with the stress and less-than-stellar eating of the holiday season.

So, here are some tips for staying in a good exercise routine this holiday season – for the health of your body and your mind.

Schedule it – do it!

On Sunday, schedule your workout into your calendar for the rest of the week. Schedule it as you would an important appointment. This helps to reduce the chance that you won’t have time to fit it in. Find classes that work for your schedule, and then instill in yourself a “no-cancellation-no-matter-what” policy. Work with your nature, not against it. Plan physical activity for times of the day when you tend to feel more energetic — or at least not quite so lazy.

Enlist the help of friends, family, and instructors

Exercise with friends, relatives, neighbors or co-workers. You’ll enjoy the support and the camaraderie. Also, let your regular class instructors know that you’d like them to help hold you accountable – if you are signed up for a class and don’t show up, you want to hear about it from them!

Choose activities you enjoy

You’ll be more likely to stay interested. Remember, anything that gets you moving counts.

If you don’t feel like it, fake it

Get your workout clothes on and go to the gym. Tell yourself you only have to do 5 minutes of exercise once you get there, but you’re going (more often than not, when you get there you’ll do a longer workout).

“Fall down seven times, stand up eight” (Japanese Proverb)

If you miss a day or more, the best thing to do is get back to it rather than staying in a rut of inactivity. Staying active as it gets colder and darker will help your mood and your health. Commit to making it happen as we head into blustery November!

Tips in salvaging relationship

The beginning of a relationship is usually good, the romance is abundant and both of you feel happy and contented. As time passes, you grew apart to the point that your relationship will end soon if you do nothing about it. It’s good if you start salvaging your relationship early to avoid complications. Here are some of the things you can do.

Avoid being naive, admit that your relationship not going well

Admitting you both have a problem will mean you are both willing to save your relationship. A lot of relationships are wasted because both sides were too stubborn to accept that they were drifting apart. Knowing early that your relationship has a problem will avoid future problems and complications adding up. Also, by admitting, you’ll be finding the solutions to fix it as well as discussing the reasons why your relationship is not good. Then of course once you know the cause, both of you can act on it.

“It takes two tango”

This not only applies to infidelities, but as well as saving your relationship. If you want to save your relationship then both of you need to work as a team, this would mean equal effort from both of you. Again, it would need both of your efforts not only just yourself, if your partner is not doing anything try giving him or her space. The hard part would be when your partner still doesn’t care even you gave them ample time, it only means one thing he or she no longer has feelings for you romantically.

Have a reasonable, calm, and rational approach

Usually when couples are drifting apart there seem to be more problems, arguments, and all sorts of emotions. During that try to be reasonable, calm and rational, to avoid escalating the problem. Take a breather if you think you’re about to burst and if your partner is unwilling to cooperate, be firm but don’t get angry. Both of you can then have a talk once ready and sort out your problems.

Take things slowly

Allow some space between you and your partner. Rushing things will make your partner’s relationship, and this can lead to bad choices as well as heated discussions. Give yourself some and your partner too, use that time apart to pull yourself together and think about the direction of your relationship.

Sometimes disagree is the best solution

There are things you and your partner wouldn’t be able to solve even if you try very hard, the best thing to do would be agreeing to disagree. When you agree to disagree, it would mean that you are both unique and that you accept each other differences. Also, when you do that, it would save you the long arguments that both of you can’t stop mentioning.

Once you do those things, be patient and see how your relationship is going. Don’t be afraid that it might not end as you plan, if it does happen remember that you did your best, and it may be because that both of you were not right for each other.

Human Resources Software: Keep Your Company at Par With the Latest Innovations in HR

Human Resources is defined for some as the department that employs workers, receive tons of mails, processes payrolls and other documentation that are relevant to the employees. But today this industry is fast changing, using technology that is far more advanced than ever. The used to be manually managed industry has now evolved into a profession that greatly utilizes advanced human resources software.Human resources have always been an important part of any company. Without an efficient HR team to run a company, many businesses will find difficulties in maintaining good relations with and between staff and keep the business in working order all the time.It’s been years now since human resources software was introduced to the market and although initially, the designs were difficult and complicated, the ones that are available today is developed to be more efficient and very user friendly.The software that is available these days include a wide range of selection, including HR basics such as recruitment, personnel records administration and payroll. But it does not stop there yet. Available software also includes a training suites, session development and workflow. A new attractive aspect of the developed software is the self-service module. This module may allow the management to grant certain access to employees, allowing them to see their information, the authority to update their records and even request holiday. In effect, the systems can be configured for the employers and there are immeasurable possibilities.The inspiration behind these HR software solutions has been to lessen the bulk of manual administration and documentation and automate business-critical processes, so that the HR personnel will have more focus on taking care of the needs of the employees. Employee relations are best handled on a person to person level, thus the use of human resources software to take care of the more routine tasks is widely encouraged.The additional support and personal focus on employees does not only make the employees feel more appreciated in the company but also allow them to strive for and take satisfaction with excellent performance. One of the most important roles of HR is to be like heartening concerned mentor that appreciates the welfare and job well done of employees.There is definitely a wide range of HR software solutions on the market and as a business, it is always a wise move to carry out official inquiry of all available options to make sure that your tool is ideal for your business. The human resources software is designed to establish a common ground for the employee and the employer to have a smooth business relationship that would definitely benefit both parties.