Getting It Wrong: Surprising Tips on How to Learn

New research makes the case for hard tests, and suggests an unusual technique that anyone can use to learn

By Henry L. Roediger and Bridgid Finn

Courtesy: http:// www.scientificamerican.com

 

For years, many educators have championed “errorless learning," advising teachers (and students) to create study conditions that do not permit errors. For example, a classroom teacher might drill students repeatedly on the same multiplication problem, with very little delay between the first and second presentations of the problem, ensuring that the student gets the answer correct each time.

The idea embedded in this approach is that if students make errors, they will learn the errors and be prevented (or slowed) in learning the correct information. But research by Nate Kornell, Matthew Hays and Robert Bjork at U.C.L.A. that recently appeared in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition reveals that this worry is misplaced. In fact, they found, learning becomes better if conditions are arranged so that students make errors.

People remember things better, longer, if they are given very challenging tests on the material, tests at which they are bound to fail. In a series of experiments, they showed that if students make an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve information before receiving an answer, they remember the information better than in a control condition in which they simply study the information. Trying and failing to retrieve the answer is actually helpful to learning. It’s an idea that has obvious applications for education, but could be useful for anyone who is trying to learn new material of any kind.

In one of their experiments, students were required to learn pairs of “weak associates,” words that are loosely related such as star-night or factory-plant. (If students are given the first word and asked to generate an associate, the probability of generating the target word is only 5 percent.) In the pretest condition, students were given the first word of the pair (star- ???) and told to try to generate the second member that they would have to later remember. They had 8 seconds to do so. Of course, almost by definition, they nearly always failed to generate the correct answer. They might generate bright in the case of star-???. At that point they were given the target pair (star–night) for 5 seconds. In the control condition, students were given the pair to study for 13 seconds, so in both conditions there were a total of 13 seconds of study time for the pair.

The team found that students remembered the pairs much better when they first tried to retrieve the answer before it was shown to them. In a way this pretesting effect is counterintuitive: Studying a pair for 13 seconds produces worse recall than studying the pair for 5 seconds, if students in the latter condition spent the previous 8 seconds trying to retrieve or guess the answer. But the effect averaged about 10 percent better recall, and occurred both immediately after study and after a delay averaging 38 hours.

Some readers may look askance at the use of word pairs, even though it is a favorite tactic of psychologists. In another article, in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Lindsey Richland, Nate Kornell and Liche Kao asked the same question, but they used more educationally relevant text material (an essay on vision). Students were asked to read the essay and prepare for a test on it. However, in the pretest condition they were asked questions about the passage before reading it such as “What is total color blindness caused by brain damage called?” Asking these kinds of question before reading the passage obviously focuses students’ attention on the critical concepts. To control this “direction of attention” issue, in the control condition students were either given additional time to study, or the researchers focused their attention on the critical passages in one of several ways: by italicizing the critical section, by bolding the key term that would be tested, or by a combination of strategies. However, in all the experiments they found an advantage in having students first guess the answers. The effect was about the same magnitude, around 10 percent, as in the previous set of experiments.

This work has implications beyond the classroom. By challenging ourselves to retrieve or generate answers we can improve our recall. Keep that in mind next time you turn to Google for an answer, and give yourself a little more time to come up with the answer on your own.

Students might consider taking the questions in the back of the textbook chapter and try to answer them before reading the chapter. (If there are no questions, convert the section headings to questions. If the heading is Pavlovian Conditioning, ask yourself What is Pavlovian conditioning?). Then read the chapter and answer the questions while reading it. When the chapter is finished, go back to the questions and try answering them again. For any you miss, restudy that section of the chapter. Then wait a few days and try to answer the questions again (restudying when you need to). Keep this practice up on all the chapters you read before the exam and you will be have learned the material in a durable manner and be able to retrieve it long after you have left the course.

Of course, these are general-purpose strategies and work for any type of material, not just textbooks. And remember, even if you get the questions wrong as you self-test yourself during study the process is still useful, indeed much more useful than just studying. Getting the answer wrong is a great way to learn.

Courtesy: http:// www.scientificamerican.com

Filed under: Article of the Week , learning

Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Moon

Searching for the Lunar Jackpot — Ice

It may not sound like precision science, but researchers are hopeful that plowing a spacecraft into the moon’s surface may reveal a hidden layer of frozen water beneath the surface. On Oct. 9, a NASA satellite will hurl a spent rocket into a dark and frigid lunar crater at 5,600 m.p.h.; the impact will equal the force of 1.5 tons of TNT and kick up a massive, six-mile-high plume of dirt and debris. The satellite — the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS — will then photograph and study the plume for evidence of water or ice from colliding comets. After a few minutes of observation, the space vehicle will plunge into the moon’s surface as well. Images taken by an Indian satellite earlier this year suggested there was indeed water on the moon; confirming the discovery would be a major boon for scientists who dream of humans inhabiting the moon, Mars and other planets someday.

Growing Apart

Was it something we said? While our two celestial bodies remain locked in orbit, the moon is slowly — very slowly — inching away from Earth, at a rate of about 3.8 cm a year. Right now the moon is more than 238,000 miles from Earth, but when it formed, it was just 14,000 miles away.

How do scientists know? The moon’s distance is measured by bouncing laser beams off reflectors on the moon’s surface that astronauts from the Apollo missions left behind. Scientists can measure the time it takes for the laser beams to travel there and back and calculate the distance with a high degree of accuracy. Eventually, the moon’s distance will substantially weaken the oceans’ tides and total eclipses of the sun won’t be possible for observers on Earth, since the moon will have moved too far away. But that could still take another billion years.

Even Tiger Woods Can’t Do That

What was the first sport played on the moon? That would be golf. In 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard swung a makeshift 6-iron on the moon’s surface — and missed the ball. His second swing, however, connected, and the golf ball went flying "miles and miles and miles," as Shepard put it after his swing. In reality, the ball traveled only a few hundred yards — not bad for a 6-iron. That’s not Shepard’s fault; while the moon’s gravity is only one-sixth Earth’s, his space suit was so stiff that he could swing the club with only one hand.

Lunar Souvenirs

The astronauts of NASA’s Apollo missions collected some 840 lb. of lunar rocks and debris during the 340 hours they spent tooling around on the moon. Since they were brought to Earth, however, the samples have ended up in some unusual places. During the Nixon Administration, nearly 270 moon rocks were presented as gifts to foreign nations. But when a fake turned up in the Netherlands’ national museum in September, the Associated Press launched an independent investigation to track the whereabouts of the rest — only to find that many had disappeared. "NASA turned over the samples to the State Department to distribute," one NASA historian told the AP. "We don’t have any records about when and to whom the rocks were given."

Apollo astronauts were allowed to keep a few rocks as lunar souvenirs, under the condition that they would never be sold but instead passed down from generation to generation. Today, NASA’s remaining samples are kept in Teflon bags and stored in nitrogen-filled steel cabinets at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Any researcher who wishes to handle them must wear three pairs of gloves to prevent contamination.

Slow and Steady Wins the (Space) Race

The first creature to orbit the moon was neither man nor monkey, but a pair of Soviet turtles. The tortoises — along with a passenger list of mealworms, wine flies, seeds and bacteria — were part of a biological payload launched by the Soviet Union in September 1968.

After the Zond 5 spacecraft returned to Earth, the animal comrades were retrieved from the Indian Ocean and found not to have a scratch on them; the shells probably helped. They had, however, lost 10% of their weight, although researchers didn’t observe a permanent decrease in appetite.

Seas on the Moon?

The massive lava plains on the lunar service, dubbed seas by Earth-bound observers, were created by the violent impacts of meteors. Interestingly, most of these lava seas are on the side facing Earth; the force of Earth’s gravity pulls the moon’s molten interior closer to the surface, making it more susceptible to seeping out during a meteor strike.

Easier Than Peace on Earth

The U.S. joined with the Soviet Union in 1967 to create the Outer Space Treaty, declaring the moon subject to a similar set of rules as those used to govern international waters on Earth. The treaty, which 97 other countries are now party to, makes the moon off-limits for military purposes, keeping countries from ever constructing bases or weaponry on the lunar surface.

Headed to the Moon? Bring Layers

Talk about extreme weather changes. The moon’s surface temperature varies by nearly 500°F, from -240°F when it is dark to 220°F in the sun. And once those extreme temps set in, they stick around for a while — a spot on the moon spends about 13 days in frigid darkness, followed by 13 days in water-boiling sunlight. The lack of atmosphere, which on Earth helps trap heat so it doesn’t all dissipate at night, accounts for the wild temperature swings. However, if you dig a meter below the moon’s surface, the temperature evens out to a nearly constant -31°F.

Pink Floyd Was Wrong

The moon doesn’t have a dark side, although there’s always part of it in the dark — just as there’s always a part of Earth that’s experiencing night. There is a far side of the moon that we can’t see from Earth: because of the way the moon orbits, it always keeps the same side facing us. But the far side is light just as often as it is dark.

Everlasting Footprints

No atmosphere on the moon means no wind or weather — and that, luckily, means no erosion of mankind’s historic tracks and prints that still dot the lunar surface. To prove it, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) sent back photos in July of the still visible tracks from five of the six Apollo landing sites.

While on the moon in 1971, Apollo 14 astronauts Edgar Mitchell and Alan Shepard left behind an Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, or ALSEP, along with sampling equipment and a small cart. The LRO photos were able to clearly show the footpath the astronauts had worn between the two artifacts, and future images are expected to have two to three times the resolution. "The images are fantastic, and so is the focus," says LRO principal investigator Mark Robinson. "It’s great to see the hardware on the surface, waiting for us to return."

Courtesy: http://www.time.com

Filed under: Article of the Week , moon landing

Heroes of the Environment 2009

Time selected Green Heroes for 2009

From saving wild mountain rivers in China to measuring the Arctic’s icy expanse, from protecting the lush forests of Africa to conducting a feisty online debate, our green heroes are informed by this simple notion: We can all make a difference

As they searched for glimmers of hope in the wreckage of the world economy earlier this year, politicians, economists and commentators used one phrase so repeatedly it became something of a mantra for our times: In crisis, opportunity. Nowhere does that maxim apply more than to the problem of climate change. The financial crisis only crippled a global system; climate change is hurting the globe itself.

This December, world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to discuss new goals to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions that fuel global warming. With a new President in the White House, there is a chance the U.S. will finally inspire progress on climate change — and not just frustration. But nothing’s certain, and the real leap forward won’t happen until China and India both sign on to the idea that the economic growth they need and want will be worthless if their citizens are constantly fighting off natural disasters or don’t have enough water to drink or to irrigate their crops.

It’s easy to think that all the hard decisions are in the hands of our leaders alone. Not true. As the men and women in the following pages prove, we can all make a difference. Pen Hadow, leader of a daring survey across the Arctic to measure the thickness of sea ice, puts it this way: "Turning off a standby light once won’t make a difference. Do it for the rest of your life and that amounts to something. And if everybody’s doing something, then we’re moving in the right direction." We hope our environmental heroes provide both inspiration and action. Like financial pundits, most of them embrace the idea that a crisis also presents opportunity. They are heroes because they set out to discover what that opportunity might be.

Leaders & Visionaries

1. Mohamed Nasheed
2. Cameron Diaz
3. Mike H. Pandey
4. Prince Mostapha Zaher
5. Marcio Santilli
6. Yann Arthus-Bertrand
7. Erick Solheim
8. Steven Chu, Carol Browner, Ken Salazar and Lisa Jackson

Activists

1. Joe Romm
2. Marc Ona
3. Marco Arana
4. Syeda Rizwana Hasan
5. Yuyun Ismawati
6. Zhao Zhong
7. Nnimmo Bassey

Scientists & Innovators

1. Takashi Yabe
2. Residents of Vauban
3. Valerie Casey
4. David Keith
5. Bindeshwar Pathak
6. Olga Speranskaya
7. Pen Hadow, Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels
8. Nathan Lorenz and Tim Bauer

Moguls & Entrepreneurs

1. Sheri Liao
2. Thomas Harttung
3. Dorjee Sun
4. Asim Buksh
5. Kin Lui, Raymond Ho and Casson Trenor
6. Yumi Someya
7. Bill Weihl

 

Know more..

Mike H. Pandey

‘Plant a tree. If each of us 6 billion inhabitants of this planet planted a tree, the green balance would tip favorably once again.’ — Mike H. Pandey

Al Gore wasn’t the first person to use a movie to help save the world. In India, efforts to protect everything from whale sharks to elephants, vultures to medicinal plants owe a debt to prolific wildlife-documentary maker Mike H. Pandey. Now 60, Pandey has waged a three-decade war to defend India’s wildlife and environment, rousing the apathetic and spurring governments, communities and individuals to act. His weapon of choice: film. By showing that the elephants who trample through villages are not "rogue" animals who should be shot, his 1994 film The Last Migration helped slow the decline in India’s elephant numbers. Migration, which aired on India’s state TV, revealed the complex fight for land and food between humans and animals, and showed elephants as victims of man’s greed for resources. The film and its sequel Vanishing Giants (2004), triggered a national debate and led the government to ban the more brutal traditional methods of elephant capture, which often result in the animal’s death.

Born to Indian parents in Kenya, Pandey’s love affair with nature started early. "I grew up right next to the Nairobi National Park, where elephants would raid my mother’s kitchen garden and lions’ calls would wake us at night," he says. After studying filmmaking in the U.S. and Britain, he settled in Delhi, founding Riverbank Studios in 1973 to make educational and environmental documentaries. This was a time when the word conservation was unknown in India, and Pandey and his colleagues toiled for years unheralded. Success finally came when The Last Migration screened at the Wildscreen Festival in Bristol, England — the biggest wildlife and environmental film festival in the world — and won a prestigious Panda award. More films and awards followed. Pandey’s most enduring success, though, is the weekly half-hour series Earth Matters, which has run on state television for 11 years, and has helped spur the emergence of grassroots conservation groups around India. "My effort has been to show what each of us can do," says Pandey. "The earth matters to all of us. Don’t just drive to work, look around you, see the birds and trees, and if there’s something going wrong, set it right." Earth Matters pushes that message into Indian homes every week. In such a fast-changing society, television is a powerful medium. "The key is education, and this is what my films aim to provide."

Courtesy: www.time.com

Visit Mike Pandey

 

Filed under: Article of the Week , environment

50 things that are being killed by the internet

The internet has wrought huge changes on our lives – both positive and negative – in the fifteen years since its use became widespread.

By Matthew Moore
04 Sep 2009

Courtesy: www.newsweek.com

The web is changing the way we work, play and think Photo: REUTTERS

Tasks that once took days can be completed in seconds, while traditions and skills that emerged over centuries have been made all but redundant.

The internet is no respecter of reputations: innocent people have seen their lives ruined by viral clips distributed on the same World Wide Web used by activists to highlight injustices and bring down oppressive regimes

Below we have compiled – in no particular order – 50 things that are in the process of being killed off by the web, from products and business models to life experiences and habits. We’ve also thrown in a few things that have suffered the hands of other modern networking gadgets, specifically mobile phones and GPS systems.

Do you agree with our selections? What other examples can you think of? Please post your comments on the bottom of the story – we hope include the best suggestions in a fuller list.

1) The art of polite disagreement
While the inane spats of YouTube commencers may not be representative, the internet has certainly sharpened the tone of debate. The most raucous sections of the blogworld seem incapable of accepting sincerely held differences of opinion; all opponents must have "agendas".

2) Fear that you are the only person unmoved by a celebrity’s death
Twitter has become a clearing-house for jokes about dead famous people. Tasteless, but an antidote to the "fans in mourning" mawkishness that otherwise predominates.

3) Listening to an album all the way through
The single is one of the unlikely beneficiaries of the internet – a development which can be looked at in two ways. There’s no longer any need to endure eight tracks of filler for a couple of decent tunes, but will "album albums" like Radiohead’s Amnesiac get the widespread hearing they deserve?

4) Sarah Palin
Her train wreck interviews with NBC’s Katie Couric were watched and re-watched millions of times on the internet, cementing the Republican vice-presidential candidate’s reputation as a politician out of her depth. Palin’s uncomfortable relationship with the web continues; she has threatened to sue bloggers who republish rumours about the state of her marriage.

5) Punctuality
Before mobile phones, people actually had to keep their appointments and turn up to the pub on time. Texting friends to warn them of your tardiness five minutes before you are due to meet has become one of throwaway rudenesses of the connected age.

6) Ceefax/Teletext
All sports fans of a certain age can tell you their favourite Ceefax pages (p341 for Test match scores, p312 for football transfer gossip), but the service’s clunking graphics and four-paragraph articles have dated badly. ITV announced earlier this year that it was planning to pull Teletext, its version.

7) Adolescent nerves at first porn purchase
The ubiquity of free, hard-core pornography on the web has put an end to one of the most dreaded rights rites of passage for teenage boys – buying dirty magazines. Why tremble in the WHSmiths queue when you can download mountains of filth for free in your bedroom? The trend also threatens the future of "porn in the woods" – the grotty pages of Razzle and Penthouse that scatter the fringes of provincial towns and villages.

Telephone directories
You can find Fly Fishing by J R Hartley on Amazon.

9) The myth of cat intelligence
The proudest household pets are now the illiterate butts of caption-based jokes. Icanhasreputashunback?

10) Watches
Scrabbling around in your pocket to dig out a phone may not be as elegant as glancing at a watch, but it saves splashing out on two gadgets.

11) Music stores
In a world where people don’t want to pay anything for music, charging them £16.99 for 12 songs in a flimsy plastic case is no business model.

12) Letter writing/pen pals
Email is quicker, cheaper and more convenient; receiving a handwritten letter from a friend has become a rare, even nostalgic, pleasure. As a result, formal valedictions like "Yours faithfully" are being replaced by "Best" and "Thanks".

13) Memory
When almost any fact, no matter how obscure, can be dug up within seconds through Google and Wikipedia, there is less value attached to the "mere" storage and retrieval of knowledge. What becomes important is how you use it – the internet age rewards creativity.

14) Dead time
When was the last time you spent an hour mulling the world out a window, or rereading a favourite book? The internet’s draw on our attention is relentless and increasingly difficult to resist.

15) Photo albums and slide shows
Facebook, Flickr and printing sites like Snapfish are how we share our photos. Earlier this year Kodak announced that it was discontinuing its Kodachrome slide film because of lack of demand.

16) Hoaxes and conspiracy theories
The internet is often dismissed as awash with cranks, but it has proved far more potent at debunking conspiracy theories than perpetuating them. The excellent Snopes.com continues to deliver the final, sober, word on urban legends.

17) Watching television together
On-demand television, from the iPlayer in Britain to Hulu in the US, allows relatives and colleagues to watch the same programmes at different times, undermining what had been one of the medium’s most attractive cultural appeals – the shared experience. Appointment-to-view television, if it exists at all, seems confined to sport and live reality shows.

18) Authoritative reference works
We still crave reliable information, but generally aren’t willing to pay for it.

19) The Innovations catalogue
Preposterous as its household gadgets may have been, the Innovations catalogue was always a diverting read. The magazine ceased printing in 2003, and its web presence is depressingly bland.

20) Order forms in the back pages of books
Amazon’s "Customers who bought this item also bought…" service seems the closest web equivalent.

21) Delayed knowledge of sporting results
When was the last time you bought a newspaper to find out who won the match, rather than for comment and analysis? There’s no need to fall silent for James Alexander Gordon on the way home from the game when everyone in the car has an iPhone.

22) Enforceable copyright
The record companies, film studios and news agencies are fighting back, but can the floodgates ever be closed?

23) Reading telegrams at weddings
Quoting from a wad of email printouts doesn’t have the same magic.

24) Dogging
Websites may have helped spread the word about dogging, but the internet offers a myriad of more convenient ways to organise no-strings sex with strangers. None of these involve spending the evening in lay-by near Aylesbury.

25) Aren’t they dead? Aren’t they gay?
Wikipedia allows us to confirm or disprove almost any celebrity rumour instantly. Only at festivals with no Wi-Fi signals can the gullible be tricked into believing that David Hasselhoff has passed away.

26) Holiday news ignorance
Glancing at the front pages after landing back at Heathrow used to be a thrilling experience – had anyone died? Was the government still standing? Now it takes a stern soul to resist the temptation to check the headlines at least once while you’re away.

27) Knowing telephone numbers off by heart
After typing the digits into your contacts book, you need never look at them again.

28) Respect for doctors and other professionals
The proliferation of health websites has undermined the status of GPs, whose diagnoses are now challenged by patients armed with printouts.

29) The mystery of foreign languages
Sites like Babelfish offer instant, good-enough translations of dozens of languages – but kill their beauty and rhythm.

30) Geographical knowledge
With GPS systems spreading from cars to smartphones, knowing the way from A to B is a less prized skill. Just ask the London taxi drivers who spent years learning The Knowledge but are now undercut by minicabs.

31) Privacy
We may attack governments for the spread of surveillance culture, but users of social media websites make more information about themselves available than Big Brother could ever hoped to obtain by covert means.

32) Chuck Norris’s reputation
The absurdly heroic boasts on Chuck Norris Facts may be affectionate, but will anyone take him seriously again?

33) Pencil cricket
An old-fashioned schoolboy diversion swept away by the Stick Cricket behemoth

34) Mainstream media
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Rocky Mountain News in the US have already folded, and the UK’s Observer may follow. Free news and the migration of advertising to the web threaten the basic business models of almost all media organisations.

35) Concentration
What with tabbing between Gmail, Twitter, Facebook and Google News, it’s a wonder anyone gets their work done. A disturbing trend captured by the wonderful XKCD webcomic.

36) Mr Alifi’s dignity Mr Tombe’s dignity
Twenty years ago, if you were a Sudanese man who was forced to marry a goat after having sex with it, you’d take solace that news of your shame would be unlikely to spread beyond the neighbouring villages. Unfortunately for Mr Alifi, his indiscretion came in the digital age – and became one of the first viral news stories.
As pointed out in the comments, Mr Alifi was just the goat’s owner. It was another man, Mr Tombe, who actually did the deed. Apologies and thanks to readers for drawing attention to the error. (#51 Unchallenged journalistic inaccuracy?)

37) Personal reinvention
How can you forge a new identity at university when your Facebook is plastered with photos of the "old" you?

38) Viktor Yanukovych
The Orange Revolution in Ukraine was organised by a cabal of students and young activists who exploited the power of the web to mobilise resistance against the old regime, and sweep Viktor Yushchenko to power.

39) The insurance ring-round
Their adverts may grate, but insurance comparison websites have killed one of the most tedious annual chores

40) Undiscovered artists
Posting paintings to deviantART and Flickr – or poems to writebuzz – could not be easier. So now the garret-dwellers have no excuses.

41) The usefulness of reference pages at the front of diaries
If anyone still digs out their diaries to check what time zone Lisbon is in, or how many litres there are to a gallon, we don’t know them.

42) The nervous thrill of the reunion
You’ve spent the past five years tracking their weight-gain on Facebook, so meeting up with your first love doesn’t pack the emotional punch it once did.

43) Solitaire
The original computer timewaster has been superseded by the more alluring temptations of the web. Ditto Minesweeper.

44) Trust in Nigerian businessmen and princes
Some gift horses should have their mouths very closely inspected.

45) Prostitute calling cards/ kerb crawling
Sex can be marketed more cheaply, safely and efficiently on the web than the street corner.

46) Staggered product/film releases
Companies are becoming increasingly draconian in their anti-piracy measure, but are finally beginning to appreciate that forcing British consumers to wait six months to hand over their money is not a smart business plan.

47) Footnotes
Made superfluous by the link, although Wikipedia is fighting a brave rearguard action.

48) Grand National trips to the bookmaker
Having a little flutter is much more fun when you don’t have to wade though a shop of drunks and ne’er-do-wells

49) Fanzines
Blogs and fansites offer greater freedom and community interaction than paper fanzines, and can be read by many more people.

50) Your lunchbreak
Did you leave your desk today? Or snaffle a sandwich while sending a few personal emails and checking the price of a week in Istanbul?

 

Filed under: Article of the Week , Internet

Global Warming Reverses Long-Term Arctic Cooling

 

Humans and climate change can take credit for a much warmer Arctic, according to new research

By David Biello

Courtesy: The Scientific American

 

Based on its long-term orbit, Earth should be heading into an ice age. But instead of continuing to cool—as it had been for at least the past 2,000 years—the Arctic has started to warm. And the reason is humans’ impact on the composition of the atmosphere, new research suggests.

To look at this trend, geologist Darrell Kaufman of Northern Arizona University and a consortium of colleagues reconstructed Arctic temperatures decade by decade over the past two millennia by pulling

sediment cores from the bottoms of 14 Arctic lakes—backed up by records in tree rings and ice cores.

In warm summers, relatively more sediment is deposited thanks to

more meltwater from the glaciers that create these lakes, and the abundance of algae in the sediment layers reveals the length of growing seasons. So, these sediment cores provide a picture of the climate that goes back millennia.

The record they reveal is of a cooling pole. As the Earth has moved slightly further away from the sun due to

vagaries in its orbit—it’s roughly 600,000 miles further away now than in 1 C.E.—some parts of the Arctic received as much as 6 watts per meter squared less sunlight than in 1 C.E. That, in turn, has led to a cooling rate of roughly 0.2 degrees Celsius per 1,000 years. But at some point in the 20th century, that trend stopped and reversed.

"Orbitally driven summer insolation continued to decrease through the 20th century, implying that summer temperatures should have continued to cool," the researchers wrote this week in the September 4 edition of Science. "Instead, the

shift to higher temperatures during the 20th century reversed the millennial scale cooling trend."

In the past decade, summertime Arctic temperatures have been 1.4 degrees Celsius higher on average than would be expected and 1.2 degrees Celsius higher than in 1900. And the Arctic is merely the trendsetter—the northern-most latitudes are among the

fastest-warming parts of the globe due to various feedbacks. For example, melting Arctic sea ice exposes more ocean, which in turn absorbs more of the sunlight’s warmth and further increases warming.
A graph of the warming trend largely replicates the so-called "hockey stick," a previous reconstruction that showed relatively stable temperatures suddenly spiking upward in recent history. It also accurately reveals the impact of historical climate events like the Little Ice Age, which took place from the 17th to 19th centuries.

Without greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, a true ice age might have been expected as a 21,000-year wobble in Earth’s tilt relative to the sun that shifts the

intensity of sunlight. That cooling trend wouldn’t have reversed naturally for at least another 4,000 years. Yet, despite this decline, Arctic temperatures have soared and the most likely culprit is the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from fossil fuel burning, forest clearing and other human activity, Kaufmann and his colleagues wrote.

"The most recent 10-year interval (1999–2008) was the warmest of the past 200 decades," they wrote. "Temperatures were about 1.4 degrees C higher than the projected values based on the linear cooling trend and were even more anomalous than previously documented."

Of course, summer temperatures when the warming portion of the wobble cycle peaked roughly 7,500 years ago were at least 0.8 degrees Celsius warmer than 20th-century average temperatures. Nonetheless, this current, countercyclical warming trend will likely continue—potentially exceeding that earlier warming—unless

greenhouse gas levels begin to come back down. In the meantime, polar denizens adapted for the cooler climate can blame humanity for a balmier Arctic.

Filed under: Article of the Week , Global warming

Internet Turns 40

A simple data exchange sparked the age of the Internet.

Sept. 2, 2009 — Forty years ago today, two computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, exchanged meaningless data in the first test of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), an experimental military network.

This exchange would plant the seed for what would become the most advanced communications network in all of human history: the Internet.

The above photograph features a rudimentary concept sketch of ARPANET illustrated in 1969. By 1970, ARPANET had connected the two coasts of the United States. Three years later, the network went global.

The 1970s also ushered in e-mail and the TCP/IP communications protocols, which allowed multiple networks to connect — and formed the Internet. The ’80s gave birth to an addressing system with suffixes like ".com" and ".org" in widespread use today.

The Internet didn’t become a household word until the ’90s, though, after a British physicist, Tim Berners-Lee, invented the Web, a subset of the Internet that makes it easier to link resources across disparate locations. Meanwhile, service providers like America Online connected millions of people for the first time.

In 2008, the world’s Internet population hit 1.5 billion. At the same time, China overtook the United States in the number of connected users.

No one could have predicted social networking or viral video. Nor could anyone have imagined the economic and political impact that resulted from that simple exchange four decades ago.

Source: Associated Press

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Filed under: Article of the Week , Internet

Swine Flu, Influenza A(H1N1)

 

 

What is the new influenza A(H1N1)?

This is a new influenza A(H1N1) virus that has never before circulated among humans. This virus is not related to previous or current human seasonal influenza viruses.

How do people become infected with the virus?

The virus is spread from person-to-person. It is transmitted as easily as the normal seasonal flu and can be passed to other people by exposure to infected droplets expelled by coughing or sneezing that can be inhaled, or that can contaminate hands or surfaces.

To prevent spread, people who are ill should cover their mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing, stay home when they are unwell, clean their hands regularly, and keep some distance from healthy people, as much as possible.

There are no known instances of people getting infected by exposure to pigs or other animals.

The place of origin of the virus is unknown.

What are the signs and symptoms of infection?

Signs of influenza A(H1N1) are flu-like, including fever, cough, headache, muscle and joint pain, sore throat and runny nose, and sometimes vomiting and diarrhoea.

Why are we so worried about this flu when hundreds of thousands die every year from seasonal epidemics?

Seasonal influenza occurs every year and the viruses change each year – but many people have some immunity to the circulating virus which helps limit infections. Some countries also use seasonal influenza vaccines to reduce illness and deaths.

But influenza A(H1N1) is a new virus and one to which most people have no or little immunity and, therefore, this virus could cause more infections than are seen with seasonal flu. WHO is working closely with manufacturers to expedite the development of a safe and effective vaccine but it will be some months before it is available.

The new influenza A(H1N1) appears to be as contagious as seasonal influenza, and is spreading fast particularly among young people (from ages 10 to 45). The severity of the disease ranges from very mild symptoms to severe illnesses that can result in death. The majority of people who contract the virus experience the milder disease and recover without antiviral treatment or medical care. Of the more serious cases, more than half of hospitalized people had underlying health conditions or weak immune systems.

Most people experience mild illness and recover at home. When should someone seek medical care?

A person should seek medical care if they experience shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, or if a fever continues more than three days. For parents with a young child who is ill, seek medical care if a child has fast or labored breathing, continuing fever or convulsions (seizures).

Supportive care at home – resting, drinking plenty of fluids and using a pain reliever for aches – is adequate for recovery in most cases. (A non-aspirin pain reliever should be used by children and young adults because of the risk of Reye’s syndrome.)

Use of antiviral drugs against influenza A(H1N1)

For what purposes can antiviral drugs be used against influenza A(H1N1)?

So far most people who have contracted the new A (H1N1) virus have experienced influenza-like symptoms (such as sore throat, cough, runny nose, fever, malaise, headache, joint/muscle pain) and recovered without antiviral treatment.

Antiviral drugs may reduce the symptoms and duration of illness, just as they do for seasonal influenza. They also may contribute to preventing severe disease and death. Influenza A (H1N1) is a new virus and only a small number of people with the infection have been treated for it with antiviral drugs. WHO is in touch with public health authorities and clinicians in affected countries and is gathering information about how effective the drugs are.

To which antiviral drugs does this influenza virus respond?

There are two classes of antiviral drugs for influenza: inhibitors of neuraminidase such as oseltamivir and zanamivir; and adamantanes, such as amantadine and rimantadine. Tests on viruses obtained from patients in Mexico and the United States have indicated that current new H1N1 viruses are sensitive to neuraminidase inhibitors, but that the viruses are resistant to the other class, the adamantanes.

Could the virus become resistant to oseltamivir and zanamivir?

Resistance can develop to antiviral drugs used for influenza. Therefore, WHO and its partners are monitoring antiviral drug resistance.

Under what circumstances should antiviral drugs be administered?

Antiviral drugs are to be used according to national pandemic influenza preparedness plans. Public health authorities in some countries have decided to treat patients likely to have this disease as a part of public health measures.

Where antiviral drugs are available for treatment, clinicians should make decisions based on assessment of the individual patient’s risk. Risks versus benefits should also be evaluated on a case by case basis.

Should I take an antiviral now just in case I catch the new virus?

No. You should only take an antiviral, such as oseltamivir or zanamivir, if your health care provider advises you to do so. Individuals should not buy medicines to prevent or fight this new influenza without a prescription, and they should exercise caution in buying antivirals over the internet.

Warning on purchase of antivirals without a prescription, including via the Internet [pdf 35kb]

What is WHO doing about getting antiviral drugs to countries as preparation for a pandemic?

WHO’s first priority is to provide an emergency stock of antiviral drugs to countries that have no or insufficient stock of the drugs and lack the capacity to procure these drugs themselves.

WHO is also working with Member States, donors and other groups that have stockpiles and are willing to share these with WHO for distribution to countries in need.

Which drug will be provided, and how much of it does WHO have available?

WHO had a global stockpile of approximately 5 million adult treatment courses of oseltamivir. Part of this stockpile has already been distributed through the WHO Regional Offices, which are handling allocation and distribution. WHO is currently distributing the remaining 3 million adult treatment courses of this stockpile to developing countries in need.

WHO continues to assess needs and to work with manufacturers to secure more donations of antivirals. More antiviral drugs will be distributed once these donations are received.

Which countries will receive the drug, and how will they be selected?

WHO has arranged the first deployment of antiviral drugs from the WHO stockpile to 72 countries. Priority was given to vulnerable countries, taking into consideration national manufacturing and procurement capacity. As necessary, other countries will be supported through regional office stockpiles.

What if the initial emergency deployment turns out to be inadequate?

WHO is in discussion with manufacturers regarding the potential need for scaling up production. It is WHO’s understanding that manufacturers have plans for producing large numbers of treatments quickly.

WHO will work on behalf of its Member States to secure further antivirals as needed, either through donations or purchase at the lowest possible price.

How it spreads ?

The safety of pork

Is it safe to eat pork and pork products?

Yes. influenza A(H1N1) has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork (pig meat) or other products derived from pigs. The influenza A(H1N1) virus is killed by cooking temperatures of 160°F/70°C, corresponding to the general guidance for the preparation of pork and other meat.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

The five keys to safer food

- Keep clean
- Separate raw and cooked
- Cook thoroughly
- Keep food at safe temperatures
- Use safe water and raw materials

:: Briefing note on the Five Keys [pdf 180kb]
This note gives an overview of the Five Keys to Safer Food Programme, from the development of the message to implementations in countries.

:: Five keys to safer food poster
Introduced in 2001, the poster, now available in more than 50 languages, is used as the basis for educational projects all over the world.

:: Five keys to safer food manual
The manual elaborates the food safety information provided in the WHO Five keys to safety food poster and suggests ways to communicate the message.

:: The Five Keys to Safer Food Training Programme
Pilot tested in South Africa, Tunisia and Belize, the training programme is being finalized and will be published in June 2009.

:: Building on the Five Keys to Safer Food concept: The 3 Fives
Introduced in 2007, The 3 Fives: Five Keys to Safer Food, Five Keys to a Healthy Diet, Five Keys to Appropriate Physical Activity, were used to promote healthy lifestyles during the Beijing Olympics.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

What can I do?

What can I do to protect myself from catching influenza A(H1N1)?

The main route of transmission of the new influenza A(H1N1) virus seems to be similar to seasonal influenza, via droplets that are expelled by speaking, sneezing or coughing. You can prevent getting infected by avoiding close contact with people who show influenza-like symptoms (trying to maintain a distance of about 1 metre if possible) and taking the following measures:

• avoid touching your mouth and nose;
• clean hands thoroughly with soap and water, or cleanse them with an alcohol-based hand rub on a regular basis (especially if touching the mouth and nose, or surfaces that are potentially contaminated);
• avoid close contact with people who might be ill;
• reduce the time spent in crowded settings if possible;
• improve airflow in your living space by opening windows;
• practise good health habits including adequate sleep, eating nutritious food, and keeping physically active.

What about using a mask? What does WHO recommend?

If you are not sick you do not have to wear a mask.

If you are caring for a sick person, you can wear a mask when you are in close contact with the ill person and dispose of it immediately after contact, and cleanse your hands thoroughly afterwards.

When and how to use a mask?

If you are sick and must travel or be around others, cover your mouth and nose.

Using a mask correctly in all situations is essential. Incorrect use actually increases the chance of spreading infection.

How do I know if I have influenza A(H1N1)?

You will not be able to tell the difference between seasonal flu and influenza A(H1N1) without medical help. Typical symptoms to watch for are similar to seasonal viruses and include fever, cough, headache, body aches, sore throat and runny nose. Only your medical practitioner and local health authority can confirm a case of influenza A(H1N1).

What should I do if I think I have the illness?

If you feel unwell, have high fever, cough or sore throat:

• stay at home and keep away from work, school or crowds;
• rest and take plenty of fluids;
• cover your nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing and, if using tissues, make sure you dispose of them carefully. Clean your hands immediately after with soap and water or cleanse them with an alcohol-based hand rub;
• if you do not have a tissue close by when you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth as much as possible with the crook of your elbow;
• use a mask to help you contain the spread of droplets when you are around others, but be sure to do so correctly;
• inform family and friends about your illness and try to avoid contact with other people;
• If possible, contact a health professional before traveling to a health facility to discuss whether a medical examination is necessary.

Should I take an antiviral now just in case I catch the new virus?

No. You should only take an antiviral, such as oseltamivir or zanamivir, if your health care provider advises you to do so. Individuals should not buy medicines to prevent or fight this new influenza without a prescription, and they should exercise caution in buying antivirals over the Internet.

Warning on purchase of antivirals without a prescription [pdf 35kb]

What about breastfeeding? Should I stop if I am ill?

No, not unless your health care provider advises it. Studies on other influenza infections show that breastfeeding is most likely protective for babies – it passes on helpful maternal immunities and lowers the risk of respiratory disease. Breastfeeding provides the best overall nutrition for babies and increases their defense factors to fight illness.

When should someone seek medical care?

A person should seek medical care if they experience shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, or if a fever continues more than three days. For parents with a young child who is ill, seek medical care if a child has fast or labored breathing, continuing fever or convulsions (seizures).

Supportive care at home – resting, drinking plenty of fluids and using a pain reliever for aches – is adequate for recovery in most cases. (A non-aspirin pain reliever should be used by children and young adults because of the risk of Reye’s syndrome.)

Should I go to work if I have the flu but am feeling OK?

No. Whether you have influenza A(H1N1) or a seasonal influenza, you should stay home and away from work through the duration of your symptoms. This is a precaution that can protect your work colleagues and others.

Can I travel?

If you are feeling unwell or have symptoms of influenza, you should not travel. If you have any doubts about your health, you should check with your health care provider.

Courtesy: World Health Organization  http://www.who.int/en/ and other sources

Filed under: Article of the Week , Influenza A(H1N1), swine flu, WHO

Ghostwriting ?

For Authors, Ghostwriting Offers Solvency, Stability

by Lynn Neary

August 4, 2009

Courtesy: www.newsweek.com 

 

[A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written material. In music, ghostwriters are used in film score composition, as well as in pop music such as Top 40, country, and hip-hop. The ghostwriter is sometimes acknowledged by the author or publisher for his or her writing services.- wikipedia]

 

When Grant Blackwood got out of the Navy in 1987, he decided he wanted to write thrillers. He knew it might be awhile before he could support himself by writing, but in the meantime he was willing to do whatever it took — including chopping wood and driving a limousine — to make his dream come true.

Twelve years later, Blackwood had his first novel published and figured he was home free. But he quickly learned that becoming a successful novelist is like a series of graduations with no guarantee of what happens afterward.

"You decide to sit down and write the book, and you do it — that’s a little graduation. You finish the book — that’s a little graduation. You find an agent, you find a publisher — that’s another one," says Blackwood. "After going through all those hurdles, you think ‘OK, I’ve made it. I’ve broken that last wall.’ But the sad truth is you’ve only come up against a bigger wall."

That bigger wall is getting your book sold — and then selling the next one. Jenny Siler, who also writes thrillers, got her career off to a great start when her first novel brought in a $150,000 advance.

"That enabled me to start writing professionally and support myself through my writing," says Siler. "[But] as time went on, my books became more literary and my advances became smaller."

Siler’s most recent advance was $20,000, and though her husband also brings in money and they live modestly, that still isn’t enough to support her, since it takes her between 12 and 18 months to write a book.

So both Siler and Blackwood have chosen to supplement their incomes by turning to ghostwriting.

For Blackwood, the decision came when the sales of his novels started dwindling. After his publisher turned down his fourth novel, Blackwood’s editor promised he’d help him find work.

"It wasn’t more than six months later when he called, and he said, ‘I have this book. It’s perfect for you. It’s right up your alley, and we want to pay you for it,’ " Blackwood says.

The way I look at these ghostwriting and co-writing projects is that the more financial freedom that I have to take some time with my own projects, the better off I’ll be as a writer and an artist.

- Jenny Siler

Blackwood now writes for popular thriller franchises he can’t name. "They give me the characters and the world they live and work in, and I do the rest", he says.

Blackwood has ghostwritten five books, and as much as he likes being paid to write, he admits there are some drawbacks to being a ghostwriter:

"You don’t get credit on the cover. You don’t get royalties," he says. "It’s kind of a contract deal. You write it, you give it to them, and your attachment from there financially ends. And you are not your sole master."

Siler, meanwhile, is working on her first ghostwriting assignment. She got into it after she co-authored a book with art thief Myles Connor. The two worked well together, and Siler got credit for her work. She didn’t expect to do that kind of work again, but then she was offered an interesting and lucrative ghostwriting project she felt she couldn’t turn down.

Although Siler’s own books are fiction, both these projects are nonfiction. And because she is writing about someone’s else’s life, Siler feels she has to put aside her own way of doing things.

"I really feel like it’s important to honor that person’s story," she says. "I mean, I’m there to question the facts and to make sure that everything is factual. But I’m not there to comment. I’m there to portray them as they want to be portrayed."

For now, Siler has put her own writing aside, but she plans to get back to it once the new book is done. She figures she is buying herself some time in the future.

"The way I look at these ghostwriting and co-writing projects is that the more financial freedom that I have to take some time with my own projects, the better off I’ll be as a writer and an artist," she says.

Blackwood isn’t working on his own writing, either. Instead, he has a new book coming out this September, a Clive Cussler novel called Spartan Gold, which he’s getting a co-writing credit for.

Blackwood finds ghostwriting satisfying, but he knows a lot of writers wouldn’t.

"You do have to sacrifice complete control. You do have to be willing to answer to different masters who are sometimes giving you contradictory input. And you have to find that middle ground, and you have to do it in a diplomatic way. And that can be tough for someone who lives their life in a creative way," he says.

Still, both Blackwood and Siler say ghostwriting may not be perfect, but getting paid to write is a pretty good life.

Filed under: Article of the Week , Ghostwriting

Deep Joshi wins Magsaysay Award 2009

Deep Joshi is an Indian social worker and NGO activist and the receipent of 2009 Magsaysay awards announced.He was recognised for his vision and leadership in bringing professionalism to the NGO movement in India.He co-founded an non-profit organisation, Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) of which he is the Executive Director.

Deep Joshi took his engineering degree from National Institute of Technology, Allahabad and also holds a masters engineering degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a another on management from Sloan School, MIT.

Returning to India, Deep Joshi worked as a Ford Foundation program officer. He has decades of social development work in India and in 1983, also co-founded an non-profit organisation, Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN),that recurits college graduates to do community work.Pradan was also jointly awarded NGO of the Year 2006 at the first ever India NGO Award event.

He also advises the Government of India on poverty alleviation strategies and also was a member of Working Group on Rainfed Areas for the Eleventh Five Year Planning Commission, Govt of India.

In 2006, Deep received the Harmony Silver Award for his contributions to society.Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) announced Deep among others as winner of 2009 Magsaysay awards.

 

Courtesy: Wikipedia

 

 

Filed under: Article of the Week , Deep Joshi, Magsaysay Award

Mahatma Gandhi Peace award conferred on Aung San Suu Kyi

 

The pro-democracy Myanmar leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been felicitated with the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation here.

The award was bestowed by the South African-based Mahatma Gandhi Foundation.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Born 19 June 1945 in Rangoon, is Prime Minister-elect,a pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma, and a noted prisoner of conscience and advocate of nonviolent resistance. Aung San Suu Kyi was the third child in her family. Her name is derived from three relatives; "Aung San" from her father, "Kyi" from her mother and "Suu" from her grandmother.Suu Kyi won the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. In 1992 she was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding by the Government of India for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship. She is currently under detention, with the Burmese junta repeatedly extending her detention. According to the results of the 1990 general election, Suu Kyi earned the right to be Prime Minister, as leader of the winning National League for Democracy party, but her detention by the military junta prevented her from assuming that role.

She is frequently called Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; Daw is not part of her name, but an honorific similar to madam for older, revered women, literally meaning "aunt".Strictly speaking, her given name is equivalent to her full name, but it is acceptable to refer to her as "Ms. Suu Kyi" or Dr. Suu Kyi, since those syllables serve to distinguish her from her father, General Aung San, who is considered to be the father of modern-day Burma.

Her father, Aung San, founded the modern Burmese army and negotiated Burma’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1947; he was assassinated by his rivals in the same year. She grew up with her mother, Khin Kyi, and two brothers, Aung San Lin and Aung San Oo in Rangoon. Her favourite brother Aung San Lin drowned in a pool accident when Suu Kyi was eight. Her elder brother migrated to San Diego, California, becoming a United States citizen.^[After Lin’s death, the family moved to a house by Inya Lake where she met people of very different backgrounds, political views and religions. Suu Kyi was educated in English Catholic schools for much of her childhood in Burma where she was noted as having a talent for learning languages.She is a Theravada Buddhist.

Suu Kyi’s mother, Daw Khin Kyi, gained prominence as a political figure in the newly-formed Burmese government. She was appointed Burmese ambassador to India and Nepal in 1960, and Aung San Suu Kyi followed her there, graduating from Lady Shri Ram College with a degree in politics in New Delhi in 1964.Suu Kyi continued her education at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, obtaining a B.A. degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in 1969. After graduating, she lived in New York City with a family friend and worked at the United Nations for three years, primarily on budget matters, writing daily to her future husband Michael.In 1972, Aung San Suu Kyi married Dr. Michael Aris, a scholar of Tibetan culture, living abroad in Bhutan.The following year she gave birth to their first son, Alexander Aris, in London; their second son, Kim, was born in 1977. Following this, she earned a Ph.D. at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 1985. She was elected an Honourary Fellow in 1990. She also worked for the government of the Union of Burma.

In 1988 Suu Kyi returned to Burma at first to tend for her ailing mother but later to lead the pro-democracy movement. Michael’s visit in Christmas 1995 turned out to be the last time that he and Suu Kyi met, as Suu Kyi remained in Burma and the Burmese dictatorship denied him any further entry visas.Michael was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997 which was later found to be terminal. Despite appeals from prominent figures and organizations, including the United States, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Pope John Paul II, the Burmese government would not grant Michael a visa, saying that they did not have the facilities to care for him, and instead urged Aung San Suu Kyi to leave the country to visit him. She was at that time temporarily free from house arrest but was unwilling to depart, fearing that she would be refused re-entry if she left, as she did not trust the junta’s assurance that she could return.

Michael died on his 53rd birthday on March 27, 1999. Since 1989, when his wife was first placed under house arrest, he had seen her only five times, the last of which was for Christmas in 1995. She also remains separated from her children, who live in the United Kingdom.

On 2 May 2008, after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, Suu Kyi lost her roof and was living in virtual darkness after losing electricity in her dilapidated lakeside residence. She used candles at night as she was not provided any generator set.

 

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DASSK

Article Courtesy: Wikipedia

Filed under: Article of the Week , Aung San Suu Kyi, DASSK