The Resting Flamingos

Captured at the Ragunan Zoo (Jakarta, Indonesia)

Some interesting facts about the flamingos:

Flamingos live an average of 20 to 30 years. They rest by standing on one leg. The ‘knee’ of the flamingo is in fact an ankle joint and the lower leg bends forward.

Their pink or reddish color comes from the algae, diatoms, and small crustaceans the birds eat. They also eat aquatic insects. 

Flamingos eat with their head upside down in the water, so they can suck water and food in with the front of their bill. Mud and water drain out the back of the bill. The food is caught by finger-like projections called lamellae in the bill/mouth. Flamingos hold their breath when feeding.

Source: thejunglestore.com

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Is Your Child Suffering from ADD?

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Are your kids very naughty and troublesome? Do they give you a lot of headache and are a real pain in the back? However hard you scream they just simply ignore your warnings and pleadings and leave you exhausted and worn out. Naughtiness can be quite common in children but at times they just cross the boundaries. At that point of time it is essential that you take the matter seriously and consult a specialist and check whether your kids are suffering from ADD or Attention Deficiency Disorder.

What is ADD?

Speaking broadly, ADD is a chronic disorder or a group of symptoms that affect the power of concentration, focus, mood and socializing skills. ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) as it is more commonly known nowadays is quite common in children. About the 1-5% kids in the world suffer from ADD and in the US alone about 10% of kids are found to be having ADD. Generally boys are 3 times more susceptible to be having ADD than girls. It is one of the most common mental disorders in children and is generally observed in kids below 12.

How would you know if your kid has ADD?

·         Your kids suffer from a deficiency in attention which is the most common symptom of ADD.

·         He/she is too fidgety, squirms all the time and is very restless

·         Very forgetful in nature, misplaces things and cannot remember to pick them up or do their tasks

·         Being very fidgety they have difficulty remaining seated and so, avoid things that require some levels of concentration

·         Do not follow instructions and are easily distracted by sights and sounds. This results in making very careless mistakes

·         Suffers from excessive talking and interrupts and intrudes upon others. Always in the want of attention

·         Cannot wait for their turn to come

·         They have a tendency to daydream and keep themselves away from reality

·         They are totally disorganized and have a tendency to avoid the details that go into every action

·         Most of the times they jump from one task to another and so, their tasks remain half-finished

·         They have a tendency to throw tantrums and scream about

These are some of the general symptoms that are present in ADD affected kids. Having found out the symptoms, you may wonder how to treat this and find a cure for it.

How do you deal with children having ADD?

Before going into medication, there are some simple ways to treat your kids with ADD problems. Basically, have a talk with the teacher of your kids’ class and make them place your kids on the front benches. Also, try to maintain eye to eye contact with your kids and be very precise with the instructions that you give them. Repeat the instructions if necessary and be sure that they understand your instructions very well. Make sure that they do not face changes in their environments quite often as they cannot handle changes very well. Do not give them multiple instructions by just cramming them into your child’s brain – they will all be jumbled up. Be patient and calm with your kids (this can be very tough) and try to be creative in your approach.

Is medication necessary for treating ADD?

Medications may be required if only a psychiatrist refers it. Before that try to change the food pattern of your kid and see if it yields any results. Try to include more proteins in their diets which would help them concentrate better. Fresh fruits, raw vegetables, yoghurt etc can be natural cures for them. Studies on animals have shown that long chain omega-3 fatty acids can have a positive effect upon the brain and these can be found in salmon and walnuts.

In case of medication, the commonly prescribed drug Ritalin increases the secretion of dopamine, the neurotransmitter in the brain. These are kind of stimulants that do not however cause stimulation in the kids but rather help to co-ordinate between the different areas of the brain better.  If administered in the correct dosage they would start working within 45 minutes. It has been found that about 80% of the kids with ADD have responded well to these stimulants. However, there are some side-effects like a decrease in appetite, problems in sleep, sudden involuntary movements, nervousness and mood alterations.

Having gone through a lot of information, it is clear that ADD can be cured with the active participation of parents and others. Parents need to play an active and patient role in helping their kids get into physical activities that increase the levels of dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin in the brain. However ADD is not a disease but a common disorder and there is nothing to be much worried about.

Dr. Olivia Jane Allen is a senior researcher and has wide experience in cases involving about depression treatments, psychiatric services. She writes articles on various aspects of how modern life influences human behavior. Other than her professional field, she loves gardening and cooking. She is happily married with three children.

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Shoulder Pain – When is It Serious?

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Grating pain in the joint, tearing or pinching pain in the muscle; shoulder pain can be incredibly debilitating. Think of how many times a day you move your shoulders. It is one of the most worked joints in our bodies so it is not surprising that many people experience reoccurring shoulder pain.

Some shoulder injuries are little more than a passing annoyance and some require medical attention to avoid prolonged effects. It is can initially be difficult to know when you are experiencing a niggling pain that will go away and when it may be a more serious condition which requires medical treatment or shoulder surgery.

There can be many causes of shoulder pain: incorrect posture while using a computer, performing repetitive tasks, gym or sports injuries, clumsiness, arthritis, and whiplash. Many times we do not even know how our shoulder injury occurred. Some things to consider regarding your shoulder pain:

How did the injury occur? When did the pain start? Your doctor will want to know how the injury occurred. If you are unsure your shoulder pain may be the result of repetitive strain or from incorrect posture at work. A desk, which is too tall or a keyboard incorrectly positioned can strain your shoulders.

How long have you had pain? Sometimes an injury will repair itself with a little rest. Continuous pain, which lasts a number of days, is a sign of a more serious issue. Your doctor will want to know if you experience pain doing certain activities or also when resting your shoulder.

Have you tried over the counter pain medication or hot and cold compresses? Less serious injuries will often be temporarily relieved by over the counter medications, rest and hot or cold compresses. Continuous use of any medication is not encouraged and medical care should be sort if any medication is being used to treat prolonged pain.

Do you have a history of gallbladder problems, or is there a history of the issue in your family? Gallbladder issues can cause referred pain in the right shoulder. Your shoulder pain could be an indicator of some other issue.

Are you experiencing shortness of breath? Sudden shoulder or arm pain can be a symptom of heart attack. If you experience sudden shoulder or arm pain and shortness of breath you should seek medical attention immediately.

If you are concerned about any shoulder injuries or any shoulder pain you should always consult a medical professional who can refer you to the relevant specialist.

Sharon Freeman is a surgeon who writes about Shoulder Surgery and health information for companies like Kaliper Orthopedics.

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Get the Benefits of School Time-tabling Software

Managing a school can be quite difficult. With all the kids, their problems, teachers, books, exams things can go haywire. Among them setting up a time-table for the school can be a real challenge requiring some intensified detailing processes. Fortunately for you this is one front where you can have no worries. A software that can help you manage your school time-schedule will provide you with some relief from having to spend long hours working on a perfect time-table. However, the most important thing is time management and some careful thinking.

Organization is the key to success – it is said that the person or organization that is organized will achieve success than those that are disorganized. To put the right thing at the right place and making use of the resources properly will enable anyone to make things go smoother and most of all, smarter.

What is this software?

It is specialized software that will help you to organize your classes and allot teachers as per the classes. This sounds to be nothing extraordinary, but make an attempt to do things manually and you will realize the point.

What does this software do?

This is specialized software as has been said earlier and it will help you get things organized. It consists of various interfaces and rows and columns that help you look up which slots are occupied and which are empty.

How does this software work?

The interface of the software will enable you to enter data with ease. This data will be set up into the database and stored. Whenever you wish to retrieve the data you will be able to do so with much ease. Updating the data too is not a problem.

How will it help you?

It will help you organize your schedule in a better way. Some of the ways that it will help you are:

•  Allotting the time for teachers
• Preventing overuse or under use of teachers
• Organizing lunch periods
• Making sure that your resources are fully optimized. More important classes like mathematics and science are allotted in the earlier periods so that students can grasp things better in a fresh mind
• Total automation of services and you will be left with nothing much to do
• Freedom from stress, headaches and pressures. You will be able to focus your energies to other important work

What are the benefits of a software over manual time-tabling?

Manual time-tabling is out of date now. It was used before people saw the benefits of computers and the need to simplify processes. Manual time-tables can take up unnecessary time in setting up the columns and entering data accordingly. Then if anything goes wrong all the hard work will be undone. Also there is no automatic updating of data and repeating the cycles. Here, is where a software can be beneficial. You do not have to do much work but just enter data, plan the things and the software will do the rest. Moreover there is security. Also, there is scope for improvement and the ability to handle large amounts of data.

Having considered all the facts, you will definitely see the benefits of a software instead of manual entry. This will also give you much time to channelize it to elsewhere.

Veronica is a teacher and a freelance article writer, recently she has started using timetabling software for maintaining various schedules in her school, she thinks that this time table software is great, thus it has inspired her to write blogs about this so that people can know the benefits of using this school timetable software.

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Solve Your Financial Problems with First Amerigo Loans

Every time you’re in financial emergency situation, you can depend on First Amerigo loans to obtain short term loans. During today’s hard economy when most prices are soaring; cash flow problems commonly happen as your income isn’t sufficient to handle all of your bills. The situation can be worse if it turns out that you must cover unexpected expenses such as medical cost, home renovation or car service; while you don’t have added funds anymore.

 

To get instant required cash, it seemed that many people have decided to apply for short term loans. As mentioned above, you don’t need to search for other online personal loan provider anymore; it’s much recommended for you to visit the official website of First Amerigo loans, as they offer secure, trouble-free and fast online loans.

 

Though you have bad credit score, you still can apply for a personal loan with bad credit there. The loan approval process doesn’t need any credit check and collateral. You can apply the loan online by only filling up the required information and submitting the application at the website.

 

As long as you meet the requirements, you’ll get immediate approval and receive the transferred funds in the next day. So, click here for a short term loan and get the right way out to solve your cash flow problem!

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Happy Monday

For Blue Monday, I’ve some blue things that captured last week. On Wednesday last week, after paying our bills, my husband and I went to a mall since I wanted to have a hair cut. During the way to the mall, in the front of Bogor Presidential Palace (Bogor, West Java, Indonesia), we saw a demonstration that held by some people of West Papua Province. I don’t want to highlight the issue here; but if the problem –military violence to the local people- really happened there, it’s surely need further attention from the central government.

There are some blues on the banner

At the mall, my husband chose and bought these bracelets for me. He's so sweet!

Feeling thirsty, we dropped by a while at a tea bar. It's one brand of tea that we love.

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Albino Burmese Python Snake

These snakes were captured at the snake area inside the Ragunan Zoo (Jakarta, Indonesia). I noticed that there are tens of them in one large cage. All pics were taken through thick display glass. It’s hard to take clear shots as the glass is rather  dusty.

The Burmese Python (Python molurus bivittatus) is the biggest subspecies of the Indian Python and one of the 6 largest snakes in the world, native to a large variation of tropic and subtropic areas of Southern and Southeast Asia.

The Albino Burmese Pythons begin life as bright orange and yellow on a white background color.  Nowadays, the Albino Burmese has become very affordable to get as a pet.  These snakes will grow very large, but usually have very calm and deliberate temperaments (source:constrictors.com).  
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How the Depressives Surf Internet

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Research has shown that the pattern of your Internet use can give some clues to your mental well-being. Your way of spending time online, types of videos you watch, checking your email obsessively suggests the condition of your mental health. Switching frequently among various Internet applications like file downloading to games to chat rooms can give some idea about your state of mind. In a study of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine it is found that there is a difference between the Internet use of a student who has signs of depression and a student who has no symptoms of depression.

Last Year, 216 undergraduate volunteers were recruited at Missouri University of Science and Technology. In the first step, there is a questionnaire for the participants called Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale which is generally used to measure the level of depression in general people. It is shown from the survey that 30 percent of the participants have the symptoms of depression.

From this study we can estimate that 10 to 40 percent of college students experience such symptoms at some point. Next, the campus Internet usage data for the participants was provided by the Information Technology Department of the University. It was not for sneaking whom the students were e-mailing or what they are looking for in the Internet, it was only for checking how they were using the Internet. The information was gathered by the traffic flow collected by the University at the time of troubleshooting network connections.

Finally, when the statistical analysis of the Internet usage data and the depression scores was conducted, two major findings were there. Firstly, it was discovered that the participants who scored high in the depression meter follows a particular trend like high level of sharing files such as movies and music. Secondly, it was noticed that, there is a difference between the style of Internet using among the participants with depression and the participants without depression. For example, there was a frequent using of emails by the participants with depressive symptoms that indicates high level of anxiety. It was researched by the great psychologists Phyllis Schumacher and Janet Morahan-Martin.

Excessively switching among the Internet Applications like games, e-mails and chat rooms indicates the difficulty in concentrating which is a very common depression symptom among students. There are some other characteristic features that show depressive Internet behavior such as high level of gaming, video watching and chatting.

The practical application of this research is to develop a software application that could be installed in the mobile devices or in the home computers to monitor your Internet usage. It will be a cost effective way to understand your mental state and seek medical help as soon as possible because when your Internet usage pattern signals signs of depression it will give you an alert. It will be a great help for the student counselors to understand the depressive behaviors of the students, if this type of software is used at the universities. Medical Science is trying so hard in finding solutions for the mental health problems in young people and I think monitoring Internet usage will be a great help for them.

Dr. Williams has been working on subjects like mental disorders, depression treatment, mental health and now he loves to share his experience through his articles about missouri psychiatrist,  psychiatric services and many more.

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