SOCIAL NETWORKING COULD HELP SAVE AMPHIBIANS

HARNESSING THE FACEBOOK GENERATION’S PHOTO-SHARING HABITS COULD HELP TRACK AMPHIBIANS AROUND THE WORLD.

BY NAOMI LUBICK

You’ve surely heard how tweeting has connected birders through the social media site Twitter. Well, champions of amphibians are linking up the same way. These creatures are disappearing at alarming rates around the globe, from salamanders losing their forest habitat in Central America to frog populations worldwide threatened by a deadly fungus called chytrid. About a third of all amphibian species face extinction. Even as some species vanish, researchers are enlisting the public’s help to find them—and map their locations through an online social network called the Global Amphibian Blitz.

The online portal, hosted by iNaturalist.org and cosponsored by the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, among others, allows people to upload their photos of frogs, salamanders, and their cousins, tagged with geographic locations. Posters can sign on through Facebook, Google, or even Twitter. Hard-to-identify creatures are flagged with question marks; users, experts, or site curators can then attempt to ID them.

So far the resulting map of amphibian sightings has logged photos capturing more than 500 of the 6,000-plus species across the planet—even one, Holdridge’s toad (pictured above), that was presumed to have gone extinct in 2008. The scientist who posted that sighting intentionally used false coordinates in order to protect the population, which highlights some of the problems of relying on a social network to do science. Just as on Facebook, people can lie about their identities, or the origins of their amphibian photos. “It’s pretty much open source,” says Vance Vredenburg of San Francisco State, a cofounder of the project who studies emerging infectious disease in amphibians. But the network also has “powerful checks and balances” from regular users—just like Wikipedia.

Despite its imperfections, the effort could possibly prove priceless. Citizen scientists can be the eyes and feet on the ground for professional herpetologists, who have limited funding and people power, Vredenburg explains. For his own research, Vredenburg fully expects that someone will report a population of yellow-legged frogs that survived chytrid but his team missed. Clues to how such populations handle the onslaught might help researchers save other amphibians.

Article source- http://www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/conservation/social-networking-could-help-save-amphibians

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What a Positive Outlook in Life Can Do for You

Aside from assisting you attain your goals, an optimistic disposition in life also permits you to forge meaningful relationships and touch other people's lives. However, it may be quite easy to utter that you will probably be a positive person. However, being sincerely positive in life is another matter than simply saying that you are going to be one. Do you genuinely practice positivity? Are you now wondering how this could be applied in your everyday life, not just in small measures, but in a constant, habitual way?

Acknowledge the Negative.

Most people get the wrong concept that optimism indicates getting devoid of any negative thoughts or feelings. That would be utopia, with no more room toward development. Being positive entails acknowledging the negative, but not surrendering to it. Naturally, undesirable notions can nonetheless spring up within your mind, concerns will worry you, and distressing recollections can generate feelings like anger and loathing. As an alternative to containing them, just acknowledge and accept them as they are, and insist that they will not damage your moment. As the saying goes, "Pain is inevitable. Suffering is an option."

Never Compare.

Never compare yourself to others. Indeed, once in a while you might notice yourself swooning at another someone's high-end gadgets or outgoing personality, but do not reach a point where you feel terrible about yourself. Every entity is unique, and you might not have an outgoing personality, but you will be a mindful and thoughtful introvert.

Widen Your Abilities.

As an alternative to dwelling on what you don't have, focus on your talents. Hone them and learn new things. A talent not shared and honed is a huge waste. Life coach programs focus on developing individual's skills as a portion of the procedure to obtain objectives.

Pause.

With everything so loud and all so busy nowadays, peace and quiet has been neglected. No matter how hectic your schedule is, attempt to allot even just several minutes to pause and stay calm. Pray, meditate, recite a mantra within your mind, listen to relaxing music, whatever does it for you. Pausing creates a sense of stability and builds up your intuition, as a professional life coach will most likely agree.

Live in the Present.

Becoming positive is also being elated; however, joy is just not a objective, but a state of being. Although happiness is characterized by elated emotions, it's it really is an attitude of the heart, a choice which you merely make. To be happy indicates to take pleasure in the present moment. According to the works of Eckhart Tolle, the present is all there is, and worrying about the future and gripping to the past blinds you from acknowledging what is here. Taking pleasure in the present is a portion of professional life coaching programs that aid people fulfill private goals.

Joining an Online Dating Site? All Tips No Tricks!

Online dating sites have been around for years now, assisting more than hundreds of partners around the globe to find their one true love.

More individuals discover online dating sites more dependable and fun instead of meeting friends of friends, because in this manner they have a chance to talk and get to know each other before eventually seeing one another.

Since we are talking about how online dating operates and what are the benefits you can get from this, I have listed down some do's and don'ts of online dating.

Tip #1

Do not share your personal or financial details to anyone you have never seen or met before - individuals you don't know or simply just anyone who's not familiar.

Do not send money to someone you just met online, especially wire transfers. Always keep in mind that by using wire transfer the sender doesn't have protection against loss or scammers. In addition, with wire transfer overseas, it is really impossible to reverse the transaction or trace the money after sending.

Do not give your credit card details, or any bank information. I guess that's a no brainer right?

Tip #2

Here are certain things that you may want to pay attention to when interacting with different people online. You may be dealing with a scammer if you are asked for the following details

1. He or she will ask you to talk or chat outside email or any messaging service.

2. He or she suddenly talks about destiny or fate.

3. He or she might state that he/she was recently widowed or left by his or her partner.

4. He or she might demand your address and tell you that he or she might send out some flowers or gifts.

5. He or she may declare that she or he is living in the US but currently travelling, living or working abroad.

6. Lastly, he or she requests for money.

If in case you may come across these strange things, you might want to reject that person and never talk to him or her.

Tip #3

Always bear in mind what your real intentions are when making an account on these online dating sites. You have to always remember that these sites have their pros and cons and it is up to you on how you'll manage yourself given these situations. Finding someone whom you want to share your whole life with shouldn't be expensive. That someone should value, respect and love you for what you are, because that is the most important part of being in love.

Online dating sites should assist you when finding someone you want to share your lifetime with. Let it be your tool to a happy marriage or a happy relationship. Not a tool to having financial problems because you gave your account details to someone you don't know and someone who will abuse you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6724866

Goodwizz team wishes everyone a happy and safe experience with us. Visit and join 111K profiles waiting for you at http://www.goodwizz.com . Its free!!

Psychotherapy: Love Cures?

Sigmund Freud in writing to Carl Jung said, 'psychoanalysis is in essence a cure through love'. However, the L-word has been avoided in psychotherapy and almost avoided as a four-letter word!

Nevertheless, reality presses home because 'love' has been smuggled into the counselling process using euphemisms such as 'unconditional positive regard', 'transference', 'counter-transference', 'empathic attunement', 'warmth', 'rapport', 'alliance', 'holding environment' and even 'intersubjective field'!

These euphemisms, however, are not to be entirely discounted-even if some rely more especially on being related to a particular form of therapy--for they express various features of therapeutic love.

Not romantic or erotic love: these forms of love are clearly not permitted in therapy (even though a past master of therapy, Carl Jung, became sexually involved with one of his patients who survived the ordeal to become an outstanding psychiatrist herself!). This give and take of 'love' takes place within the confines of a professional healing relationship subject to the ethical standards of the appropriate profession involved.

One way to understand the problems many clients bring to therapy is to understand them as 'love phobias' (Stephen Diamond, 2011). The client is afraid to love another and consequently afraid to be loved in return. Possibly s/he was brought up by a depressed parent who was unresponsive to her cries for attention or for holding if she were hurt. She then 'decides' not to look for love anymore because of the fear of being rejected.

Imagine such a person in a marriage or relationship that requires a flow of love between the two people in order to be an intimate relationship at all. Erich Fromm went so far as to say, that only by loving another can one be loved. Love in this context includes recognition of the uniqueness of the other and full acceptance of that uniqueness.

In this regard it is good to be reminded that Jesus Christ's recital of the greatest commandments both call for Love. First to love God with all one's being and then second to love neighbour as one's self.

But how does one love if one cannot love, if one lacks the love-ability?

We can only learn to love by being and feeling loved and therefore loveable. Despite Fromm's edict that we must love in order to be loved the New Testament has reversed this order by saying that 'we love Him [God] because he first loved us' (1 John 4.19, KJV). We were/are loved by God [first] therefore we love God!

Loving God is a foundation for loving others because others are made in the image of God. Why wouldn't we therefore love others made in His image? Still these words may be just words in an old Bible for some; and that is where psychotherapy may help. For in good psychotherapy the client receives consistent attention, support, acceptance, nurture, 'holding' and caring. The client receives 'love' from the therapist and in return usually experiences love (admiration, respect, honour, trust).

This mutual love dynamic can have a powerful effect upon the client's presenting problem, particularly if that problem is a relationship difficulty. This conclusion follows because overcoming a 'love phobia' means being more able to love and more able to be loved which are the prerequisites for an intimate relationship of quality.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6735064

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