The Prague Declaration “Towards An Information Literate Society”

We the participants at the Information Literacy Meeting of Experts, organized by the US National Commission on Library and Information Science and the National Forum on Information Literacy, with the support of UNESCO, representing 23 countries from all of the seven major continents, held in Prague, the Czech Republic, September 20—23, 2003, propose the following basic Information Literacy principles:

• The creation of an Information Society is key to social, cultural and economic development of nations and communities, institutions and individuals in the 21st century and beyond.
• Information Literacy encompasses knowledge of one’s information concerns and needs, and the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize and effectively create, use and communicate information to address issues or problems at hand; it is a prerequisite for participating effectively in the Information Society, and is part of the basic human right of life long learning.
• Information Literacy, in conjunction with access to essential information and effective use of information and communication technologies, plays a leading role in reducing the inequities within and among countries and peoples, and in promoting tolerance and mutual understanding through information use in multicultural and multilingual contexts.
• Governments should develop strong interdisciplinary programs to promote Information Literacy nationwide as a necessary step in closing the digital divide through the creation of an information literate citizenry, an effective civil society and a competitive workforce.
• Information Literacy is a concern to all sectors of society and should be tailored by each to its specific needs and context.
• Information Literacy should be an integral part of Education for All, which can contribute critically to the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the above context, we propose for the urgent consideration of governments, civil society and the international community the following policy recommendations:
• The September 2003 Prague Conference Report should be studied and its recommendations, strategic plans and research initiatives implemented expeditiously as appropriate (the report will be disseminated in December 2003).
• The progress in, and opportunities for implementation of the above should be assessed by an International Congress on Information Literacy, which could be organized in the first half of 2005.
• The possibility of inclusion of Information Literacy within the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003—2012) should be considered by the international community.

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How To Know The Best Stock To Buy

which stock to buyA lot of stock traders and investors are frequently asking “what is the best stock to buy right now?” There are a thousand stocks available in the stock market and choosing the right one that would lead you to profit can be a daunting task. Playing the stock market is like a thrilling game of gambling and to win you need to choose the right stock against the wrong ones. A grave mistake some new traders make is the belief that they can make profit from stock trading by following a set of predefined theoretical methods or strategies.
There is no fail proof strategy that can guarantee success in the stock bought because there a lot of factors that can impact on the price of a stock which are both foreseen and unforeseen, even at that the impact may be minimal or huge on the price. But all these notwithstanding some steps can still be taken to find profitable stocks.
Some of the things to look out for that will help you determine if the stock of a company would be profitable in the long run are as follows:
1.Ensure you have a fundamental knowledge of the company stocks that you wish to buy, you must know earning growth, P/E ratio etc.
2.Never buy blind stocks, guessing to make a stock purchase would only land you losses.
3.Study the past performance of the company stock, look at weekly, monthly and yearly reports.
4.Keep track of all news relating to the company you are buying the stock, television news and the Internet are the fastest ways of getting the info.
You must also have an investment plan. This is a kind of guide that will help you answer the question “what profitable stocks should I buy?” With this you can be confident that whatever buying decision you make would be in conformity to your predetermined profit objectives.
The best investment plan is the securing of an equity investment fund. This fund will be part of your key equity holdings. This is a better alternative than picking the individual shares of stocks and merging them to become one portfolio. By this you would be able to monitor all your investments at a glance instead of going from one type of investment to the other. You should always look at the shares that control the key market indices like the S&P 500.
You will make profit only when the stock markets go up and you lose money when they go down. As a stock investor you will continuously see yourself on both sides of the coin; however, with informed judgement you will be on the winning side more often than on the negative side.
Ensure that you properly research the company shares you are willing to buy, and then have a sound trading plan, despite what happens stick to your investment

Lighing effects that can be used in residential buildings

home lighting effectIt’s a well known fact that residential buildings such as personal homes and wellings are poorly lit, both on the outside and on the inside. And by poorly lit we don’t mean a lack of light but a lack of taste in the lighting positioning and effect. Most US outside lighting fixture are basically made from a simple light bulb up on a pole or on a wall. The estetics of the night landscape in cities could greatly be improved with the use of architectural lights which bring out the most interesting parts of any building and it’s surrpundings. However fitting such lights does not only require good tase and a trained eye for detials it also requires a larger than average budget as these kind of fixtures tend to be more expensive than meere light bulbs on high poles. The investment is definitely worthi it especially after night fall when the homes and its surroundings come to life. The same could be stated about inner ligthting effects, which in most private homes are very basic to say the least. Some special lights like dimmer lights or motion detector lights could drastically improve the inner lighting of most buildings. Other special effect lights that could be used indoors are lava lamps and fiber glass lamps which can totally change the mood of any room. In order to get the best effect one could hide the light sources behid things such as courtins or gaps in the walls especially made to fit lighting fixtures. In order to make the best choice it’s not a bad idea to ask the advice of an interior designer who can immedialy see which are the best ways to accetuate the best features any given home has.

The Dresden Codex

the dresden codexThe Dresden Codex is a manuscript dating from pre -Columbian times and which is original from the Maya civilization of the Yucatan peninsula.  Somehow the document found it’s way to Vienna back in the 1700′s where it has been bought by the director of the Dresden Library of that time, Johann Christian Götze. The library first published the codex in 1848, however during WWII the building was bombed, sustaining massive damage. The bombing also destroyed parts of the codex together with the library walls, but they were later restored. This manuscript is one of the thee most important writing we have preserved from the Mayan civilization of Central America. In total there are 74 pages, folded in an accordion-style, which are written and painted on both sides with astonishing craftsmanship. The paintings in the Dresden Codex are very accurately made using fine brushes and also using the specific blue color which cannot be reproduced by modern techniques: the Mayan blue. Various themes make the object of the document, including: astronomical observations, agricultural and climate advice and medical knowledge.

Modern home accents

Modern home accents are the easiest way to revamp a home in order to give it a more contemporary feel. This method is a really good alternative to a total home renovation which would otherwise cost a huge amount of money. Instead of refurbishing the entire building, the same feel could be achieved by adding some extra modern home accents. This meas pieces of decor like wall decals or some small pieces of furniture such as contemporary bar stools or a designer lamp. Other modern home accents could be represented by coffee tables, wall clocks, blinds, paintings, carpets etc.

In order to make the best choices it’s advisable to ask the help of an interior designer. Although these kind of services are not really cheap, it’s much better to know exactly what you need in order to maximize the opportunities in you home rather than spending money on modern home accents which don’t really fit with the rest of the furniture. An interior designer could help you make the best choices right away and by doing so you will end up with a lower cost after you draw the final line. The designer could also suggest that you change the color tone of the walls in order to better integrate with the new modern home accents you will be purchasing.

Keeping tropical fish

The keeping of tropical fish is a very popular occupation among hobbyists. This activity can be greatly rewarding even for beginners, however it must not be taken lightly. Tropical fish are very sensitive animals and they require a great deal of care and attention. Most of them are fresh water fish but there also are salt water tropical fish. The salt water ones are much more difficult to keep because it’s not easy to maintain a constant salinity level in the tank and any slight variation could mean disaster for the fish inside. However, fresh water tropical fish can also be very pretentious. Take for example the discus fish, which cannot stand water temperature variations larger than 2-3 degrees. They are also very sensitive to specifications such as light or water hardness. So  before starting to keep tropical fish one should first read everything about that certain species in order to provide the fish with optimal living conditions, otherwise they will not survive for a long time. Another good piece of advice for beginners is to purchase all the needed equipment before buying the fish. In an ideal case, one person would first buy the aquarium, the substrate,  driftwood, plants and decoration, heater and water filter. After everything is installed the aquarium should be filled with water, which should be left to settle at the temperature required by its future inhabitants.

Steve Jobs about LSD

steve jobsAfter passing away, many of Steve Jobs remarks during his life time have been re-visited by the press. One of the most controversial ones is his statement that taking LSD helped him to make a clear vision about what he wants to do in life. One of his realizations was that it’s not important to work in order to acquire large amounts of money but one should work in order to make remarkable new things which will remain the collective memory of human kind. This experience also led him to proclaim that the CEO of IBM, Bill Gates is lacking in imagination and that he could use a dose of LSD in order to open his mind to new concepts and ideas.

What is a home defibrillator?

A home defibrillator is a safety device which can be used in case of a sudden cardiac arrest which can happen at any time. This device, also known as an AED or portable defibrillator, can be used by anybody without previous medical training. Home defibrillators usually have easy written and audio instructions so that any person can  use it easily under stressful conditions. These devices are powered by batteries which lasts up to 3 years on a single charge. Another great feature a standard home defibrillator has, is that it self tests it’s own systems in order to asses whether everything is under optimal functioning conditions. They can either be bought from medical hard ware stores or they can be ordered online. The average price of a home defibrillator is over 1000 dollars, but it’s well worth it as it brings added security to any house hold. In the future, such devices will be standard security items such as seat belts or airbags are now.

Contemporary diamond rings

contemporary diamond ringsContemporary diamond rings are something very different form the diamond rings that people are used to. They have shapes which are not at all classical and they seem to be something else than real diamond rings. Most of them are made by young designers  don’t care if they break the rules which have been governing this industry for hundreds of years.  However, this is a risky game to play because there is quite a small market for contemporary diamond rings out there and it’s quite difficult to find clients for them. Some artist invest in the raw materials to make such diamond rings and then they find out that nobody really wants them and they end up losing all or part of their investments. Take a look at the attached picture for a good example of contemporary diamond rings. This one, is a skull-ring encrusted with black diamonds made from 10 carat gold with a black platinum alloy coating. The design is very daring but so is the price: 10.000 dollars. Would you buy it?

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