Some apps not to use your mobile phone

As J.L. told us yesterday, there are some apps especially designed to help nomophobics. Maybe you know someone who needs one!

If you're like most busy professionals today, it can be hard to tear yourself away from your phone screen. With apps, email, and social media all at the tip of our fingers, we're constantly distracted by the mobile world. It may seem counterintuitive to use an app to unplug, but in an age where we use our smartphones for almost everything, it makes sense to fight fire with fire.



Here are six apps that can help you to, well, stop using your apps:
1. Offtime (iOS, Android)
This app helps users unplug by blocking distracting apps like Facebook and games and filtering communications. It includes information on how much you actually use your smartphone. You can choose tailored modes like Work, Family, or Me Time to ensure that you have access to the things you need, but aren't distracted by what you don't. Analytics of your phone and app usage can be an important wake-up call, and can help you curb your habits.
2. Moment (iOS)
Moment tracks your device usage and allows you to set daily limits; the app notifies you if you exceed them. You can even use a setting that "forces" you off your phone by flooding your screen with annoying alerts when you try to extend your screen time. Moment can also be used for families, with the option to track your family's device use from your own phone.
3. BreakFree (iOS, Android)
BreakFree incorporates the usage tracking features found in many similar apps, but it differs in that it breaks down the information into an easy-to-understand "addiction score." It also shows you how often you unlock your phone screen, and comprehensively logs your usage for the day. This system makes it a great choice for those who like to set goals and challenge themselves. In an ironic twist, it can almost be addictive to try to see how low you can get your addiction score.
4. Flipd (iOS, Android)
If you find that you need a more aggressive approach to unplugging, Flipd is the app for you. Flipd allows you to lock your phone for a set period of time, and once you do, there's no going back. Even restarting your phone won't disable the app, so it's impossible for you to cheat! Flipd can even be used to remotely "flip off" one user from another user's device, which is helpful for teams that want to keep one another on point.
5. AppDetox (Android)
Hooked on mobile games? Can't stop refreshing Twitter? AppDetox can help you get your fixation under control if apps are your kryptonite. You can set your own parameters on an app-by-app basis so you can have access when it's not a disruption. Every time you break one of your own rules, the app reminds you to put down your phone.
6. Stay on Task (Android)
Stay on Task helps your productivity in a gentler way. The app simply asks if you're still on task at random intervals during your day. If you're someone who easily gets distracted, this app can be a great way to redirect your focus when your mind is wandering.
Do you have a smartphone addiction? What, if anything, do you use to pull you away from your smartphone?
 
                                                                                            By Jeremy Goldman, inc.com

Apps not to use mobiles

The Spring Equinox

This year in the northern hemisphere the Spring or Vernal Equinox falls on Tuesday 20th March 2018. The equinox marks the day when day and night are the same lengths all over the world, with the word equinox literally meaning ‘equal night’ in Latin.
The spring equinox marks the change of the seasons and as the northern hemisphere begins to tilt towards the sun, our days start to get longer and our nights shorter. In the northern hemisphere, we enjoy the arrival of spring and the promise of warmer days. To our friends in the southern hemisphere, however, this marks the changing of their seasons to autumn.

The equinox does not always fall on the same day each year due to the fact that the earth orbits the sun on a slightly elliptical path, meaning that the spring equinox can happen on either the 19th, 20th or 21st of March. Although many cultures celebrate the whole day as the equinox, the equinox is, in fact, technically the specific point in time when the sun crosses the equator.
In the northern hemisphere, the March equinox is traditionally celebrated as a time of rebirth with many different cultures celebrating spring holidays and festivals such as Easter and Passover around the time of the equinox.

                                                                                           awarenessdays.com March 20 2018

 

 

Paul Laiky's article

And the answer, my friend, is ... here.

Key to q 4 & 5

Finally!!

Key to review 3 & 4

Here you have the key for the grammar and the vocabulary review.

Sorry for the awful cut & paste!

Obituary: Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking - who died aged 76 - battled motor neurone disease to become one of the most respected and best-known scientists of his age.

A man of great humour, he became a popular ambassador for science and was always careful to ensure that the general public had ready access to his work.

His book A Brief History of Time became an unlikely best-seller although it is unclear how many people actually managed to get to the end of it.

He appeared in a number of popular TV shows and lent his synthesised voice to various recordings.

Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford on 8 January 1942. His father, a research biologist, had moved with his mother from London to escape German bombing.

Hawking grew up in London and St Albans and, after gaining a first-class degree in physics from Oxford, went on to Cambridge for postgraduate research in cosmology.

As a teenager he had enjoyed horse-riding and rowing but while at Cambridge he was diagnosed with a form of motor neurone disease which was to leave him almost completely paralysed.

As he was preparing to marry his first wife, Jane, in 1964 his doctors gave him no more than two or three years of life.

But the disease progressed more slowly than expected. The couple had three children, and in 1988 - although Hawking was by now only able to speak with a voice synthesiser following a tracheotomy - he had completed A Brief History of Time - a layman's guide to cosmology.

It sold more than 10 million copies, although its author was aware that it was dubbed "the most popular book never read".

He received honorary degrees, medals, prizes and awards throughout his career and was honoured with a CBE in 1982. He was reportedly offered a knighthood in the 1990s but later revealed he had turned it down over issues with the government's funding for science.

Celebrity

Hawking discovered the phenomenon which became known as Hawking radiation, where black holes leak energy and fade to nothing. He was renowned for his extraordinary capacity to visualise scientific solutions without calculation or experiment.

But it was perhaps his "theory of everything", suggesting that the universe evolves according to well-defined laws, that attracted most attention.

"This complete set of laws can give us the answers to questions like how did the universe begin," he said. "Where is it going and will it have an end? If so, how will it end? If we find the answers to these questions, we really shall know the mind of God."

Hawking's celebrity status was acknowledged even by The Simpsons - he was depicted drinking at a bar with Homer, suggesting he might steal Homer's idea that the universe is shaped like a doughnut.

He appeared in a special documentary about BBC comedy series Red Dwarf during which he spoke about why he enjoyed the show and also starred in Star Trek: The Next Generation as a hologram of his image.

The rock group Pink Floyd used his distinctive synthesised voice for the introduction to Keep Talking, on their 1994 album The Division Bell.

Undeterred by his condition, he continued his work as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, and in 2001, his second book - Universe in a Nutshell - was published.

Iran jails woman for removing headscarf in public

An Iranian woman who publicly removed her veil to protest against a mandatory hijab law has been sentenced to two years in prison, prosecutors say.

The woman, who has not been officially named, was found guilty of "encouraging moral corruption", Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi said.

He added that 21 months of the woman's sentence had been suspended and that she was in need of medical treatment.

It follows dozens of similar arrests of Iranian women in recent weeks.

Most of those detained for defying the country's strict law on appearing in public in a headscarf have been released without charge.

The woman sentenced in the capital, Tehran, on Wednesday was jailed for three months without parole.

She is "in need of long-term medical treatment and has to be seen by a psychiatrist", Mr Jafari-Dolatabadi said.

She is "in need of long-term medical treatment and has to be seen by a psychiatrist", Mr Jafari-Dolatabadi said.

He criticised the suspension of the majority of her sentence and argued that she should serve the full term of her penalty.

In December, an Iranian woman who was detained after defiantly taking off her headscarf and holding it on a stick in Tehran became the face of protests in the country.

Images of her standing on a telecoms box in a busy street in the city were widely shared on social media. The woman was later freed.

The photograph of the woman was first widely used in connection to the White Wednesday campaign in which women in Iran wear white to protest against the country's strict dress code.

Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, women have been forced to cover their hair according to Islamic law on modesty.

                                                                                    BBC News 7 March 2018

Permission and obligation

Permission and obligation - verbs

Your future pair of Levi’s could be made by lasers

While plenty of people are quick to trash a pair of jeans at the first sign of a bit of wear and tear, lots of fashionistas are after exactly that look and therefore more than happy to hand over cold hard cash for such “damaged” goods.
To create its own brand of so-called “distressed” jeans, Levi Strauss has for years been using “thousands of chemical formulations” and manual techniques to achieve a myriad of designs. But those days are coming to an end.
The company says it has developed a new operating model using lasers that “ushers denim finishing into the digital era.”
The system, called Project F.L.X. (future-led execution), reduces the number of steps needed to achieve the worn look from twenty to just three, and takes a fraction of the time used by traditional methods. It also cuts the number of chemical compounds to just a few dozen, helping the company toward its goal of eliminating all hazardous chemicals from its manufacturing process by 2020 as it seeks to minimize the environmental impact of its business.

Making the jeans

“There’s a lot of detail in a vintage jean, so our first step in the new process is to photograph the jean, and then we take that and illustrate it in a way that the laser can interpret,” Bart Sights, who leads Levi’s “Eureka” innovation lab, explains in a video (above). This includes using computer software to add the precise marks, creases, and rips that they want to appear on the final design.
“What used to happen traditionally in eight-to-twelve minutes with manual applications, we can now execute with the laser in 90 seconds or so,” Sights explains. In a speeded-up section of the video, we can see the lasers transforming the jeans before our eyes.
Sights then shows us eight pairs of finished jeans, all looking very different to each other but all created by laser from the same “base” pair.
The company says a number of employees have been retrained in software development and laser operations, adding that such retraining “will be a key tenet as this new model rolls out globally.”
To develop its system, Levi partnered with Spanish laser and eco technology specialists Jeanologia, described as a leader in eco-efficient solutions for fabric and garment finishing.
Sights says Levi’s has “always been passionate about sustainability,” adding that he’s certain the project “will push the industry to create a cleaner jean.” Even if it does look a touch shabby.
                                                                                                               digitaltrends.com

Watch this video where you can see the way they actually will do it.

Key to grammar Unit 4 and modal verbs

You can see here the answers to the first 3 exercises.

And you can also see the information about the modal verbs we saw in class in this link:
Functions and modal verbs

Problems to sleep? Read this interesting article

Eat yourself to sleep: the foods that can help get a good night’s rest

According to one study, eating kiwi fruit before bed helps deep sleep. But which other foodstuffs may aid a long and peaceful slumber?

Ahead of World Sleep Day next week – an awareness-raising exercise that should surely be renamed World Sleep Night – there has been increased focus on how much sleep we should be getting (more than we probably are) and how to get it. The event has prompted the strange claim that eating two kiwi fruits before bed leads to better kip – the result of a 2011 study at the Taipei Medical University – to resurface. However, the study was also “supported” by the world’s largest marketer of kiwi fruit, and had just 24 participants. Kiwis do have high levels of serotonin, which is critical to sleep – but what other foods could help?

Poultry and nuts

Turkey and chicken contain high levels of tryptophan, which also boosts serotonin. “Foods that are high in tryptophan and vitamin B6 will help you make melatonin, the sleep hormone,” says Nerina Ramlakhan, sleep expert and author of Fast Asleep, Wide Awake. Other good sources of both are beans, lentils, cheese, tofu, tuna, eggs, whole grains, lentils, nuts and seeds.

Cherries

Or you could consume melatonin itself. “This would include things such as tart cherries, cherry juice and oats,” says Ramlakhan.

Bananas and leafy vegetables

“Foods that are high in potassium and magnesium help to relax the muscles because a lot of people suffer from things such as restless legs,” says Ramlakhan. Good sources of magnesium include whole grains, nuts and dark green leafy vegetables. Potassium-rich foods include bananas, potatoes, apricots and milk.

Prebiotics

A study last year by the University of Colorado Boulder found that prebiotic fibre, found in foods such as chickpeas, artichokes and leeks, and which feed “good” bacteria in the gut, may improve sleep. The study was done on rats, so it is too early to say whether it could work in humans.

Fibre

A Columbia University study, using 26 volunteers, found that a diet rich in fibre – foods such as beans, lentils, berries and whole grains – may lead to better sleep, while a diet with a “greater intake of saturated fat and lower intake of fibre were associated with a lighter, less deep sleep profile”.

And it matters when you eat

Anyone who has gorged on a giant Sunday lunch will know just how sleepy it can make you afterwards, but smaller, regular meals are important for improved sleep, says Ramlakhan. “A lot of people feel sleepy after a big meal because they overeat and the rate of change in their blood sugar stimulates the insulin response which sedates them,” she says. “It’s not just what you eat, it’s also your patterns of eating that make a difference. Make sure you eat breakfast – it stabilises blood sugar and minimises your production of adrenaline.” It will help produce melatonin later on.

                                                                                            The Guardian 6/3/2018


 

Key to the grammar in unit 3

I copy here the key to the exercises of the relative sentences. You also have the key to the compound nouns, in case anyone failed to make corrections in class.

A talk about the projects developed by Adelante Africa

 
CATHY MIERS will talk about the projects the association has been developing recently.

WEDNESDAY 7 MARCH
11:30 h.
18:30 h.

Venue: SUM  (Sala Multiusos opposite Secretaría)

EOI de LAS ROZAS

Check our notice board for more information about ADELANTE AFRICA
www.adelanteafrica.com

Job interview - Emma's classes

Are you looking for a job? Is English requested?

Here you have a very interesting class about how to answer behavioural questions.

Emma's class about behavioural questions in a job interview

If you use Twitter, you can  find more of her classes.

And this is her webpage:

Emma's webpage

Women challenge Turkey traditions for right to work

As you see, there are women all over the world who have to fight even to get their basic rights. Amazing. And very sad.



For Emel Resuloglu and her circle it's a monthly tradition: the women's get-together around the dinner table, or "gün" in Turkish, when one member of the group gets a little money or a gold coin.
Turkey cherishes its traditions. But there's one that some here feel is holding the country back socially and economically - that of women not working, cast only as the home-maker.
"I got a university place but my father didn't want me to go", Ms Resuloglu says, as a freshly-baked cake is added to the table. "So I didn't work, I married and had children at 21 and I regret not studying.
"Some women can't find jobs and others in Turkey are married off young. It's an old-fashioned mentality."
Just 34% of women in Turkey work, by far the lowest of the 35 industrialised countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) where the average is 63%.

Critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan say his rhetoric is worsening the situation. At a rally two years ago, he called women who aren't mothers "deficient". Previously, he's urged women to have at least three children and denounced birth control as "treason".

Turkey now ranks 130 of 144 in the gender gap index of the World Economic Forum, based on access to health services, educational attainment, economic participation and political empowerment.
But Ravza Kavakci Kan, an MP with the ruling AK Party, says the government has liberated conservative women by revoking Turkey's old ban on headscarves in public institutions.
"This enables women who choose to wear the headscarf to join the workforce and get an education", she says. "But it takes time for policies to apply to real life."
Is it, though, right for the president to tell women how many children they should have or criticise those who choose not to have a family?

 

"As a president, he looks to the future of our society," she replies. "Turkey has an ageing population and we need more young people, so it's totally a demographic point of view."
There are just two female ministers in the Turkish cabinet - one is the minister for family.
"We're in a better place than we were - but we have a long way to go, just like many countries," concedes Ms Kavakci Kan.
                                                                                                                                BBC news