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We got married at a luxury resort in Thailand. If I could go back, there are 5 things I'd do differently.

Looking back, Ellie Furuya says her wedding reception in Thailand was too adult-centric. If she could go back, she'd make it more kid-friendly.




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The full list of major US companies slashing staff this year, including Goldman Sachs, Meta, and Chegg

Companies have continued to cut jobs in 2024 after a wave of layoffs last year. Meta, Goldman Sachs, Google, and Tesla are among those shedding staff.




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SoftBank is Nvidia's first Blackwell chips customer. Here's what they're going to be used for.

The collaboration comes amid skyrocketing demand for Nvidia chips, as companies scramble to secure supplies.




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Ford is slashing hours for some German factory employees amid lower EV demand

The carmaker has more than 4,000 employees at its Cologne plant. It also has another plant in Saarlouis, in southwestern Germany.




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4 Omnichannel Marketing Best Practices for eCommerce

Nowadays many shoppers don’t even remember how they learned about an eCommerce brand in the first place. If you ask them, the most popular answer is “I found it somewhere on the Internet”. Commercial information is all over the place, so nobody cares about the “channel” they use to find it anymore.




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News24 | Teargas, smoke in Maputo as police crack down on demonstrations

In some parts of the capital, protesters negotiated with police. In other parts there was no talking.




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News24 | Young opposition Mozambicans give Frelimo ultimatum to step down or face more violent protests

Young Mozambicans from opposition parties have given Frelimo until midday to relinquish power or face more unrest, after days of violence and looting in the country.




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News24 | Mauritius awaits results of tense election race

Mauritians are set to find out who will govern their Indian Ocean island nation for the next five years after a hotly disputed election race.




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News24 | SA sold Côte d'Ivoire R3.2m worth of wine last year. Now the US wants a piece of that action

Côte d'Ivoire is sub Sahara Africa's biggest importer of wine, says the US department of agriculture, and it is time American companies take advantage of the market.




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Meet Ali Kamanda and Jorge Redmond, authors of Black Boy, Black Boy: Celebrating the Power of You

I met two debut authors at a summer conference and was taken with their warmth and earnestness. Their book, Black Boy, Black Boy, is an affirmation that celebrates both past accomplishments by Black men and the limitless possibilities for a child’s future. Their book is sure to encourage discussion with children and families, whether they are Black or not. Both authors graciously agreed to a blog interview.




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The Efficacy of Digital Media Resources in Improving Children’s Ability to Use Informational Text: An Evaluation of Molly of Denali From PBS KIDS

Informational text — resources whose purpose is to inform — is essential to daily life and fundamental to literacy. Unfortunately, young children typically have limited exposure to informational text. Two 9-week randomized controlled trials with 263 first-grade children from low-income communities examined whether free educational videos and digital games from the PBS KIDS show “Molly of Denali” supported children’s ability to use informational text to answer real-world questions. Study 1 found significant positive intervention impacts on child outcomes; Study 2 replicated these findings.




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Won’t Student Motivation Be Damaged If We Teach with Complex Text?

Teacher question: I understand your claims that teaching students with grade-level texts instead of instructional level texts increases children’s opportunities to learn. However, what about children’s emotional needs, self-esteem, motivation, and self-starting skills when text is challenging. Children who struggle with sight words or sounding out words who are given a hard piece of text will shut down and refuse to try or will act out in the classroom.




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Teaching Students to Use Context

I’m writing this blog because of the disarray I see over the topic of context instruction and the poor instructional practice that it seems to manifest. One confusion is already well recognized, but merits some mention here. The other befuddlement usually goes without remark, and yet it, too, has unfortunate consequences for young readers.




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Comprehension Instruction That Really Helps — Teaching Cohesion

Teacher question: One of my colleagues told us that we should not be teaching guided reading lessons or comprehension skills or strategies. We’re using a core reading program that includes those kinds of things. He says that the science of reading proves that we would get higher reading achievement by teaching more social studies and science (he’s our science teacher) and dropping the comprehension instruction that we are providing. He’s really vocal about this. Can you help us shut him up? Shanahan’s response




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Shared Reading in the Structured Literacy Era

Teacher question: Can you provide clarification on how to promote shared reading in the structured literacy era and how that differs from shared reading in the balanced literacy era. I would think a teacher could certainly initially read the text aloud to students to model fluency and expression, but then must ensure students can get the words off the page and reread by decoding the words, rather than parroting the teacher or memorizing the shared reading text that may be a rhyme/song that is catchy. Shanahan's response:




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Print-to-Speech and Speech-to-Print: Mapping Early Literacy

The “Reading Peaceniks” The authors of this article are a group of researchers and practitioners who are looking to end the divisiveness of the “reading wars” — and help children learn to read and write with competence and pleasure. See the list of contributing editors as well as the 25 nationally recognized colleagues who support this effort.




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Beyond Labels and Agendas: Research Teachers need to Know about Phonics and Phonological Awareness

This article describes the current findings on phonics and phonological awareness instruction. It uses a question & answer format to explore 10 common questions that teachers ask about teaching phonics and phonemic awareness. Here are a few key questions addressed in the article: What are phonics and phonemic awareness? Should phonemic awareness be paired with print and taught together? Should phonological awareness be coordinated with phonics instruction? What is the best sequence for teaching phonics?




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More on Hanford: Phonics Reform and Literacy Levels

Recently, I posted commentary on Emily Hanford’s reporting and the critical response it received from some in the literacy community. I defended the major thrust of her work and called out criticisms I thought to be illogical, ill conceived, or ill intended — criticism more aimed at maintaining status quo than promoting literacy.




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Enabling Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for a PayPal Account

2FA, the common abbreviation for two-factor authentication is a word often spoken about when one is setting up a website or account where security is vital. With more and more confidential information being uploaded on the net, it makes sense to add additional measures to prevent hackers from gaining access to an account. In terms […]

The post Enabling Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for a PayPal Account appeared first on Tips and Tricks HQ.




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Add a WordPress Admin User Account via PHP

Sometimes our WordPress plugin users need to create an Admin user account for their sites. In this tutorial I will share a small PHP code with you that can be used to create a WordPress Administrator user to your site. Alternatively, you can also create a WordPress admin user via MySQL. You will need to […]

The post Add a WordPress Admin User Account via PHP appeared first on Tips and Tricks HQ.




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Factoring In PayPal Fees When Sending Money Using the Goods and Services Option

With more and more online marketplaces popping up, many individuals prefer to pay for items, whether they be new or second hand using the PayPal Goods and Services option. The PayPal ‘Goods and Services’ option gives buyers further peace of mind with the PayPal guarantee. If the seller does not provide what they have described, […]

The post Factoring In PayPal Fees When Sending Money Using the Goods and Services Option appeared first on Tips and Tricks HQ.




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Accept Donations via PayPal from Your WordPress Site Easily

Do you run a charitable website? Or do you offer content free to the public? Perhaps it is time that you add a donation button to start monetizing your website. In this tutorial, we will walk you through the process of adding a PayPal donation button to your WordPress website, and even those without developer […]

The post Accept Donations via PayPal from Your WordPress Site Easily appeared first on Tips and Tricks HQ.




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Coding for #AI and #machinelearning – online course/workshop

Coding for #AI and #machinelearning – online course/workshop We are exploring a new way to learning how to code for AI and Machine Learning by applying ideas of  deliberate practise Starting Oct 2018 – the workshop has limited places Please contact info@futuretext.com if you want to sign up for our online workshop (300 USD)   [...]




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How to read a book a week in the age of Facebook and twitter

  Background When my son was nearing 14 years, I mentioned to him that I read James Clavell’s epic novel Shogun  (1136 pages) around the age of 15 i.e. his age. Reading a book like Shogun at age 15 is admittedly not typical reading for a 15-year-old. But I have always been an avid reader [...]






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News24 Business | Instagram rolls out teen accounts as scrutiny mounts

Meta Platforms is rolling out enhanced privacy and parental controls for Instagram accounts of users under 18 in a significant overhaul aimed at addressing growing concerns around the negative effects of social media.




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News24 Business | Encrypted 'Ghost' app used by criminals across the world: What we know

Police revealed Tuesday they had infiltrated and taken down an encrypted chat app called Ghost used by criminals across the world.




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News24 Business | Huawei 'super fans' annoyed at lack of supply as pricey phone hits China stores

Many fans of Huawei on Friday were disappointed that its much-anticipated phone, Mate XT - more than twice the price of the iPhone 16 Pro Max - was not available for walk-in customers.




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News24 Business | Facebook, Instagram group bets on normal-looking AR glasses, celeb AI voices

Meta launched AI chatbots voiced by Hollywood celebrities including Judi Dench and John Cena on Wednesday, betting its billions of users are eager to embrace artificial intelligence.




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News24 Business | Internet Archive, Wayback Machine hit by 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach

The Internet Archive, an online repository of web pages, was offline Thursday after its founder confirmed a major cyberattack that exposed the data of millions of users and left the site defaced.




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News24 Business | Google to use small nuclear reactors for AI-intensive data centres

Google is investing in the development of the next generation of nuclear power, backing a company that’s building small modular reactors and agreeing to purchase energy once the sites start supplying US grids.




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News24 | 'We already miss him': Brackenfell family looking for missing teen last seen visiting a friend

A family in Brackenfell, Cape Town, is looking for their missing teenage son, whom they last saw on Saturday morning heading to visit a friend in the area.




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News24 | Two people arrested over murder of ‘Noem My Skollie’ actor, insurance fraud suspected

Cape Town police have arrested two suspects in connection with the murder of Noem My Skollie actor David Manuel and his friend, Alfonso Fisher, in Gugulethu last month.




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News24 | SA Jewish Board of Deputies approaches Equality Court with social media hate speech complaint

The Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies has asked the Equality Court in Cape Town to declare politician Mehmet Vefa Dag's social media posts about about Jewish people hate speech.




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News24 | Budget constraints force Gauteng education department to delay teacher promotions until April

The Gauteng education department has postponed the appointment of new office-based staff as well as teachers who applied to be promoted as heads of department, deputy principals and principals until April because of budget constraints.




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News24 | Heat attack: 2024 is world's hottest year, and likely to leave South Africans sweating this summer

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has raised the alarm over climate change, reporting 2024 is the world's hottest year yet.




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News24 | Do you have any complaints or feedback about News24's content? Here's how to get in touch

Any complaints, queries or suggestions about content on News24 may be sent to our public editor George Claassen.




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News24 | Inside Gauteng legislature's shadowy deal with employees accused of fraud during Covid-19 spree

Gauteng legislature secretary Linda Mwale has signed a sweetheart agreement with Nehawu to let 32 employees accused of defrauding the institution off the hook.




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News24 | Senzo Meyiwa murder accused removed from C-Max centre

It was out of fear for his mental health and to avoid the perpetuation of an ongoing wrong that a judge ordered that one of the five men charged with the murder of soccer star Senzo Meyiwa be removed from solitary confinement.




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News24 | Wenzeni uGupta? Hlophe asks what crimes Guptas are accused of, disparages Batohi

The MK Party continued its campaign against accountability for corruption, with its deputy leader, John Hlophe, suggesting National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi was "misleading the nation" about the Guptas' extradition.





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Woah! Woman waves at a stranger's cat — and much to her surprise, it waves back (video)

While on a walk, a woman saw a tuxedo cat in a window and greeted it with a wave. But she never imagined the cat would return the greeting, lifting its paw to say "hey."

"How many aura points did I gain when I waved to a cat and it waved back," says the caption of her TikTok video, accompanied by footage of the surreal exchange. — Read the rest

The post Woah! Woman waves at a stranger's cat — and much to her surprise, it waves back (video) appeared first on Boing Boing.




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The science of vinegar: what happens to bacteria under a microscope

I recently switched over to using a vinegar-based spray cleaner (just vinegar, water, and rubbing alcohol), to clean my kitchen. It works wonderfully for me, and I love that by using it I'm saving money and reducing my exposure to harsh chemicals. — Read the rest

The post The science of vinegar: what happens to bacteria under a microscope appeared first on Boing Boing.




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Another emulation project disappears amid Nintendo crackdown

Nintendo is cracking down on emulators of its hardware and media depicting their use. First Yuzu was taken down with a lawsuit, and now departs Ryujinx, a similar project that had sought to avoid the legal landmines Yuzu stepped on. — Read the rest

The post Another emulation project disappears amid Nintendo crackdown appeared first on Boing Boing.




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Every day should be raccoon appreciation day

October 1 was officially "International Raccoon Appreciation Day," for those of you who love to love the adorable trash panda. Around here, honestly, every day is raccoon appreciation day, so it's an "International Day" I can genuinely get behind.

National Day Calendar explains the origins of the day:

In 2002, a young girl in California wanted to highlight the good points about the raccoon instead of the bad ones.

Read the rest

The post Every day should be raccoon appreciation day appeared first on Boing Boing.




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Interactive Media Strategies believes Microsoft could win big with Skype

Interactive Media Strategies (IMS) is a market research firm that follows streaming media. They discuss the news of Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype, and the prospects for Skype to emerge as a viable platform for business video communications. 

Their research compares usage levels for a range of social media and communications applications, including Skype, YouTube and Facebook. Here is a link to the video.

They report that personal use of Facebook and YouTube is relatively high but that has not yet translated into comparable levels of corporate use. They believe this raises the question of whether YouTube and Facebook will be able to outgrow their focus on the consumer side of the business to compete in the enterprise market.

Usage levels for Skype are significantly lower overall, but Skype’s penetration in business communications is higher than they see for other communications apps online among young users most likely to experiment with emerging technologies.

IMS puts forth the opinion that if Microsoft could make it easier for technology laggards to embrace Skype - i.e. integrate Skype with the Microsoft Office suite - then Skype could achieve significant enterprise adoption.





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Fresh Faces, New Perspectives: Diversity Among New REALTORS® in 2024

Diversity Among New REALTORS® in 2024

A notable highlight of the findings in the 2024 NAR Member Profile is that new NAR members are more diverse than their experienced counterparts.