Eating disorder webinar

The folks who brought you the series This Emotional Life have scheduled a webinar on eating disorders for Wednesday, April 14 at 1pm EDT/ 12pm CDT/ 10am PDT. The webinar is entitled Recovery from an Eating Disorder: What does real recovery look like? and will focus on these issues (quoting from the site):

• The challenges of the recovery process, including access, shame, triggers and relapse
• The different types of treatment for people suffering from eating disorders
• Advice for those seeking help for themselves or a loved one with an eating disorder

"Join Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, Medical Director of the Eating Disorders Program at Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital, and former eating disorder patients, Allison Kreiger, Sara Pollan and Troy Roness to learn about the challenges and success of recovery from an eating disorder. Through the lens of three personal journeys from eating disorders to wellness, this compelling discussion will explore what recovery looks like and offer insights from the perspectives of both those who have lived through the recovery process and a professional with years of experience treating those on the journey to recovery."

P.S. Does anyone hate the word webinar besides me? I can't explain it but I do. Ugh!

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Something-Fishy.Org

Earlier in the year, Kent posted about some government-based sites related to eating disorders.  This week, we highlight a couple more.  Today's post is called Something-fishy.org.  According to the site, they are "Dedicated to raising awareness and providing support to people with Eating Disorders, and their loved-ones... since 1995."  The content is quite detailed from descriptions of what an eating disorder is, symptoms of various eating disorders, and treatments, both from without and within.  The site is comprehensive and contains some excellent information.  This link to the site map will give you a great overview.

One point made on the front page is that they are pro-recovery.  We will post later about sites known as "pro-ana."  Something-fishy does not deal with pictures, examples of weight or other triggers for those with eating disorders.  They also have links to professional treatment centers.  If you have experience with the site or their partners, please comment.

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Netflix and "Lie to Me"

Recently, there has been talk about using scenes from the television show "Lie to Me" to illustrate some of Paul Ekman's work on facial expressions.  Recently, season one was added to Netflix--not just the disc version, but the streaming version.  If you've ever used Netflix streaming through your computer, you'll know that you can move through the show/movie to get to the exact scene using visual cues (sorry, no scene markers like on DVDs).  Good stuff if you have the Netflix account.

For those who love the show, the second season begins in June.  Set those Tivos and DVRs now!

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Photo Manipulations and Illusions

Of course, we are all fascinating by illusions.  Now, it seems that there is an artist who creates them using Adobe Photoshop. His name is Erik Johansonn, a Swedish designer.  While there are many examples, here are a couple of which we will tease you with below.  You can find these and more of his work at this site:  http://www.alltelleringet.com/

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AP Review with PsychFiles Audio Review

Looking for a great audio review activity?  Not all teachers have the time or inclination to put together the kind of resources that Michael Britt does.  Thanks to Michael, we have the Psychfiles podcast.  If that were not enough, he has created an audio review guide that is sure to help all of our students (see screen capture above).  This review contains visual concept maps for a variety of topics and audio explanations for the topics within these areas (see capture below).  Students can click on the topics of their choice and play them with the player at the bottom of the page.

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Our Own Steve Jones in the NY Times

One of our blog moderators, Steve Jones, has been featured in the New York Times, in the April 6, 2010 edition of classroom resources blog.  Steve had written in his response to an article about the use of coal in producing electricity (and the perceptions/misperceptions of his students).

You can read about Steve and his great in class thinking/strategies here.

Congrats to Steve and keep up the good work!  Follow Steve's tweets on twitter.

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Autism Awareness Day and Month

Autism affects 1 in 100 children; 1 in 70 boys.  April is Autism Awareness Month and today, April 2 is Autism Awareness Day.  As we move in time, there are larger numbers of students who have some aspect of the disorder.


Autism Speaks.Org Site that assists families with their children who have autism.  They also provide information about autism along with links related to research, how to support, and how to become involved in the fight against autism.


Cafepress Site for Autism Awareness

The Autism Society

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National Geographic on the effects of solitary confinement

On Sunday April 11 National Geographic will broadcast a special on the effects of solitary confinement. Part of the Explorer series, "Solitary Confinement" looks at the mental health issues that can be induced with isolation. One segment of the program focuses on how isolation is currently being used in an American prison - more than 80,000 prisoners are put in isolation every year - but the other more fascinating aspect is that NG is doing a reality TV version of solitary confinement.

Beginning today (April 2) three volunteers will live in an 80 square foot cell in the DC area with minimal human contact for one week, and have their every moment streamed via cameras to a website. Naturally since we're in the the Web 2.0 era participants will be allowed to write outgoing Twitter messages which will be sent to the world as well. (EDIT: Twitter feed appears to be http://twitter.com/ExploreSolitary.)

Here are some background links on solitary confinement, many which feature psychologist Craig Haney (who you may recall was a grad assistant during the Stanford Prison Experiment):

• An excellent article from the New Yorker last year by Atul Gawande that begins with Harlow
• An Inside Look at Solitary Confinement - an NPR Talk of The Nation episode which includes psychologist
• Solitaryconfinement.org -- includes a sourcebook and many links
• A Wired interview with Craig Haney on solitary confinement as invisible torture
• The Psychological Impact of Incarceration - a paper by Craig Haney

I'll be following this one closely and I hope that if you do that you'll post your thoughts in the comments.

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More on Photoshop and beauty

To add one more example to Chuck's excellent post on real beauty versus illusion here's an example from last year of a cover model whose image was so badly Photoshopped that it couldn't exist in nature. The clip below is from the Rachel Maddow show, and while it veers off into more free speech issues at the end, the beginning portion is great.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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Dove Beauty Campaign/Motivation Video

A few years ago, Dove Soap created a campaign for "real beauty" in an attempt to alter cultural attitudes toward what makes women attractive.  This campaign originally featured the video below to make viewers aware of how much change goes into a woman's appearance before and after she is photographed.  Whether it is lighting, makeup, or editing the photo, there is a clear and distinct difference between reality and the images that people see in the magazines.  Below is their effort.  Your students will be amazed if they are not already familiar with this video.



Here is a follow-up video showing Photoshop alterations to pictures:

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