African-Americans use the most voice minutes, more than 1,300 a month on average, followed by Hispanics with 826 minutes a month. Even Asians/Pacific Islanders, with 692 average monthly minutes, talk more than Whites, who use 647 voice minutes a month.

Blacks and Hispanics are also the most avid texters. Hispanics exchange about 767 SMS messages a month. while Blacks send and receive about 780 — far more than Whites (566 texts a month). The Nielsen data roughly corresponds with findings from a Pew Research Center study in May that showed Blacks and English-speaking Latinos are among the biggest mobile Web users.

Cell phone ownership is higher among African-Americans and Latinos than among Whites (87% vs. 80%), according to Pew. But other recent research from comScore indicates that smartphone owners are still predominantly white. That suggests marketers targeting campaigns to devices like the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android phones are largely missing out on reaching minority consumers.

In terms of gender, Nielsen found women talk 22% more than men (856 minutes a month compared to men’s 667) and text more, too, with an average of 601 SMS messages a month compared to 447 for men.

Regionally, Southerners tend to talk the most on mobile phones, averaging more than 800 minutes a month. Mississippi, one of the nation’s poorest states, ranks high in both talking and texting, according to Nielsen.

Looking at text use by age, it’s no surprise that hyper-social teens are the most enthusiastic practitioners. Those under 18 exchange nearly 2,800 messages a month. That’s more than twice as much as the 1,300 sent or received each month by 18- to 24-year-olds, the next most avid group.

My story is about me and a girlhood friend who were separated, but miraculously reconnected 23 years later.

The magazine’s program is designed to give celebrity women a chance to direct subject matter about real women stories, and bring it to the masses.   They choose 3 stories a year.  Go to glamour.com for more details.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/16897

It’s coming to Amazon soon, too.  Check it out!

Reasoning Mind is a highly acclaimed math program that makes learning math in second through sixth grades not only easy but downright fun.

“Reasoning Mind engaged our students from grade 2 to grade 4, and that has been expanded to grades 5 and 6,” said Gerald McElvy, vice chairman of the program. Until he retired a few weeks ago, McElvy was president of the Exxon Mobil Foundation, which has given $4.4 million over the last five and a half years to Reasoning Minds, about a fourth of the program’s financial support.

Reasoning Mind uses computers and artificial intelligence to help children realize that they can do math, McElvy said.

“After receiving an initial review of the program, Dallas ISD executive director Shirley Ison-Newsome and a team of Southeast Learning Community principals visited several schools in Houston, where the program was being used successfully.

“Very young children were able to articulate the operations they were engaging in using mathematics vocabulary; the children maintained math journals and could explain what they had written and the mathematics behind it.”

Reasoning Mind classes started in 26 DISD schools in January, and the program has been well-received by teachers and more than 3,000 students.

“For our teachers, it has been great to watch the partnership and support they are provided as they ‘grow’ little mathematicians in their class,” McElvy said. “I look forward to watching the full year of implementation on next year, not only to see the growth in mathematics academic achievement, which I know will happen, but to also see the confidence and ‘I can do’ attitude of the children continuing to grow and develop.”

McElvy said that DISD leadership wants to evaluate the program after a full year of use before deciding on broader implementation.

Reasoning Mind is also helping DISD in a communitywide effort to improve math performance by engaging organizations to provide tutoring and other support for students. The United Way of Metropolitan Dallas is providing office space and services, and discussions are under way with Big Thought, YMCA and the Boys and Girls Clubs.

The program at the Salesmanship Club’s private J. Erik Jonsson Community School in Oak Cliff has resulted in math proficiency levels that match those of students in the Park Cities, principal Sandy Nobles said.

This fall, under the leadership of Ison-Newsome, 25 to 30 DISD elementary schools will adopt the program. If funding can be obtained, as many as 50 DISD elementary schools could take part.

Seeing progress

A Russian mathematician who settled in Houston with his family, Dr. Alexander R. “Alex” Khachatryan, is the founder, president and CEO of Reasoning Mind.

He found that with the Reasoning Mind program, it took just one semester to close the achievement gap between the scores of the predominantly Hispanic students of an inner-city school in Houston and those of the average white student. Similar improvements were reflected among advanced math students.

The program caught the attention of Houston businessman Ernest H. Cockrell, who is now chairman emeritus of the program, and Cockrell recruited oilman and civic leader Forrest Hoglund, who has homes in Dallas and Houston, to serve as vice chairman.

Hoglund, now chairman of the program, and his wife, Sally, have donated millions of dollars to Reasoning Mind through their foundation. And Hoglund, who led the expansion of Houston’s Museum of Natural Science and is chairing the capital campaign to build the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, has been the engine driving Reasoning Mind after accepting the torch from Cockrell.

Reasoning Mind, which is based in Houston and also has a corporate office in Moscow, says its goal is to serve a half-million students by the middle of this decade.

It uses program coordinators to train teachers and visit each campus biweekly.

Reasoning Mind recruits students from leading universities to serve as program coordinators, including Yale, Cornell, the University of Chicago, Princeton, Rice, Baylor, Columbia, Stanford, Spelman, Duke, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Texas and Texas A&M.

Teachers get extensive training in mathematics, and students get a curriculum that builds deep understanding through a logical progression of mathematical ideas.

Students master each objective before moving to the next lesson, meaning each student progresses at his own pace.

By offering problems of various difficulties and using artificial intelligence to adapt what each student sees based on previous performance, Reasoning Mind ensures that advanced students are challenged and that struggling students get the help they need.

Every problem comes with a step-by-step solution. An attractive interface, colorful graphics and games are interspersed with the curriculum.

Students read and watch mathematical concepts being illustrated on the screen and then demonstrate their understanding through interactive exercises.

Happy students

Using the Internet to distribute the program to schools helps keep costs low – Reasoning Mind costs the school districts around $150 per student per year, and philanthropy pays an additional $100 per student. The goal is to lower the schools’ costs to $70 per child.

In a survey taken earlier this month by more than 5,000 students who used Reasoning Mind this year, 93 percent said they liked learning math with the program, and 70 percent said they liked math more after using Reasoning Mind.

With math mastered, chemistry, physics and biology lessons propelled by Reasoning Mind will not be far behind, Hoglund said.

Besides the Hoglunds and the Exxon Mobil Foundation, other big donors include Jim and Judy Gibbs, McDermott International , Gerald and Sylvia McElvy, the Meadows Foundation, MediSend, the Harold Simmons Foundation, the Wachovia Foundation and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

To donate to Reasoning Mind, call Julie Fry at 832-476-9241 or e-mail jaf@reasoningmind.org.

2010 CALL FOR ENTRIES: 

***JULYy 31,2010 DEADLINE.***

ALL OCCASION ART FOR GREETING CARDS

ELIGIBILITY

Artists of all ages and abilities are eligible.  Artwork must be original.

 ART STYLES AND THEMES

The Courage Cards All Occasion Collection will be designed for business to business communication.  Artwork must have a corporate, professional feel.  Word art and graphic design are acceptable.  Themes include:  Birthday, Thank You, Get Well, Sympathy, Anniversary and Achievement. 

 AWARDS

A license fee of $300 will be paid for every piece of selected artwork for All Occasion Courage Cards.  Selected artists will be notified by email or phone. 

 ENTRY

FREE!  No entry fee for this All-Occasion Art Search.  Submit copies of your work along with a summary listing the title and art medium of each entry.  DO NOT SEND ORIGINALS.  Artist name and art title should also appear on each entry.  Mail entries, artist contact information and summary list to: 

COURAGE CENTER

COURAGE CARDS

3915 Golden Valley Road

Minneapolis, MN  55422