http://clk.bz/what-is-mind-mapping
Let’s face it. Re-gifting is something that we all know happens from time to time. Whether it is due to running low on funds or an unwanted gift from a very well-intentioned person, the process of giving a received gift to someone else is not all that uncommon. However, as any experienced re-gifter knows, nothing is worse than re-gifting an item to the person from whom you originally received it. This embarrassment can easily be avoided with a little planning and organization, and a Visual Mind Map can help with this planning. With Visual Mind Maps, re-gifters can organize a chart showing from whom a gift was received and to whom the re-gifter plans to give the gift in one, spatially formatted, and intuitive diagram. In addition, re-gifters can add colors and graphics to their mind map to make the chart easier to conceptualize and work with. Thus, those wanting to “recycle” gifts can do so easily and without fear of the gifts getting into the wrong hands.
What are Visual Mind Maps and How Are They Created?
A Visual Mind Map is “a means of organizing information that allows individuals to create diagrams, pictures, and other graphic visuals in order to show the relationship between ideas or other types of information”. With a Visual Mind Map, the creator makes use of colors and symbols to construct the map and represent his or her ideas in a non-linear format. When creating a Visual Mind Map, the individual usually begins by showing the key concept or main idea of the information as a graphic image, located in the center of the map. Any themes surrounding the main idea are shown on “branches” that are attached to the central image. Subsequent themes of less importance are then attached to these branches using “child branches”, and so on. The resulting diagram is a “map” of the ideas and information presented that includes the images, visual graphics, and colors the individual associates with each of the themes and ideas.
Organizing a Re-Gifting Chart Using a Visual Mind Map
Connie enjoys re-gifting presents to those she feels will get better use out of gifts she has received from others. Her yearly practice of recycling gifts, however, ran into an embarrassing snag last year when she accidentally gave a friend the same present the friend had given her the year before. Hoping that she can avoid the same gaffe this year, Connie decides to create a chart organizing her re-gifting plans using a Visual Mind Map. She commences her map by placing a representative visual in the map’s center. She then lists the names of everyone to whom she intends to re-gift presents on “branches” that she attaches to the central image. On “child branches”, she then lists the gifts she received from each person next to their name. She then attaches “twigs” to each “child branch”, on which she lists the gift she intents to give the person. She also adds any images or graphics she wants to the map to make it more conceptual. When Connie has finished organizing her re-gifting chart, it resembles the chart in the attached Visual Mind Map.
Re-Gifting Presents Using the Visual Mind Map
Now that Connie has completed her chart, she finds she has an easy way to ensure that she does not recycle gifts to the wrong person. As she decides whom she will give each gift to, she simply ensures she does not choose a gift that is listed next to the person’s name as a previous gift. She no longer has to worry about trying to remember who gave what last year as she assigns each gift; each gift, along with the giver, is clearly listed on her Visual Mind Map. The result is, thus, a smooth and enjoyable Christmas, one where no one recognizes that the gift they are receiving is a gift that Connie herself had received the year before.
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Filed under Family, Children and Backpacking Destinations by traveltips
January 27, 2010
Why Don’t we see More Recycled Glass Products?
Let’s take a look at glass. Or better yet, let’s take a look through glass. What do you see? Technically glass is called a “super-cooled fluid” and not a solid. But that only matters if you are a student of really old windows, when the slow flow of glass under the influence of gravity makes the lower half of an antique window thicker than the upper.
The ingredients for making glass is silica, soda ash and limestone. Soda ash is produced by the worldwide chemicals industry in huge amounts, whilst limestone and silica are quarry products. Once all these ingredients are gathered, they are melted together at extremely high temperatures, creating glass. These glass uses range from glass fibres which are used in windows and windscreens, to bottles and jars.
Massive amounts of energy is used in the pre-production and production of glass. So recycling glass which can be used to create recycled glass vases must be a good thing, right?
Up to a point. The sad fact is that most glass used in the products and objects we buy is brand new material. The main reason why this is the norm is because many manufacturer insist on uniformity, and the only way to achieve this is by creating brand new glass
The very best thing to do with bottles and jars is theoretically to clean them and reuse them for their original product. In the UK, this only takes place with milk bottles which are delivered to houses. These are cleaned and reused an average of 12 times. The reason why this form of reuse is so successful is because not only do milk bottles get dropped off, but the old ones are also collected. The biggest reasons why other types of bottle recycling has not worked is mainly down to the lack of cooperation from retailers who don’t want to organise the collection process, and then the cost of returning imported bottles for products such as wine.
So most bottles are ground down to make a raw material called cullet, which could then be re-melted to form part of glass production. But it isn’t. The glass that is actually recycled is used in many other products, one being new road surfaces. Virtually all the bottles we recycle are made from brand new glass. Your recycling efforts won’t change that. The reasons why glass is never re-used to make new glass is because firstly, it costs too much to transport due to the uncertain composition and lastly, glass manufacturers have precise requirements for glass.
Recycling plate glass causes even more problems. A massive amount of glass is used in replacing glass in windows and windscreens. Ever wondered where your old windows go? Straight to landfill sites. The reason why this happens is because it just takes too much time and costs too much to remove the glass.
It’s actually very difficult to find a retailer that sellers products created from recycled glass. They should be treasured and encouraged because their producers are able to demonstrate that it can be done. So here’s a great link to a retailer that stocks a number of recycled glass products, including recycled glass tableware such as plates, bowls and wine glasses, as well as colourful recycled glass bathroom accessories such as soap dispensers.
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Filed under Travel Guides and Holiday News by traveltips