Living Well

Grape expectations: Christmas in Spain

Tue, 12/13/2016 - 17:58

Christmas does not come with a global user manual. There aren’t really any written protocols for what must happen in every country on Christmas Day. There is plenty of variety in how religious or secular the last week of December is, when and how gifts are given, what is eaten, and what traditions are observed. Over the years each country has made up the celebration of Christmas in its own way, created its own iconography and found its own blend of the Pagan and the Christian, the culinary and the playful.

Living Well

Learn Bushcraft with Ray Mears

Tue, 11/22/2016 - 22:43

You are lost and alone in the wilderness. For the first day or two, it isn’t too bad apart from the mosquitos. You’re going to be rescued, right? On day three you’re concerned but still aiming to catch the next episode of The Walking Dead. But around day four, when nobody has shown up yet, the reality sinks in and you must start to plan your survival for however long it takes until civilisation comes looking for you, or until you find it again.

Living Well

Growing people: MindFood

Tue, 11/01/2016 - 21:01

Gardeners everywhere know the benefits of getting outside, getting their hands into the earth and, when the right time comes, enjoying the fruits of their labours. Working with the seasons rather than against them has a calming and grounding effect that can reduce worrying about life stresses by keeping in touch with nature. People who regularly work their gardens often have an aura of contentment about them that non-gardeners envy.

Living Well

Open graves, open minds: Vampire Studies

Tue, 10/25/2016 - 17:29

The popularity of True Blood, Twilight and The Vampire Diaries has spawned a variety of educational offers for those with a thirst for the subject. The Gothic has always held a special fascination, but recently it has seen a revival in popular culture which some institutions have formalized into taught and research courses.

Living Well

Preventing burnout: wellbeing in the workplace

Thu, 09/22/2016 - 00:24

60% of our waking hours are spent at work. But just being there is no guarantee of productivity. On the best days, we feel energized, motivated and productive, and we get plenty done. Yet how many of those good days we have depends a lot on our state of physical and mental wellbeing.

Living Well

How to get paid to travel the world

Thu, 09/15/2016 - 22:24

There’s a course on Udemy that might be worth looking into if you’re tired of the 9 to 5 routine and want to see more of the world. It describes how to get paid to travel. They don’t give away the exact details of their method because that would be stupid – they are selling an ‘information product’ in the style of get rich quick schemes, and the only way to get at their secret sauce is to pay for it.

Article Search

Hot career: Drone Maintenance Technician

Technology / 06 Feb 18

Drones are filling our skies. If companies like Amazon manage to negotiate their way past aviation restrictions, drones will soon be delivering our shopping to our homes and workplaces. No longer just toys and aerial photography tools, drones are here to stay. They are used in search and rescue, disaster relief, bomb disposal, military and civilian reconnaissance, archaeology, infrastructure inspection, anti-poaching, conservation, construction and law enforcement.
Recover from burnout with these online courses

Living Well / 04 Jul 19

The World Health Organization recently added workplace burnout to its International Classification of Diseases as an occupational phenomenon. It isn’t classed as a disease but a ‘factor influencing health status’.

It is no surprise that if the place where you spend most of your waking life is getting you down, then you are not going to be the happiest bunny on the block and eventually something will have to give. The WHO define burnout as follows:
Smart.ly: pocket-sized MBA divides opinion

Business / 12 Jun 18

What is the real value of an MBA? The skills developed, or the prestige of the issuing institution? For those seeking to add an MBA to their resume, their answer to that question will make the difference between spending thousands of dollars and spending no dollars at all.
A fresh take on ancient civilizations

Creative / 07 May 19

A new video lecture course has emerged which brings a fresh angle on the ancient and classical worlds, delivered by a lecturer whose enthusiasm for her subject shines through and brings ‘dead’ history to life. If you are looking for a deep dive into the civilizations which preceded the Middle Ages – how they lived, what they believed, how they rose and fell, what they left behind and their influence on successive civilizations right up to the present day – then this video lecture series is for you.
Master’s without a bachelor’s? Now you can

Business / 17 Jul 17

In 1233 a papal bull decreed that anyone admitted to the mastership at the University of Toulouse should be allowed to teach freely in any other university. Ever since then it has been set in stone that the rite of passage into a master’s degree is a three or four-year undergraduate degree. Pretty much by definition, a master’s is a follow-on from a bachelor’s degree.