Here in my part of the world, we are experiencing water shortages. And it would seem that they are not going to go away. The population is growing faster than the infrastructure. Suddenly a commodity we took for granted (a great surprise to me when I came to the city from a farm!) is no longer invisible. We have to make it a focus, and plan and organise to conserve it. Not a moment too late, of couse. But it was with interest then, that I read this article while researching for my other blog, Pivotal News Bytes. It asks Is water the next oil? And it certainly rings true.

Overcoming public speaking nerves minicourse

I have just released my mini course on how to overcome nerves in public speaking. I've gathered together the techniques that work well for me as well as those that work for others, into a course that will help speakers overome their nerves. You can sign up here.

Goodnight Moon

News arrived during the week of a new publication. This is an old children's favourite at all the libraries I work in and visit, but it has been republished, and dare I say, censored. Maybe edited is a better word. I blogged the event on my library blog and in Pivotal Communicationbecause somehow the ramifications are echoing. I guess I objected to children's publishers trying to please vocal pressure groups. But having thought about it, given that fewer people are smoking, then perhaps the depiction of the father figure without a cigarette in his hand is simply a better depiction of reality. And that, of course, is the trend in childrens literature, isn't it? - towards reality rather than to creating dreams and illusions.

Visit the original New York Times article.

How to present your speech

How to present your speech – creating the WOW factor – Teleseminar

Would you like to make your speeches and presentations come alive? - create an impact on your audience?
Then our Teleseminar is for you.
How to present your speech – creating the WOW factor

TELESEMINAR
The Teleseminar will last for 45 minutes to an hour.  You phone and join the class to learn the best ways for you to make an impact with your presentations.

Click here for details of the seminar

The latest issue of the self-improvement ezine, Pivotal Personal Best has gone out.

Contents are:

1. Great time management advice
2. Behind the magic
3. Is your business safe from internet security threats?
4. 5 Ways to Protect Your Most Essential Commodity

You can read it online

Subscribe and you will receive a free Pivot Box. Click here and send.

The real Shakespeare?

From my Ed News Bytes blog:

Focus: Is this an impostor I see before me?
Scholars claim they have finally identified the real Shakespeare. But the drama is not over yet. Richard Woods reports The most enigmatic and mysterious drama ever created by William Shakespeare is about to reach its denouement. Or so certain scholars hope.
This tragi-comedy — let’s call it Where Art Thou, Will? — has for years beguiled and bamboozled audiences with a simple theme: who really wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare? The answer, say these scholars, will be revealed in a book to be launched on October 19 at the Globe theatre in London, a replica of the playhouse where Shakespeare once trod the stage.  Article continues

I snipped this article for my News Bytes blog.

Game's up: parents monitor offspring's screens

Half of all adult Australians now play computer games, a report has found, and more than two-thirds of game-playing parents regularly join their children in front of the screen.

But on further reflection, I wonder how many parents read wth their kids... It has been proven that reading with children increases their literacy levels. Are we concerned with current literacy levels?

But then current educational game theory suggests that gaming increases children's thinking skills. Or are we simply inproving family functionality? "The famiy that plays together stays together"???

Free minicourse - taking control of your Paper

I put together all of my research and all of my achievements (of which I am very proud) into controlling paper, into aminicourse and it is now available for free. I had people signing up for it as soon as I put a little box about it on the website. Wow!

So ... Happy November!!

Did you celebrate Halloween in your household?

We didn't even have any trick or treater visit last night - which was sad in a way because they are always so joyful, but the event itself really doesn't have the impact here in Australia that it does in, say, America. But the thing that caught my eye this Halloween season was a site I discovered and blogged about in Libblog, the blog I write as a librarian. It is a website promoting the giving of books at Halloween as treats. What a great idea. Next year, I'll be promoting the idea a lot more and will have some book ready here at home. The website is booksfortreats.org