The New Extraterrestrial Design by Zaha Hadid

What you are looking at is the new design for the new Cultural Centre and Opera House in Dubai by Zaha Hadid.

It is said that; “The design calls for an exciting new cultural centre in the new Seven Pearls district of Dubai. This landmark development will accommodate an opera house, playhouse, arts gallery, performing arts school and themed hotel on an island in Dubai Creek just off the mainland part of the district. All of these facilities will be state of the art to host world class performances and exhibitions. The opera house will have a seating capacity of 2,500 while the playhouse will have a seating capacity of 800.”

To read more about the dune-shaped building proposed for an island off Dubai Creek, go here.

Notebook Babies: Oddly Soothing and Educational

Anthony J. Dusko has created funny little potato-like characters to help kids learn. The Notebook Babies features some simple animation, yet the silly little characters are proven to be effective when comes to education. The interesting part is, adults are hooked onto these animations as well. Somehow after watching these animation, people feel good. It has some kind of soothing effect, so if you are having a bad day, try watch a clip or two of Notebook Babies. (Don’t ask me why)

Yes, the Notebook Babes is kind of like the Teletubbies, but only better. (I still think whoever created the Teletubbies should be shot for causing viewers’ IQ to drop.).)

The Reading Tub: Don’t you just love the logo?

The Reading Tub is one of the two 501c3 literacy projects endorsed and supported by the Dreamblogue. The Library Project (Asia) and the Reading Tub (US) share the ad revenue generated by the blog of dreams.

The single most significant factor influencing a child’s early educational success is an introduction to books and being read to at home prior to beginning school. National Commission on Reading, 1985 60% of the kindergartners in neighborhoods where children did poorly in school did not own a single book. The Patterns of Book Ownership and Reading, D. Feitelson and Z. Goldstein, 1986.

The most successful way to improve the reading achievement of low-income children is to increase their access to print. Communities ranking high in achievement tests have several factors in common: an abundance of books in public libraries, easy access to books in the community at large and a large number of textbooks per student. Newman, Sanford, et all. “American’s Child Care Crisis: A Crime Prevention Tragedy”; Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2000.According to the National Academy on an Aging Society, 73 billion dollars is the estimated annual cost of low literacy skills in the form of longer hospital stays, emergency room visits, more doctor visits, and increased medication. “Toward a Literate Nation”, Luis Herrera, Public Libraries, Jan/Feb 2004.

The reading tub is intermittently blocked in China and you may need to use this link: http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://thereadingtub.com