Thing 8

It's a well known fact that visual aides (like colors) help us learn because our brains then can associate things like letters, numbers, and even whole words or sentences with that color which allows us to retain the information better. That being said, one thing people find difficult to learn is a foreign language. With the use of mashups,  visual aids are easier to generate and use, kind of like this one: Bienvenu!







For anyone that may not know, this is "welcome" in french. I grant you that there seems to be too much going on on the surface because it's a new language and all of the letter are in a different form even when they repeat in the word itself. But, because this is (supposed to be) a compound word and the i's and e's sometimes sound the same, it's sometimes hard to keep their positions straight. So, remembering the shapes and colors of the pictures is a good way to remember the overall structure of the word. Also, the word "venu" is the past participle of the verb "vinir" which is "to come". Given that the hardest part of any language (in my opinion) is verbs and tenses, having a visual aide for things like this really helps to keep it all straight.

As far as sharing photos online is concerned, as long as it is done for the betterment of society and there is no real malevolent intent behind it's posting and can thereby do no harm to the poster or others that might be tagged in them, why should there be a problem? There is now a huge problem with people posting pictures or statuses that are doing nothing but make them look immature. Seeing as how potential employers are now wanting to use social media as a tool to delve into the real life of their new hires, it's a good idea to keep certain conversations and photos out of the public eye. I think the old adage of "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" should be invoked a little more often now.