3 . When I zipped through elementary school way back in the 1950s, in English class we were encouraged to express ourselves through creative writing, public speaking or perhaps taking part in some form of drama. And as we shared our creativity we were improving our communication skills. The emphasis here was how best to convey our thoughts and talents as clearly as possible. Yet it seemed that all spoken word exercises were being taught only from the speaker’s point of view, with little or no time spent teaching the fine art of listening.

And that was a missed opportunity because young children are remarkable listeners. They take in words, ideas and speech patterns, quite often without our awareness. Yet somewhere along the way, we teach them to stop listening. Perhaps they would benefit from lessons in selective silence, concentration, while focusing on knowing how to process all incoming information. Sadly, to the best of my knowledge, no such programs are offered.

We seem to allocate less time to actually listening to one another. There is no question that we are a nation of bad listeners. One reason might be the fact that we have become a much more visual society as result of exposure to television, the Internet and all manner of hand-held wireless devices. We tend to be more self-absorbed and primarily focused on hearing ourselves talk rather than listening to others.

I attended a small family gathering a few years ago and almost everyone except my 86-year-old aunt was constantly texting or checking email on their iPhone. It made me wonder why we had bothered get together in the first place as we were paying so little attention to one another. We could just as easily have had an online get-together.

Listening is indeed a rare and special talent. And one that takes a lot of practice. But once you have gotten comfortable with the technique, you might find your next tete-a-tete a whole lot more meaningful. Simply listening for nuances in conversation will provide so much more context and substance for the words you are hearing. Remember, in order to be interesting, you must first be interested. And in conversation, you are supposed to be listening, not waiting to talk.

7 . A nurse at a Los Angeles hospital took a photo of a woman who accidentally damaged her own eyes with pencils, and the patient sued the hospital after the picture was sent on the Internet, her lawyer said on Wednesday.

The woman, whose name was not mentioned, was treated at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center after she unintentionally inserted the pencils through her eyes and was rushed to the hospital, her lawyer, Douglas Johnson, said. The injury left the woman blind, according to the lawsuit, filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The as-yet unidentified nurse took the photograph of the patient with the pencils still sticking out of her eyes, then shared the picture with another person, who passed the image to Joshua Shivers. Shivers, in turn, used his mother’s computer to post the image to a “ shock ” website, and the photo has since been viewed more than 192,000 times.

“Everybody knows that as soon as someone gets their hands on something like this, it spreads quickly and the harm is done,” said Douglas, who specializes in privacy cases.

County spokesman David Sommers said officials are investigating what is stated in the lawsuit, and he refused to comment further. The lawsuit also names as defendants Joshua Shivers and his mother, Linda. They could not be reached for comment.

The woman who blinded herself has since received mental help, learned to read braille and “gotten her life back on track” by enrolling in college, the lawsuit stated.

9 . Arden University

Arden University has physical study centres in London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Berlin, Germany, and also offers high quality online bachelor and master degree programmes to British and international students all over the world. They have supported over 50,000 students while remaining true to their core values, ensuring higher education is available for all. Covering a range of professional subjects in 12 academic fields, Arden University makes UK education accessible and affordable through their creative study platform. Click here to view this school.

University of London International Programmes

We have over 60,000 students in every corner of the globe studying on more than 100 different programmes. Our global footprint and flexible study method has enabled students to study wherever they live. As a family of 19 world-class colleges and admired institutes, the University of London has an international reputation for academic distinction in teaching and research. Our students achieve exactly the same standard of internationally recognized qualification as those who attend the University itself. Click here to view this school.

University of York

The University of York is one of the top ten universities in the UK for teaching and research, and is ranked in the top 100 universities in the world. This well-established university consists of over 30 academic departments and research centres and a student body of 13,000, and was named Times Higher Education University of the Year 2010. Most of the distance learning courses are designed to meet professional development needs, and reflect the benefits of online learning in this context. Click here to view this school.

Lloyd’s Maritime Academy

Course options include popular and well-established diplomas in Marine (海洋) Surveying, Ship Management, and Maritime Law. Various accreditation levels are available from short, online based certificate courses to fully-accredited diploma and postgraduate diploma study options. We also offer our best course — the MBA in Shipping&. Logistics. The continued strength of these distance learning programmes have over 6,000 students enrolled on our courses. Click here to view this school.