Hill station Shimla in India

Wineglass Bay-Tasmania

Owyhee River-Idaho

Owyhee River, Idaho

Photograph by Michael Melford

Owyhee River, Owyhee River Wilderness, Idaho
120 miles protected in Oregon since 1984 and 67.2 more since 1988; 171.1 miles protected in Idaho since 2009

Waimanu Valley-Hawaii

Despite that the Waihilau Falls in  Hawaii is a wonderful sight to see, as the trailing water perfectly flows through a steep cliff that’s covered in lush and green vegetation, it may be a bit of a challenge for tourists to see as the path is not that accessible. Ironically, this is also the reason why the said water system is serene and virgin in the most literal sense, not being too exposed to the foreign eye. Aside from being pristine and pure, Waihilau Falls, which has a height of over 2,600 feet, is one of the many places created in the lava flow of historic volcanoes, particularly the Kohala Volcano, which is actually extinct today. Once you make it over the treacherous path, you will also see other three waterfalls as consolation to your hard work and patience: Wai’ilikahi Falls, Kakaauki Falls, and Lahomene Falls.

Teach Children the Value Of Investing

Once your child has learned how to save money to achieve his or her goals, it’s time to talk about how to earn money through interest accumulation. Learning about the benefits of compound interest should encourage children to invest their money in income-producing securities.
A good first step to moving from the piggy bank to the stock market is a simple savings account. As your child’s savings grow with money from paper routes, babysitting, or other first jobs, you may want to introduce other investment vehicles, such as mutual funds.
Consider opening a custodial account for your child under the Uniform Gift to Minors Act (UGMA) or the Uniform Transfer to Minors Act (UTMA), or start a matching program, similar to a 401(k) plan where you match every dollar your child invests.
Don’t forget that it’s important to educate children that there is market risk involved when investing in mutual funds, including possible loss of principal.

Give Your Child Ways to Earn Money

Saving is an act of responsibility. It takes focus and determination, but most importantly it takes currency. If your child is under the legal working age, give them responsibilities around the house that will allow them to earn and save some money -  something outside of their daily chores such as helping you cook dinner, water the garden, wash the car, etc.  For younger children, tasks can be simple, such as feeding the family pet, getting the mail, or helping put away groceries.

Give Kids a Structured Allowance to save Money

Giving kids an allowance is a time-honored tradition, but you can help your kids learn valuable money saving skills by insisting that a certain portion of their allowance be saved, while the rest is available for spending. When the habit of automatically setting some money aside is established early, the concept of saving as an adult isn’t so difficult to wrestle with. This also simulates the experience of paying bills and managing expenses, making that experience a less traumatic one than it would be if those lessons were learned in young adulthood.

Saving lessons for Kids

One of the most important money lessons for children to learn is the concept of saving. When setting ground rules for an allowance, consider requiring that the child set aside a portion of his or her money for future goals. Make sure the goals are meaningful to the child, such as purchasing a new bike (as opposed to saving for college). Here are a few tips to consider:

For younger children – Make the process of saving visible, fun and physical. Use a large jar with a picture of the target purchase taped on it or a brightly-colored piggy bank shaped like a favorite cartoon character. Find creative ways to help the child count and record his or her money.

For older children – Consider a savings account at your local bank to teach the concept of interest. Many banks have "kids accounts," with simple recordkeeping that makes it easy for a child to track his or her account.

For larger purchases – Consider matching the child’s savings. For example, contribute a dollar for every two dollars saved towards the purchase of a new pair of brand- name sneakers worn by a favorite basketball player. Or contribute a flat amount of, say, $30, and let him or her come up with the rest.

Require children to save some money

When children are young, it's easy to place birthday money in the bank for them to have when they are older. But this practice doesn't need to be abandoned when your kids are old enough to notice the $10 bill inside the birthday card. Instead of allowing children to spend all the money they receive or earn, require them to split their money three ways: a third for a college fund, a third for a savings account, and a third for spending. Children will quickly learn to spend wisely with what money they do have, or they'll be disappointed with the results.

BANK ACCOUNTS FOR KIDS

This is a great way to teach beginning investment (although not a great lesson in earning interest these days!). The first step is to check with your bank-of-choice to find out the minimum opening balance. Some banks allow a child's account to have a lower opening balance than normal. Also be sure to find an account that won't charge a fee for things like monthly service charges, low balance, withdrawals, etc. 

It is a great experience for your child to be with you when you open the account. Our local bank did a great job walking our girls through the process and explaining how to balance the transaction book. Our girls were so proud when they handed over their Save It money bag and heard the praises of the bank employees (hey...I relish any and all outside sources of motivation as we try to raise fiscally responsible children!) Once you leave the bank with transaction record book in hand, take the opportunity to explain interest and how the bank "pays" you to have your money in their possession. 

You can take your child to make deposits in the account as often as you like. If your child is older and makes a larger commission, weekly deposits would be great. If younger, then monthly deposits would make more sense. Once your child has about $250.00 in the account, you can explore other investment options like mutual funds.  See below fora calculator to teach your child the magic of compounded interest. Investment houses like T. Rowe Price, Edward Jones, ING, Raymond James, etc. can help your child with future investments. It's fun to earmark the mutual fund for something long-term (car, college, etc) and track it online.

Germany prints money for 60 different countries. Canada makes coin for 62!

Half of the world outsource their money printing. Between 10 and 20 percent of all bank notes are printed by private companies. Because it's a sensitive issue, it's not easy to determing whose money gets printed where. Efforts against counterfeiting are neverending and they're costly.

All-in-all, German private companies print the paper notes of about 60 different countries. Canadian companies mint the coins of about 62 countries. Their clients are usually small countries that don't have the capability to print their own money securely or at scale.

Printers must be certified by the central bank they're working for. The central banks, in turn, have to register with the World Bank for the right to order currency from the printers. The printing companies can only take orders directly from the central banks. Not even a head of state can buy cash—his central bank must place the order.

Give Kids Independence Over Their Spending Decisions

In order to truly learn about financial responsibility, kids need to have some measure of independence over their savings. This means that you’ll have to allow him to make a mistake or two in order to learn from them. Don’t berate him for mistakes or jump to bail him out of the mess. Instead, take the time to talk about what went wrong and how to fix the situation responsibly. Remember that every mistake is a learning experience for your child, especially when it comes to money management.

Discuss Money Issue with Children

Discuss Money Issue with Children: It is always good to include your children when you’re discussing money in the house, though not in all money matter but the money that has to do with them directly.  Such money will include their pocket money, school money, lesson money and all other money that the children will feature in. Doing this will enable them to be wise with issue of money and they learn to save to help their parent and not just spending every money that come to their hand.

Make Saving Fun for CHILDREN

Children may want to run right to the candy store to spend their money, so it’s your job to remind them that saving their funds will result in more expensive items. The first step in creating a smart saver is to make saving a fun and creative experience. You may want to paint a piggy bank or old jar with your child. They can store their money here and watch as it fills to the top.
When children are saving for something specific, the process becomes a lot more fun. Ask your child what they really want, like a new computer or tablet. These items aren’t cheap and will require that your child saves for a long time. When their jar does become full, take them to purchase the item or to the bank to make a deposit into their account.
The bank is a fun place for children to learn about money. Bank tellers often keep small candies and suckers to give to children, making the trip rewarding. If this is your child’s first visit to the bank, don’t be afraid to ask the teller to introduce themselves and explain what they do. This is also a great time to explain how interest works and how money grows slowly in the bank, so it’s worth it to save for a long time.

Help Young Children Choose Savings Categories

Once young kids understand how saving money works and how they can benefit, they are often eager to get started. Help your children choose a couple items or activities as savings goals, that aren't too different.

You might also want to establish a mandatory category with a set amount of savings. For example, gifts for brothers or sisters, Sunday school offerings etc. Even a small percentage, maybe a nickel or dime out of each dollar of allowance can go a long ways in teaching values such as generosity and discipline.

Open a bank account for Teaching kids the importance of saving money

By the time children are in third or fourth grade, they may be ready to open a bank account. It can be very disturbing to a child who is used to seeing their money accumulate in their piggy bank to have it suddenly disappear.

So, it is up to the parents to teach them how banks work. Their money is being kept some place safe; but it is still theirs!

When Dylan was ready to get started we made a point of visiting our local bank so he could see the building in which his money would be kept.

Bimah-Sinkhole -Oman

This strange wonder is found on Oman’s east coast approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes from Muscat. It’s basically a huge hole/cave like structure filled with water from the close by ocean. The water is azure blue and there are plenty of places to climb up the rocks and jump into the clear water. It is commonly called the Sink Hole and got its name from its sink-like shape, filled with water. The water has a very high salt level caused by evaporation. 

Orinduik waterfall

Orinduik waterfall has formed on sturdy rocks of pure, red jasper - a beautiful ornamental stone. This is not unique - rather many waterfalls in this part of South America have formed on this stone.
The true size of falls can be appreciated from the air. River has many steps before and after the falls. Falls themselves have three major steps and numerous smaller ones. Steps have complex configuration, with an island in the middle.
Name of waterfall originates from a local Carib (possibly - Patamona) name ("orin" or similar word) - which in turn is a name to a plant which grows in the rocks in the stream.

Kaieteur Falls

This is Kaieteur Falls,
Which is about three times higher than the more well known Niagara Falls and about two times the height of the Victoria

Falls.

Kaieteur is located in the central part of Guyana Highlands, consisting of several billion years old rocks. This part of Guyana Highlands contains higher ridge named - Pakaraima Mountains, consisting of plateaus with steep sides.
Guyana is rich with waterfalls but this region is superior in this respect. Numerous powerful rivers fall here over the edges of plateaus.

Radiation Dosage and Decay

There are several methods to measure radiation; hence, there are several radiation units based on different radiation factors. Radiation units can measure radioactive decay, absorbed dosage, and human absorbed doses. Bq and Ci measure radioactive decay, while Gy and Rad measures absorbed doses. Sv and Rem measure absorbed doses in Gy and Rad equivalents. Rem takes into account different radiation types and the speed of particles. Below is a chart to help organize the different units:

Units for Radioactive Decay

Becquerel, Bq	Measured in s-1, as disintegration per second
Curie, Ci	Measured as amount of decay at the same rate as 1 gram of radium 1 Ci = 3.70∙1010 Bq

Units for Absorbed Dose

Gray, Gy	1 Gy deposits 1 Joule of energy per kilogram of matter
Rad	1 rad = 0.01 Gy

Equivalent Doses

Sievert, Sv	1Sv= 100 rem
Rem	1 rem = 1 rad∙Q Q = 1 for X-rays, gamma rays, and beta particles Q = 3 for slow neutrons Q = 10 for protons and fast neutrons Q = 20 for alpha particles

The most commonly used unit is the "rad," which stands for "radiation absorbed dose," and the "rem," which stands for "radiation equivalent for man." One rad corresponds to the absorption of 0.01 Joules of energy per kilogram of matter. Rem is the rad multiplied by the relative biological effectiveness, which is most often expressed as the variable "Q." The factor Q is used to take into account the different effects caused by different radiation.

Radiation and DNA

Radiation is simply a mechanism whereby energy passes through space. It takes the form of an electromagnetic wave, with the frequency of the electromagnetic wave determining its position in the electromagnetic spectrum. Low-frequency waves such as radio waves lie at one end of the spectrum and high-energy, high-frequency X-rays/Gamma rays at the other end. These high-frequency, high-energy waves are termed “ionizing” (as opposed to non-ionizing) radiation because they contain sufficient energy to displace an electron from its orbit around a nucleus. The most important consequence of this displaced electron on human tissue is the potential damage it can inflict on DNA, which may occur directly or indirectly. Direct damage occurs when the displaced electron hits and breaks a DNA strand. Indirect damage occurs when the electron reacts with a water molecule, creating a powerful hydroxyl radical which then damages the cell’s DNA.
Damage to a cell’s DNA in either of these ways can have several consequences. A single-strand DNA break is usually repaired appropriately by the cell with no subsequent deleterious sequelae. However, a break affecting both strands of DNA allows the potential for abnormal reconnection of the strands, which likely accounts for all the adverse biological effects ionizing radiation has on humans. First, DNA may rejoin itself incorrectly, rendering the cell nonviable with cell death taking place. Second, it may rejoin as a symmetrical translocation with the potential expression of an oncogene during division (and development of subsequent malignancy) or with abnormal division in gonads, giving rise to potential hereditary disorders.
Radiosensitivity is the probability of a cell, tissue, or organ suffering an effect per unit dose of radiation. Radiosensitivity is highest in cells which are highly mitotic or undifferentiated. For this reason the basal epidermis, bone marrow, thymus, gonads, and lens cells are highly radiosensitive. Muscle, bones, and nervous system tissues have a relative low radiosensitivity.

Aren't children more sensitive to radiation than adults?

Yes, because children are growing more rapidly, there are more cells dividing and a greater opportunity for radiation to disrupt the process. EPA's radiation protection standards take into account the differences in the sensitivity due to age and gender.

Fetuses are also highly sensitive to radiation. The resulting effects depend on which systems are developing at the time of exposure.

Prenatal Radiation Exposure

Rapidly proliferating and differentiating tissues are most sensitive to radiation damage. Consequently, radiation exposure can produce developmental problems, particularly in the developing brain, when an embryo/fetus is exposed prenatally.

The developmental conditions most commonly associated with prenatal radiation exposure include low birth weight, microcephaly, mental retardation, and other neurological problems. These effects are related to the developmental stage at which the exposure occurs. The threshold dose for developmental effects is approximately 10 rems.

The evidence that the developing embryo/fetus is more sensitive to radiation-induced cancer is inconclusive. But it is prudent to assume that there is some increased sensitivity.