April Classes Explain Therapy Dogs, Cookie Decorating, Thrift Shopping
Patricia Ingalls
During April, LifeLong Learning (LLL) offers three classes, all on weekdays, starting at 1 p.m., in the LLL Center. For full details and to register, go to lifelonglearningatpc.org.
Mutts on a Mission: On Wednesday, April 9, therapy-dog volunteers—and their dogs—will return to LLL to demonstrate their mission and their results in the West Valley. The class explains how these highly trained dogs benefit people in hospitals, schools, and other facilities. The class also covers how dogs are selected and trained to help people feel less stressed and more connected to their surroundings.
Cookie Decorating: On Friday, April 11, Kathy Worwa will teach how to decorate sugar cookies, featuring techniques for spring-holiday shapes, such as bunnies, eggs, and carrots. Students will take their decorated cookies home to share. Worwa, originally an art major in college, switched to business. After retirement, she taught art to grade schoolers. After moving to PebbleCreek, she started a cookie business, combining her talents and experience.
Finding Great Buys at Thrift Stores: On Tuesday, April 29, Dave Barringer, a new PebbleCreek resident, will teach how thrift stores operate and how to find great buys there. He’ll share how the “back of the house” operates, which can help participants find treasures and make smart buying decisions. Barringer has 30 years of thrift experience at senior levels of Goodwill. He recently retired as national chief executive officer of St. Vincent de Paul.
Global Development Visualized Online
Bill Nee
People utilize different approaches to learn information. My wife loves to read, and she is primarily a visual learner. I am more of an auditory learner. This month’s TED Talk excels in visual understanding of global development.
Although Hans Rosling, a Swedish world-health researcher, produced the talk in 2006, it still features timeless data over decades, even centuries, to display individual nations’ social and economic changes, compared to the rest of the world.
The adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” means that complex ideas can be conveyed by a single, still image, which conveys its meaning or essence more effectively than a mere verbal description. In this TED presentation, Rosling shows changing characteristics through moving snapshots of time, linking data and design together in a humorous, eye-opening depiction of the world.
Rosling’s foundation fights devastating misconceptions and promotes a fact-based worldview everyone can understand. At the foundation’s website, Gapminder.org, you can view computer-generated displays of current statistics of those shown in this TED Talk and beyond.
This 20-minute TED Talk has been viewed almost 16 million times. To add to that number, go to TED.com, click “watch” in the header, then “TED Talks,” then in “Search talks” input “The best stats you’ve ever seen,” scroll a little lower, and click on the talk you selected.
Go learn more about the world you live in, through this visual blend of data and design.