In these first days of the new year, millions of us will have embarked on a resolution for 2017.
And maybe a good percentage will already have given up and decided that maybe the following year will be the time to finally write that bestselling novel.
But why do we keep putting things off? Why is procrastination such a common problem?
It’s claimed as a particular difficulty for students and academics.
Professor Tim Pychyl, a psychologist at Carleton University in Canada, is part of the Procrastination Research Group and calls it „the biggest problem in education today“.
A lecture in which he gives advice to students on how to stop procrastinating recently passed 170,000 views on YouTube.
Procrastination, it’s claimed, can affect student grades, drop-out rates and mental and physical health.
Lecturers suffer from procrastination too, with academic Twitter feeds talking about „writing guilt“ and the battle between marking papers and watching Netflix.
With more people studying online, procrastination is a greater problem than ever before.
At only the click of a button, an essay can be replaced by a video of a sneezing kitten, or a Facebook photo album of your ex and her new boyfriend on holiday.
Prof Pychyl says procrastination is making the choice to avoid doing something, even though we know this will cost us in the long run.
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He says it is different from intentionally delaying doing something, and it is not a problem of time management, but a failure to control our emotions.
„When we procrastinate, we are trying to improve our mood by avoiding doing something that feels unpleasant to us,“ he says.
„A bit like getting drunk or comfort eating, it is a coping strategy to feel better by distracting ourselves with short-term pleasure and forgetting about a problem. “
Procrastination is more common among people who are impulsive, prone to perfectionism, burdened by other people’s expectations of them, and scared of failure.
It affects younger people in particular, because we get better at controlling our emotions as our brain develops.
But there is hope for procrastinators.
Based on his research with Dr Fuchsia Sirois of the University of Sheffield, Prof Pychyl insists that anyone can reduce procrastination with the following steps:
1) Practice techniques of mindfulness and meditation to gain control over negative thoughts.
„Using mindfulness techniques, we can acknowledge that we do not feel like doing something without making a judgement on this feeling, then remind ourselves why the task is important, and commit to making a start,“ says Prof Pychyl.
„And when we make progress on a task, we feel better about ourselves and this makes it much easier to carry on. “
Sir Anthony Seldon, vice chancellor of the University of Buckingham, has introduced mindfulness sessions for staff and students.
2) Break down a task into clear and manageable steps.
One reason for procrastination is that the targets we set are often too big and vague, which makes them seem more intimidating and unpleasant.
So you should scale down your new year’s resolutions from „get in shape“ or „write a novel“ to „put on your running gear“ or „find a name for your main character“.
As soon as Paul Roberts sets his students a task at the University of Warwick’s International Manufacturing Centre, he runs a mind-mapping workshop for them to identify what steps they will need to complete the project.
He says procrastination among students has fallen as a result.
3) Don’t punish yourself for procrastinating.
Prof Pychyl’s research shows that students who forgive themselves for procrastinating are less likely to delay in the same way on their next assignment.
So the more guilt and anger you feel about depriving the world of your groundbreaking novel this year, the less chance you have of writing it next year.
4) Build on the good habits you already have.
Prof Pychyl says he finally managed to obey his dentist’s instruction to floss by combining it with his existing habit of brushing his teeth.
He committed himself to placing the floss on the counter in front of him every time he brushed his teeth, and flossing soon became second nature to him.
5) Get in touch with your „future self“.
When people were shown a digitally-aged picture of themselves and then asked to allocate money, they were more likely to save for retirement because they felt a stronger association with their future selves.
Putting a digitally-aged self-portrait by your desk might prompt your colleagues to look at you strangely or even accuse you of time travel.
But if your deadline is 9am, then simply imagining yourself desperately writing the essay at 2am might persuade you to start earlier.
6) Work out why you care about what you are doing.
Prof Pychyl says procrastination can often reflect a deeper existential problem of lacking an identity or a direction in life.
We procrastinate on tasks that we see as boring or less meaningful. So remind yourself why you are doing something and how it fits in with your ambitions.
Perhaps writing a good essay will help you get a good degree, which will help you pursue your dream of being a doctor.
By thinking in this way, the long-term benefit of doing your work can overpower the short-term pleasure of distractions.
If these research-backed steps are so effective, should they be taught in every school, university and workplace?
Many universities, such as UEA, Goldsmiths and Bradford, produce guides on procrastination for students.
But Prof Pychyl says much advice still focuses on time management skills, rather than tackling the root causes.
„Professors should address how students are feeling throughout the term and help them to understand why they procrastinate,“ he says.
„If they can learn to manage their emotions, it will help them in every area of their lives. „

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LAS VEGAS , Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Humaneyes Technologies, a pioneer in the development of 3D modeling and virtual reality (VR) solutions, announces March 7, 2017 , as the first commercial availability of its much-awaited Vuze camera and its purpose built VR Studio software. At CES, the company is also announcing two new partnerships with VisiSonics, a leading 3D audio provider to add advanced 3D audio capabilities to the Humaneyes VR Studio software and with WakingApp and its ENTiTi AR/VR creator that provides easy to use virtual & augmented reality editing capabilities for non-programmers. The combination of technologies provides an end-to-end ecosystem for the creation and sharing of accurate, true-to-life 3D VR content.
At launch, the Humaneyes VR Studio software will include the advanced 3D audio capabilities of VisiSonics ‚ new software suite RealSpace™ 360 Cinema. For the first time in a consumer product, the solution allows virtual placement of sound anywhere in 3D space with pinpoint accuracy, creating the perception of real source direction, distance, depth, and movement relative to the listener. In addition, it will use VisiSonics‘ software to convert recordings from the VUZE’s microphones into ambisonics. The overall 3D audio capabilities recreate the auditory ambiance of the environment, creating a completely immersive audio-visual experience.
„The influx of user generated VR content, made possible by the Vuze camera, will stimulate adoption of VR headsets across the industry,“ said Jim Malcolm , General Manager of Humaneyes Technologies. „These new owners of VR headsets can now create immersive 3D-360 VR experiences, complete with advanced 3D audio and AR integration, without having to learn complicated computer programming languages. “
Changing the VR landscape
When watching 360-degree video in a VR headset, a flat, two-dimensional experience simply isn’t enough. True VR requires 3D-360, which is made possible through the Humaneyes ecosystem, marking a paradigm shift in the industry.
An honoree in the 2017 CES Innovation Awards and winner of the prestigious Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award, the Vuze Camera is the first prosumer VR camera complete with a consumer ready price tag. Advanced 3D-360 capture technology incorporates 8 Full HD cameras and an easy-to-use ’set and shoot‘ form-factor generating 4K per eye resolution in an open industry MPEG 4 3D-360° VR video format.
The Humaneyes VR Studio software uses powerful algorithms that automatically engage sophisticated processing and editing functions such as camera calibration, vignette correction, fisheye and perspective control, white balance and exposure adjustment as well as the stereo alignment for consistent parallax. Working in harmony between the hardware and software the Humaneyes VR Studio, at a touch-of-a-button, assembles a true VR experience in real-time (one minute of processing for one minute of footage).
Providing even more utility and creative interaction with VR content, the Humaneyes VR studio will also incorporate ENTiTi, WakingApp’s DIY Virtual & Augmented reality creation tools, which provides the ability to create rich, multilayer and interactive VR content that can be integrated with 3D 360 footage shot with the Vuze camera. The ENTiTi Creator utilizes an innovative drag-and-drop interface and cloud-based system for non-programmers to add 3D objects, video, sound and pictures into the Humaneyes VR studio and publish it instantly, anywhere.
„The partnership and new capabilities we have announced at CES are just the beginning of an ever expanding VR ecosystem. Throughout 2017, we will announce new capabilities and services designed to democratize the creation and sharing of 3D-360 VR content, putting true VR creation within reach of prosumers and consumers alike,“ added Malcolm.
The Vuze camera is a game changer in the following ways:
Full technical specs of the Vuze camera and Humaneyes VR Studio software studio can be seen here. Examples of content created by the Vuze camera can be viewed here. If you watch online, without a headset, you will see the 2D quality; a VR headset is required to experience movies in true 3D.
About Humaneyes Technology
The Vuze camera was created by Humaneyes Technologies, an early pioneer of 3D modeling and VR technologies. Founded in 2000, it currently holds over 70 patents in various fields of 3D associated technologies. Vuze camera was created after more than two years of research and development at its headquarters within the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
The company’s leadership includes industry visionaries such as Prof. Shmuel Peleg , a world expert in computer vision and image processing and Benny Landa , known as the father of digital printing and former founder and CEO Indigo Digital Printing acquired by HP in 2002.
Humaneyes Technologies Media Contacts:
Ian Twinn / Tandem Marketing Communications
iantwinn@tandemcomms.com | (917) 306-7270
SOURCE Humaneyes Technology

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The United States Congress is mostly made up of Christians, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.
In fact, there are about as many Christians in Congress today — the 115th Congress — as there were back in the early 1960s, despite fear that the number was declining.
According to Pew, 94.9 percent of U. S. Congress members identified as Christian in 1961, while 90.7 percent say the same today.
Most Republicans identify as Christian. Of the 293 Republicans who serve in today’s Congress, only two believe in something other than Christianity (Lee Zeldin of New York and David Kustoff of Tennessee are both Jewish).
Congressional Democrats maintain more religious diversity, though, with just 80 percent identifying as Christian. Democrats in Congress include 28 Jewish believers, three Buddhists, a trio of Hindus, two Muslims and one Unitarian Universalist.
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., is the only member of Congress to describe herself as religiously unaffiliated.
Though Christianity is the basic faith of most Congress members, not all follow the same sect. For example, 55.9 percent identify as Protestant and 31.4 are Catholic.
But it also breaks down from there. About 72 people identify as Baptists (a division of Protestantism) and 44 see themselves as Methodists, according to Pew.
Pew conducted the survey by gathering information from phone calls and questionnaires of the politicians. Ten members of Congress, all Democrats, decided not to answer the survey for Pew.
You can see the full breakdown in the chart below.
Congressional beliefs on religion are different from the rest of the nation, however. Previous research from Pew showed that about 70.6 percent of Americans identify as Christian, with almost 1 in 5 calling themselves unaffiliated.

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Cleveland officials say the search for a plane carrying six people that disappeared last week over Lake Erie will continue until the aircraft is found.
Officials said more debris that possibly came from the plane was found Tuesday on the shoreline. They have said many of more than 120 pieces of debris found are consistent with that type of aircraft and a bag from the plane was found.
Tuesday was the third consecutive day that weather conditions allowed searchers to look for the Columbus-bound Cessna 525 Citation that vanished shortly after takeoff Thursday night from Burke Lakefront Airport.
Officials say the search area covers about 12 square miles.
A business executive was piloting the plane carrying his wife, two sons and two neighbors, including a University of Wisconsin-Madison student.

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WASHINGTON (WUSA9)- – The names of forty organizations that will be participating in the inaugural parade were released today by parade organizers from the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC). More participants may be announced at a later date says PIC.
According to PIC, „There will be more than 8,000 parade participants representing forty organizations including high school and university marching bands, equestrian corps, first responders, and veterans groups. “
Here is the initial list of forty released today, several of them from Virginia and as is customary, each branch of the United States military will also be represented.
(© 2017 WUSA)

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