- Adlain E. Stevenson Jr., US diplomat & Democratic politician

There are admirable potentialities in every human being. Believe in your strength and your youth. Learn to repeat endlessly to yourself, ‘It all depends on me.’

- Andre Gide, French critic, essayist, novelist

“Facing a mirror you see merely your own countenance; facing your child you finally understand how everyone else has seen you”.

- Daniel Raeburn, The New Yorker

“The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office”.

- Robert Frost, US Poet

- Henry Miller, US author

“Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness”.

- George Sand, French author

“You can take from every experience what it has to offer you. And you cannot be defeated if you just keep taking one breath followed by another.”

- Oprah Winfrey, talk show host

WINFREY, Oprah, African-American talk-show host, media executive, and actress. She rose from a disadvantaged childhood in the rural South to become one of the most broadly influential figures in popular culture, using her syndicated talk show to promote messages of empowerment and self-worth.

Born in Kosciusko, Miss., on Jan. 29, 1954, Winfrey spent her earliest years with her grandparents, before moving to Milwaukee, Wis., to live with her mother at age 6. At 14, she moved to Nashville, Tenn., to live with her father, who had a strong positive influence on her life. While still in high school she made her media debut as a radio announcer for a local station; at age 19 she became the first African-American and first woman to anchor TV news in Nashville. After graduating from Tennessee State University (1976) she moved to Baltimore, Md., where by the early 1980s she was co host of a popular talk show, “People Are Talking.”

Her best-known accomplishment, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” began as “A.M. Chicago,” a morning talk show that she took over in 1984; it evolved into one of the most popular TV programs in history. On it she addressed a range of human-interest topics with candidness and compassion. The program received nine Daytime EMMY Awards, presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences; Winfrey won seven Emmys for Outstanding Talk Show Host, and in 1998 the Academy honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 1996 Winfrey organized an influential book club to encourage reading and discussion of her favorite contemporary novels, typically boosting their sales by a huge amount; she suspended the club in 2002 but relaunched it the following year, expanded to include classics and (later) nonfiction. In the late 1990s, she began to expand her business presence in the media. Oxygen Media LLC, formed in 1998, encompasses a cable network and a family of Web sites for women. She launched O, a magazine aimed at women”s personal growth, in 2000. In 2006 she launched a channel on Washington, D.C.,-based XM Satellite Radio.

Also active as a philanthropist, Winfrey was a key supporter of the National Child Protection Act, dubbed the “Oprah Bill,” which was signed into law by President BILL Clinton in 1993, and she started Oprah’s Angel Network, which promotes and rewards charitable activity. In early 2007 she opened a Leadership Academy for Girls, near Johannesburg, South Africa, aimed at providing a quality education to poor girls; but she was devastated later in the year by reports of sexual abuse at the school.

Winfrey was inducted into the NATIONAL Women’s Hall of Fame in 1994. She has received a number of broadcasting awards, including the George Foster Peabody Individual Achievement Award (1996). In 1998 Time magazine numbered her among the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

Text Reference: Winfrey, Oprah on Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia

Image Reference: OnAsia

- Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand’s short story author

In actual fact, the amount of sleep needed varies tremendously between individuals. There is no ”normal” amount. However, the amount that any one person needs is amazingly constant. Although you may sleep longer one night than another depending on circumstances, the number of hours slept over a week or a month usually averages out very much the same; one week usually falls within one-half hour of another week. Eight hours of sleep a night is the usual quoted average, although seven to seven and a half hours is more accurate for most people. Even that number is only an average and has nothing to do with what’s good or bad. A good night’s sleep can range from less than three hours to more than ten.

Even though now we know the basic amount of sleep that we need, yet we still wonder why we can’t sleep, why we keep waking up at night and lots more. But have we ever really sit and think what actually leads us to not having a good sleep and thus develop bad sleeping habits?

From what we gather in our eResources the reasons behind this are:

• Failing to keep to a regular sleep-wake schedule

• Depriving your body of sleep by staying up to work or play on a frequent basis

• Trying to “catch up” on lost sleep during the weekend

• Watching late-night TV

• Excessive napping during the day

• Thinking of work-related problems while in bed

• Excessive time awareness or frequent clock-watching while in bed

• Feeling “too tired” to exercise during the day

• Exercising vigorously too close to bedtime

• Drinking tea or caffeine-containing colas close to bedtime

So if you fall under one of this category, you should know by now what contributes to your sleepless nights. And the guilty ones, it would be advisable to reflect upon yourself now because according to research, prolong sleepless nights would result in insomnia and as most of you should know, far from being a benign, harmless condition, insomnia causes thousands of deaths every year.

So what can we actually do to help ourselves from suffering further without consulting the doctor? Here at digitalk we try to give you the solutions to overcome this problem without hassling you to go to the bookstore to get the right book. Its all available here at our very own digital library.

There are variety of remedies found so we will extract the most important one for you.

• Don’t Go To Bed Too Early
• Avoid Naps
• Adopt a Good Sleeping Posture
• Improve Your Sleep Environment

Lighting

Mattress

Pillows

Noise

Ventilation

• Limit or Avoid Caffeine, Especially After Early Afternoon
• Exercise Regularly for Good Sleep
• Lose Weight
• Eliminate or Lessen the Unhealthy Stress in your Life
  
• Laugh

The remedies above are mainly listing, but if you are interested to read further, we recommend you to read it at our NetLibrary titled 67 Ways to Good Sleep and also Herbs for a Good Night’s Sleep: Herbal Approaches to Relieving Insomnia Safely and Effectively.

Have a good night sleep after reading this.

18 – 19 and 25 -26 July 2008

Free Admission

The second weekend of the Festival features parties by Zouk, with music from international live acts and Zouk’s residents DJs. Be prepared for an evening of great entertainment ranging from breakdancing to beatboxing, rap performances, live graffiti demos and percussion performances. Other highlights include an adventurous Night Owl program that takes you to various museums around the vicinity, traditional games, open-air cinema and 100-person strong drumming act.

Night Festival is part of Singapore’s effort in enhancing buzz in our island’s nightlife. Those in search of Singapore evening experience need not look any further. With a host of exciting activities available after sundown, self-professed night owls can party to their own special beat in Singapore, late into the night.

Programme Highlights

Venue: Stamford Green & SMU Campus Green

Zouk’s The Beatnik Picnic is a two-day party event open to anyone above 16 years of age.

Other Events

Late Night Free admission to NHB Museums

Time: 6pm-2am

“Glow in the dark” at Peranakan Museum (25^th July)

Time: 6pm-10pm

Deliciously Local

Time: 6.30pm – 2am

Unconference

Time: 6.30pm – 8pm

Baby, where are all the fine things you promised me?

Time: 7pm – 11pm

Four Mics - Jazz (25^th July)

Time: 7.30pm – 9.30pm

Celebration

Time 7.30pm – 8pm

The Flight of The Night Owl (25^th July)

Time: 8pm – 12.30am

Under the Banyan Tree

Hairspray (25^th July)

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (26^th July)

Time: 8pm – 9.45pm

Reform

Time 8.30pm, 10.30pm, 11.30pm and 12.30am

Bloco Singapura (25^th July)

Time 9.45pm – 10.30pm

For more details on the event, Visit National Museum