Tag Archives: the times

Ong-Oaj Pairam SS15 Collection | London Fashion Week

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We have been having a ball at London Fashion Week. A highlight was Ong-Oaj Pairam’s show. Ong-Oaj Pairam’s third season showcasing during Fashion Week was another triumph. After being named as ‘one to watch’ by the Times last week, the SS15 collection did not disappoint. By combining pastels, prints and metallics, Ong-Oaj Pairam’s latest collection is inspired by the designers fragmented memories of growing up alongside his families noodle factory in Nakhon Ratichasima, Thailand. We loved it.

ongoajpairamss15collection

What do you think?

Students Can Win £3,000 By Showing Their Love of Learning

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Imagine you’re inspiring the next generation of students to study your subject at university. Now bottle that enthusiasm and distil it into a winning formula…

Students with a passion for their subject can win £3,000 by entering the annual UCAS/The Times Love Learning competition.

Today’s undergraduates must explain why their subject has captured their heart and mind – and why others should follow them into higher education.

abe59350-0010-386c-8ce3-7d3770026b97Students can write a 500 word essay or, new for this year, create a 30 second video clip. But the challenge is the same in both categories – inspire the next generation armed with the knowledge of what higher level learning is really about.

Mary Curnock Cook, Chief Executive of UCAS said: “Higher education is about much more than three years’ study to gain a qualification. It’s a journey of personal discovery, a peeling of the onion that reveals layers of talent, confidence and the sheer exuberance that comes with engagement in learning.

“The video category brings a new dimension to the competition and I know that we’ll receive some very creative pieces showing the next generation how university broadens the mind, and is more than just a smart career move.”

Two winners (one essay writer and one video producer) will each receive £3,000 plus have the opportunity to spend a day at The Times offices in London. Three runners up in each category will each win £1,000.

The competition is open now, and closes at midnight on 30 June 2014.

The Love Learning competition is launching during Universities Week 2014 which runs from 9 -15 June 2014, Universities across the UK are inviting everyone to be inspired, get involved and discover the work that they are doing to improve the way we live our lives.

More information can be found at www.ucas.com/lovelearning and on The Times website.

 

 

Leading scientists ask British public to measure their sleep

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· International survey findings to be discussed at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival

· What is sleep, why do we need it and how much of it do we really require?

Researchers from the universities of Oxford and Munich have called on the British public to contribute to an international survey looking at the quantity – and quality – of sleep amongst the population.

Professor Russell Foster, Chair of The Times Cheltenham Science Festival, and Professor Dr Till Roenneberg from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, who are both experts in chronobiology – the study of the circadian rhythms which govern our waking and sleeping patterns, and their interaction with daylight – will discuss the responses to the survey at the Festival in June 2012. The pair will discuss the regenerative powers of sleep as well as comparing and contrasting the sleep patterns of the UK respondents with their continental counterparts.

The survey takes just a few minutes to complete online, and asks questions relating to work schedule, differing sleep habits during the week and at the weekend, consumption of alcoholic and caffeinated drinks, exposure to cigarettes and the time taken to fall asleep each night.

So far, more than 65,000 people in Germany have taken Professor Dr Roenneberg’s simple online survey relating their sleeping habits, and the scientists are keen to capture more data relating to the British population.

Russell Foster, a professor of circadian neuroscience at Brasenose College, Oxford, and Chair of The Times Cheltenham Science Festival said, “We felt that the arrival of British Summer Time, with its lighter mornings and longer evenings – plus people perhaps feeling like they’ve ‘lost’ an hour’s sleep – was an excellent moment to get people thinking about the quality and quantity of sleep they get.

“With the help of this questionnaire, we aim to understand the underlying complexity of the biological clock by gathering a picture of everyday behaviour. We all know that individuals show distinct preferences for various activities over the course of a day. A simple example is the time at which an individual prefers to go to bed and get up. Collecting this information will help us understand how and why the biological clock ticks.”

Each participant will receive a personal profile which evaluates their chronotype, and compares their results to those of other participants. A person’s chronotype relates to their preference for mornings or evenings – those who are at their best at the crack of dawn are often described as ‘larks’, whereas people who brighten up in the evenings are known as ‘owls’.

Professor Dr Till Roenneberg, of the Munich Centre of Chronobiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, adds, “It will be particularly interesting to gather more information on British sleep patterns in order to compare chronotypes of people living in different geographical locations.

“This will enable us to consider factors such as longitude and latitude, which can make a difference to the amount of daylight to which people are exposed.”

People are encouraged to take the survey online.

Professor Russell Foster will be talking about the regenerative power of sleep at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival on Tuesday 12 June 2012 at 6:30pm.

Priority booking is open to Cheltenham Festivals Members from Monday 26th March, ahead of public booking from 2nd April. The full programme is available at www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/science

New York Times Paywell Web Charging: Will it Work?

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On March 28th the New York Times will start charging for access to its website with monthly subscriptions between $15 and $35. Although anyone will still be allowed access to 20 articles a month for free.

The question is will it work? If you’re like me then you’ll be hoping that it doesn’t. Like in the case of the London Times the industry will be watching closely to see if the model is successful. The worry for the average punter is that all the major papers might follow with similar models leaving us with no free option for our news. Worse still, what if Paywall models spread to other areas of the web, denying us the huge resources of free information which we are now so used too? Whether it works or not there’s no doubt it’s a massive gamble by the New York Times, currently one of the most visited websites in the world. In March 2009 the New York Times had 20 million unique visitors making it the most visited newspaper site in the world and more than twice as popular as the next best newspaper site.

The London Times traffic has collapsed since it introduced its charging model. It was a brave decision to be the first to introduce such a model but it also appears to have been a costly one. The Times traffic has disintegrated and its competitors have thrived. They now enjoy far bigger worldwide audiences. Websites such as the Guardian, Mail and Huffington Post will be rubbing their hands at the New York Times decision. These website saw large increases in traffic following the London Times decision to start charging and will likely see the same again.

Unlike the London Times model the New York version will still allow some free access. Visitors will still be able to access twenty articles a month for free. This should help to mitigate a catastrophic crash in traffic such as in the London Times case. Occasional casual users will still be able to access the site without worry. However will regulars be prepared to pay $180 to $425 a year when so many free alternatives exist? I very much doubt the majority will, particularly in this time of weak consumer confidence. Polls suggest about 90% of current users will only use their free 20 article a month allowance before leaving. Whatever happens, Frost Magazine readers need not worry, we will always be free.