Peg Kerr's Journal

I ran across this TED talk yesterday, which I found very fascinating:

After re-purposing CAPTCHA so each human-typed response helps digitize books, Luis von Ahn wondered how else to use small contributions by many on the Internet for greater good. In this talk, he shares how his ambitious new project, Duolingo, will help millions learn a new language while translating the Web quickly and accurately -- all for free.

So Duolingo is a site where you can learn a foreign language absolutely free while helping to translate the web. I found they have a free app as well. I downloaded it last night and have spent the last day happily re-acquainting myself with French. I studied French on and off for ten years, from 5th grade through graduate school. As I've been restlessly trying to figure out what to do with my energy now that I'm not trying to write for publication or studying karate, one thing that has crossed my mind more than once is picking up French again and maybe even learning another language. Cost and convenience was always a consideration.

So what do I think of Duolingo? After using it for 24 hours, I'm sold. It's slick and easy and fun and awesome. I am going to keep going back to the site, and I think I will try more than one language. I'll work for awhile to firm up my French, but then, I think I'll try Spanish. After that, perhaps German? I have read that knowing/learning a foreign language helps as a bulwark against mind/memory deterioration as you age. My dad was still studying Spanish into his 80s, and his mind was sharp as a tack when he died. He would be absolutely thrilled to know I was learning Spanish.

Anyway, take a look at the video, which is very interesting, download Duolingo and leave a comment to let me know what you think. Right now, they offer Spanish, English, French, German, Portuguese and Italian, with more languages coming.

Again: it's free. No ads. And it's fun.

Edited to add Bonus! If you sign up now, you can join the Add1Challenge, which is open from January to April.

I've learned a lot from that app I purchased, Sleep Cycle.

Since I've started using it, I've learned several specific things, more than just the vague, "I haven't been sleeping well."

Thursdays, oddly enough, are my worst nights for sleeping, and Fridays are the best.
I have difficulty entering the deep sleep cycle in the second half of the night. Frequently I will wake up at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. (unfortunately, this is often triggered by Rob coming to bed at that time). And then I have difficulty going back into the deep stages after that.
You can chart notes and see what affects your sleep. After keeping track of how using Melatonin affected my sleep cycle, which was something that had been recommended to me, I discovered it wasn't doing a thing except perhaps making things worse, so I discontinued it.
I sleep an average of seven and a half hours a night.
Frequently, I alternate a bad night with a good night. I had a particularly dramatic example this week, when my worst night (chart below), with only a 50% sleep effectiveness rate, was followed with one of my best nights, with a 98% effectiveness rate.

Here is a chart showing the best night I've had since starting using the application. As you will note, I woke once, briefly, right before midnight, but I managed to drop off again right away. I reached both the deep sleep level and the REM stages



This was my worst night. I never even reached the REM state except briefly right before 6:00 a.m.


This is a good example of what seems to be some of my typical problems: I manage the deep sleep state in the first half of the night, wake up, and then don't sleep as deeply the second half. During the last hour, I was semi-awake, dozing before my alarm went off.



Anyway, if you'd like to learn more about your sleep, I do recommend Sleep Cycle.