January 4th, 2009 admin
I absolutely love Malcolm Gladwell
. I don’t know how anyone would not. He’s smart, funny, and makes sense to a point where you can’t really argue anything with him. Plus, he offers little tidbits of information that are fascinating, stuff you’ve never heard before. You will no doubt learn quite a bit from this man. He’s tops in my book but let’s get on with this post. I wanted to recommend this particular book since it’s the beginning of a new year and reading it will inspire you to achieve whatever it is you need to achieve. You have practically a whole year and more to do it.
About the book
Amazon Best of the Month, November 2008: Now that he’s gotten us talking about the viral life of ideas and the power of gut reactions, Malcolm Gladwell poses a more provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? Challenging our cherished belief of the “self-made man,” he makes the democratic assertion that superstars don’t arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: “they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.” Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, “some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky.”
Outliers can be enjoyed for its bits of trivia, like why most pro hockey players were born in January, how many hours of practice it takes to master a skill, why the descendents of Jewish immigrant garment workers became the most powerful lawyers in New York, how a pilots’ culture impacts their crash record, how a centuries-old culture of rice farming helps Asian kids master math. But there’s more to it than that. Throughout all of these examples–and in more that delve into the social benefits of lighter skin color, and the reasons for school achievement gaps–Gladwell invites conversations about the complex ways privilege manifests in our culture. He leaves us pondering the gifts of our own history, and how the world could benefit if more of our kids were granted the opportunities to fulfill their remarkable potential.
Order now: Outliers: The Story of Success
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January 3rd, 2009 admin
Sooooo, Santa did not bring me what I wanted for Christmas. Boo hooooooooooooo! How am I suppose to get in shape in 2009? I really need one. Oh. I suppose needing a new TV has something to do with not getting a Wii Fit, but I want one! I keep hearing how people love it and how great they feel and how fit they’re getting. Oh well. I guess I’ll have to get it myself, which is fine but I’ll have to save up a little. Maybe it’ll be an early bday present for moi. Yes. Body, get ready to get fit! Want to join me?
Get Fit and Have Fun at the Same Time!
Posted in computer games, efficient, electronics, family, fitness, fun, gifts, health, hobbies, home entertainment, practical, relaxation, relaxing, sports, women | No Comments »
December 19th, 2008 admin
You didn’t think all you could do on your Nintendo DS Lite
was to play Yoshi’s Island
and Mario Kart
all day long, did you? Or are you more of a Dr. Kawashima
kind of DS game player? Whatever the case, get with the program; you can cook up a storm with Personal Trainer: Cooking on your trusty DS. It’s so wonderful because the DS is small and will fit on your counter while you cook and remind you about what you need to do to prepare some of the most tastiest dishes on earth. Check it out.
First things first: select a recipe. With 245+ to choose from, Personal Trainer: Cooking makes it easy to find what you’re looking for by helping you browse by country, ingredients, difficulty, cooking time, cooking technique or even calorie count.
Once you’ve found something that looks yummy, take a look at the ingredients. Out of butter or need to buy some cumin? Just tap them with the stylus to automatically add the ingredients to your Shopping List. Making several dishes tonight? Just keep tapping ingredients - your Shopping List keeps it all in one place for you. Now that you’ve got your ingredients, it’s time to start cooking. The DS Chef is there with you, talking you through every step along the way. Don’t know how to fillet a trout? Watch the demonstration video when you get to that step. Didn’t quite catch the last step? Just say “Repeat,” and the Chef will explain it again. You can pause the recipe at any time to consult the Cooking A-Z guide, and prompts will appear within recipes for specific terms you might need more information about.
Click below to get one now.
Personal Trainer: Cooking
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December 11th, 2008 admin
As you probably already know, a celiac’s most dreaded acquaintance, gluten, is hidden in many foods such as self-basting turkeys, licorice, malt vinegar, soy sauce, some flavorings, most processed foods, some cold cuts, and many prepared stocks and soups. Alcohols and vinegars that are properly distilled, in theory, should not contain any harmful gluten. That being said, if additives have been added after the distillation process, they may actually contain gluten.
Additionally, gluten is also used as a binder in some pharmaceutical products (medicines, supplements, vitamins and more) and there can be starch in unidentified food starch, caramel coloring, modified food starch, hydrolyzed plant or vegetable protein. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that you avoid items where the ingredients are of questionable origin or are listed as simply “natural flavorings, flavor extracts, or spice extracts” as gluten may be used in processing them. Yes, we did wish they would be more precise in labeling, but the industries haven’t reached that level of enlightenment, unfortunately.
Since it’s oftentimes so very difficult to find gluten-free foods, I’d like to offer a place where you can find lots of gluten-free items in one place. Note: Always verify that the products are truly gluten-free. Click below and you’ll find all kinds of goodies just for you.
Gluten Free Food for You
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December 1st, 2008 admin
Yes, like Black Friday where people go out into the harsh physical conditions of marathon shopping, pitted against panicked and angry shoppers creating stampedes and injuries, Cyber Monday involves mega amounts of bargains. BUT. There shouldn’t be injuries or stampedes or fights or tug-of-wars. You do not have to deal with people. How beautiful is that, people? VERY.
Cyber Monday is a day where you can shop online, free of shoppers angst and at the same time receive some of the best prices on all kinds of items. Many online stores will also offer free shipping on Cyber Monday. There are deals to be had, so get shopping! Online, that is.
Don’t know where to start?
Click here to find the best bargains online
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November 22nd, 2008 admin
What is Scrapbooking and Where Did it Come From?
Here’s a little history from wikipedia - In ancient Greece, hypomnemata were a form of notebook for recording one’s own copies of what one had heard, read, or thought that might be worth remembering. There is little evidence in the archaeological and historical record that this sort of method was undertaken anywhere else before. That one had to make one’s own hand-written copies of what someone else had written reflected the expense of hiring a scribe to do so.
With the advent of affordable paper, precursors to modern scrapbooks became available to a wider array of people. Beginning in the 15th century, commonplace books, popular in England, emerged as a way to compile information that included recipes, quotes, letters, poems and more. Each commonplace book was unique to its creator’s particular interests. Friendship albums became popular in the 16th century. These albums were used much like modern day yearbooks, where friends or patrons would enter their names, titles and short texts or illustrations at the request of the album’s owner. These albums were often created as souvenirs of European tours and would contain local memorabilia including coats of arms or works of art commissioned by local artisans. Starting in 1570, it became fashionable to incorporate colored plates depicting popular scenes such as Venetian costumes or Carnival scenes. These provided affordable options as compared to original works and, as such, these plates were not sold to commemorate or document a specific event but specifically as embellishments for albums. In 1775, James Granger published a history of England with several blank pages at the end of the book. The pages were designed to allow the book’s owner to personalize the book with his own memorabilia. The practice of leaving pages to personalize at the end of books became known as Grangerizing. Additionally, friendship albums and school yearbooks afforded girls in the 18th and 19th centuries an outlet through which to share their literary skills, and allowed girls an opportunity to document their own personalized historical record previously not readily available to them.
The advent of modern photography began with the first permanent photograph created by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826. Photography became available to an ever-widening population with the invention of George Eastman’s paper photographs in the late 1880s and the mass production of the Kodak Brownie, a camera designed to be simple (and inexpensive) enough for a child, in 1900. This allowed the average person to begin to incorporate photographs into their scrapbooks.
Old scrapbooks tended to have photos mounted with photomount corners and perhaps notations of who was in a photo or where and when it was taken. They often included bits of memorabilia like newspaper clippings, letters, etc. With the availability of printed material it is likely that the content of scrapbooks shifted away from one’s own hand-writing or drawings or those of one’s family members toward commercially available printed mat ephemera, memorabilia collections and journaling. Modern scrapbooking has evolved into creating attractive displays of photos, text, journaling and memorabilia.
Modern Day Scrapbooking
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Do it yourself - DIY - Home made, baby / babies, family, fun, gifts, hobbies, kids, parents, practical, relaxing, scrapbooking, spare time | No Comments »
November 19th, 2008 admin
From amazon:
“Out of the thousands of new releases that came into our cubicles this year, we’ve chosen our 100 favorites, from an elegant pop-up alphabet and a deliciously dishy guide to fragance to an enthralling biography of an iconic leader and an encyclopedic history of a sport and the world that plays it. Here they are, so click below.”
Best Books of 2008
Posted in books, essential reading, family, fun, funny, gifts, good value, health, hobbies, kids, parents, people, practical, safe products, spare time, stories | No Comments »
November 16th, 2008 admin
It’s a simple idea: provide brilliant stereo recording in an easy-to-use, ultra-portable device. Take it with you where ever you go and record anything you like: birds, the people around you, music, interviews, the sky’s the limit! The H2 is the only portable recorder with 3 mic capsules onboard for mid-side recording. A directional mic is in the center (mid) and two directional mics (side) are positioned left and right. The audio is decoded instantly, bringing these three signals together for unparalleled stereo imaging. One button recording, gain controls on the side and an intuitive user interface mean you can always capture the moment. Set your levels, push record and go. The H2 records on Secure Digital (SD) media and a 512MB SD card is included. With a 4GB SD memory card, the H2 provides up to 2 hours recording at 96kHz, 6 hours at 44.1kHz, or up to a staggering 138 hours in MP3. Play your recordings on your home audio system with its 1/8″ stereo output or listen to your masterpiece with headphones. Or, use the H2’s USB interface to move your recordings to your Mac or PC to listen, edit and share. 512MB SD memory card included; Accommodates up to 4GB SD optional memory cards Auto Gain Control (AGC) for pristine recordings Auto Start function means you’re always ready to record Low-cut filter eliminates wind noise On-board chromatic Guitar/Bass tuner Two standard alkaline AA batteries will give you 4 hours of continuous operation and a backlit display means it’s always easy to use in any situation Pocketable - Weighs only 4 ounces.
For Photos, Specs and Prices Click Here: Handy Portable Stereo Recorder
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November 7th, 2008 admin
The Amazon Baby Store is offering 4-day Super Sales every Friday through Monday starting November 7. Each weekend the Amazon Baby Store will feature substantial discounts on name-brand baby gifts from Boppy, Lamaze, Baby Einstein, Sassy, Graco and more while supplies last.
Check out the Amazon Baby Store!
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November 4th, 2008 admin
Kevin Trudeau blows the lid off a nest of deception and double standards concerning general and individual health in this new book, “Natural Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You To Know About.” Kevin has risked government prosecution to bring you the full story of an intricate conspiracy.
From the retail supermarket outlets of huge, publicly traded corporations comes processed, manipulated, engineered “food products” – produced by other wings of the same corporation. These artificial, toxic treats are then sold with the blessings of the Federal Trade Commission and Food and Drug Administration – government organizations charged with safeguarding the public good – laying the foundations for future disease and chronic ill-health for the consumer, and a guaranteed source of revenue for the medical and pharmaceutical sectors.
Kevin reveals the shocking truth of how drugs – which are being advertised directly to the consumer, pushing their use to an all-time high – are actually the cause of illness and disease climbing to near epidemic levels.
And, though it sounds dire, Kevin offers a light in the darkness and directs the reader to scores and scores of alternative therapies, medical practices, philosophies and – most importantly – potential cures that help your body regain its natural state of health and vibrancy.
So follow Kevin on an amazing journey through the behind-the-scenes world of corporate sponsored “nutrition” and “health,” and learn about “Natural Cures ‘THEY’ Don’t Want You To Know About.”
Get Natural Cures Now
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