Perfect Points

Top Five Favorite All-Time Books

2012-01-24T07:05:00.000-08:00

What are your top five favorite all-time books? My favorites are:

1. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
2. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3. The Great Santini by Pat Conroy
4. The Stand by Stephen King
5. The Thief Of Always by Clive Barker

What are your top five favorite all-time books? Please Share in Comments..

50 Must-Have Firefox Add-Ons...

2012-01-16T08:31:00.000-08:00

50 Must-Have Firefox Add-Ons...

1. Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer

Synchronize your browsing bookmarks among multiple PCs--automatically, if you wish--with the Foxmarks synchronizer.If you use Firefox on more than one PC, you most likely spend a lot of time trying to keep their bookmarks in synch, or else you've simply given up the attempt. Otherwise, every time you add, delete, or edit bookmarks on one PC, you have to remember to make the same changes on the others. Not a pretty picture.
The Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer solves the problem. Install this tool on each of your PCs, and then, with a click or two, you can synchronize any changes. In fact, you don't even need to click because you can set the program to synchronize automatically.
The utility offers other benefits as well. Your bookmarks are automatically backed up to a server, so if for some reason you lose them on your PCs, you can always restore them. You can also log into the Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer Web site and edit your bookmarks directly there. In addition, if you're using someone else's PC, you can use your bookmarks straight from the Foxmarks server.
Download Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer | Price: Free

2. Secure Login

You'll no longer have to look up or remember site passwords with Secure Login.If you often log into Web sites and forget or lose your password, Secure Login will be a great time-saver. It directly integrates with Firefox's password manager, and will log you into any Web site without you having to remember or look up the password. When you're on a page that requires a login, simply click the icon. Better yet, use a hot-key combination to log in faster.
The program also helps keep you safe online--it prevents hackers from stealing your passwords by halting malicious JavaScript code. It also protects against other password dangers, such as cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.
Download Secure Login | Price: Free

3. BugMeNot

Use BugMeNot to protect your privacy at sites that want you to register.Registering with a Web site often means making a deal with the devil. You give the site information such as your name, e-mail address, and potentially more private data such as your mailing address, phone number, and age. But what happens with that information? You may be inundated by spam, your name may be sold to mailing lists and advertisers, and possibly worse. But for many Web sites, if you don't register, you can't log in and use the site.
This add-on solves the problem. Go to a Web site, right-click in the user name or password field, and select BugMeNot. A valid user name and password will then be entered into the form. You can then use the site without having to register. The add-on works in concert with the BugMeNot Web site, which has many user names and passwords for multiple sites.
Download BugMeNot | Price: Free

4. Better Gmail 2

Better Gmail 2 lets you customize Gmail in a variety of ways.From my point of view, Gmail has one primary drawback--it gives you little that you can customize. Basically, what Google gives you is what you get and nothing more. This add-on changes that. It lets you customize Gmail in a variety of ways including skinning it to change its colors and appearance, customizing the sidebar (for example, hiding the spam count), adding HTML signatures automatically to your mail, and more.
Download Better Gmail 2 | Price: Free

5. Adblock Plus

Adblock Plus lets you choose among various filters--such as EasyList--to block Web-site ads.
Does it seem as if the Internet has become the equivalent of a digital Las Vegas with flashing neon ads wherever you look? Banner ads, ads that are placed willy-nilly, videos that start without your permission--these are just some of the things can distract you and make pages load more slowly.
The answer? Adblock Plus. This add-on blocks just about any ad, but still lets you view the content you want. It claims to eliminate 99 percent of ads on the Web, and that just might be true. When you first start the program, you have your choice of filters to use. If you're the extremely adventurous type, you can try to build your own, but you'll be much better off picking one that already exists. If you browse primarily English-language sites, just choose the EasyList (USA) option. If a banner somehow manages to make it through, right-click it, select Adblock from the context menu, and you won't see it again.
Download Adblock Plus | Price: Free

6. Stylish

The developers put it best: “Stylish and userstyles.org are to CSS as Greasemonkey and userscripts.org are to JavaScript.” But if that doesn’t help, please allow me to make the comparison even simpler. Stylish allows you to take ugly websites, apply the power of your mind (and styling skills), and pretty them up as far as your CSS abilities will take you.

7. NoScript

Browser security is important, yo. More importantly is the sanity that you can preserve by using NoScript to keep your browsing session devoid of Javascript and other executable content that you just don’t want or need to see. I kid but, really, this add-on is as simple as that. Once you fire it up, you’ll find that any and all scripting on the various pages you frequent has been turned off by default.

8. Adblock Plus

Hey, we didn’t need that advertising revenue, right? No, the beauty of Adblock Plus is not that it permanently eliminates all advertising throughout your journeys on the Web. That would be silly. Instead, this add-on is useful for the degree of control you now have over said displayed advertisements. Block and whitelist sites that annoy or otherwise entertain you, so you can thus reward your favorite places with a little supplemental cash while simultaneously blocking sites that attempt to pummel you into submission with their revenue generation tricks.

9. Greasemonkey

One of Firefox’s most popular add-ons, by far, is Greasemonkey. But the add-on is hardly as useful at its core as is the vibrant community built around this single, seemingly simple extension. To put it bluntly, Greasemonkey allows you to make Web pages better. And if you can’t do it, there are a whole bunch of custom-designed scripts over at userscripts.org that’ll likely do it for you.

10. Firebug

Web developers take note: Firebug is your solace for on-the-fly fixes for the pages you design. And simple Firefox users take note as well: This add-on allows you to investigate how the code of a page correlates to its displayed elements and, more importantly, it gives you the ability to alter a page’s display on a whim just to see how HTML and CSS interrelate.

11. Xmarks Sync

How do I love thee Xmarks Sync, let me count the ways. No, that might take awhile, because the sheer number of my Firefox bookmarks that this awesome add-on syncs up into the cloud is far, far too lengthy. You’ll be hard-pressed to find add-ons as useful and as comprehensive as Xmarks.

12. Read It Later

If you’re a connoisseur of the Web, you’ll know that oftentimes, you likely have more pages or stories you want to read versus the time it takes to read them all in one setting. Solution: Add all the pages as bookmarks, right? Wrong. Fire up Read It Later, a helpful little add-on that allows you to save pages in a separate listing to check out at some point in the future. Once you’ve started to chug through your backlog, you can mark off each individual page akin to a checkmark on a box.

13.Automatic Save Folder

Any power-downloader knows that the most tedious part of a binge file-grabbing experience is having to sort through all the different files you’ve downloaded and dumped into a single, solitary “downloads” directory. Or, if you’re lazy, this just happens by default—you spend a few weeks grabbing this, that, and the other off the Web, and your default download directory looks like you unzipped 35 concurrent archives and dumped half a system restore into a single folder. Yuck.

14.Tab Mix Plus

“I have the power!” you will shout, once you’ve successfully installed the small-yet-awesome add-on, Tab Mix Plus. Many claim that this extension, which allots you increased control over how, when, and why tabs are displayed, should be a staple element of Firefox going forward. I happen to agree.

15.WoT – Safe Browsing Tool

Look, we’re all fairly Web-savvy individuals, right? It’s usually not that hard to pick out a malicious link from, say, a Google search result. But what about those few—very few—times when you’ve been tricked into clicking something you probably shouldn’t have? And I’m not even talking about some malware-dropping bomb of a Web entity. Perhaps you just clicked on a link that seemed like a legitimate result, only to find that it was just some lame spammer page that told you absolutely nothing about your topic.
Wasted time stinks. Web of Trust, a community-driven security add-on of sorts, gives you a stoplight-series of ratings for the sites that pop up in the various searches you make. I’ll leave it to you to decipher what green, yellow, and red means—but just in case you click on the latter, indicating that a site has failed WoT’s ranking mechanisms, a little interstitial page will warn you that you’re about to head into rough waters. Steer clear, safe browser!

16. Firefox Showcase
Firefox Showcase is a great extension both because of its usability and because it takes away one feature advantage that Internet Explorer 7 has over Firefox: the ability to display thumbnails of all open windows and tabs.

17. Cooliris Previews

This interesting extension allows you to preview a Web page before clicking off the one you're on. After installing Cooliris Previews, a small blue icon will appear next to any link you hover your mouse over. Slide the mouse over to that icon and a window pops up containing the destination page. For all intents and purposes, you're on that page, except if you move the mouse off the icon and the pop-up window, the preview vanishes.

18. Colorful Tabs is pretty basic. It colors each of your tabs using lovely pastel colors. After a long day of research, this becomes more than just something pretty and can make life easier on tired eyes.

19. ChromaTabs is in many ways similar to Colorful Tabs. The difference is that ChromaTabs determines a tab's color based on the hostname in the URL. For instance, any tab displaying a Computerworld page might always be a light green color. If you surf away to a different site, the tab's color will change.

20. Session Manager
Session Manager is a handy utility to help you manage your Firefox tabs. If you're a Web surfer who habitually visits the same sites every morning, all you need do is open the sites in separate tabs and/or windows, and then use Session Manager to save the session under a name of your choosing.

21. All-in-One Gestures
This is one of those extensions that does more than you'll probably ever need, but the core function is to assign commands to "Gestures" made with the mouse. For instance, holding down the right mouse button and dragging the mouse a bit to the left issues a "Back" command. A right-mouse button/dragging up combo opens a new tab.

22. IE Tab
It's a fact of life that there are still Web sites out there that require (or work better with) Internet Explorer. IE Tab to the rescue. Once installed, it places a small icon in your status bar. Clicking this icon swaps out the rendering engine from Firefox's to Internet Explorer's. In my experience, this is particularly helpful with sites that refuse to play video in Firefox.

23. Download Statusbar
You're probably familiar with that sometimes-pesky Downloads window that pops up whenever you download a file in Firefox. Download Statusbar suppresses that window from popping up, and instead provides you the same information in the status bar at the bottom of the browser window.

24. Download Sort
If you find yourself doing a lot of "Save Link As" or "Save Image As" downloading, then Download Sort will be quite a timesaver. It allows you to file downloads by extension, or by a keyword or regular expression in the URL.

25. Nuke Anything Enhanced
If you find yourself printing a lot of Web pages, this extension will help you save on ink. Once installed, it adds a "Remove this object" option to the right-click context menu.

26. Forecastfox
Forecastfox puts an up-to-date weather forecast in Firefox's status bar. Just click one of its icons to see the full weather report at AccuWeather.com.
A wide range of options gives you control over how much, or how little, information you want, including a radar image button, severe weather warnings and extended forecasts of up to eight days. You can set up profiles, each with its own set of options.

27. FireFTP
Why bounce between applications when you can use FireFTP and have a full-featured FTP client in one tab, and the page you're working on in another?
FireFTP adds an option to Firefox's Tools menu. Click on it and a new tab opens (you can set this to a new window if you prefer) with a traditional two-panel FTP client: local files on the left, remote on the right. By right-clicking on files you can tweak their permissions and all the other things you'd expect to be able to do via FTP.

28. StumbleUpon
First, a warning. StumbleUpon is hazardous to your productivity! StumbleUpon is one of these social networking Web applications that are becoming so popular lately. This one provides a way to find new Web sites that you may find enjoyable or useful.

29. ChromaTabs is in many ways similar to Colorful Tabs. The difference is that ChromaTabs determines a tab's color based on the hostname in the URL. For instance, any tab displaying a Computerworld page might always be a light green color. If you surf away to a different site, the tab's color will change.

30. All-in-One Gestures
This is one of those extensions that does more than you'll probably ever need, but the core function is to assign commands to "Gestures" made with the mouse. For instance, holding down the right mouse button and dragging the mouse a bit to the left issues a "Back" command. A right-mouse button/dragging up combo opens a new tab. And so on.

31. Download Sort
If you find yourself doing a lot of "Save Link As" or "Save Image As" downloading, then Download Sort will be quite a timesaver. It allows you to file downloads by extension, or by a keyword or regular expression in the URL.

32. Nuke Anything Enhanced
If you find yourself printing a lot of Web pages, this extension will help you save on ink. Once installed, it adds a "Remove this object" option to the right-click context menu. Place your mouse over information you don't need printed (menu bars, big graphical logos and so on) and use "Remove this object" to zap them temporarily. Clean up the page, then print just what you need.

33. Firebug
Firebug is an essential tool for developers working on Web pages. It allows you to examine and tweak the HTML, CSS and JavaScript contained in a page, all on the fly. Firebug opens either as a panel at the bottom of the page you're inspecting, or in a separate window.

34. Web Developer
Web Developer is another virtual Swiss Army Knife for coding. There's some overlap with Firebug, but where Firebug concerns itself almost exclusively with the content of a Web page, Web Developer offers tools to tweak how you're interacting with the page.

35. Digg – Lets you know if the page you are viewing has been dugg, how many it has received, recent comments and more.

36. DownThemAll – A popular extension that assists you in downloading multiple files from a page with just a few clicks.

37. FoxyTunes – Gives you control over multiple media players directly from your browsers to save you the effort of changing windows.

38. GSpace – Gmail gives you nearly 7 GB of free storage. With Gspace, you can turn some or all of that into free online storage of files that you can access from anywhere.

39. Meebo – Gives you a sidebar with all of your buddies from the various instant messenger services that Meebo supports such as AIM and MSN.

40. QuickRestart – One of the most annoying things about adding a new extenstion to Firefox is the down time while it restarts the browser to work properly. This extension speeds up the process.

41. StumbleUpon Toolbar – Allows you to stumble pages from a convenient toolbar, add comments, view what has been said and more.

42. TwitterFox – A Twitter client that resides down in your status bar.

43. Video DownloadHelper – Assists you in finding and downloading videos from over 500 websites all over the world.

44. Measure It
This extension gives you the ability to draw out a ruler to get the pixel width and height of any elements of a web page

45. Window Resizer 1.0
The Browser Window Resizer Extension comes in handy for testing different screen sizes and monitor resolutions. It quickly and accurately resizes your browser so you can test to see what a web page looks like in all of the standard resolution sizes. Supports all major screen resolutions from 640×480 up to 1600×1200.

46. SeoQuake

Extension that is aimed at anyone who cares about search engine optimization and related internet promotion of a web site. Seoquake gives various SEO parameters on the fly and saves them for future work

47. Codetch

Codetch gives you the feel of Dreamweaver in a Firefox extension. Edit your documents right next to your web pages as you surf.

48. Platypus

Considered to be one of the best Firefox extensions for those who want to modify a webpage. Works with Greasemonkey to adapt scripts and then saving them to the browser and this new page would be loaded the next time they visit the page.

49. Aardvark
Aardvark is a powerful and easy to use utility for selecting elements and performing various actions on them. Included in the many things it can do are; cleaning up a page prior to printing it, for making the page more readable, and for analyzing the structure of a page.

50. Font Finder 0.5c

With this extension you can highlight any text on your page and then right click to click on “Font Finder” to get all of the styling information for that section.

Anything I have Missed?? Please Share it with Everyone....

Having a baby after 30 - The risks of late children and how to handle them

2012-01-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

Delayed Pregnancies

Planning to have a baby is one of the most important decisions of your life. Unfortunately these days that is a decision which keeps getting postponed ever so often that eventually you realize that you are 30 and now the time is running out.
It is true that the risks of having a baby after 30 tend to multiply, but it is also true that the vast majority of working women all over the globe today are having their first babies in their mid thirties. This means is you are planning for a baby after 30 you are not alone.

What are the risks of having a baby after 30

There are some risks associated with having a baby after 30 and these are listed here.
1. Quality of Eggs
The average woman starts producing eggs at the age of 12 and finishes by the age of 45. That means that the most fertile and high quality eggs are produced in the age group of 20 to 30. So the quality of the eggs begins to deteriorate if you have a baby after 30.
Deal with it solution
A lot of women who postpone having a baby till after 30 tend to freeze their eggs to try IVF later in life when they are ready for a baby.
2. Down's Syndrome
Your chances of having a baby with Down's syndrome is 1 in 1000 at the age of 30. However the same risks increase to 1 in 400 if you are planning to have a baby at age 35. So the lesson is simple, have the baby as soon as possible.
Deal with it solution
Genetic tests have made it possible to detect the presence of faulty genes which may give the baby Down's syndrome, so you may have a MTP if your fetus tests positive for the disease.
3. Infertility issues
The number of eggs in the woman and the sperm in the men tends to decrease after age 30. This means that getting pregnant can become more difficult naturally as you grow older. Infertility can become a problem. If you have been trying to conceive for more than a year and not been able to, you may want to see a doctor.
Deal with it solution
There are a number of infertility treatments available nowadays. IVF or In Vitro Fertilization being the most intrusive and expensive. The solution is usually provided on basis of case history and people must get professional help
4. Miscarriages
For an average woman below 30 the risk of having a miscarriage in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy is between 12% to 15%. For a woman over 35 years of age the same risk increases to 20%.
Deal with it solution
Be very careful if you conceive after 30 and make sure that you do everything that your doctor asks you to. At the first sign of pain or spotting run to the hospital. Remember better safe than sorry.
5. Increased risks of placenta previa
This is the main cause of painless bleeding in the third semester. The average risk of developing this condition during pregnancy is 1 in 200. The hemorrhage can be life threatening to the mother.
Deal with it solution
Go to the doctor to at once. It is vital to stop the bleeding. A cesarean delivery may be necessary in such a state.

Tricky Job Interview Tactics and How to Handle Them

2012-01-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

With the economy today, the job market is fierce and employers are receiving hundreds of qualified applicants for positions they are trying to fill. In an effort to filter through all these prospective employees, hiring managers can sometimes resort to some pretty sneaky interview tactics. Here are couple of the most commonly used “tricks” used by employers in their hunt for the perfect employee and tips on how you can be prepared and get the job you want.
The Stress Interview
A stress interview is designed to see how you react to stressful situations, test your communications skills and to test your ability to think fast. In a stress interview, the interviewer will ask you some off-the-wall, sometimes even rude questions to see how you react. For example, an interviewer might say, “I see you were a waitress for 3 years. What makes you think that you are qualified for a supervisor position?” It may come across as the interviewer being rude, but this exactly what they mean do. If you react by getting offended or overly defensive, this tells them that you do not handle stress effectively. Other ways interviewers may try to make you feel uncomfortable are with long silences, smirks, and even eye- rolling.
The best way to handle a stress interview is to remain calm and confident. A good answer to the waitress question above might be, “ If I can handle a table of 12 hungry customers, that have been waiting for 2 hours to be seated on a busy Friday night then I can handle anything”, accompanied by a smile. Don’t take anything personally and make sure to exert a positive attitude, no matter what the question.

One method of conducting a stress interview is by having a group of interviewers take turns asking questions.

The Relaxed Interview
The exact opposite of a stress interview, this kind of interview is to fool you into being too relaxed. The interviewer may dress casually and act as more of a “friend” than a hiring manager. They will talk to you about your hobbies and interests outside of work and laugh and joke with you about things. The purpose of this type of interview is to see if you can keep your professionalism in a non-professional environment.
Many people mess up in this type of interview by allowing themselves to get a little too comfortable. The interview may consist of 2 interviewers who play off of each other. They laugh and joke and tell you not to be nervous. After they get you nice and relaxed they ask you something like, “Who was the worst supervisor you ever had and why?” Many people fall for this, thinking it is okay to talk freely and start slamming their current supervisor.
No matter how relaxed an employer makes you feel or how “cool” they seem, remember to always keep your professionalism and never to talk negatively about your current position or supervisor. If you talk trash about your current supervisor, the hiring manager assumes you would do the same to him if he hires you. A good answer to the question above could be, “I don’t think I have ever had a bad supervisor. To me, a good supervisor keeps his team motivated and informed. An example of a bad supervisor in my opinion would be someone who doesn’t review his employees regularly and doesn’t offer them opportunities for improvement. “

Be careful not to get too relaxed in a job interview. Being a little nervous is normal.

Non-existent Software
Sometimes an employer may ask you to rank your knowledge on a scale of 1-10 on several pieces of software. The list may start with Microsoft Word or Excel and then throw in some random pieces of software that you have never heard of. Don’t ever lie about your experience with software because there are some employers who will make up a name for a piece of software that doesn’t even exist. You might think you’re playing it safe by rating yourself a 3 so they don’t expect that much out of you when you start working with it. It is all a plan to see if you are honest about your skills and experience.

Don't pretend to have skills that you don't.

8 Job Interview Mistakes That Won’t Get You Hired

2012-01-16T08:01:00.000-08:00

For those who do not have a lot experience going on job interviews, this event can be an intimidating experience. A job interview is a critical factor in whether you will or will not get hired for many companies. This is your first impression and no matter how great your resume, blowing a job interview can ruin your chances of getting hired. It is best to be prepared.
For many people, the actual interview can be the most stressful piece of the job searching process. During a job interview, there can be a number of things that can go wrong. Avoiding these simple mistakes can be a large part of being successful and getting hired.

1. Failure to research the company

This is a common one that many people may skip. An interviewee may understand some of the company’s basics, but not sit down and accomplish some valuable homework on the company. The interviewer expects prospective candidates to take time researching and reading background information about their company.
Do the research before you go on the interview. Take some time to get into the weeds a little bit and understand what the company does, their mission statement, and who their competitors are. Start with the company’s website. The website will reveal information about their values, their mission, and who would fit in well with that environment. If the company does not have a website, consider talking to some of the employees, or look at similar companies online.
Without having a good idea of what the company does and who they think will fit in with their company, you are reducing your chances of getting hired.

2. Not dressing appropriate or being late

When in doubt, overdress. Professional attire is part of the whole first impression you give to an employer. Improper, sloppy, or under dressing all show your lack of care and preparation about the job. Proper attire also shows you express pride and attention to detail. Be presentable. Wear a modest suit and clean, polished shoes.
If you are on time, you are late. Show up early. This can be an instant bad impression even before you meet the interviewer! Remember that everything, your appearance, your attitude, and your confidence, all contributes to the impression (positive or negative) that you give to the company. This can start from the moment you enter the door. If the secretary sees you are late or have a poor attitude, this can get back to the interviewer, even after you leave.

3. Not asking substantial (or any) questions

Before you go on the interview, be prepared with at least 4-5 meaningful questions to ask the interviewer. It is perfectly acceptable to have them written down in case you need to reference them. Companies look positively on a candidate that has done his or her research ahead of time. There are plenty of websites that have examples of interview questions.
An interview is the place to obtain information, and not having any questions shows that you did not prepare ahead of time for the interview.
Remember you're interviewing the company, too. Speak up and if you don’t know the answer, don’t make one up or stumble through it! This is where the research and preparation comes in handy.

4. Not marketing yourself

This can be a hard one for some people, especially if they are not used to bragging about their skills and talents. You don’t need to come across as bragging, but you need to let the interviewer know why you are a perfect fit for this position.
Stand out. Discuss why you are different from the other candidates. Be confident in your major strengths and accomplishments. Give examples of how you were successful in certain situations. Show the company how your background is just what the company needs without coming across as cocky and arrogant.

5. Not clear on what you are interviewing for

Surprisingly, this can happen, especially to candidates that do not have a lot of experience with job interviews. What this means is the interviewee goes in not knowing the description of the job, what is required, and what is expected for the job position.
The best way to understand what position you are interviewing for is to memorize the job description. If you know how the job is being described, you can match your experiences, strengths, abilities, and talents with the company’s needs. At the interview, mention how those attributes make you best suited for that particular job.

Source: endostock / PhotoXpress

6. Not listening

Pay attention to everything being said. Pay attention to the questions asked and the answers you get. A mistake that could contribute to you not getting hired is if you do not seem focused or are distracted. If you ask a question that was obviously already answered, that shows your lack of detail. It is acceptable to clarify, but make sure you state that.
Focus on the question that is being asked and don't try to anticipate the next one. If you need to stop and prepare your thoughts before answering a question, go ahead.
Pay special attention to technical or specific work related subjects that are unique to that organization. This can also provide opportunities when you may need to answer or ask a question later on. Interviewers will be looking for your ability to assimilate new information, retain it, and recognize that information as helpful to you later in the interview.

7. Not providing enough details

When answering certain questions that require detailed answers and you are vague or provide only one or two sentence answers, it does not reveal yourself as a deep thinker. Technical questions or questions that require an advanced thought process should materialize in such a way that an employer can see how you problem solve and verbalize your thinking. Many times, this is more important than the answer.
In addition, the lack of details could give the impression that you did not prepare for the interview, that your verbal skills are lacking, or you are hiding something.
But, don’t drag on either. You don’t need to be overly verbose on questions that a short answer is acceptable.

8. Lack of enthusiasm

Lastly, s killer for any chance of you getting hired is if you come across bored or uninterested. When you show up and during the interview, be sure to greet the interviewer with a smile and a firm handshake, maintain eye contact, and show common courtesy.
Don't be afraid to display your enthusiasm for the job or the industry. If you are excited about the job, the employer will likely be excited to hire you. Of course, don’t overdue it and sound phony. Be genuine and gracious.

The bottom line is do not try and “wing” it. Be prepared. Be honest and relaxed. Practice with mock-up interviews if necessary. Jot down questions and notes.
Many large companies will ask for multiple interviews. Try to be impressive on the first on so you can have the opportunity for additional interviews.
Be prepared!

Improving Skills to Qualify You for a Better Job

2012-01-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

When looking for a job you need to realize that your experience and education are not the only things that matter. Employers also look at your current job skills to figure out if you have what it takes to do the job at hand. If you are looking for a better job you are going to need to improve your job skills so that you can show the employer that you have what it takes to get the job done, and show them that you are willing to go the extra mile to do what it takes.

Here are the things that you will need to do to improve your job skills.

Number one: Job skills
Determine what job skills you are going to need for the job that you are applying for. For example, if you are applying for an office job you might want to improve your typing skills. If you are applying for a construction job, you will want to focus on job skills that involve hands-on activities. Focus on improving the skills that will make you marketable for the job you are applying for.

Number two: Weaknesses
Look at your current job skills and see where you need improvement. This is going to involve taking a hard look at yourself, which many people find hard to do, especially if they have to point out their own weaknesses. For example, if you are a master at Microsoft Word but have no clue about Microsoft Excel work on becoming skilled at Excel to improve your computer skills.
Number three: Create a plan
Know what you are going to do to improve your job skills. Plan what kind of classes that you are going to take to improve your job skills or what else you plan to do to improve your job skills. For example, volunteering to help build a house for a service project or taking local classes at your community college.

Number four: Practice
You will not be able to master the skills after taking one class or even helping with a service project. You are going to need to practice your skills as often as possible so that you can constantly get better. Whenever possible practice your skills so that you can make steady progress in your improvement. Before you know it you will have mastered those skills, which will qualify you for the better job.One of the most important skills that employers look at is time management. This is important because employers want to hire somebody who is going to make the best use of their time and get the most done in as little time as possible. Here are some things that you can do to improve your time management skills.

Number one: Prioritized lists
Write down everything that you need to do for the day. When writing them down write them in order of the most important to the least important. Be sure to start from the top of the list and work your way down. As you, finish an item cross it off your list.

Number two: Schedule breaks
When planning your list for the day be sure to put in some scheduled breaks, for the bathroom or just to take a quick snack. By having them scheduled at regular times you will be less likely to goof off while you are working.

Number three: Delegate
Many people try to everything themselves; this only sets you up for failure. Rather than trying to do everything yourself you need to learn how to share the jobs with other people. To help start you off the jobs that you do not want to do or the ones that are not your strongest you need to give over to others to do.

Number four: Get organized
This includes your desk and workspace. The more organized this area is the easier it will be for you to work. You will also become more efficient because you will not be digging through a mess trying to find the things that you need, everything will be in its place.

Number five: Say No
Everybody wants to please their boss, but there comes a time when you are going to need to learn how to tell your boss no. Sometimes bosses tend to give you more work than you can get done on time. If this happens, you need to tell your boss that there is no way you can finish everything in that amount of time, so they can either extend the deadline or assign it to somebody else. It is always better to turn away work than take it and fail to finish it in time.

Number six: Stop procrastinating
People tend to put things off to the last minute, which leads to finishing projects late ort not at all. It can also lead to projects being done half-heartedly because you are in a huge rush. Give yourself plenty of time to complete the project so that you can give it your best and finish it in plenty of time.

Number seven: Sleep
While there comes a time, when all of us have had to work long hours, this is not something that should be done on a regular basis. In order to perform your best work you need to get plenty of sleep so that you are not tired at work. If you are tired during the day, you are going to be less efficient.

One thing that employers look at is your resume and your job application. If either one of them are poorly written you will disqualified from that better job before you even get asked back for an interview. Therefore, an important job skill to improve on is your writing skills.

Here are some things that you can do to improve your writing skills.

Number one: Objective or Goal
You want to determine what it is you are writing for. Is it an application for a new job or are you applying for a promotion within your company. By knowing what your goal is you will be able to figure out how to approach your writing.

Number two: Spelling
Always spell out words, do not use shorthand. Shorthand might be good when talking online to your friends or leaving personal notes at home. In the workplace, you want to spell everything out, in emails, and on job applications. Always use spell check to ensure that you spelled everything right.

Number three: Edit
Always proofread what you have written before sending it on. The best way to proofread what you have written is to leave it alone for an hour or so and then come back to it. This will give you time to forget exactly what you have written and allows you to catch any mistakes that you might have made. You can also read what you have written aloud to ensure that everything flows smoothly.

Number four: Headings, Subheads, and Bulleted lists
Using these to organize your writing makes it easier to follow what you are reading. It also makes your letter or list look organized and professional.

When it comes to improving your job skills so that you can qualify for the better job this does not just focus on your marketable job skills, such as typing or spreadsheets. Part of qualifying for a better job is improving your interview skills so that you can ace the interview to land that better job. Here are some things that you want to do to improve your job interviewing skills.

Work Skills Improvement Links

Improving Marketable Job Skills
This article talks about how training can help out a lot of people in various job markets. The article also provides you with information on things that you can do to help improve your job skills so that you can qualify for that better job.
Improve Your Job Skills
This website allows you to take various tests so that you can determine what skills you need to work on for a specific job that you want. This website is a great way to help you find out what skills you need to work on before looking for a new job.
How to Improve Marketable Job Skills
This article provides you with some basic steps that you can follow in order to improve your general job skills so that you can get a better job and even grow in that position.

Number one: More Interviews
Depending on how nervous you get when it comes to job interviews you might want to start with jobs that you would never take. Simply going on more interviews is going to give you a lot of practice, which can help reduce nervousness. By going on job interviews that you would never take you can stop worrying about actually getting the job, even if you did you would not take it anyway. This allows you to focus on the interview and the questions that they ask, including how you can answer them in different ways.

Number two: Write down questions
As soon as the interview ends, you need to go somewhere to sit down and write down the questions that they asked. Write down all of the ones that you can remember. Do this for every interview that you go on. After about three interviews you will have heard every possible question that they can ask, including all of the various ways that they can phrase the same questions.

Number three: Go over questions
Look at how you answered each question and figure out what you did right and what you did wrong. Start keeping track of the commonly asked questions and your answers to those questions. Come up with more than one answer so you do not sound rehearsed for an important interview.

Number four: Create an interview playbook
Use the questions that you have written down from your interviews to build your playbook, also include your best answers to these questions. You will have experimented with different ways of answering the questions in your interviews, so choose the format that you like best.

Number five: Practice
Get friends or family members to help you practice your job interviewing technique. You can also talk to yourself in a mirror or read books that are all about interview techniques. The best practice is actual practice so you want to go on as many job interviews as possible, even failed job interviews can be a learning experience.

How to Improve Writing Skills with Word Games

2012-01-16T07:57:00.000-08:00

writing exercises and word games

If you want to know how to improve writing skills for yourself, or how to improve writing skills for your children, participate in a few word games online. Word games can be great strategies for improving writing skills, and writing exercises like word games for kids will be enjoyable and educational at the same time, so your kids won’t mind learning. One such word game that you can use as writing exercises is the old game of similes. This was a popular parlor game back in the Victorian Era, and perhaps you remember it from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
What is a simile?
A simile is a figure of speech that’s used as a description. Similes compare two seemingly unlike things, using “like” or “as.”
Some people consider the use of similes to be trite and hackneyed, and in many cases, they are. Keep in mind, however, similes are used in some of the world’s most famous works of literature. The problem with similes occurs when the same similes are used over and over again. When similes are fresh and creative, they can be very effective.
Typical Similes word game
1. As black as ________.
2. As cold as ________.
3. As quiet as ________.
4. As silent as ________.
5. As quick as _________.
6. As sly as ___________.
7. As clear as __________.
8. As clumsy as __________.
9. As pretty as __________.
10. As big as ____________.
11. As brown as __________.
12. As ill as ____________.
13. As busy as ____________.
14. As light as _________.
15. As proud as ___________.
16. As hard as __________.
17. As fast as ____________.
18. As thin as ____________.
19. As fat as _____________.
20. As smart as __________.
Traditional answers:
1. Night or coal
2. Ice
3. A mouse
4. The grave
5. A wink
6. A fox
7. Glass
8. An ox
9. A picture
10. A barn
11. A bear
12. A hornet
13. A bee
14. A feather
15. A peacock
16. A rock
17. Lightning
18. A rail
19. A pig
20. A whip
The above are the traditional answers to the similes word game, but you wouldn’t want to use these in your writing because they’re old and worn out. To improve writing skills, your child should come up with his own similes as answers to this word game. For example, instead of using “as black as night” or “as black as coal,” he might say “as black as a murderer’s heart.” Instead of using “as clumsy as an ox,” he might use “as clumsy as a Great Dane puppy.” You get the idea. Originality is a key ingredient in writing skills. Even if he never plans to use the similes he comes up with while playing the word game, such writing exercises can provide an impetus for the creative thought process.
Writing exercises
Fun writing exercises can get the old creative juices flowing. It’s easy to find word games online and to make up your own word games for kids that can easily double as writing exercises. Use word games like similes, using your own examples. Print them out and have your child complete the writing exercises. Keep the age of the child in mind when you’re composing your list. Of course, for younger writers, you need to use simple writing exercises. Older students with more advanced writing skills should be challenged with more difficult writing exercises and word games.
Once your child grasps the concept of using figurative language, encourage him to use examples in his writing. The use of similes can be especially effective in poetry, descriptive essays, and fiction. In addition, it can open the door for more creativity, including the use of imagery. Improving writing skills doesn’t have to be boring or tedious. When you make learning fun, kids become much more engaged in the process, even when it comes to improving writing skills.

Use writing exercises and word games to improve writing skills.

Four Tips To Improving Memory Skills

2012-01-16T07:55:00.000-08:00

Improving memory skills is a worthwhile endeavor as a good memory offers many benefits. A good memory helps one remember special dates and other important matters. People who remember these matters come across as more thoughtful, more responsible, and more intelligent than those who do not. Having such a memory can be of great assistance in both personal and professional relationships. This article will discuss four tips to improving memory skills which will not only improve the memory but also improve the entire person.
The first tip to improving memory skills is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages must be avoided. Exercising on a regular basis will keep the brain nourished with oxygen and will enhance mental function. Rest and adequate sleep is also necessary since fatigue has an adverse effect on mental function.
The second tip to improving memory skills is to perform memory games on a regular basis. Card games can be used to perform memory exercises. An excellent card game is Pairs. Pairs consists of taking a few pairs of cards, shuffling them, and placing the cards face down on a table. One card is lifted and placed face up on the table. Another card is then lifted and if it forms a pair with the first card lifted, both cards are removed from the table.
If a pair is not matched, both cards are placed face down on the table in the same location. Another card is then lifted and the same process is repeated until all pairs are matched and all cards are removed from the table. Additional pairs of cards should be added as memory and concentration improve.
The third tip to improving memory skills is to maintain a healthy diet. "Brain foods" must be included in one’s diet. These are foods that contain choline and protein and will enhance brain function. Choline is a B vitamin important to memory and concentration. Meat, fish, seafood, and vegetables are an excellent source of choline. Meat, fish, and seafood are also rich in protein.
The fourth tip to improving memory skills is to manage stress. Stress can lessen mental processes and weaken the body’s immune system. Since stress can not be avoided, it must be mitigated through relaxation, exercise, good nutrition, and adequate sleep.
To conclude, good memory has many benefits in life. A good memory reflects well on an individual and leads to better personal and professional relationships. Through a healthy lifestyle, memory training, proper nutrition, and stress management almost anyone can develop their memory to its fullest potential. By observing these four tips to improving memory skills one will achieve total mind and body development which will be the best reward of all.

How To Raise Smarter kids And For Real

2012-01-16T07:54:00.000-08:00

Focus on his/her abilities from birth
We don't want to go into details, but we can agree on this one, that we all were born with different capabilities. Some girls became better Psychologists and Translators than the boys. On the average, but is gradually changing, boys have had an edge on Math. Is not us is the statistics. We, as History buffs can blame it on the Ancient Civilizations' rules of life; just after Madame Curie, things started to change... or maybe Cleopatra.
Learn to study to his level
Ever seen your wife/hubby, having a hard time trying to explain to his/her kid how to get through the daily homework? First things first: take those extra 3 minutes to check the book and his/her notes before hollering and getting your kid scare. Just put yourself in his/her shoes, won't you? Many of our readers will relate to this...."Yeah! No wonder I never wanted to ask dad anything!"
Introduce fun games when He/ she is doing her Homework
Become a child again, if you can, be ready to crack a little joke. The kid will losen up and will embrace you..." for life"
Surprise with a achievement award, after done with school.
Remember when you and me were kids, and wanted to have that bike so bad, or that Roller skate...or maybe those tickets to see the Partridge Family at our State Fair? Now your kid would love to get a little bonus after Christmas, without even knowing that 'you' will get something cute/nice/awesome after praising his/her achievements. If your child knows you so well, by the time they turn 13 or 14, they will be doing their Homework on their own, knowing that you are a giving and 'compassionate' dad/mom, when it comes to grant allowances or incentives of any kind.
Emphasize that is not that we were born smart, but we could go as far as we want to.
The sky is the limit. When we were 13 we wanted to find out what this Geo or Trig was all about, and opened those Encyclopedias on those chapters and took our fearful peek. We even asked our dad what was the best way to learn another language. We already wanted to relate a word to a feeling or this subtle archaic Mnemonic point of view, but we remembered, and we see ourselves asking our Father and suggesting our intentions. If you already know that your kid is going to become a Surgeon, take the lead and visit a local Hospital. If your kid loves Science go to Museums, If she/he likes music, then Google options: Guitar lessons, Ballet, Summer camps. We know for sure, we were born unique and able to fit into this World.

Look out for a better diet:
-If breastfed, fatty acids went ahead and gave him/her an extra early push.
-Avoid food with artificial colors...those that stick in their tongues.
-Eliminate sugary meals, eggs and milk, yep! Sorry!
-The more sugar the less attention. When you fall in love, you don't look hard enough!
-Omega-3 pills to increase memory and concentration
-Find food rich in glucose for retention: sweet potatoes, beans, bananas, cassava...just get your best pick. This is actually the 'Octane fuel' for the brain.
-Change gradually from the crappy junk food to fruits and wheat bread or enriched cereals.
-Meat, cheese, fish, and nuts yogurt, are needed for the development of those neurotransmitters that connect those information processing thoughts. Protein= aminoacids compounds.
-Kids are beyond smart... when you want to introduce organic diets try your best to explain why they are so hyper and give them an example of why you want to make drastical changes.
HERE IS THE DIFFERENCE FOR ALL:
If you were smart, then your kids most likely will grow naturally from what your genes had in store. Now If not, pray your spouse was, but most likely you both were attracted to each one for different reasons; you fell in love for the full and whole package, then you need to catch up with the rest... of us.
Study your child from birth
You need to find out from the crib, the talents of your child. Maybe is a future Astronaut or a writer. What we mean to say is, keep track of his/her abilities. From Kinder or Pre-k3, just check with your spouse about the developments of your child. By 8 or 9 Grade you should be asking the logical questions and please...yes! try to be a good listener. We take it from granted already that you and your child were friends from the crib, so he/she will trust you with anything. yeah! We meant that sex talk; the bees and the birds...well is 2012, so the talk will go straight to preservatives courtesy of 'Youtube.'
IF POSSIBLE HIRE A TUTOR
We know we are living in the worst economy in decades, but if you know of a College student or an Engineer...you better do that little homework in finding one (Just think of Melbel) and talk about your child's school problem. Please we are talking about a really extreme... extreme option. If you think you can do it by yourself, you are more than welcome. Next time Melbel!
AGAIN, CONSIDER YOUR KID SMARTNESS AS A NATURAL THING
Do not overemphasise the already won battle against uncertainty. Be cool. Consider going out with your kid and learn to share your own experience from work and from your own childhood

How to stop breastfeeding: When & How to wean a baby?

2012-01-16T07:53:00.000-08:00

How to stop breast feeding

It's an important issue for both the baby and the mother : how to stop breastfeeding?. Doctors suggest that exclusive breast feeding shouldn't be continued for more than 6 months. At the age of 4-6 months, weaning becomes an inevitable event. At this time the baby is able to digest better and his requirements increase more than before and breast milk can't meet these requirements and so he becomes ready for gradual weaning.
Start to inroduce soft semisolid foods for your kid by spoon and start spacing breast feeds. Try not to make weaning a sudden event and make it gradual. To avoid breast engorgment you should express milk to relief any congestion. Full evacuation will stimulate more milk production so lately in the weaning process, express an amount just enough to relieve the engorgment.

Tips on weaning :

How to wean a breastfed baby?

Offer your baby a new food one at a time with a 3-4 weeks interval between each type to detect any food allergy and to make sure he is tolerating this food well.
Egg white and cow milk should be delayed to after the age of a 1 year as they are common allergens (causing allergies).
Avoid weaning a child when he is sick or in summer as his need for water becomes more important during how weather.
Avoid spicy, cow milk, salty and junk food.
Be careful not to let the child eat alone or eat risky foods that may cause him to choke such as peanuts and hard candy.
Gradually reduce breast feeding and in the same time introduce new food and complementary feeding.
At the beginning rice cereals and semisolid foods can be mixed with human milk or even water. Then vegetable soup can be offered to the kid at the age of 5 months. One month later, yoghurt and fruits can be introduced. Finally, the baby may be able to eat ordinary food and at 10-12 months he can feed himself and can eat most table food (provided that they are semisolid and in small pieces).

Steps to Breastfeed Successfully

2012-01-16T07:51:00.000-08:00

How You can Stick with Breastfeeding

Here are some Steps to Success if you're determined, as I was, to breastfeed. I was not going to let anything stand in my way, despite how scared I was to try. So here is what I did:
1.) Marry a good guy so you can have a supportive husband. I told my husband that I wanted to breastfeed and expressed to him quite a few times how scared I was that it would either hurt too bad or not work. He was so helpful and supportive, quelling my fears before our daughter was born and helping me in any way he could after she was born.
2.) Have goals. The first one should be 6 weeks. If you can make it passed 6 weeks, many people insist that you're in the clear. Some people who have a particularly hard time take it one day at a time, which is also a good strategy.
3.) Read. Before your little one is born, do the research. Read up on the benefits of breastfeeding because that will be great motivation, but also read up on how to breast feed. Learning how to properly latch and hold the newborn was essential to my success.
4.) Go to a Le Leche League Meeting. I was only able to make it to one of these, but it was very helpful. The ladies were all very nice and answered the questions I had. They even gave me a packet of information to read.
5.) Watch a video on How to Breastfeed. Seeing it done is sometimes easier than reading how it's done.
6.) Talk to other moms who breastfeed. I only had one or two friends with children at the time, but even that was very helpful to me. I started facebook conversations with them and talked to them in person and I wasn't afraid to ask questions.
7.) Speaking of not being afraid, don't be afraid to ask for help at the hospital after your baby is born. At my hospital, there were nurses as well as Lactation Consultants who were extremely helpful in teaching me how to breast feed. The hospital where I had my daughter was very supportive of the decision to breast feed; I hope yours is as well.
8.) Make it clear to nurses, doctors and other hospital workers that you don't want your baby to get a pacifier. I struggled with the nursery workers at our hospital who kept sticking one in her mouth anyway. Eventually they stuck a no pacifier note on her bassinet. You can make one of these yourself and bring it in your hospital bag if you'd like. (I want to note here that I have talked to many moms who have breastfed successfully and allowed pacifiers from the beginning, but from what I read, pacifiers could cause nipple confusion.)
9.) Join a Forum. I advise this hesitantly. Proceed with caution. Ladies in those forums can get pretty snarky and even mean. I ended up leaving and staying away eventually because I don't like Internet Drama. If you do join a forum, there are many people you can find who can be an extremely valuable and helpful resource, but because you won't know everyone reading, be careful not to divulge too much personal information.
10.) Get nursing tanks, Landolin and a Heat Compress. I live in a nursing tank. It is comfortable and easy to use for quick breastfeeding. Landolin helps with soreness and a Heat Compress helps in case you get clogged milk ducts or anything like that.

What are Your Best songs (Tracks) of all time??

2012-01-16T07:47:00.000-08:00

Lets Make a List of Everyone's Favorite Songs.... Please Post your Favorites in Comments....

These are the rules for posting recommendations. Read them before making a suggestion:
Don't suggest Tracks already on List.
Try to Post a YouTube Link along with your Suggestion.
Don't post "I can't believe [insert probably stupid and derivative track here] isn't on the list!
Do not write a post stating something like "that's just your opinion!

Are Dummies, Pacifiers and Soothers Good or Bad for Babies?

2012-01-16T07:39:00.000-08:00

Most babies have a strong reflex for sucking. Studies have shown that some babies even suck their fingers and thumbs before they are born and sucking is a natural behaviour for babies. Sucking pacifiers or thumbs has a calming and soothing effect for many babies. This why pacifier use of so common and why many parents regard pacifiers as an essential item.
Parents have been using dummies, pacifiers, comforters or soothers for centuries. Pacifiers made of clay, coral, pearl, silver, and sugar teats have been found and described, with some of these dating back thousands of years. More than 50% of babies use pacifiers at 3 months of age in many European countries. A recent Canadian study showed that up to 84% of infants use a Pacifier. But are pacifiers really safe for babies, and what are the pros and cons for their use? This article reviews and summarizes the risks and benefits of using pacifiers, potential dental issues, safety tips for pacifier use and steps to help wean your baby from pacifiers, dummies and soothers.

How Pacifiers can affect the Teeth of Babies

Research has shown that Pacifiers can have adverse effects the structures in the mouth cavity, with extended use.
Anterior Open Bite - where an obvious gap develops between the lower front teeth and upper front teeth when the jaw is closed. The back teeth touch when the jaw closes, but the front teeth do not. This also develops with thumb sucking.

Posterior crossbite - where the upper back teeth are pushed inside the lower back teeth because of the constant sucking.

Increased overjet - which is a measure of how far the top incisor teeth extend ahead of the bottom incisors. Normally, the bottom and top front teeth should touch each other when the mouth is closed, leaving no or zero overjet. If the top teeth are ahead by some distance this is referred to as positive overjet.

Pacifier use beyond the age of 5 can delay the normal loss of the front baby teeth. This can hinder the emergence of adult teeth.

Dr. Abhinav Sinha, Director of the Children's Dental Health Center, Cornell Medical Center recommended in a recent report that: Pacifiers should only be used to help get babies to sleep, but should be removed immediately when the baby is asleep, Also Pacifier use should be phased out after the age of two years, and earlier if possible - the sooner the better.

Do pacifiers affect babies in other ways?

Research studies have shown that increased pacifier use is associated with more speech and language problems, and more ear infections. A Finish study reported in the journal Pediatrics, showed that children who ceased using pacifiers, at or before 6 months of age, had more than 30% fewer ear infections than babies who used them for longer periods. The reason for this is not known, but it has been well documented.

The dental problems and increased ear infections can negatively impact on language learning and speech. While several studies found no affect on the speech and language, others have found increased risks of speech disorders for children who sucked their fingers extensively or used a pacifier for 3 years or more. Most professionals suggest that a child's opportunities for imitating sounds, babbling, and participation in conversations are all reduced if a pacifier is in the mouth most of the time.

Pacifier Use and Breast Feeding

Breast feeding mothers are advised to delay offering their child a pacifier until the baby is a proficient feeder. Sucking on a breast nipple and sucking on a pacifier and quite different actions. Offering a baby a pacifier too early can interfere with breastfeeding. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that mothers wait until their baby has learned to suck well and latch on properly, and the milk supply is well established. This will normally occur at about one month of age.
Pacifier Use and SIDS

Research has shown that pacifier use at bed time reduced the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Pacifier use decreased the risk of SIDS when other risk factors were present such as: bedsharing, sleeping in the prone/side position, and when soft rather than hard bedding was used in the cot. Pacifier use may therefore provide a way to help reduce the risk of SIDS for infants in adverse sleep environments and otherwise at high risk.

Tips for Pacifier Use

Wait until breast-feeding is well established.
Choose the silicone one-piece, orthodontic or flat dummy or pacifier. Two piece pacifiers may pose a choking hazard.
Let the baby set the pace and don't let dummy use become a habit or used all day, every day.
Keep the pacifier clean.
Don't sugar coat it as it can cause tooth decay.
Keep it in good condition and check that it is safe. Cracks, holes and splits risk infection.
Wean your baby off the pacifier before the age of one or two years, sooner if possible.

20 Fun Free Family Activities

2012-01-16T07:36:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't like to have fun? The kids are bored, yet again. The parents or grandparents want to entertain them but funds are tight. If only there were free activities that would give you all a piece of mind. Guess what? I've uncovered some and the best part is they are all...FREE!
Please keep in mind that our ideas of "fun" could differ. I believe one could have fun doing just about anything. I strongly believe it's all about being able to spend quality time together with someone you care about. The activities I selected might require some labor, but in the long run YOU can have fun and make memorable memories:)

1. Go for a bike ride on a nature trail!
2. Plan a picnic at a park! Push each other on the swings! Slide down the slides!
3. Browse the aisles of a Walmart and teach the kids how not to: dress, behave and why bathing is beneficial.
4. Bake cookies from scratch and have a cookie-eating contest! Winner gets to clean up the mess (have to burn those calories off)!
5. Dust the house with the music blaring and everyone dancing! The faster the beat, the more fun it will be! FYI: Place collectibles in a safe area!
6. Everybody selects their favorite book and reads together!
7. Play board games, the winner gets to choose the next game! Make a day out of it!
8. Wear your raggiest clothing and panhandle in front of a restaurant, who knows you might make enough money to treat yourselves to a nice meal!
9. Have a film day! Make some popcorn, lemonade (adults can spike theirs) and have a movie marathon!
10. Take a drive to the beach. Build a sandcastle, seek for seashells or feed the seagulls!
11. Go to the mall and people watch. As someone walks by make up a fictional story about them. Disclaimer: I don't do this! Ok, yes I do!
12. Using newspapers build a paper boat and see if it could float!
13. Cut out photos from magazines and create a collage of a wacky family and then be thankful for the one you have!
14. Take a walk through the neighborhood and retrieve the litter. Go green!
15. Have a chalk drawing contest on your sidewalks or driveway!
16. Raid the freezer and pantry and make ice cream sundaes! Pickles or relish with a dash of ketchup on vanilla ice cream just might be tasty. Disclaimer: I've never tried this but I've heard weirder concoctions from pregnant women!
17. Have a mani/pedi party! Yes, boys/men are included also...I just recommend sticking with clear polish or just a buff!
18. Play a sport together! Basketball, soccer, tennis or even a game of tag!
19. Visit a pet store...the lonely animals will appreciate the attention!
20. Have a scavenger hunt using items found around the house!
*** Have fun and enjoy making memories! Be sure and have a digital camera available so that you could take many photos and upload them for FREE to your computer! ***

"1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die"

2012-01-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
Saturday – Ian McEwan
On Beauty – Zadie Smith
Slow Man – J.M. Coetzee
Adjunct: An Undigest – Peter Manson
The Sea – John Banville
The Red Queen – Margaret Drabble
The Plot Against America – Philip Roth
The Master – Colm Tóibín
Vanishing Point – David Markson
The Lambs of London – Peter Ackroyd
Dining on Stones – Iain Sinclair
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
Drop City – T. Coraghessan Boyle
The Colour – Rose Tremain
Thursbitch – Alan Garner
The Light of Day – Graham Swift
What I Loved – Siri Hustvedt
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
Islands – Dan Sleigh
Elizabeth Costello – J.M. Coetzee
London Orbital – Iain Sinclair
Family Matters – Rohinton Mistry
Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
The Double – José Saramago
Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
Unless – Carol Shields
Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
The Story of Lucy Gault – William Trevor
That They May Face the Rising Sun – John McGahern
In the Forest – Edna O’Brien
Shroud – John Banville
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
Youth – J.M. Coetzee
Dead Air – Iain Banks
Nowhere Man – Aleksandar Hemon
The Book of Illusions – Paul Auster
Gabriel’s Gift – Hanif Kureishi
Austerlitz – W.G. Sebald
Platform – Michael Houellebecq
Schooling – Heather McGowan
Atonement – Ian McEwan
The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen
Don’t Move – Margaret Mazzantini
The Body Artist – Don DeLillo
Fury – Salman Rushdie
At Swim, Two Boys – Jamie O’Neill
Choke – Chuck Palahniuk
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
The Feast of the Goat – Mario Vargos Llosa
An Obedient Father – Akhil Sharma
The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho
Spring Flowers, Spring Frost – Ismail Kadare
White Teeth – Zadie Smith
The Heart of Redness – Zakes Mda
Under the Skin – Michel Faber
Ignorance – Milan Kundera
Nineteen Seventy Seven – David Peace
Celestial Harmonies – Péter Esterházy
City of God – E.L. Doctorow
How the Dead Live – Will Self
The Human Stain – Philip Roth
The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
After the Quake – Haruki Murakami
Small Remedies – Shashi Deshpande
Super-Cannes – J.G. Ballard
House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
Blonde – Joyce Carol Oates
Pastoralia – George Saunders
1900s
Timbuktu – Paul Auster
The Romantics – Pankaj Mishra
Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
As If I Am Not There – Slavenka Drakuli?
Everything You Need – A.L. Kennedy
Fear and Trembling – Amélie Nothomb
The Ground Beneath Her Feet – Salman Rushdie
Disgrace – J.M. Coetzee
Sputnik Sweetheart – Haruki Murakami
Elementary Particles – Michel Houellebecq
Intimacy – Hanif Kureishi
Amsterdam – Ian McEwan
Cloudsplitter – Russell Banks
All Souls Day – Cees Nooteboom
The Talk of the Town – Ardal O’Hanlon
Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
Glamorama – Bret Easton Ellis
Another World – Pat Barker
The Hours – Michael Cunningham
Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho
Mason & Dixon – Thomas Pynchon
The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
Great Apes – Will Self
Enduring Love – Ian McEwan
Underworld – Don DeLillo
Jack Maggs – Peter Carey
The Life of Insects – Victor Pelevin
American Pastoral – Philip Roth
The Untouchable – John Banville
Silk – Alessandro Baricco
Cocaine Nights – J.G. Ballard
Hallucinating Foucault – Patricia Duncker
Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels
The Ghost Road – Pat Barker
Forever a Stranger – Hella Haasse
Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace
The Clay Machine-Gun – Victor Pelevin
Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood
The Unconsoled – Kazuo Ishiguro
Morvern Callar – Alan Warner
The Information – Martin Amis
The Moor’s Last Sigh – Salman Rushdie
Sabbath’s Theater – Philip Roth
The Rings of Saturn – W.G. Sebald
The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
Love’s Work – Gillian Rose
The End of the Story – Lydia Davis
Mr. Vertigo – Paul Auster
The Folding Star – Alan Hollinghurst
Whatever – Michel Houellebecq
Land – Park Kyong-ni
The Master of Petersburg – J.M. Coetzee
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami
Pereira Declares: A Testimony – Antonio Tabucchi
City Sister Silver – Jàchym Topol
How Late It Was, How Late – James Kelman
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
Felicia’s Journey – William Trevor
Disappearance – David Dabydeen
The Invention of Curried Sausage – Uwe Timm
The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
Trainspotting – Irvine Welsh
Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
Looking for the Possible Dance – A.L. Kennedy
Operation Shylock – Philip Roth
Complicity – Iain Banks
On Love – Alain de Botton
What a Carve Up! – Jonathan Coe
A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
The Stone Diaries – Carol Shields
The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
The House of Doctor Dee – Peter Ackroyd
The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood
The Emigrants – W.G. Sebald
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
Life is a Caravanserai – Emine Özdamar
The Discovery of Heaven – Harry Mulisch
A Heart So White – Javier Marias
Possessing the Secret of Joy – Alice Walker
Indigo – Marina Warner
The Crow Road – Iain Banks
Written on the Body – Jeanette Winterson
Jazz – Toni Morrison
The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Høeg
The Butcher Boy – Patrick McCabe
Black Water – Joyce Carol Oates
The Heather Blazing – Colm Tóibín
Asphodel – H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
Black Dogs – Ian McEwan
Hideous Kinky – Esther Freud
Arcadia – Jim Crace
Wild Swans – Jung Chang
American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis
Time’s Arrow – Martin Amis
Mao II – Don DeLillo
Typical – Padgett Powell
Regeneration – Pat Barker
Downriver – Iain Sinclair
Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord – Louis de Bernieres
Wise Children – Angela Carter
Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard
Amongst Women – John McGahern
Vineland – Thomas Pynchon
Vertigo – W.G. Sebald
Stone Junction – Jim Dodge
The Music of Chance – Paul Auster
The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
A Home at the End of the World – Michael Cunningham
Like Life – Lorrie Moore
Possession – A.S. Byatt
The Buddha of Suburbia – Hanif Kureishi
The Midnight Examiner – William Kotzwinkle
A Disaffection – James Kelman
Sexing the Cherry – Jeanette Winterson
Moon Palace – Paul Auster
Billy Bathgate – E.L. Doctorow
Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
The Melancholy of Resistance – László Krasznahorkai
The Temple of My Familiar – Alice Walker
The Trick is to Keep Breathing – Janice Galloway
The History of the Siege of Lisbon – José Saramago
Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel
A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
London Fields – Martin Amis
The Book of Evidence – John Banville
Cat’s Eye – Margaret Atwood
Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco
The Beautiful Room is Empty – Edmund White
Wittgenstein’s Mistress – David Markson
The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie
The Swimming-Pool Library – Alan Hollinghurst
Oscar and Lucinda – Peter Carey
Libra – Don DeLillo
The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
Nervous Conditions – Tsitsi Dangarembga
The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul – Douglas Adams
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams
The Radiant Way – Margaret Drabble
The Afternoon of a Writer – Peter Handke
The Black Dahlia – James Ellroy
The Passion – Jeanette Winterson
The Pigeon – Patrick Süskind
The Child in Time – Ian McEwan
Cigarettes – Harry Mathews
The Bonfire of the Vanities – Tom Wolfe
The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster
World’s End – T. Coraghessan Boyle
Enigma of Arrival – V.S. Naipaul
The Taebek Mountains – Jo Jung-rae
Beloved – Toni Morrison
Anagrams – Lorrie Moore
Matigari – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
Marya – Joyce Carol Oates
Watchmen – Alan Moore & David Gibbons
The Old Devils – Kingsley Amis
Lost Language of Cranes – David Leavitt
An Artist of the Floating World – Kazuo Ishiguro
Extinction – Thomas Bernhard
Foe – J.M. Coetzee
The Drowned and the Saved – Primo Levi
Reasons to Live – Amy Hempel
The Parable of the Blind – Gert Hofmann
Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson
The Cider House Rules – John Irving
A Maggot – John Fowles
Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellis
Contact – Carl Sagan
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
Perfume – Patrick Süskind
Old Masters – Thomas Bernhard
White Noise – Don DeLillo
Queer – William Burroughs
Hawksmoor – Peter Ackroyd
Legend – David Gemmell
Dictionary of the Khazars – Milorad Pavi?
The Bus Conductor Hines – James Kelman
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis – José Saramago
The Lover – Marguerite Duras
Empire of the Sun – J.G. Ballard
The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
Nights at the Circus – Angela Carter
The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
Blood and Guts in High School – Kathy Acker
Neuromancer – William Gibson
Flaubert’s Parrot – Julian Barnes
Money: A Suicide Note – Martin Amis
Shame – Salman Rushdie
Worstward Ho – Samuel Beckett
Fools of Fortune – William Trevor
La Brava – Elmore Leonard
Waterland – Graham Swift
The Life and Times of Michael K – J.M. Coetzee
The Diary of Jane Somers – Doris Lessing
The Piano Teacher – Elfriede Jelinek
The Sorrow of Belgium – Hugo Claus
If Not Now, When? – Primo Levi
A Boy’s Own Story – Edmund White
The Color Purple – Alice Walker
Wittgenstein’s Nephew – Thomas Bernhard
A Pale View of Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro
Schindler’s Ark – Thomas Keneally
The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende
The Newton Letter – John Banville
On the Black Hill – Bruce Chatwin
Concrete – Thomas Bernhard
The Names – Don DeLillo
Rabbit is Rich – John Updike
Lanark: A Life in Four Books – Alasdair Gray
The Comfort of Strangers – Ian McEwan
July’s People – Nadine Gordimer
Summer in Baden-Baden – Leonid Tsypkin
Broken April – Ismail Kadare
Waiting for the Barbarians – J.M. Coetzee
Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
Rites of Passage – William Golding
Rituals – Cees Nooteboom
Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
City Primeval – Elmore Leonard
The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting – Milan Kundera
Smiley’s People – John Le Carré
Shikasta – Doris Lessing
A Bend in the River – V.S. Naipaul
Burger’s Daughter - Nadine Gordimer
The Safety Net – Heinrich Böll
If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler – Italo Calvino
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
The Cement Garden – Ian McEwan
The World According to Garp – John Irving
Life: A User’s Manual – Georges Perec
The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
The Singapore Grip – J.G. Farrell
Yes – Thomas Bernhard
The Virgin in the Garden – A.S. Byatt
In the Heart of the Country – J.M. Coetzee
The Passion of New Eve – Angela Carter
Delta of Venus – Anaïs Nin
The Shining – Stephen King
Dispatches – Michael Herr
Petals of Blood – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison
The Hour of the Star – Clarice Lispector
The Left-Handed Woman – Peter Handke
Ratner’s Star – Don DeLillo
The Public Burning – Robert Coover
Interview With the Vampire – Anne Rice
Cutter and Bone – Newton Thornburg
Amateurs – Donald Barthelme
Patterns of Childhood – Christa Wolf
Autumn of the Patriarch – Gabriel García Márquez
W, or the Memory of Childhood – Georges Perec
A Dance to the Music of Time – Anthony Powell
Grimus – Salman Rushdie
The Dead Father – Donald Barthelme
Fateless – Imre Kertész
Willard and His Bowling Trophies – Richard Brautigan
High Rise – J.G. Ballard
Humboldt’s Gift – Saul Bellow
Dead Babies – Martin Amis
Correction – Thomas Bernhard
Ragtime – E.L. Doctorow
The Fan Man – William Kotzwinkle
Dusklands – J.M. Coetzee
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum – Heinrich Böll
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John Le Carré
Breakfast of Champions – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Fear of Flying – Erica Jong
A Question of Power – Bessie Head
The Siege of Krishnapur – J.G. Farrell
The Castle of Crossed Destinies – Italo Calvino
Crash – J.G. Ballard
The Honorary Consul – Graham Greene
Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
The Black Prince – Iris Murdoch
Sula – Toni Morrison
Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino
The Breast – Philip Roth
The Summer Book – Tove Jansson
G – John Berger
Surfacing – Margaret Atwood
House Mother Normal – B.S. Johnson
In A Free State – V.S. Naipaul
The Book of Daniel – E.L. Doctorow
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson
Group Portrait With Lady – Heinrich Böll
The Wild Boys – William Burroughs
Rabbit Redux – John Updike
The Sea of Fertility – Yukio Mishima
The Driver’s Seat – Muriel Spark
The Ogre – Michael Tournier
The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick – Peter Handke
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
Mercier et Camier – Samuel Beckett
Troubles – J.G. Farrell
Jahrestage – Uwe Johnson
The Atrocity Exhibition – J.G. Ballard
Tent of Miracles – Jorge Amado
Pricksongs and Descants – Robert Coover
Blind Man With a Pistol – Chester Hines
Slaughterhouse-five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
The French Lieutenant’s Woman – John Fowles
The Green Man – Kingsley Amis
Portnoy’s Complaint – Philip Roth
The Godfather – Mario Puzo
Ada – Vladimir Nabokov
Them – Joyce Carol Oates
A Void/Avoid – Georges Perec
Eva Trout – Elizabeth Bowen
Myra Breckinridge – Gore Vidal
The Nice and the Good – Iris Murdoch
Belle du Seigneur – Albert Cohen
Cancer Ward – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
The First Circle – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid – Malcolm Lowry
The German Lesson – Siegfried Lenz
In Watermelon Sugar – Richard Brautigan
A Kestrel for a Knave – Barry Hines
The Quest for Christa T. – Christa Wolf
Chocky – John Wyndham
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test – Tom Wolfe
The Cubs and Other Stories – Mario Vargas Llosa
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
Pilgrimage – Dorothy Richardson
The Joke – Milan Kundera
No Laughing Matter – Angus Wilson
The Third Policeman – Flann O’Brien
A Man Asleep – Georges Perec
The Birds Fall Down – Rebecca West
Trawl – B.S. Johnson
In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
The Magus – John Fowles
The Vice-Consul – Marguerite Duras
Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys
Giles Goat-Boy – John Barth
The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon
Things – Georges Perec
The River Between – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
August is a Wicked Month – Edna O’Brien
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – Kurt Vonnegut
Everything That Rises Must Converge – Flannery O’Connor
The Passion According to G.H. – Clarice Lispector
Sometimes a Great Notion – Ken Kesey
Come Back, Dr. Caligari – Donald Bartholme
Albert Angelo – B.S. Johnson
Arrow of God – Chinua Achebe
The Ravishing of Lol V. Stein – Marguerite Duras
Herzog – Saul Bellow
V. – Thomas Pynchon
Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut
The Graduate – Charles Webb
Manon des Sources – Marcel Pagnol
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – John Le Carré
The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark
Inside Mr. Enderby – Anthony Burgess
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
The Collector – John Fowles
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov
The Drowned World – J.G. Ballard
The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing
Labyrinths – Jorg Luis Borges
Girl With Green Eyes – Edna O’Brien
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – Giorgio Bassani
Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein
Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch
Faces in the Water – Janet Frame
Solaris – Stanislaw Lem
Cat and Mouse – Günter Grass
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
The Violent Bear it Away – Flannery O’Connor
How It Is – Samuel Beckett
Our Ancestors – Italo Calvino
The Country Girls – Edna O’Brien
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Rabbit, Run – John Updike
Promise at Dawn – Romain Gary
Cider With Rosie – Laurie Lee
Billy Liar – Keith Waterhouse
Naked Lunch – William Burroughs
The Tin Drum – Günter Grass
Absolute Beginners – Colin MacInnes
Henderson the Rain King – Saul Bellow
Memento Mori – Muriel Spark
Billiards at Half-Past Nine – Heinrich Böll
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
The Leopard – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Pluck the Bud and Destroy the Offspring – Kenzaburo Oe
A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
The Bitter Glass – Eilís Dillon
Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning – Alan Sillitoe
Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris – Paul Gallico
Borstal Boy – Brendan Behan
The End of the Road – John Barth
The Once and Future King – T.H. White
The Bell – Iris Murdoch
Jealousy – Alain Robbe-Grillet
Voss – Patrick White
The Midwich Cuckoos – John Wyndham
Blue Noon – Georges Bataille
Homo Faber – Max Frisch
On the Road – Jack Kerouac
Pnin – Vladimir Nabokov
Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak
The Wonderful “O” – James Thurber
Justine – Lawrence Durrell
Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
The Lonely Londoners – Sam Selvon
The Roots of Heaven – Romain Gary
Seize the Day – Saul Bellow
The Floating Opera – John Barth
The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith
Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
A World of Love – Elizabeth Bowen
The Trusting and the Maimed – James Plunkett
The Quiet American – Graham Greene
The Last Temptation of Christ – Nikos Kazantzákis
The Recognitions – William Gaddis
The Ragazzi – Pier Paulo Pasolini
Bonjour Tristesse – Françoise Sagan
I’m Not Stiller – Max Frisch
Self Condemned – Wyndham Lewis
The Story of O – Pauline Réage
A Ghost at Noon – Alberto Moravia
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Under the Net – Iris Murdoch
The Go-Between – L.P. Hartley
The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler
The Unnamable – Samuel Beckett
Watt – Samuel Beckett
Lucky Jim – Kingsley Amis
Junkie – William Burroughs
The Adventures of Augie March – Saul Bellow
Go Tell It on the Mountain – James Baldwin
Casino Royale – Ian Fleming
The Judge and His Hangman – Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
Wise Blood – Flannery O’Connor
The Killer Inside Me – Jim Thompson
Memoirs of Hadrian – Marguerite Yourcenar
Malone Dies – Samuel Beckett
Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
Foundation – Isaac Asimov
The Opposing Shore – Julien Gracq
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
The Rebel – Albert Camus
Molloy – Samuel Beckett
The End of the Affair – Graham Greene
The Abbot C – Georges Bataille
The Labyrinth of Solitude – Octavio Paz
The Third Man – Graham Greene
The 13 Clocks – James Thurber
Gormenghast – Mervyn Peake
The Grass is Singing – Doris Lessing
I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
The Moon and the Bonfires – Cesare Pavese
The Garden Where the Brass Band Played – Simon Vestdijk
Love in a Cold Climate – Nancy Mitford
The Case of Comrade Tulayev – Victor Serge
The Heat of the Day – Elizabeth Bowen
Kingdom of This World – Alejo Carpentier
The Man With the Golden Arm – Nelson Algren
Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
All About H. Hatterr – G.V. Desani
Disobedience – Alberto Moravia
Death Sentence – Maurice Blanchot
The Heart of the Matter – Graham Greene
Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton
Doctor Faustus – Thomas Mann
The Victim – Saul Bellow
Exercises in Style – Raymond Queneau
If This Is a Man – Primo Levi
Under the Volcano – Malcolm Lowry
The Path to the Nest of Spiders – Italo Calvino
The Plague – Albert Camus
Back – Henry Green
Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake
The Bridge on the Drina – Ivo Andri?
Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
Animal Farm – George Orwell
Cannery Row – John Steinbeck
The Pursuit of Love – Nancy Mitford
Loving – Henry Green
Arcanum 17 – André Breton
Christ Stopped at Eboli – Carlo Levi
The Razor’s Edge – William Somerset Maugham
Transit – Anna Seghers
Ficciones – Jorge Luis Borges
Dangling Man – Saul Bellow
The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Caught – Henry Green
The Glass Bead Game – Herman Hesse
Embers – Sandor Marai
Go Down, Moses – William Faulkner
The Outsider – Albert Camus
In Sicily – Elio Vittorini
The Poor Mouth – Flann O’Brien
The Living and the Dead – Patrick White
Hangover Square – Patrick Hamilton
Between the Acts – Virginia Woolf
The Hamlet – William Faulkner
Farewell My Lovely – Raymond Chandler
For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway
Native Son – Richard Wright
The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene
The Tartar Steppe – Dino Buzzati
Party Going – Henry Green
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
Finnegans Wake – James Joyce
At Swim-Two-Birds – Flann O’Brien
Coming Up for Air – George Orwell
Goodbye to Berlin – Christopher Isherwood
Tropic of Capricorn – Henry Miller
Good Morning, Midnight – Jean Rhys
The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler
After the Death of Don Juan – Sylvie Townsend Warner
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – Winifred Watson
Nausea – Jean-Paul Sartre
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
Cause for Alarm – Eric Ambler
Brighton Rock – Graham Greene
U.S.A. – John Dos Passos
Murphy – Samuel Beckett
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
The Years – Virginia Woolf
In Parenthesis – David Jones
The Revenge for Love – Wyndham Lewis
Out of Africa – Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen)
To Have and Have Not – Ernest Hemingway
Summer Will Show – Sylvia Townsend Warner
Eyeless in Gaza – Aldous Huxley
The Thinking Reed – Rebecca West
Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
Keep the Aspidistra Flying – George Orwell
Wild Harbour – Ian MacPherson
Absalom, Absalom! – William Faulkner
At the Mountains of Madness – H.P. Lovecraft
Nightwood – Djuna Barnes
Independent People – Halldór Laxness
Auto-da-Fé – Elias Canetti
The Last of Mr. Norris – Christopher Isherwood
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? – Horace McCoy
The House in Paris – Elizabeth Bowen
England Made Me – Graham Greene
Burmese Days – George Orwell
The Nine Tailors – Dorothy L. Sayers
Threepenny Novel – Bertolt Brecht
Novel With Cocaine – M. Ageyev
The Postman Always Rings Twice – James M. Cain
Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller
A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh
Tender is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Thank You, Jeeves – P.G. Wodehouse
Call it Sleep – Henry Roth
Miss Lonelyhearts – Nathanael West
Murder Must Advertise – Dorothy L. Sayers
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein
Testament of Youth – Vera Brittain
A Day Off – Storm Jameson
The Man Without Qualities – Robert Musil
A Scots Quair (Sunset Song) – Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Journey to the End of the Night – Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
To the North – Elizabeth Bowen
The Thin Man – Dashiell Hammett
The Radetzky March – Joseph Roth
The Waves – Virginia Woolf
The Glass Key – Dashiell Hammett
Cakes and Ale – W. Somerset Maugham
The Apes of God – Wyndham Lewis
Her Privates We – Frederic Manning
Vile Bodies – Evelyn Waugh
The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett
Hebdomeros – Giorgio de Chirico
Passing – Nella Larsen
A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
Red Harvest – Dashiell Hammett
Living – Henry Green
The Time of Indifference – Alberto Moravia
All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
Berlin Alexanderplatz – Alfred Döblin
The Last September – Elizabeth Bowen
Harriet Hume – Rebecca West
The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner
Les Enfants Terribles – Jean Cocteau
Look Homeward, Angel – Thomas Wolfe
Story of the Eye – Georges Bataille
Orlando – Virginia Woolf
Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D.H. Lawrence
The Well of Loneliness – Radclyffe Hall
The Childermass – Wyndham Lewis
Quartet – Jean Rhys
Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh
Quicksand – Nella Larsen
Parade’s End – Ford Madox Ford
Nadja – André Breton
Steppenwolf – Herman Hesse
Remembrance of Things Past – Marcel Proust
To The Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf
Tarka the Otter – Henry Williamson
Amerika – Franz Kafka
The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
Blindness – Henry Green
The Castle – Franz Kafka
The Good Soldier Švejk – Jaroslav Hašek
The Plumed Serpent – D.H. Lawrence
One, None and a Hundred Thousand – Luigi Pirandello
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie
The Making of Americans – Gertrude Stein
Manhattan Transfer – John Dos Passos
Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Counterfeiters – André Gide
The Trial – Franz Kafka
The Artamonov Business – Maxim Gorky
The Professor’s House – Willa Cather
Billy Budd, Foretopman – Herman Melville
The Green Hat – Michael Arlen
The Magic Mountain – Thomas Mann
We – Yevgeny Zamyatin
A Passage to India – E.M. Forster
The Devil in the Flesh – Raymond Radiguet
Zeno’s Conscience – Italo Svevo
Cane – Jean Toomer
Antic Hay – Aldous Huxley
Amok – Stefan Zweig
The Garden Party – Katherine Mansfield
The Enormous Room – E.E. Cummings
Jacob’s Room – Virginia Woolf
Siddhartha – Herman Hesse
The Glimpses of the Moon – Edith Wharton
Life and Death of Harriett Frean – May Sinclair
The Last Days of Humanity – Karl Kraus
Aaron’s Rod – D.H. Lawrence
Babbitt – Sinclair Lewis
Ulysses – James Joyce
The Fox – D.H. Lawrence
Crome Yellow – Aldous Huxley
The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton
Main Street – Sinclair Lewis
Women in Love – D.H. Lawrence
Night and Day – Virginia Woolf
Tarr – Wyndham Lewis
The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West
The Shadow Line – Joseph Conrad
Summer – Edith Wharton
Growth of the Soil – Knut Hamsen
Bunner Sisters – Edith Wharton
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce
Under Fire – Henri Barbusse
Rashomon – Akutagawa Ryunosuke
The Good Soldier – Ford Madox Ford
The Voyage Out – Virginia Woolf
Of Human Bondage – William Somerset Maugham
The Rainbow – D.H. Lawrence
The Thirty-Nine Steps – John Buchan
Kokoro – Natsume Soseki
Locus Solus – Raymond Roussel
Rosshalde – Herman Hesse
Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – Robert Tressell
Sons and Lovers – D.H. Lawrence
Death in Venice – Thomas Mann
The Charwoman’s Daughter – James Stephens
Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton
Fantômas – Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre
Howards End – E.M. Forster
Impressions of Africa – Raymond Roussel
Three Lives – Gertrude Stein
Martin Eden – Jack London
Strait is the Gate – André Gide
Tono-Bungay – H.G. Wells
The Inferno – Henri Barbusse
A Room With a View – E.M. Forster
The Iron Heel – Jack London
The Old Wives’ Tale – Arnold Bennett
The House on the Borderland – William Hope Hodgson
Mother – Maxim Gorky
The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad
The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
Young Törless – Robert Musil
The Forsyte Sage – John Galsworthy
The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton
Professor Unrat – Heinrich Mann
Where Angels Fear to Tread – E.M. Forster
Nostromo – Joseph Conrad
Hadrian the Seventh – Frederick Rolfe
The Golden Bowl – Henry James
The Ambassadors – Henry James
The Riddle of the Sands – Erskine Childers
The Immoralist – André Gide
The Wings of the Dove – Henry James
Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Buddenbrooks – Thomas Mann
Kim – Rudyard Kipling
Sister Carrie – Theodore Dreiser
Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad
1800s
Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. – Somerville and Ross
The Stechlin – Theodore Fontane
The Awakening – Kate Chopin
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells
What Maisie Knew – Henry James
Fruits of the Earth – André Gide
Dracula – Bram Stoker
Quo Vadis – Henryk Sienkiewicz
The Island of Dr. Moreau – H.G. Wells
The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
Effi Briest – Theodore Fontane
Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
The Real Charlotte – Somerville and Ross
The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Born in Exile – George Gissing
Diary of a Nobody – George & Weedon Grossmith
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
News from Nowhere – William Morris
New Grub Street – George Gissing
Gösta Berling’s Saga – Selma Lagerlöf
Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
The Kreutzer Sonata – Leo Tolstoy
La Bête Humaine – Émile Zola
By the Open Sea – August Strindberg
Hunger – Knut Hamsun
The Master of Ballantrae – Robert Louis Stevenson
Pierre and Jean – Guy de Maupassant
Fortunata and Jacinta – Benito Pérez Galdés
The People of Hemsö – August Strindberg
The Woodlanders – Thomas Hardy
She – H. Rider Haggard
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy
Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson
King Solomon’s Mines – H. Rider Haggard
Germinal – Émile Zola
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
Bel-Ami – Guy de Maupassant
Marius the Epicurean – Walter Pater
Against the Grain – Joris-Karl Huysmans
The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy
A Woman’s Life – Guy de Maupassant
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
The House by the Medlar Tree – Giovanni Verga
The Portrait of a Lady – Henry James
Bouvard and Pécuchet – Gustave Flaubert
Ben-Hur – Lew Wallace
Nana – Émile Zola
The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Red Room – August Strindberg
Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
Drunkard – Émile Zola
Virgin Soil – Ivan Turgenev
Daniel Deronda – George Eliot
The Hand of Ethelberta – Thomas Hardy
The Temptation of Saint Anthony – Gustave Flaubert
Far from the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
The Enchanted Wanderer – Nicolai Leskov
Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne
In a Glass Darkly – Sheridan Le Fanu
The Devils – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Erewhon – Samuel Butler
Spring Torrents – Ivan Turgenev
Middlemarch – George Eliot
Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carroll
King Lear of the Steppes – Ivan Turgenev
He Knew He Was Right – Anthony Trollope
War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
Sentimental Education – Gustave Flaubert
Phineas Finn – Anthony Trollope
Maldoror – Comte de Lautréaumont
The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
Thérèse Raquin – Émile Zola
The Last Chronicle of Barset – Anthony Trollope
Journey to the Centre of the Earth – Jules Verne
Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
Our Mutual Friend – Charles Dickens
Uncle Silas – Sheridan Le Fanu
Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Water-Babies – Charles Kingsley
Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
Fathers and Sons – Ivan Turgenev
Silas Marner – George Eliot
Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
On the Eve – Ivan Turgenev
Castle Richmond – Anthony Trollope
The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot
The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
The Marble Faun – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Max Havelaar – Multatuli
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
Oblomovka – Ivan Goncharov
Adam Bede – George Eliot
Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell
Hard Times – Charles Dickens
Walden – Henry David Thoreau
Bleak House – Charles Dickens
Villette – Charlotte Brontë
Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell
Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lonely – Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Blithedale Romance – Nathaniel Hawthorne
The House of the Seven Gables – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Moby-Dick – Herman Melville
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
Shirley – Charlotte Brontë
Mary Barton – Elizabeth Gaskell
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Brontë
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
The Count of Monte-Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
La Reine Margot – Alexandre Dumas
The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
The Purloined Letter – Edgar Allan Poe
Martin Chuzzlewit – Charles Dickens
The Pit and the Pendulum – Edgar Allan Poe
Lost Illusions – Honoré de Balzac
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
Dead Souls – Nikolay Gogol
The Charterhouse of Parma – Stendhal
The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby – Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
The Nose – Nikolay Gogol
Le Père Goriot – Honoré de Balzac
Eugénie Grandet – Honoré de Balzac
The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
The Red and the Black – Stendhal
The Betrothed – Alessandro Manzoni
Last of the Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner – James Hogg
The Albigenses – Charles Robert Maturin
Melmoth the Wanderer – Charles Robert Maturin
The Monastery – Sir Walter Scott
Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
Persuasion – Jane Austen
Ormond – Maria Edgeworth
Rob Roy – Sir Walter Scott
Emma – Jane Austen
Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
The Absentee – Maria Edgeworth
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
Elective Affinities – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Castle Rackrent – Maria Edgeworth
1700s
Hyperion – Friedrich Hölderlin
The Nun – Denis Diderot
Camilla – Fanny Burney
The Monk – M.G. Lewis
Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Mysteries of Udolpho – Ann Radcliffe
The Interesting Narrative – Olaudah Equiano
The Adventures of Caleb Williams – William Godwin
Justine – Marquis de Sade
Vathek – William Beckford
The 120 Days of Sodom – Marquis de Sade
Cecilia – Fanny Burney
Confessions – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Dangerous Liaisons – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Reveries of a Solitary Walker – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Evelina – Fanny Burney
The Sorrows of Young Werther – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Humphrey Clinker – Tobias George Smollett
The Man of Feeling – Henry Mackenzie
A Sentimental Journey – Laurence Sterne
Tristram Shandy – Laurence Sterne
The Vicar of Wakefield – Oliver Goldsmith
The Castle of Otranto – Horace Walpole
Émile; or, On Education – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rameau’s Nephew – Denis Diderot
Julie; or, the New Eloise – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rasselas – Samuel Johnson
Candide – Voltaire
The Female Quixote – Charlotte Lennox
Amelia – Henry Fielding
Peregrine Pickle – Tobias George Smollett
Fanny Hill – John Cleland
Tom Jones – Henry Fielding
Roderick Random – Tobias George Smollett
Clarissa – Samuel Richardson
Pamela – Samuel Richardson
Jacques the Fatalist – Denis Diderot
Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus – J. Arbuthnot, J. Gay, T. Parnell, A. Pope, J. Swift
Joseph Andrews – Henry Fielding
A Modest Proposal – Jonathan Swift
Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
Roxana – Daniel Defoe
Moll Flanders – Daniel Defoe
Love in Excess – Eliza Haywood
Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
A Tale of a Tub – Jonathan Swift
Pre-1700
Oroonoko – Aphra Behn
The Princess of Clèves – Marie-Madelaine Pioche de Lavergne, Comtesse de La Fayette
The Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan
Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
The Unfortunate Traveller – Thomas Nashe
Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit – John Lyly
Gargantua and Pantagruel – Françoise Rabelais
The Thousand and One Nights – Anonymous
The Golden Ass – Lucius Apuleius
Aithiopika – Heliodorus
Chaireas and Kallirhoe – Chariton
Metamorphoses – Ovid
Aesop’s Fables – Aesopus

Author Comments:

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die: A Comprehensive Reference Source, Chronicling the History of the Novel
Preface by Peter Ackroyd, General Editor Peter Boxall
ISBN 1-84403-417-8
Source - http://www.listology.com

Best of the Best Web 2.0 Web Sites

2012-01-16T07:28:00.000-08:00

Web 2.0 sites are cropping up all over the place! From Social Bookmarking Sites, to Real Estate sites, this list has only the best Web 2.0 Sites available today! What makes a site a Web 2.0 Site? Web 2.0 is the second coming of World Wide Web. New and improved sites that make the web their platform, provide users a way of interacting with each other, and organize and categorize their content are perfect examples of Web 2.0. Below is a list of web sites that are the best of the best! If you would like to see some added to the list, please comment below!
Social Bookmarking Sites

Social Communities

Start Pages

To Do Lists

People News Production

News Sites

Image Storing and Sharing

File Storage

Video Storage

Blog Filters

Word Processing

Calanders

Classified & Business Directories

Online Dating

Financials

Scientific Research

Fittest Model

Web 2.0 Development

Advice

BitWine

Mobile Web Communities

zinadoo

Project Management and Team Collaboration

Content Filtering

Mash-Ups

Aggregators

Web Site Analytics

E-Mail and Communication

Mapping

Parts

World Improvement

Business Software

Command Line

Validator

Web 2.0 Validator

Jobs and Work

Voices

Wiki

Shopping

Search

Trusted Search

Real Estate

Music

Travel

Events

Education / School Life

Art

Quotes

Quotiki

Karaoke

Movies

Rank a Movie

Social Productivity

Cylive

Ring Tones

mymp3tone

Web Site Ranking

Compete

Entertainment Recommendations

Grepr

Mature Content

ScrewTube

Best Friendship Quotes Collection....

2012-01-16T04:08:00.000-08:00

Friendship Quotes

Friendship is truly a special thing in life. Here you will find famous friendship quotes from over the years.
If you love frienship quotes, then you will like what you find here. There will be funny frienship quores, love friendship quores, inspirational frienship quotes and more.
Feel free to vote up or down your favorite frienship quores and if you have any of your own that you want to share feel free to add them to the list.

We are friends for life- Judy Blume

C.S. Lewis Friendship Quotes

Quotes on friendship by author C.S. Lewis

1 "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one"

2 "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival."

3 "Eros will have naked bodies; Friendship naked personalities."

Casablanca - "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

Ralph Waldo Emerson Friendship Quotes

Quotes on friendship by philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson

1 "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."

2 "The only way to have a friend is to be one."

3 "A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud."

4 "A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends."

5 "A Friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature.

6 "I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with the roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass threads or frost-work, but the solidest thing we know."

"Friendship" by Steven Huneck

Mark Twain Friendship Quotes

Quotes on friendship by author Mark Twain

1 "The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are in the right."

2 "The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole life - time, if not asked to lend money"

3 "Words in haste do friendships waste."

4 "Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with."

5 "We content ourselves that that friendship is a Reality, and not a Fancy--that it is builded upon a rock, and not upon the sands that dissolve away with the ebbing tides and carry their monuments with them."

Good friends "A true friend is one soul in two bodies."

Aristotle Friendship Quotes

Quotes on friendship by the Greek Philosopher, Aristotle

1 "A true friend is one soul in two bodies."

2 "Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit."

3 "Friendship is essentially a partnership."

4 "Friends are an aid to the young, to guard them from error; to the elderly, to attend to their wants and to supplement their failing power of action; to those in the prime of life, to assist them to noble deeds."

Friendship Quote - Art Nouveau Wood Sign

Bible Friendship Quotes

Famous quotes on friendship from the Bible

1 "An honest answer is the sign of true friendship." Proverbs 24:26

2 "A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity." Proverbs 17:17

3 "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24

Share Your Thoughts On Friendship Quotes

Poems That Make You Cry!

2012-01-16T04:02:00.000-08:00

Poems That Make You Cry

Why do we want to listen to sad songs when we are sad or to read poems that make us cry? There's something to be said for wallowing in our misery. The old saying "misery loves company" is very appropriate here. Sometimes having a good cry is what we really need when we're going through a rough patch.

If you're in the mood for a sad poem, then you'll find lots of resources here. There's even a video version of a sad poem as well as books and other items of interest.

I hope you find this lens helpful!

Great Resources :: Poems That Make You Cry!

NetPoets.com: A large collection of sad poems. Something for everyone!
100-Poems.com: 100 All-Time favorite sad poems. Enjoy!
Poems-and-Quotes.com: This website is dedicated to sad poetry. You will find here lots of visitor submitted poems and quotes about lost relationships, death, depression etc.
PoetryAmerica.com: This collection of Sad Poems includes sad poems, depression poems, sad love poems, death poems as well as sad poems written by teens. All the poems displayed have been selected from sad poems submitted to their poetry contest. Life is filled with all kind of emotions and these poets excelled in using the art of poetry to transform sad, dark and painful feeling into beautiful works of poetry.
Best-Love-Poems.com: A big compilation of sad love poems.
PoemOfQuotes.com: Sad poems about depression and anger.
The Saddest Poem by Pablo Neruda
A real tear-jerker!
I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.Write, for instance: "The night is full of stars,and the stars, blue, shiver in the distance."The night wind whirls in the sky and sings.I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.On nights like this, I held her in my arms.I kissed her so many times under the infinite sky.She loved me, sometimes I loved her.How could I not have loved her large, still eyes?I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.To think I don't have her. To feel that I've lost her.To hear the immense night, more immense without her.And the poem falls to the soul as dew to grass.What does it matter that my love couldn't keep her.The night is full of stars and she is not with me.That's all. Far away, someone sings. Far away.My soul is lost without her.As if to bring her near, my eyes search for her.My heart searches for her and she is not with me.The same night that whitens the same trees.We, we who were, we are the same no longer.I no longer love her, true, but how much I loved her.My voice searched the wind to touch her ear.Someone else's. She will be someone else's. As she oncebelonged to my kisses.Her voice, her light body. Her infinite eyes.I no longer love her, true, but perhaps I love her.Love is so short and oblivion so long.Because on nights like this I held her in my arms,my soul is lost without her.Although this may be the last pain she causes me,and this may be the last poem I write for her.
Sad Poems That Make You Cry
When We Two Are Parted By Lord Byron
When We Two Are PartedLord ByronWhen we two partedIn silence and tears,Half broken-hearted,To sever for years,Pale grew thy cheek and cold,Colder thy kiss;Truly that hour foretoldSorrow to this.The dew of the morningSank chill on my browIt felt like the warningOf what I feel now.Thy vows are all broken,And light is thy fame:I hear thy name spoken,And share in its shame.They name thee before me,A knell to mine ear;A shudder comes o'er meWhy wert thou so dear?They know not I knew thee,Who knew thee too well:Long, long shall I rue theeToo deeply to tell.In secret we metIn silence I grieveThat thy heart could forget,Thy spirit deceive.If I should meet theeAfter long years,How should I greet thee?With silence and tears.When we two are partedLord Byron; What's Your Favorite Sad Poem?

Broken Heart Poems and Quotes

2012-01-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

Broken Heart Poems and Quotes

Broken hearts poems and quotes is a resource for anyone who has been through a heartbreak of any kind. Most people have experienced the pain of a break up and it's sometimes helpful to get another perspective. The poems and quotes in this lens offer up timeless sentiments that will help ease the pain of feeling all alone after going through something so difficult.

In fact, even if you are in a committed relationship now, reading these poems and quotes can still touch the heart and remind us why we are together.

There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go. -- Tennessee Williams

All About Broken Hearts (according to Wikipedia)

Learn the basics

Category: File - :Broken heart.svg|thumb|A heart symbol broken down the middle, a symbol of a broken heart
A broken heart (or heartbreak) is a common metaphor used to describe the intense emotional pain or suffering one feels after losing a loved one, whether through death, divorce, breakup, physical separation or romantic rejection.
Heartbreak is usually associated with losing a family member or spouse, though losing a parent, child, pet, lover or close friend can all "breaks one's heart", and it is frequently experienced during grief and bereavement. The phrase refers to the physical pain one may feel in the chest as a result of the loss, although it also by extension includes the emotional trauma of loss even where it is not experienced as somatic pain. Although "heartbreak" ordinarily does not imply any physical defect in the heart, there is a condition known as "broken heart syndrome" or Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, where a traumatising incident triggers the brain to distribute chemicals that weaken heart tissue.

How To Cope With A Break Up

Broken heart poems and quotes to the rescue!

Breaking is difficult, so to get through it, it helps to have a strategy. Some people like to distract themselves as much as possible to cope. This could mean that they work more than usual, or it could mean that they spend more time going out with friends. Others need to almost wallow in their pity until they get through the other side.

Whichever is your preferred strategy, it is likely to help if you're not feeling so alone. Indulging yourself by reading broken heart poems and quotes will remind you that no matter what, you're not the only one who has ever had to go through this and simple words of wisdom or advice can mean a lot.

Find a poem or quote that speaks to you and keep it nearby when you are feeling at a low point. It will help you get through. Make it part of your daily strategy to feel better!

Repair Your Broken Heart...

Love Confession Poems!

LoveConfessionPoems.net

Great Resources for Broken Heart Poems and Quotes!

You'll feel better after reading these...

Well worth a read!

SadBrokenHeartQuotes.com

Lots of resources here for sad broken heart quotes.

PoemOfQuotes.com

Read poems about breaking up and break up poems from past relationships. Also check out the lost love poetry throughout the years.

LoveThePoem.com

Broken heart poems, free broken heart poetry and broken heart poem contest!

BreakUpPoems.com

Nice compilation of broken heart poems and broken heart quotes.

LoveQuote.com

The Love Quotes Encyclopedia includes many broken heart quotes, broken heart poems, broken heart poetry broken heart quotations, and broken heart sayings among thousands of carefully selected romantic love quotes covering all aspects of love and relationships.

Love-Quotes-And-Quotations

Sad Love Poems: Sad Love Quotes and Poems that help heal the breakup of a relationship and inspire.

BreakUpQuotes.com

Some of the saddest broken heart and break up quotes on the web.

Trust-In-Relationships.com

All about broken heart poems, broken heart quotes and heartbreak quotes.

op 10 Quotes and Quotations About Breaking Up and Broken Hearts

These are easy to relate to!

The top 10 quotes related to breaking up and broken hearts are:

"It hurts to breathe because every breath I take proves I can't live without you."
--Anonymous
"To fall in love is awfully simple, but to fall out of love is simply awful."
--Bess Myerson
"A life with love will have some thorns, but a life without love will have no roses."
--Anonymous
"Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears."
--Marcus Aurelius
"The greatest pain that comes from love is loving someone you can never have."
--Anonymous
"Trying to forget someone you love is like trying to remember someone you never knew."
--Anonymous
"The stupidest mistake in life is thinking the one who hurt you the most, won't hurt you again."
--Anonymous
"The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost."
--Anonymous
"Love is unconditional, relationships are not."
--Grant Gudmundson
"For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, It might have been."
--John Greenleaf Whittier

What are your favorite Broken Heart Poems and Quotes??

Prevent child abuse

2012-01-16T03:57:00.000-08:00

Don't turn your back on child abuse

As much as we humans want to consider ourselves superior to animals, the acts of some so-called "humans" often make us doubt that. Due to the fact that child abuse is a serious issue of our days, we could consider ourselves on an inferior evolutionary scale than animals because they always protect their babies and would never harm them.
Even if child abuse is sometimes justified by a mental problem that the parent or the person who did it had, there are a lot of these acts which have been done against young children by "people" who were considered sane. However, their sanity is still relative because no person who is entirely sane could do such a thing.
Child abuse implies a lot of horrible actions such as physical or sexual acts, but also the acts of neglect which unfortunately parents are reponsible for. There hasn't been an actual survey made on this subject, but it seems that young parents who had their babies at an early age, often by mistake, don't have good parenting skills.
Despite the fact that some people consider child abuse only the act of harming them physically, it's still an abuse to scream at your child and call him names. If you talk down to your child often, he or she will grow to have little or no self-esteem and this will reflect on their social life.

We have to stop it

A lot of children who are incredibly shy and don't interract with the others colleagues are often continued to be subjected to another kind of abuse called bullying. Their older colleagues or some of the other ones from their class might consider them inferior because they are shy and make fun of them.
The worst part about child abuse is that it leaves intense scars on the inside, no matter how many years passed. There are a lot of cases in which a child that has been abused will grow up to be an abuser himself and they often start this behaviour early, by fighting with the other colleagues and abusing them as well.
This is why child abuse is often considered a cycle that you need to get out of. If you've been abused yourself, then it's time to look in the past, over the mistakes that the person who abused made, and try not to repeat them again on other people or your own children.

Poor children

We have to stop it!

We are all responsible

Not supervising your children and having them put in situations that are dangerous to them are also considered cases of child abuse and you will suffer the consequences for it. If you see a situation where a child is abused, you should make a stand instead of turning your back and letting the parents decide for their own child.
There are a lot of helplines where you can call and report a case of child abuse and you shouldn't feel like you're doing something wrong because you are helping more than you could imagine. Leaving that child with his parent won't be better for the child at all.

Child abuse

People who've been abused in their childhood also have a bigger chance of becoming abusers themselves. A lot of rapists or killers have had a history or abuse and neglect in their own family or caused by strangers, which is why this kind of abuse is so dangerous.
The child who's been abused doesn't always have to end up in such a bad situation because if they have the right people around to support them, they will find the motivation to go on with their lives and treat their children much better than their parents did.

Your comments on child abuse???

How to make Ice Cream at Home??

2012-01-16T03:50:00.000-08:00

"Without ice cream, life and fame are meaningless"

Making Ice Cream In A Bag

No ice cream machines needed!

If all you have is several pounds of ice and a good plastic bag, you can make a batch of simple ice cream in a bag.

Time: Approx. 40 minutes

Ingredients:
3 to 4 lbs ice (10+ cups)
1/2 C table salt or 1 C kosher salt
1 C milk
1 C heavy cream
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Put the ice into a large bowl (glass or plastic), cover with salt and stir.

2. In another bowl, combine milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt together until everything is dissolved. Pour mix into sealable 1-gallon freezer bag, remove as much air as you can and seal shut.

3. Place a wide plastic bowl with a lid on a towel. Fill bowl halfway with ice. Put freezer bag on ice and flatten. Cover bag with ice, leaving zipper edge sticking out. Put cover on bowl. Let the bag sit for approx 15 minutes, shake it occasionally to settle melting ice.

4. Pour off the covering ice into another bowl. Lift bag out by edge and lay on a towel. Cover ice cream baggie with second towel and gently knead for about a minute to mix liquid and frozen contents.

5. Put bag back in freezer bowl, repack with ice and cover again for 15 more minutes.

6. Take bag out of ice bath, towel off brine. Ice cream is ready to serve, or it can be stored in the freezer until later. Makes approx one pint.

Soft Serve = Best Flavor

Ice cream that is slighty melted tastes superior to ice cream that is frozen hard. Allow homemade ice cream to soften by sitting out at room temperature for a few minutes before you serve it.

Milks and Creams

from low-fat to high butterfat content

The dairy products you choose determine the character of the ice cream you make. The variances in butter fat content will sway the texture from icy with light crystals to heavy and silky. Use the best quality ingredients and you'll automatically be on the way to producing a superior artisan product.

Low-fat milk - one or two percent milk will work okay in modern ice cream mixers for making ice cream, but it definitely produces a fluffier texture, and it can be grainy when used in old-fashioned mixers which take longer to freeze the mix.
Whole milk - makes a nice quality ice cream all by itself.
Buttermilk - substitute for 1/2 the milk. Creates a tangy flavor and rich texture.
Chocolate milk - you can make chocolate ice cream just by using a good quality chocolate milk instead of regular milk.
Light cream - substitute for 1/2 the milk. Creates a super rich, gourmet ice cream.

Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Makers

these ice cream makers are all operated by hand

If you live off-the-grid or if you like the old-fashioned way of doing things, you might prefer getting a hand-cranked ice cream machine. This is how ice cream was made before electric appliances were invented to do the job.

The Ice Cream Recipe List

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream: Fresh ice cream only needs some milk or cream, a bit of sugar for sweetening and a thickener to give it some texture. Learn how to make your own homemade vanilla ice cream!
Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe: If you are a chocolate lover, then you definitely need to have a recipe for chocolate ice cream.
How to make organic ice cream: I'd wondered (before we got our ice cream maker) just how to make organic ice cream. Given that you have a method of making ice cream - that is, turning ingredients into ice cream - it's not difficult at all. The main issue is getting the organic ingredients.
Fresh Organic Chocolate Mint Ice Cream: This recipe is amazing. When I tell people that I don't use chocolate or food coloring to make this ice cream, people flip out. The only mint and chocolate flavoring I use is home grown organic chocolate mint.
Green Tea Ice Cream Recipes: Want some green tea ice cream recipes? It is a popular dessert in many Japanese restaurants. However, you don't have to go out to eat to enjoy it. It is very easy to make at home.
The Great Flavor Debate
A battle of the classics, the ultimate ice cream flavor showdown! If you could only pick one, which would it be...?
Vanilla or Chocolate?

Ice cream is the modern descendant of chilled egg custards. Although most of us are used to ice cream as something you just go and get from the freezer section, it can be fun and delicious to make your own homemade ice cream!

Many ice cream recipes are good to use for homemade popsicles too! All you need to do it put the mixture into your ice pop molds instead of into an ice cream maker and freeze, and in just a hour or two you'll have lots of single-serving size treats!

How to Make Paper Snowflakes

2012-01-16T03:47:00.000-08:00

How to Make 3D Paper Snowflakes

Handmade Christmas ornaments are fun and easy! One of the many handmade ornaments that can easily be created using squares of paper is the three dimensional paper snowflake. More detailed instructions are included below, but basically you fold, cut, roll and tape your paper to create one of the 3D snowflakes. Kids love this craft. And it is fun for all ages. Getting the children involved with decorating for Christmas can help with all that energy they seem to have during the Christmas holidays!

You can use different colored paper for this craft. For a more stunning look, choose a paper that is white on one side and colored on the other side. An example is gift wrap paper. You could make some beautiful snowflakes using extra gift wrap.

Grab your paper and your scissors and get started!

Supplies for Your Paper Snowflake

Fun to make handmade snowflake ornament!

Photo used under Creative Commons from Liz with thanks!

Gather your supplies for your Snowflake project:

Paper
Scissors
Tape
Sticky Glue
Stapler
Kids
Hot Chocolate
Christmas Music
How to Make the 3D Paper Snowflakes
Start with a square piece of paper. Fold your paper from corner to opposite corner, forming a triangle.
Note: If you have an extra strip of paper because your paper was not quite square, just trim it off.
Then fold your paper in half again. You will now have a triangle.
Starting from the folded side of the paper, cut 4 slits parallel to the angled side of the paper. Do this for both sides of the paper. Don't let the cuts meet in the center. You want uncut paper so your snowflake is held together.

3. Unfold and flatten your paper.
4. Start rolling your paper. Roll the two inside papers in a tube and fasten with tape or glue.

Flip the paper over and roll the next two paper lines.
Continue with the flipping and rolling until all the paper lines have been rolled into tubes.

Repeat with the remaining 5 pieces of paper (to have a six-point star).
Take three of the rolled papers, pinch together at the tip, and staple together. Repeat with the remaining three snowflake "tips".
Pinch the two halves together by matching the centers. Staple the pieces together in the middle.

You can either staple, tape, or glue some of the other connecting spots of the snowflake points so that you have one continuous snowflake and not just six points stapled together.

Finished 3D Paper Snowflake

Using Colored Paper to Make the 3D Snowflake Ornaments
Kids will have fun being creative.

Leftover holiday wrapping paper is perfect for the snowflake craft. And you are recycling and helping the environment!

How do you feel about handmade Christmas ornaments?

Developing Personal Leadership Skills

2012-01-15T08:17:00.000-08:00

Personal Leadership Skills Always Room For Improvement

The economy is feeling hardships in today's marketplace. It is touching the lives of people around the globe, making now, a good time to take a closer look at our personal skills agenda. We can all do something positive to impact change. One of the best places to start changing is with our self. Yes that is right. We might not be able to change the world's economic woes but we can make great strides in a positive way by looking at our own personal lives. One of the things each person can do to start making a positive impact in our situation is to work on developing better personal leadership skills.

Practice To Develop Better Leadership Skills

There are many ways in which to develop better personal leadership skills. The biggest factor here is practice. Practice makes perfect. The more times we try to do something the better we will get at it. Just talking about something is not taking action. Focus on the end result. You have to put in to practice whatever it is you want to learn to do better as your end result. Make the practice of improving your personal leadership skills your goal. Then put your energy in to reaching that goal.

Open Your Mindful Eyes To Improve Personal Leadership Skills

Expand the practice of positive leadership skills by thinking about how your actions are seen by everyone around you.

Leadership By Example

When you put positive leadership goals into daily practice you begin to set examples. This is reflected by those people you come into contact with on a regular basis. Your friends, family, children, neighbors and others who you may not even think are paying attention to what you do, are taking notice. People are paying attention to you on a small scale, on a large scale and everything in between.
Everything you do in the public eye is being watched by somebody, all of the time. You are therefore setting examples with your actions. This is how you are setting examples, and affecting everyone around you. Strive to think about how your actions are impacting others. Be mindful of what you do, where you do it, and how you do it because your actions are actually the things that are developing your leadership skills. Did you ever think about it like that?
Start Developing Personal Leadership Skills By Taking Small Actions
Below is a list of characteristics that should always be considered in your mind's eye as you seek to develop leadership skills. It would be good to think about each one of these leadership characteristics and learn ways to improve your personal behavior for each character.
Take small actions as you go about your daily agenda in ways that will bolster these values within yourself. Smile at people more. Lend a helping hand to someone without being asked. Take action. Be the leader you see yourself as being in all that you do. By taking small, conscious actions will will slowly create a habit that leads you toward becoming a natural leader. The more action you take faster you will learn to become a better leader.

Top Ten Attributes of Leadership

integrity
compassion
humility
sincerity
positivity
passion
commitment
determination
confidence
courage
sensitivity

Integrity -Compassion-Humility-Sincerity-Positivity in Leadership

What is integrity? The dictionary calls it an uprightness of character, honesty, the state of being complete or undivided, the condition of being sound or unimpaired. I believe most would look to the key word "honest", as a basic understanding of integrity.
How does compassion fit into leadership? Compassion is a value placed on your actions. A good leader will use compassion when it is deemed forthright. Compassion is mercy toward the suffering or distress of another, with the desire to help or spare. Building and honing compassionate thought processes will help develop better personal leadership skills.
Humility in leadership is a must. Projecting a modest sense of your own merit is very important. Be humble. Most people do not like loud, boisterous or obnoxious behavior and are less likely to follow such a character.
Try your best to always be sincere. Sincerity can strengthen your leadership in times of negativity. Be mindful of hypocrisy and deceit, be faithful and loyal to the best of your ability. Always practice honesty and purpose of character.
Positivity shines light in darkness and unsteady times. Good leadership demands a positive attitude at all times. Practice being upbeat in all circumstances. A positive person can help motivate others when the going gets tough. Positivity goes hand in hand with compassion.

Leadership Skills Can Help Weather Storms

Source: C.S. Alexis

Passion, Commitment and Determination Build Strong Leadership Skills

These three elements of leadership are characteristics of the best leaders. These are the things that make a true leader stand above the rest. Passion stirs the blood and soul of others. It makes people want to follow. It lights the fire in other peoples spirit.
Commitment is shown by repeatedly taking actions for the same cause, reason or outcome. A committed leader will not waver from their ultimate goal. They will be steadfast and strong in their belief. A person with great leadership skills will display strong determination in trying to manifest the results they are seeking to obtain their goals.
Determination is a value placed on the character of strong leadership. It marks a leader with drive, will and undying faith for they believe.

Be Determined, Be Confident and Have Courage

Your determination shows in the way you do everything. At work or at play, determination shines quietly though for all to see. This determination is something most people will cling to. It is the thing that creates a desire to join forces. It erases hopelessness, fear and uneasiness. A determined leader will stand out amongst the average. Determination is a must factor for those who expect others to follow.
Confident leaders do not boast and brag. They walk softly, head up and eyes searching forward. They know what they are seeking and they know how to find it. Be knowledgeable in your confidence. Make sure you can back up what you act on. Be educated about any subject that pertains to the desired goal you are striving for.
Confidence and determination will strengthen your courage. Courage is a value of character that helps leaders get people to do that which they might fear. It is the one characteristic that can bring change change and acceptance when the norm is outdated. Courage to reach out, seek and find solutions when nothing else seems to work is something to employ in advancing personal leadership skills. Use your courage with care.
Leading With Love
I personally believe that leading with love in your heart will always produce a positive outcome. Love has a way of climbing mountains, breaking down barriers and making positive changes. Love has the power to carry a leader far beyond what they might have imagined as possible. Use love to help solidify the true leader you carry within yourself.
As you practice refining all of the above character values in your personal leadership skills, hold love in your heart.

Free Online Courses and Certification

2012-01-15T08:15:00.000-08:00

Free Online Courses and Certification

If there's one thing we increasingly need these days it's more education. The world is changing so fast around us that it's easy to get left behind. Maybe you work long hours, or perhaps you're geographically unable to participate in courses. Whatever the reason it's frustrating for you to not be able to learn new skills easily, or to undertake professional training or certification.
The Internet can help you participate in online classes, online courses, self-paced learning and even certification in some subjects.
Below are a selection of some great courses that you can do for free, online courses and certification that you can do in your own time, wherever you are - and without cost.
Some of these courses will hopefully be able to help you do any of:

Get back into the modern workplace
Build confidence
Get IT certifications
Take that next step up the career ladder
Change career entirely
Provide evidence to potential employers of your commitment to lifetime-learning
Pursue your interests, or explore new areas
Help you to start a new business, or generate a second income

... in short, to be more fulfilled, more able and more employable!

ALISON

Who the heck is Alison? Well, ALISON is the world's leading provider of free online courses with certificates for basic and essential workplace skills.
Alison is a training organisation dedicated to bringing free learning and free education to people worldwide. The courses are high quality and can provide you with that all important certification, or as I call them "magic bits of paper" that get your resume read by employers.
Having an active and recent list of subjects you've studied will demonstrate to an employer that you're actively improving your skillset - and by taking courses relevant to the industry you wish to work, or progress, in you can stand head and shoulders above those who just never bothered.
The free online courses you can take with the Alison online learning system include:

Digital Literacy and IT Skills: Enabling you to use computers and technology efficiently. Courses from complete beginners to advanced certification. Full Microsoft Office training, touch typing, using gmail - you choose from a huge range of free online courses.
Diploma Courses: Professional level diplomas in a range of subjects including multimedia development, web development, business & entrepreneurial studies.
Business and Enterprise Skills: Free project management courses and free business management courses. Ideal for that 'step up' the career ladder.
Financial and Economic Literacy: From economics, to accountancy, these free financial and economic literacy courses and certification could help get you noticed for applications to enter the financial industry.
Health & Safety Compliance: Occupational health and safety courses, office safety, fire safety, manual handling, Workstation Ergonomics (DSE) and managing health and safety in schools. The world of health and safety is immense (and a growing industry), offering great future jobs potential.
Health Literacy: From basic biology courses to HIV/AIDS awareness. An ideal entry point if you're considering working in the healthcare industry.
English Language Skills: English language training, business English, FCE Certification coming shortly.
Personal Development & Soft Skills: Psychometric tests, basic study skills, touch typing, US Citizenship test preparation - and more.
Schools Curriculum: Subjects covering the school curricula, ideal for current students or returners to education. Biology, mathematics, science and more.

Get a Certificate: All courses offer you the choice of receiving a printed certificate at the end, or not. Great to take to job interviews.

National Computer Science Academy

Free IT Certification courses are available online from the National Computer Science Academy. Choose from a range of popular subjects, within the areas of:

Microsoft Windows
Computer Hardware
Microsoft Office
Visual C++ Programming
Javascript
... and many more

Whether you're looking to work in IT as a hardware engineer, or a web programmer, there's a free certification exam that'd be suitable to impress a potential employer with, or to help you change careers.
If you're not currently working, these courses will get you noticed as employers will see from your resume that you're interested and motivated.
The NCSA also develops relationships with large companies, inviting them to access their pool of certified professionals for any vacancies they might have. The NCSA also provides exam testing of candidates to these large employers, so there's a strong relationship there which you might benefit from.

Free IT Courses from Staff Kit

Staff Kit provide professional IT courses and IT certification programs, at very affordable rates - but they also have some free courses. A free course is great for a beginner, or for those working on a budget, but they're also a great way to test out companies to see if their learning style suits you and your needs.
The free online courses on offer are:

Microsoft Access 2002
Microsoft Excel 2002
CompTIA A+ Certification, for PC engineers
Microsoft MCSE Exam 70-215 - Installing, Configuring and Administering Microsoft Windows Server
Photoshop
Flash
HTML
DHTML (Dynamic HTML)
Dreamweaver
Project Management

A great opportunity to try either the subjects, or the company providing the training!

More Free Courses

As I find more free online courses and certification programs, I'll keep the list above updated and growing.
Please tell your friends about this list, we need to support these free training providers!
Thanks for reading - and good luck with your course.

Medical Games for Kids Online

2012-01-15T08:12:00.000-08:00

The Best Free Games

Kids have an endless interest in fun medical games.
In fact, I guess all of us have a fascination with doctors and nurses. They are some of the most interesting people we come across. They wear special uniforms. They have shiny instruments and machines that perform mysterious tasks. Perhaps, most importantly of all, everyone takes them very, very seriously. Why wouldn't we want to look into the puzzling world of these professionals? And what better way of exploring any subject than with interesting and exciting games?
Some of the games here have real educational content. Some are just for fun. One or two seem a little bit cruel (to me at least). The thing that holds them all together is that they are good to play.

baby hospital online nurse game

Baby Hospital

There are lot of very cute looking babies to look after in this online nurse game. The babies need putting to bed, bathing, medicine, new diapers and milk. There is a lot to do to keep everyone happy!
When the game first comes up click the top one of the two boxes in the bottom right hand corner. After that, the game is easy to learn but difficult to stop playing!
baby_hospital

Whack a bone. Anatomy game.

Anatomy Games

Anatomy arcade have some great games on offer that help to build up an intuitive knowledge of how the body works.
This game is all about the bones in the arm, leg and core, where they fit and how they work together.
The graphics are some of the best around.
anatomy games

Poke a Muscle
This is from the same source as the whack a bone game above but here it is the muscles that are looked into, prodded and poked- doctors love prodding things!
http://www.anatomyarcade.com/games/PAM/PAM.html

Heart Op

This is a simplified version of a heart operation. There are 13 steps and you need to get them all right. There is plenty of help along the way and plenty to learn in an absorbing game.
heart operation game

Organise

A simple but addictive game that appeals to kids who like organising things. It's all a question of paying attention to what patient needs which organ (heart, liver lungs etc) and making sure that they get them. The clock is ticking so if you are too slow, your patient is no more.
organise

Lets Operate- fun but scary.
Your patients have some strange items stuck inside them and you need to operate to get then out. There will be a few screams if you get the operation wrong!
All you need are laser sharp eyes and the fearless brain of a surgeon to save your patient.
Do you think you can do it?
Play here: letsoperate

Operation

Operation Silly Skills

A pair of tweezers and many silly things to pull out of a red nosed and worried looking patient? It must be Cavity Sam.
This is an online version of the classic board game Operation.
http://www.disney.com.au/competitions/operationgame.html

Operation Games Online
If you enjoy the operation games above you might like to try some of the twenty or more games on the site below. They are aimed mainly at kids of 13 or older and range from knee operations to brain operations. There are plenty of games purely for fun and plenty of others which give real insights into the world of medicine and surgery.
Operation Games Online

Diabetic Dog Game

The cute dog above is sick with diabetes and needs someone to care for him. You can adopt him if you want to. You give him a name then read about what diabetes is. After that, you need to look after him carefully, making sure he gets the right food, exercise and sometimes an injection.
You get extra money for being a good carer to spend on things like food treats or a new bowl or a dog house.Click save as soon as you are finished playing with your little dog friend and you can go back later and play with him again.
Some people get completely hooked on this game.The terrible thing is, if you don't look after him well enough he is 'removed from the data base". Sigh...
Learning to keep him healthy is difficult at the beginning. Once you understand how to keep his illness under control, it all gets much easier. Then there is plenty of time to play.
If you know anyone with diabetes this will give you a much better of what it is all about,
games/medicine/insulin/
This game is from the Nobel Prize educational games website. There are many other games here: nobelprize games/

Dr Joe game.

Vet Games Online

If you like these medical games online you might like the vet games here:vet games online. There are around 15 games that are perfect if you like looking after pets or helping sick animals.
Dr Joe is a favorite, as you work out what is wrong with your animal patients and what they need to make them better. There are even a few pet dress up games!

Hospital Game

This is a nice easy games for younger kids. You have a hospital and a lot of furniture, operating tables and examination equipment that needs to be set out properly
minikoyuncu.com/eng/games

Pablo and Olivers Tooth of War

Pablo and Oliver's Tooth Brushing Game.

Brushing teeth is important as we all know. This is a little game that has some fun things to do in the dental department from Pablo and Oliver.
It is worth a visit just to hear the mad but catchy music. (I can still hear it five minutes after I stop playing the game).
http://www.brushdayandnight.com/en-gb/gamepad.aspx

Dentist Game

Dentist Games Online

There area lot of dentist games online. Some of them teach you a lot about teeth some of them are just for fun. You could try one of the dozen or so games here: Dentist Games.
Some of these games are very, very funny!

Pandemic 2

This is a game that lets you take the role of an infection that threatens the whole world. To win, humanity needs to be defeated. Luckily, it is not that easy. People are a hard nut to crack- resistnce develops, symptoms are soon recognised and treatments invented.
If you can master this game it means you have a great idea of how diseaeses like swine flu spread through the world- and the kinds of things that governments do to protect their populations
If you want a real challenge this might be the game for you. A caution though, this game will probably be too difficult for younger children.

Top Arts Colleges in India

2012-01-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

Gone are the days when Arts as a stream was considered to be secondary. In today’s world, the field of Arts is zooming ahead opening lots of career options. So if you love to write, paint, design, sculpt, draw etc, and then don’t just make it your hobby.
If you are creative and have the passions then what are you waiting for? Take it up as a career as this is no longer a field shadowed with doubts, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), about 62% of artists are self-employed and employment of artists and related workers is expected to grow faster than average.
Keeping this in mind, we bring to you this page that solely focuses its attention on the Top Arts Colleges of India. Top Arts Colleges of India are the best due to their outstanding contribution in this field.
The top most Art colleges provide you with courses related to Art Directions, Crafts Artists, Fine Artists, and Multimedia Artists etc. These colleges train their students practically to work with museums, galleries, schools, advertising agencies, magazines, newspapers, movie studios etc so that they are equipped to deal with the demands of the industry.

Heres is List of Top Arts Colleges in India

Loyola College, Chennai

St Stephens College, Delhi

Christ College Bangalore

Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi

St Xavier’s College, Mumbai

St Xavier’s College, Kolkata

St. Joseph’s College Bangalore

St Stephens College, Delhi

Madras Christian College

Presidency College, Chennai

Presidency College, Kolkata

Forbes 2012 College Rankings: Who Topped the List and Why?

2012-01-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

Forbes Magazine has jumped into the college rankings department, long dominated by the U.S. New and World report. Although best known for their Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America, Forbes has garnered a lot of attention in recent years for their list of America's Best Colleges.
The Forbes list of top colleges first appeared in 2008. Unlike the U.S. News, Forbes did not intend on releasing a new list every year. The most recent list came out in 2012; the last was released in 2010. While some critics are calling for more frequent listings from the financial media giant, Forbes may be keeping mum in efforts to avoid some of the attacks launched at the more controversial U.S. News report.
Critics of the U.S. News college ranking lists claim that the publication artificially alters the ranking criteria every year in order to create a different ranking list. These annual changes to the list justify the yearly reports, thus selling more copies.

Forbes Ranking Criteria

The Forbes rankings aim to reflect a greater emphasis on student satisfaction, as well as recognizing academic achievement over name recognition and endowments.
The rankings were determined by the following criteria:

Alumni Acheivement - Measured by alumni inclusion in Who's Who In America. (25%)
Teacher Performance - Measured by student evaluations on RateMyProfessor.com. (25%)
Graduation Rates - Four year enrollments only. (16%)
National Award Recipients - Nationally competitive awards such as Rhodes or Fullbright Scholarships, MacArthur grants, etc. These numbers were adjusted for school size. (16%)
Value - Measured by average amount of student debt upon graduation for four-year students. (16%)

Praise and Criticsm for Forbes Rankings

The Forbes list attracted its share of praise and criticism. For many who had criticized the U.S. News lists as a popularity contest, the Forbes list seemed to be much more balanced and fair. While the U.S. News report tended to be dominated with the same large universities, the Forbes list included smaller colleges typically overlooked by rankings list. In addition, the emphasis on affordability in a decade of sky-rocketing tuition costs was a breath of fresh air for many.
Yet the Forbes list did have its detractors. Critics claim that the criteria are too subjective, and not an accurate assessment of true academic quality. Also, the use of the site RateMyProfessor.com was seen as flawed data, since student participation is voluntary and often erratic. However, even those who criticized the Forbes rankings were quick to point out that despite its inadequacies, the list was still a beneficial alternative to the standard U.S. News report.

For More Information on the U.S. News Rankings

How Do the U.S. News College Rankings Compare to Oth...
While the U.S. News and World Report has long been regarded as the best for college and university rankings, in recent years they have undergone a bit of criticism regarding both their criteria and results.
Forbes 2012 Best Colleges (Top 20)
1. Williams College
2. Princeton University
3. United States Military Academy
4. Amherst College
5. Stanford University
6. Harvard University
7. Haverford College
8. University of Chicago
9. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
10. United States Air Force Academy
11. Northwestern University
12. Claremont McKenna College
13. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
14. Yale University Columbia University
15. Carleton College
16. Swarthmore College
17. United States Naval Academy
18. University of Notre Dame
19. Wellesley College
20. Colby College
Sources
www.forbes.com/2010/08/11/best-colleges-universities-rating-ranking-opinions-best-colleges-10_land.html
bestcollegerankings.org/popular-rankings/forbes-college-rankings/

Top Best Engineering Colleges in India

2012-01-15T08:07:00.000-08:00

Top Engineering Colleges in India2012 are being considered best among the worlds top engineering colleges. By the new revolution in Indian education, The engineering colleges has set a successful path for Indian students as well abroad students.
With the help of best infrastructure and powerful management, Engineering Colleges in India becoming famous all over the world. Many students are liking to get educate from well known engineering colleges from all over India.

We have done this project to let you aware of all Indian students so do not miss the chance to study in such a wonderful colleges.

Choose the best which ever suits you and give your career a wings. India is being hub for many projects and business and so there is bright future for engineers.
And so We have collected Top Engineering Colleges from all over India. Please have a look at below list of engineering colleges and choose your best to make your dream career.

Top Engineering Colleges in India 2012 List

Indian Institute of Technology – IIT Delhi	Indian Institute of Technology – IIT Kanpur
Indian Institute of Technology – IIT Kharagpur	Indian Institute of Technology – IIT Bombay
Indian Institute of Technology – IIT Madras	Indian Institute of Technology – IIT Guwahati
Indian Institute of Technology – IIT Roorkee	IT-BHU Institute of Technology – Banaras Hindu University
ICFAI Institute of Technology Hyderabad	VEC – Vasavi Engineering College Hyderabad
BIT – Bangalore Institute of Technology	SVUCE – Sri Venkateswara University College of Engineering
Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology Hyderabad	GCE – Government College of Engineering Pune
ISM – Indian School of Mines Dhanbad	Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology Gandhi Nagar
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad	Engineering and Science University Bengal
Andhra University – Colleges of Engineering	Amity Engineering School Noida India
Indian Institute of Science Bangalore	College of Engineering, Guindy
SRM Institute of Science and Technology	SASTRA University, Tamil Nadu
PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore	Punjab College of Engineering and Technology
International Institute of Information Technology Pune	Sir Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore
MSRIT – M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology	Nirma Institute of Technology, Ahmedabad
JU – Jadavpur University West Bengal	L D Engineering college Ahmedabad
VIT – Vishwakarma Institute of Technology	JRE Group of Institutions

List of Top Medical Colleges in India 2012

2012-01-15T08:03:00.000-08:00

It was a trend in Indian family that make the son or daughter a Doctor is great achievement in terms of social life as well financial. The degree of Doctor Still attracts students in India. The profession of doctor is considering a very good job and it gives you a new height in Society along with the money.
In India Doctor is considering as second god and so the profession is widely accepted as well connected with society. To satisfy the need of doctors in India, There are many top medical colleges and institutes offering medical degree like MD, MBBS.
To get admission form any medical college will not give you a success in your profession as doctor and for that you need to identify which one could be the best medical college for you and will give you wings to fly in sky with lots of money and prestige.
Colleges can contribute in your upcoming life if you have chosen the Top Colleges. And So far we have collected here Top 25 Medical Colleges in India for our visitor who wants to make their career in Medical.

List of Top Medical Colleges in India 2012

All India Institute of Medical Sciences , Delhi	Armed Forces Medical College, Pune
Christian Medical College, Vellore	Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Puducherry
Kasturba Medical College, Manipal	Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi
Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi	Grant Medical College, Mumbai
St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore	Madras Medical College, Chennai
Stanley Medical College, Chennai	King George Medical University, Lucknow
B.J. Medical College, Ahmedabad	Christian Medical college, Ludhana
Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU, Varanasi	Seth G.S. Medical College, Mumbai
Bangalore Medical College, Bangalore	University College of Medical sciences, Delhi
Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute, Chennai	Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical college, Mumbai
M.S. Ramaiah Medical college, Bangalore	Medical College & Hospital Kolkata
Topiwala National Medical College, Mumbai	Government Medical College, Chandigarh
Jawaharial Nehru Medical College, AMU, Aligarh

Top 10 American Medical Schools

2012-01-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

Best College Rankings Based an Academic and Practical Scores

US News and World Reports recently ranked the Medical Schools fo America by using a system of questionnaires sent to administrators regarding best practices.
The school rankings are founded on gathering two brands of data files: 1) expert opinions about program quality from school administrators and 2) statistics that result in measurements of the relative quality of the schools' faculty teaching abilities and results, research, and student skills and achievement. Over 146 medical programs across America were examined in this way.
For medical programs, US News and World Reports also surveyed professionals who hire new graduates, in a position to see the practical results of medical education and training from the employer's perspective. For this list, published in 2009, the magazine analysts used Administration and Professional survey results, averaged them together, and published the resulting lists.

Increasing Job Openings at Top Schools

Data for the five graphs pictured here were provided by Indeed.com, a premiere job search and trending engine.

Top 10 American Medical Schools for Research

Harvard University - Boston, Massachusetts
Johns Hopkins University - Baltimore, Maryland
University of Pennsylvania - Philadephia
Washington University - St. Louis, Missouri
University of California - San Francisco
TIE: Duke University - Durham, North Carolina in the Research Triangle; Stanford University - California; University of Washington - Seattle, Washington State; Yale University - New Haven, Connecticutt
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons - New York
University of California, Los Angeles - David Geffen School of Medicine; University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, College of Osetopathic Medicine
University of Chicago - Pritzker School of Medicine
University of Pittsburg - Pennsylvania

HIGHLIGHT ON HARVARD

The Harvard Medical School is the most well known and perhaps awe-inspiring medical school in the United States. Opened back in the 1700s, Harvard possesses achievements and commendations that surpass many other American medical schools and other professional schools of all sorts. Over 200 years of consistent medical and health related research netted Harvard a stable of Nobel Prize winners, spurred advanced new technologies, and produced dozens of medical and scientific breakthroughs for business and people.
Harvard Medical School accepts just 5% of highly qualified applicants and competition is incredible. Candidates for acceptance require the average MCAT score of 11.7. Costs to attend this school are relatively high as well. Faculty to student ratio is 11.7, however, making for individual attention and focused training.
Harvard Medical School and Harvard University proper are employers offering increasing number of job openings through time since 2008, as evidenced form the graphs below. In fact, the Top 5 American Medical Schools for Research and their universities all show increasing numbers of job openings form July 2009 - February 2010.

TOP 10 US COMPANIES HIRING MD PHYSICIANS

CompHealth
LocumTenens.com
Amedisys, Inc.
Deegan, Fernandez & Associates, Inc
StaffPointe
Aureus Medical Group
Reflectx Staffing
Kaiser Permanente
Enterprise Medical Service
Merritt, Hawkins and Associates

TOP 10 JOBS AT HARVARD

ID Tech Camp, Camp Instructors - IT Camps for youth ages 7 - 17 at Harvard and other top universities.
ID Tech Camp, Camp Directors
Pedondontists
Registered Nurses (RNs)
Associate/Full Professors
Operating Room Surgical Techs
Staff Assistants
Research Scientists
Business Analysts
Research Associates

Additional high demand jobs:

SAS Programmer
Senior Clinical Informatics Specialists
Executive Assistants
Financial Services Professionals
Graphic Designers
Software Engineers
Nurse Practitioners

TOP JOB LISTERS FOR "MEDICAL SCIENTISTS"

Albany Medical Center - New York
Genzyme
Harborview Medical Center - Seattle, Washington
Beckman Coulter
Aerotek
Kelly Scientific Resources
Kaiser Permanente
Eli Lilly
BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)
Elsevier
Links to Top Medical Schools
- Harvard Medical School
- Johns Hopkins Medicine, based in Baltimore, Maryland
  The homepage for Johns Hopkins Medicine. The organization brings together the faculty, physicians, and scientists of the School of Medicine with professionals of the Johns Hopkins Health System.
- University of Pennsylvania || School of Medicine
  We are the School of Medicine -- the Nation's First -- and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- the nation's first hospital built by a medical school. Our heritage is the cornerstone for our future and the legacy which supports our pursu
- Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
  Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has a rich, 115-year history of success in research, education and patient care. It pioneered bedside teaching and led in the transformation of empirical knowledge into scientific medicine.
- UCSF School of Medicine
Top 10 Medical Schools in Family Medicine
1. University of Washington - Seattle, Washington
2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
3. University of Colorado at Denver - Aurora, Colorado
4. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Michigan
5. University of Missouri - Columbia, Missouri
6. University of California -San Francisco
7. University of Wisconsin at Madison
8. Oregon Health and Science University - Portland, Oregon
9. Case Western Reserve University - Cleveland, Ohio
10. Duke University - Durham, North Carolina, in the Research Triangle.
Top Medical School with Small Enrollments
The following schools support enrollment of 250 or fewer medical students, providing additional individual attention in some aspects of education and training.
1. Mayo Medical School - Rochester, Minnesota. Full-time Faculty to Student Ratio is high at 14:1. This was the former employer the researcher of the WWII Starvation Experiments, Dr. Ancel Keys, who helped save 1,000s in Europe and led the way to useful obesity and eating-disorder findings (see Starving for K Rations).
2. John H. Quillen College of Medicine at East Tennesee State University - Johnson City.
3. University of Nevada at Reno
4. University of North Dakota - Grand Forks.
5. Sanford School of Medicine - Univerity of South Dakota - Sioux Falls.
Mayo Medical School, Rochester MN
- Mayo Medical School Programs
  MD, MD-PHD, Honors Program. Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University offer two programs for the Barrett Honors College. One program is longitudinal and takes place at Mayo Clinic Arizona. The other is an intensive two-week summer program in MN.

Top Feng Shui Gift Ideas for Girlfriend or Wife

2012-01-15T07:52:00.000-08:00

Best Feng Shui Items as Gifts for Women

Women love gifts. Women are happy to have thoughtful gifts from their Guys no matter what it costs. Finding an ideal and meaningful gift for a wife or girlfriend is always a big problem with many Guys. There are a couple of Feng Shui Products which makes great gifts for woman and at the same time are affordable. The advantage of giving Feng Shui Products as gift is that when you give such an item you are not just giving a physical gift you are also gifting something which is auspicious and symbolic of health, wealth or happiness.

Feng Shui Gifts for Women

Feng Shui Chinese Silk Jewelry Box or Jewelry Chest Box

Organizing jewelry in a proper manner is a way of attracting good Feng Shui energy. Feng Shui Chinese Silk Jewelry Box or Jewelry Chest Box is symbolic of wealth and abundance and is ideal for women who possess jewelry to keep it organized. Most Boxes also comes with mirror inside which is indicative of doubling the wealth placed inside. The Jewelry Box is an instant hit with most women. It is quite hard to imagine a female who does not love jewelry or possess jewelry. Though I am not much into jewelry the rose wood jewelry chest box gifted by my Guy is one of my most valued possessions.

Jade Good Luck Pendant and Feng Shui Charm Bracelet

Jade Good Luck Pendant and Feng Shui Charm Bracelet make wonderful gifts for women. Which female does not like jewelry after all? A Jade Good Luck Pendant is said to bring good luck and wealth on your way. This Pendant has a Jade stone is encased in sterling silver and has silver Chinese good fortune character. The Feng Shui Charm Bracelet, on the other hand, is a beautiful fancy jewelry which is symbolic of peace and happiness.These Jewelry are therefore not only good to look at but also benefit the wearer.

Feng Shui for Relationships and Health

Lilian Too is an authority in Feng Shui and known for her teaching and numerous books on the subject. Feng Shui can help enhance relationships and increase the love and harmony between the couples. Feng Shui is said to even mend troubled marriages. Feng Shui books on Relationships by Lilian Too can be a good gift to a wife or a prospective wife if you are serious about your relationship. Another gift you can give your wife or girlfriend is Feng Shui Cooking Recipes as applying Feng Shui in cooking can help to maintain good health. There is no better gift you can give a loved one than the gift of health. Using Feng Shui can also help one to get rid of obesity.

Aromatherapy Products

Aromatherapy products make good gifts to women be it aroma candles, diffusers or even oils. Aroma Therapy products promote wellness and relaxation. Aroma Therapy Candles are normally available in attractive gift packs.

Feng Shui Mystic Knot or Double Happiness Keychain and Good Luck Cell Phone Charm

Mystic Knot and Double Happiness are auspicious symbols in Feng Shui and are said to bring good luck to the bearer. Mystic Knot represents harmony, happiness, success, rich and undying love whereas Double Happiness is the excellent energizer for love and happiness. Using these symbols therefore can help in improving Love and Romance luck in Relationships. Another good gift you can give a women is cell phone charm. Wearing or carrying these charms are said to improve ones luck factor.

Feng Shui Pouches

Another Gift you can gift a women is feng shui pouches. These pouches are symbolic of money luck. Pouches with Chinese charecters are a favorite with women.
Most of these gifts do not cost much but convey some meaning to whom you are giving it too. So the next time you need to buy a gift for your girlfriend or wife how about buying a Feng Shui gift?

Lucky and Unlucky Numbers in Chinese Culture

2012-01-15T07:49:00.000-08:00

Lucky and Unlucky Numbers in Chinese Culture
The study of Chinese culture is very interesting because they have so much superstitions and beliefs like numerology, using the laws of heaven and earth (astronomy and geography) -- "feng shui", choice of color etc. One of their main Chinese belief is that numbers contribute a lot to their good luck and their happiness in life. Their belief pertaining to a particular number and the luck it may bring affect their behavior and choices in life . Chinese beliefs and culture revolves around getting good vibes or good luck and the pursuit of happiness and long life. In this article, we are going to look at lucky and unlucky numbers in Chinese culture, and the certain meaning of a particular number.

Have you ever wondered why they chose and fought hard to be the host of the Olympic 2008? they started the opeing ceremont on August 8, 2008? It is because the number 8 is a lucky number for them and they believe it will bring good luck to their players if they start the Olympics on that date. Are you interested yet, come on now we will take a look at lucky and unlucky numbers in Chinese culture.

Chinese numbers and their symbols

8 is a lucky number

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9 is a lucky number for couples as well

6 is consider a lucky number

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Car plate number with nine six and eight are the luckiest ones

9 is the luckiest number

First we are going to look at their definitions of numbers

Zero (0) -- simply means All or NOTHING as it is an absolute number
One (1) -- Individual. Aggressor -- "The Yang which is the other balance of Yin"
Two (2) -- Stability or Balance means Union or Receptive. "The Yin which is the other balance of Yang
Three (3) - means talking and understanding --Communication plus interaction plus Neutrality.
Four (4) -- Creation, Death
Five (5) -- Action or Restlessness.
Six (6) -- Fluidity, Responsibility, Reaction
seven (7) -- Mind, Consciousness and thoughts
Eight (8) -- Sacrifice, Work Hard and Power, Infinite -- no beginning no ending, continuous.
Nine (9) -- Highest level of change
Ten (10) -- Being born again or Rebirth

Concept of Numerology

Numerology is system of traditions, culture and belief's in mystic relationship between numerals and living things. Numerology is popular among the ancient mathematicians like Pythagoras. The relationship of numbers and living things is like relationship of astrology and astronomy, alchemy and chemistry.

General Rules on Numbers

To consider if the number is lucky means to consider the pronunciation of the number and they sound pronunciation of another word and it should carry a positive connotation or vibes.
Even numbers are preferred but not the number four
Four is the most dreaded number - it means death
Eight is a lucky number and is always good for business
For odd numbers, seven implies anger and abandon, it is both an unlucky and lucky number
Nine means longevity and eternity. It is the luckiest number
Fourteen as well as 4 are the most feared number in Chinese superstition.
Thirteen is also an unlucky number to Chinese people so they don't usually have thirteenth floor or fourteenth floor in any buildings
They usually begin a new business on the 8th day. Number 8 is lucky for business as it brings unending money and good luck due to the shape of number -- infinite shape
Certain numbers are auspicisos meaning lucky and inauspicios meaning unlucky. This goes for single digits and or any combinations of numbers

Valentines Day is nearing so when you give flowers to your loved one consider these:

One means you are my love
Two means we are together, we are best as pairs
Three means "I love you"

Lucky and Unlucky Numbers in Chinese Culture

Odd Numbers generally mean the Yang energy -- celestial, space, heaven -- above earth and masculine
Even Numbers generally mean Yin energy and it means terrestrial, earthly , earth and is feminine

Lucky or Unlucky Chinese Numbers

Zero means the pre inception, nothingness, but cannot be identified, it is deprivation of the senses
One means loneliness, beginning, masculine. One has a thrusting energy that surges forth new growth and potential. One corresponds with the Chinese Zodiac symbol of the Rat. The energy of one rules over the Northern direction in Feng Shui practices.
Two is considered a good number in Chinese culture because pairs are always good for them. They always use double things to emphasize things as well, like double happiness, double coins etc.It also means a female. "Two corresponds with the Chinese zodiac symbol of the Ox plus it governs North plus Northeast directions in Feng Shui".
Three is also a lucky number for them as this is similar to the character of birth. The "Chinese Tiger" is the Chinese zodiac symbol for number three-- and East plusNortheast is the designated direction in Feng Shui-
Four is an unlucky number and it means death. That is why there is no 4th floor usually in Chinese buildings -- the Chinese zodiac symbol for number four is the Rabbit -- and east is its direction in Feng Shui --
Five -- this is a lucky number and is usually link to the five elements which are wood, earth eater fire earth and metal. This number is usually linked to the Emperor of China as well and the Tienanmen gate. "A great practice to familiarize ourselves with the Chinese number five is to adopt the founding five Chinese blessings like Wealth-- Happiness-- Longevity -- Luck and Prosperity. "The Chinese zodiac symbol for number five is the Chinese Dragon plus its corresponding direction in "Feng Shui" is East and Souththeast-
Six -- The number six usually means fluidity -- blessings and it is good for business, unlike in the Western world where we don’t like the number six, in Chinese culture it is a lucky number. "When we contemplate the meaning of number six in our lives we are contemplating the perennial mysteries of life contained in celestial power-- cosmic focus and the cyclical nature of time. "The Snake" -- is the Chinese zodiac symbol for number six plus South and Southeast is its direction in "Feng Shui" practices--
Seven -- This is an unlucky number in Chinese. I dont know why Tony Parker and his wife Eva Longoria married in France on July 7, 2007. It sio the month of ghost July. The number six, eight and nine are lucky dates as well. And the Chinese zodiac symbol for seven is the horse plus South is the "Feng Shui" coordinate--
Eight -- This is their favorite number aside from nine and simply means prosperity. It is interesting to note that words and the number are similar - number eight and fortune "Baat and faat".The value of eight is also linked with Buddhism -- the Lotus flower with eight petals. "The Sheep" is the Chinese zodiac symbol for this number and South--Southwest is the "Feng Shui" direction--
Nine-- is the biggest of single numbers and it connotes the "Emperor of China" -- his robes are with nine dragons on it. Nine is a lucky number for Chinese because it connotes longevity, happiness and good luck. Since the number nine is the highest number it means it is reaching the highest cosmic satisfaction and its Chinese zodiac symbol is Monkey and its "Feng Shui" direction is West/Southwest --

Some interesting facts about the number 8

The Olympics in Beijing kicked off in August 8, 2008 at 8 pm, 8 minutes and 8 seconds after 8 pm.
A Chinese man offered to sell his license plate number -- A88888 for USD164,000
A number of a telephone with all eight digits on it was sold for 270, 723 in Chengdu, China.
The number eight can also be linked to the lotus flower with eight petals
The Bank of Commerce in New York when they have grand opening raffled off safety deposit box number 888.
it was in 1994 when a Chinese businessman paid 1.7 million USD for a car license plate with -9- --- a number that was particularly lucky that year because the Chinese word for --nine-- sounds like the Chinese word for "dog," and 1994 was the year of that animal.
A Chinese man paid 215,000 USD for the lucky number for a cellphone "133-3333-3333".
Another phone number 8888-8888 has also been purchased in China..

5 Most Important Chinese Traditional Festivals

2012-01-15T07:48:00.000-08:00

Lantern Festival

1. Spring Festival - the Most Important of All Chinese Festivals

Spring Festival, which is also known as Chinese New Year in many parts of the world, is perhaps the most important and grandiose among the many Chinese traditional festivals.
Falling on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month (which can be between late January and early February) of each year, the Spring Festival is celebrated extensively until the 15^th day (on which comes another Chinese traditional festival called the Lantern Festival).
People celebrate this Chinese traditional festival in many ways.
Family members do some intensive house cleaning – sweeping and polishing the floor, scrubbing the walls, wiping dust off almost everything in their houses.
They then decorate their houses with creatively cut pieces of red paper onto which they write wishes for fortune, happiness, and good health.
By doing these practices, Chinese people believe that they would be able to drive away bad luck and invite good luck into their households.
People make it a point to visit relations and acquaintances on this Chinese traditional festival.
Children are given money inside red envelopes again for good luck and prosperity.
In the evening, families gather for a dinner of traditional cuisine, mostly round fruits that symbolize prosperity and sticky foods that symbolize unity.
During the Spring Festival, fireworks, dragon and lion dances, and other traditional performances are staged in the parks or on the streets.
Indeed the most important of all Chinese traditional festivals, Spring Festival brings together Chinese families together to start a brand new year.

2. Lantern Festival - the Culmination of the Most Important Chinese Festival

Lantern Festival is one of the major Chinese traditional festivals that culminates the two-week Spring Festival.
It falls on the first night of the year that has a full moon.
On this Chinese traditional festival, people mark the beginning of spring by eating sweet dumplings served in soup called Yuanxiao or Tangyuan, a symbol of staying together.
They also watch fireworks – believed to drive away evil spirits – and lighting lanterns – symbols of bright future.
Legend has it that the Chinese people first started to light lanterns after heeding the advice of the good-hearted daughter of the Jade Emperor in heaven.
Once, the Jade Emperor was upset with a town after learning that its town people had murdered his sacred bird. The Jade Emperor vowed vengeance.
Upon learning this, his daughter warned the town. She told one of its people to light up lanterns to trick the Jade Emperor into thinking that the town is in flames and that his bird has already been avenged.
Since then, the lighting of the lanterns has become part of the important Chinese traditional festivals of the people.
This important Chinese traditional festival is also an occasion for the Chinese to exhibit their modern creativity by making lanterns of various shapes, sizes, colors, and designs.
Some lanterns are also plastered with curious riddles to be solved by revelers of this Chinese traditional festival.

3. Moon Festival - a Romantic Chinese Traditional Festival

The Moon Festival is perhaps the most highly anticipated Chinese traditional festival next to the Spring Festival.
To allow their people to celebrate this important Chinese traditional festival, some countries of the world designate the 15^th day of the 8^th month of the Chinese calendar - which is between September and early October of the Gregorian calendar - a holiday.
On the night of this Chinese traditional festival, the moon is said to be at its most beautiful, fullest and roundest than any other day of the year.
Thus, people feast on mooncakes of many varieties and round pomelos under the bright full moon.
There have been many legends about the Moon Festival.
However, many consider it as a Chinese traditional festival that people started celebrating in ancient times to observe the end of the fall harvest in agricultural China.
On this important Chinese traditional festival, people celebrate by:

hanging lanterns, which are decorated with pictures of Chinese moon goddess Chang’e floating to the moon, at high points like trees or roofs
floating sky lanterns
revering deities like Chang’e by burning incense
performing dragon dances
staying outdoors to eat beef, pork, round fruits, nuts, mooncakes and pomelos with friends and family

4. Dragon Boat Festival - an Exciting Chinese Traditional Festival

A significant Chinese traditional festival, the Dragon Boat festival is a day for many Chinese people to rediscover peace in their lives and drive off pestilence.
Among the many Chinese traditional festivals, the Dragon Boat festival is said to have the longest running history, as it continues to be celebrated on the 5^th day of the 5^th month of the lunar calendar for centuries.
The highlights of this day are the dragon boat races, where competing groups of rowers paddle their boats swiftly to the pulse of pounding drums.
On this Chinese traditional festival, people hang oriental plants calamus and moxa at their doors and paste pictures of Chung Kuei, the demon queller, to drive off deadly diseases.
Adults drink hsiung huang wine and wear fragrant sachets, both practices are said to ward off evil and invite peace.
The most popular dish on this traditional Chinese festival is the tzung tzu , which is sweet rice wrapped in bamboo leaves and filled with varied fillings like pork, nut, or egg.
It is said that ancient Chinese people threw tzung tzu into the Miluo River to entice fishes to get out of the body of their hero Chu Yuan, who killed himself by drowning.
The Dragon Boat is a Chinese traditional festival that is said to commemorate the poet-statesman Chu Yuan. The boat races are Chinese traditional customs that symbolize the attempted rescue of Chu Yuan.

5. Tomb Sweeping Day - a Chinese Traditional Festival for Remembering Departed Loved Ones

On the 12^th day of the 3^rd lunar month, Chinese people observe a Chinese traditional festival called Qingming, called Tomb Sweeping Day or All Souls Day in the west.
This Chinese traditional festival is not to be confused with the All Souls Day that Catholics celebrate.
Falling on either April 4 or April 5 when snow has melted and plants have began to sprout, the Tomb Sweeping Day is a time to pay respects to deceased ancestors.
People tend to the graves of their loved ones who passed away and offer them foods.
They also burn Bank of Hell banknotes to offer money to their ancestors who might need the money in after-life.
On this Chinese traditional festival, Chinese people also fly colorful kites into the sky.
Many families would also go on spring outing after holding memorial ceremonies for the dead.
Among the many Chinese traditional festivals, the Tomb Sweeping Day is an occasion on which people remember the dead and have a good time with the living.

Zenonia 4 Blader Guide | Stat/Skill Builds

2012-01-15T07:45:00.000-08:00

The Blader

The Blader in Zenonia 4 is your typical fast damaging but fragile character. Its equivalent in the previous installment of the series was the Shadow Hunter. The difference between the Blader is that he’s a tad more clumsy and rigid. The Shadow Hunter consistently dodged attacks by disappearing and reappearing behind enemies – the Blader doesn’t have this. Along with Zenonia 4’s reduction of auto-aim, this class is a bit more difficult to play than before. Don’t get me wrong – the Blader is still tons of fun, with lots of knock-back and copious damage; it just takes some precision and patience.

Note: The rationale for increasing DEX instead of STR is that the critical damage and evasion from it greatly outweighs the attack and defense gain. Since Bladers don’t have much defense, they need much more evade than Slayers, who can simply tank damage. INT isn’t important because Bladers usually don’t need to use much SP.

Stat Build

Pure DEX – Exactly what it sounds like, pumping all your points into DEX. This maximizes your damage output, but without any CON, you’re very prone to damage. This weakness can be lessened with titles that increase your CON/health/defense, as well as good gear.
Hybrid – Adding 1 CON every 2 levels, and the rest into DEX. This ensures that you get enough HP to not die in a few hits, as well as defense. Also, a level 30 skill, Conditioning, passively increases attack per CON, which means you get a decent amount of attack as well.
Tank – Adding every point into CON. This build is sort of like a faster attacking slayer. With the previously mentioned Conditioning skill, you get large amounts of attack, while boosting your innately low HP and defense. The problem is that you miss out on critical damage ratings.

Skill Build

Here’s a skill build for the Blader, up to level 50. After 50, you’ll have a good enough understanding of your skills to finish off your character. Midway down the build, the skills split up into two different paths. Follow the left one as a pure DEX character, or follow the right one as a Hybrid or Tank Blader.
Lvl 2 – Proficiency (1)
Lvl 3 – Proficiency (2)
Lvl 4 – Proficiency (3)
Lvl 5 – Windcutter (1)
Lvl 6 – Proficiency (4)
Lvl 7 – Proficiency (5)
Lvl 8 – Proficiency (6)
Lvl 9 – Proficiency (7)
Lvl 10 – Malice (1)
Lvl 11 – Malice (2)
Lvl 12 – Malice (3)
Lvl 13 – Malice (4)
Lvl 14 – Malice (5)
Lvl 15 – Dance of Wind (1)
Lvl 16 – Forged Edge (1)
Lvl 17 – Forged Edge (2)
Lvl 18 – Forged Edge (3)
Lvl 19 – Forged Edge (4)
Lvl 20 – Invisible Technique (1)
Lvl 21 – Forged Edge (5)
Lvl 22 – Forged Edge (6)
Lvl 23 – Forged Edge (7)
Lvl 24 – Forged Edge (8)
Lvl 25 – Evasion (1)
Lvl 26 – Cloak of Shadows (1)
Lvl 27 – Dark Shadow (1)
Lvl 28 – Dark Shadow (2)
Lvl 29 – Shadow Move (1)
Lvl 30 – Dark Shadow (3) / Conditioning (1)
Lvl 31 – Dark Shadow (4) / Conditioning (2)
Lvl 32 – Dark Shadow (5) / Conditioning (3)
Lvl 33 – Dark Shadow (6) / Conditioning (4)
Lvl 34 – Dark Shadow (7) / Conditioning (5)
Lvl 35 – Dark Shadow (8) / Conditioning (6)
Lvl 36 – Dark Shadow (9) / Conditioning (7)
Lvl 37 – Wrath (1) / Conditioning (8)
Lvl 38 – Wrath (2) / Conditioning (9)
Lvl 39 – Conditioning (1) / Conditioning (MAX)
Lvl 40 – Vampiric Aura (1)
Lvl 41 – Vampiric Aura (2)
Lvl 42 – Forged Edge (9)
Lvl 43 – Malice (6)
Lvl 44 – Malice (7)
Lvl 45 – Malice (8)
Lvl 46 – Malice (9) / Wrath (1)
Lvl 47 – Malice (MAX) / Wrath (2)
Lvl 48 – Wrath (3)
Lvl 49 – Wrath (4)
Lvl 50 – Wrath (5)

After level 50, just continue adding points into all of your passive abilities, except for Conditioning if you’re a Pure DEX build. Add points into your 2 or 3 favorite active skills afterwards. The ones I like the best are Invisible Technique (AOE, lots of damage, and you don’t have to aim at all) and Dance of Sura (Damage over time + high DPS = enemies die very quickly).

Tips

When fighting bosses, you usually want to have extra control of your movement. This is because unlike the previous games, the bosses in Zenonia 4 require lots of “strategic” dodging and moving around instead of just tanking all the damage. To do this, don’t spam your attack button; tap it slowly. You should keep doing your double-swipe-attack, and you won’t randomly lunge forward.
Do your special attack by dashing through an enemy (double tap a directional button towards your target). It costs SP but can stun and damage multiple enemies.
The Zenoniac title (+10% to all stats) can be very helpful, and easy to get right off the bat. Just put your iPod/iPhone on sleep without closing your game for 20 hours and you’ll get it.
Remember to go to the Abyss. It's free for you to go once a day, so there isn't a downfall. You get a lot of Magic/Epic/Rare gear, as well as coupons, which result in even more good gear. It's actually rarer that you get gear that isn't useful than gear that is... which is pretty great. You get stronger and richer - it helps a lot.

Batman Arkham City Finding Mr Freeze

2012-01-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

Batman Arkham City Finding Mr Freeze

In Batman Arkham City, Batman must find Mr Freeze. Mr Freeze holds the cure for the disease that has afflicted Batman and the city of Gotham. This will guide the bat in finding Mr Freeze, finding the Penguin who has captured Mr Freeze and finding the Penguin's hacking disruptors. It will also describe tactics to defeat the Penguin, tactics to defeat the Penguin's henchmen, tactics to defeat the boss Solomon Grundy in this mission and tactics to cross the thin ice in the Penguin's museum.

Batman Arkham City the Coldest Point in the City

In Batman Arkham City, Batman must find the coldest point in the city. Either follow Batman's environmental temperature analyzer or just head for the old GCPD building. Outside the building, Batman must take care of some of Penguin's henchmen. These are easy at this stage. Proceed into the building and find that Mr Freeze has been captured by the Penguin. Batman is taught how to use his hacking console, and then must proceed to the Penguin's museum.

Batman Arkham City the Coldest Point in the City

Batman Arkham City Finding the Penguin's Disruptors

In Batman Arkham City, Batman must head towards the Penguin's Museum at the southwestern corner of Arkham City. Once Batman has entered the Penguin's Museum the first time, he realizes that his remote hacking console cannot work. The Penguin or Mr Cobblepot has built three hacking disruptors to stop Batman from entering his museum. Batman must find and destroy the Penguin's Disruptors.
The Penguin's disruptors are located in three areas of Arkham City - two above ground, and one in the arkham city subway area. Just follow the directions (the green exclamation mark) on the top of Batman's screen (the compass), take care of the thugs at each location one should have no problems finding and destroying the Penguin's Disruptors.

Batman Arkham City Return to Penguin's Museum

In Batman Arkham City, with the disruptors gone, Batman can proceed deeper into the Penguin's Museum. The next difficult stage in infiltrating the Penguin's Museum lies in switching off a switch using Batman's remote Batarang. To control Batman's remote Batarang, stand some distance from the steel gates, and look up to see an opening above the archway. Launch Batman's remote Batarang and direct it through this opening and then down to hit the switch. Now proceed into the Penguin's Museum Gladiator Pit.
Penguin makes an appearance and also a recruiting pitch for the thirty odd men wanting to join his ranks. He asks them to attack Batman. Can Batman take care of thirty over men? Sure he can. Just use stun and strike combinations, and Batman should take care of these men easily. Remember to level up Batman so that his combat armor is quite high. This will allow him to take more hits from these men.
After defeating these novice thugs, Batman must use the remote Batarang again to flip a switch and cause one of the doors to open. Proceed into the torture chamber and use Batman's explosive gel on an ice panel at the end of the corridor that marks the beginning of the Torture Chamber.

Batman Arkham City Crossing the Ice

In Batman Arkham City, the ice panel that explodes reveals the next location, a large indoor pool partly frozen by Penguin.Beneath this icy panel lies a great white shark ready for some tender Batmeat if Batman should fall into the waters below. The ice here is thin, just enough to walk on slowly, but will break if Batman should even try to break out into a jog.
There are three exits in this icy pool area in Penguin's Museum. The one directly ahead is the Iceberg Lounge and the area Batman should go into last. The one on Batman's right contains some hostages and Mr Freeze's suit. The one on Batman's left contains Mr Freeze and should be the first area Batman should visit.
However, before Batman can leave this area, he should save all the frozen police officers in this area. If Batman looks to the right whilst in the middle of the icy pool area, he will see a rafting tied up above the waters. Use the normal Batarang to cut the rope and bring it down, and then use the Batclaw to pull the rafting towards him. Board the rafting. Then use the Batclaw to launch a wire towards the grapples all around the icy pool. Move the rafting (with Batman in it) to the right side of the icy pool area and rescue the two frozen men here. After this, proceed on the ice towards the left exit to find Mr Freeze.

Batman Arkham City Rescuing Mr Freeze

In Batman Arkham City, the left exit from the icy pool area in the Penguin's Museum leads to Mr Freeze. Mr Freeze has been imprisoned by the Penguin in his museum as an exhibit and requires rescuing by Batman. First Batman must find Mr Freeze.
Proceed down the corridor to find some thugs behind a shielding. Use the hacking console to bring down the shielding, and then take out the two unarmored men rapidly using smoke pellets and then combat takedown from behind. The armored man will be left behind, and Batman can then concentrate on him.
In the next chamber, Batman finally finds Mr Freeze. Before he can proceed to the back of the glass cage to release Mr Freeze, Batman has to apply explosive gel onto one of the walls (go into detective mode). However, Batman is instead attacked by a one armed bandit (brother of Mr Hammer) and some thugs. Quickly stun and strike out the normal thugs, and then use the remote electrical charger to stun the one armed bandit and strike at him after that. Once these men are dealt with, head to the back of Mr Freeze's cage and hack it to release him.

Batman Arkham City Finding Mr Freeze's Armor

In Batman Arkham City, Batman must find Mr Freeze's Armor in the corridor on the right side of the icy pool area. Finding Mr Freeze's Armor is important in obtaining Mr Freeze's ice serum which keeps him alive and also the chip which will override Mr Freeze's ice gun (taken by the Penguin).
In this chamber, Mr Penguin's elite henchmen wear thermal goggles and actively look for Batman in the dark and above ground on the gargoyles. Fighting them straight on is difficult because they are all armed. Further, they have hostages which they will use against Batman if they get desperate.
Tactics to use against these Penguin elite henchmen include taking them out as fast as possible. Try to keep them off the bridge in the center of the chamber, or they will get desperate and use the hostages. Batman should use the gargoyles on the side, and then glide down onto the ledge of the bridge. Use the bridge ledge attack to take down the two men on the bridge. The thugs will then position themselves one at a time on the bridge after this. Use drop kick to take down the thug on the bridge first. Once all the thugs are gone, rescue the hostages, and retrieve the chip and ice serum from Mr Freeze's armor.

Batman Arkham City Defeating the Penguin

In Batman Arkham City, the center exit (Iceberg Lounge) from the icy pool area leads to the Penguin. He is armed with Mr Freeze's ice gun, and will shoot at Batman through one of the many corridors in this chamber. Wait for him to reload and then move around the chamber towards the bridge that will lead Batman to Penguin. Use the chip override to prevent Penguin from using the ice gun.
Penguin then surprises Batman by sending him tumbling underground to face Solomon Grundy. To defeat Solomon Grundy, Batman must understand the three phases of the fight. The first phase involves Batman rolling and jumping and avoiding Solomon Grundy's attacks whilst trying to apply explosives to the three discs around the chamber. The second phase will proceed when all three discs have been shut ...... temporarily. Penguin manages to open them again, and now these discs open and shut repeatedly. Batman must apply explosives and shut the discs again. The third phase also involves shutting the three discs, but the attack of Solomon Grundy is harder to dodge, so make sure Batman has a lot of Combat Armor upgrade before entering this fight. Once the three discs have been shut three times, Solomon Grundy will be defeated.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Hints tips and cheats

2012-01-15T07:41:00.000-08:00

Skyrim Hints and Tips

If you’ve been on Planet X for the last year or so then you may not realize that Elder Scroll V: Skyrim was released on 11-11-11. So run to the store and buy Skyrim now.
Skyrim promises to be one of the top games of 2011, and will undoubtedly win many awards. With superb graphics, an open game play and a detailed plot. It’s likely to take many hours to complete. It’s likely that newcomers to the game or beginner players will find it extremely hard;
(Scroll down for instructions on how to enable the cheat console on Skyrim)
I caution that using cheats could spoil the game, and in some cases could actually ‘break’ the game – so always make a backup!
As I play the game I will also begin to provide some hints and tips such as ‘combat techiniques’, ‘mini walkthroughs’,’general tips’.
Let me know in the comments if there’s anything you’d like to see in this article! Have fun!

Hints and Tips

It's very early to put in proper hints and tips yet, but this section will list as many tips as I find. Hve a good tip? Then leave me a comment and I'll incorporate it....
General Quick Tips

Encumberance - as much as I love to pick up every item I can, carrying too much can have some big penalties - try and store or sell any items you cannot use or do not need yet before a quest.
Don't neglect magic - I've found that most of the recent Elder Scrolls games have been very difficult and just having a little magic (such as healing) goes a long way to making the game easier - I'm the kind of gamer that wants to charge into battle with axes flailing, but subtle use of magic keeps me alive longer – at the very least chose the Restoration skill. You should also look at some defensive magic that may either defend against spells, or allow you to move quietly etc.
Keep plenty of healing items or spells. DOH
Plan battles strategically – just running in isn’t always effective; use height as an advantage, and have an escape route planned.
Be patient – you’re not going to become an instant Hero – it takes time, and you will have to do plenty of ‘grinding’ to get XP – but it will be worth it in the end!
Follow the main quests for a while as it gives you a great introduction to the game and the Shout.
Don’t neglect the guardian stones – you’ll come across them right at the beginning of the game and throughout the game – they will add bonuses to your chosen ‘path’.
Save – if you’re about to pick-lock something then save just before – thus if you fail, you can re-load and try again! The same can be said for combat – if there’s a major battle coming up – save just before it.

Purchase a house – the sooner you get a house the better – it allows you to store items (especially ingredients) and ensure you won’t become over encumbered.

How to enable the Skyrim Cheat Console:

Caution: while using console cheats for Skyrim is easy, you really should try and complete the game without using them. You should always make a backup of save files prior to using the console as you do not know what effect the cheat codes may have – as an example, in one game I used a command that killed all local enemies – sadly I managed to kill an NPC who was very important for a quest I was following.
The following method will enable the cheat console (Note this only works on the PC version):

This doesn't seem necessary on the digital download version - but possibly may be required for the non digital download version: Edit the file ‘skyrim.ini’ and set the flag ‘bAllowConsole’ to 1. The skyrim.ini file is located in the My Games folder in My Documents; the bAllowConsole flag is under the General section.
While in the game use the ‘tilde’ or ~ key to open the console – it’s possible that you will not see the console (as happens in Dragon Age) – but usually you will see a flashing prompt at the bottom of the screen. (Note, I will add instructions on how to assign a different key soon - the tilde key doesn’t always work).

Daedra Heart Locations

Go to the college in Winterhold and talk to Enthir. After first lesson talk to him again - eventually you will be asked to meet him in his room - you can then buy 2 daedra hearts for about 1000 gold each - they get replenished

Confirmed Codes

The codes below have been 'confirmed' by other players on the web - I will confirm these and more tonight - please leave a comment if you find a code that works, or if the codes below don't work!

***WARNING*** always make multiple save game files - using some of these codes could 'stop' levelling up and lose you bonuses, it's also possible that you could ruin quests etc.

Code	Action
TGM	God Mode (Some say it is TMG)
player.additem item_code x	Adds x of item_code (See table below for a list of item codes)
player.modav carryweight x	increase maxium weight by x
psb	Give all spells to player (** be wary with this one - it's not very good with Skyrim - make sure you make a full backup before using this)
tmm 1	all map marked
resurrect	resurrect NPC or enemy
kill	kill NPC or enemy
unlock	Unlock door
player.setav stat_type x	set 'stat_type' by x (see table below for stat_type)
advlevel	Advance Level

Stat_type to be used in player.setav command

Stat_type	Sets the following to the value of 'x'
Speechcraft	Speech
Sneak	Sneak
Health	Health
Magicka	Magic
Stamina	Stamina
Marksman	Archery

item_code used in player.additem

item_code	x of the items below will be added to inventory
0000000f	Gold
0000000a	Lockpicks
3esde100x	Health Potions
0000000c	Repair Hammers
0000000b	Skeleton Keys
000BEED2	Glass Bow of Fire
000BEED5	Glass Bow of Frost
000BEF64	Glass Sword of Fire
000BEF67	Glass Sword of Frost
000BEF6E	Glass Sword of Shock
0010DF76	Glass Boots
0010CFA1	Glass Cuirass
0001393A	Glass Gauntlets
0001393B	Glass Helmet
0001393C	Glass Shield
000139BE	Glass Arrow

Skyrim Walkthrough: Bleak Falls Barrow

2012-01-15T07:39:00.000-08:00

Things are about to get tougher!

So far the quests have been simple ones where you essentially have travelled from one town to another and sought out some character. This quest is the first true 'dungeon' quest and as such is the first real test of your character.
By now you have levelled up at least once - possibly more if you've also taken on some of the mini-quests in the towns so your skill level should be slowly increasing - now you need to really think about the direction of your character and decide what skills you are focusing on - the way you develop your character will define the type of combat tactics you have.
Use of terrain and knowing when to run away become more important in this quest as you will come across larger groups of enemies!
Objectives

Talk to Farengar
Retrieve the Dragonstone
Deliver the Dragonstone to Farengar

Before you take this quest on, you can go back to the original village an pickup the quest 'The Golden Claw' - the locations are the same for both. Speak to Ferbgar and follow the compass marker to the Bleak Falls Temple. Be aware that you will meet bandints along the way with archers - try and pick of the archers with range attacks before joining the full combat.
There are a few carcasses to search and a locked chest - the chest is pretty easy to open! You won't find many attackers until you get deeper into the dungeons so spend time searching for gold and potions.
Eventually you'll find a room with a lever in it - DO NOT PULL IT. To the left of the lever is three pillors - you have to set the right sequence prior to pulling the lever. The sequence is snake, snake, swordfish. For future reference, if you look around the room you will find these symbols on the wall - the lesson here is that there will always be some clues to the puzzles you encounter.
Move through the cobwebs picking up the thief book and scroll of fireball - you'll have to hack through some of the thicker cobwebs. Eventually you will meet Arvel the swift. He's managed to mortally wound a Forstbite Spider but was captured. Kill the spider and then speak to Arvel - make sure you ask him about the golden claw first before freeing him.
Of course, as he is a thief he will double cross you - fight him and you'll find the Golden Claw on his body. Head into the crypt - you'll have to fight some draugrs - these are the toughest creatures you will have fought yet - don't be afraid to run and draw off some draugrs - try not to take too many of them on at the same time.
Dodge through the swinging axes and run through the corridor - you'll come across some more draugs and can use fire to light the liquid on the floor. Another draugr will come out from the coffin - kill it and search the chest for gold and a scroll.
Pull the chain and you'll open access to anouther part of the temple - you'll find plenty of glowing mushrooms to harvest.
Follow the path - looting any chests or corpses along the way - you'll find a tougher draugr and then a door that leads to the sanctum - make sure you're fully healed as you're about to meet a lot more draugrs.
You'll go through some iron doors and find a stone door ahead - this is the second puzzle you have come across. There are a set of rings with symbols on and a keyhole - each ring can rotate and you have to match the symbols on the golden claw - check the golden claw to see the correct sequence. The sequence (bottom to top) is owl, hummingbird, bear. Use the Golden Claw to open the door.
Move towards the engravings and learn Unrelenting force - a draugr overlord appears. This is a great time to get used to using terrain to your advantage - you'll notice that the draugr is slow, so use the terrain well and keep your distance so you can use range attacjs. You'll find the Dragonstone on its body.

Gears Of War 3 Infinite Ammo Mutator & Field Engineer Onyx Medal

2012-01-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

There is an easy method to get both the Gears Of War 3 infinite ammo mutator and the field engineer Onyx medal. There are a total of 65 onyx medals which go towards the seriously 3.0 achievement. You can use the infinite ammo mutator in both campaign arcade mode and horde mode (which helps tremendously). Infinite ammo gives you unlimited ammo in the lancer, retro lancer, hammerburst, gnasher shotgun, sawed off shotgun, boltok pistol, gorgon pistol, and snub pistol. It does not give you unlimited ammo for any of the power weapons in Gears Of War 3, like the boomshot for example.
In order to get infinite ammo in Gears Of War 3, you need to build/repair/upgrade/refill ammo to fortifications five times in one round, in horde mode 100 times. This obviously can take a long time, but there is an easier way to do this by boosting.

How To Get Infinite Ammo In Gears Of War 3

First off, you will need another player to help you do this. Host a private match on the map "checkout" with difficulty on insane." You might be wondering, "why on insane?" You need to put it on insane so you can die from enemies easier to repeat wave 1, otherwise, it will take too long to get the infinite ammo mutator.

Have the other player give you 1000 dollars, you now have 2000 dollars total.
Find a command post and buy it, costs 0 dollars.
Build a turret nearby and have the other player shoot it repeatably.
Keep refilling ammo to the turret until wave 1 of Gears Of War 3 horde mode starts.
Run out and get killed by the enemies as soon as the wave begins, then restart the wave.
Repeat Steps 1-5 until you unlock infinite ammo mutator.

Note that you can also get the Gears Of War 3 field Engineer onyx medal at the same time. Building or editing any fortifications such as barriers, turrets etc. counts toward it. You need to build/edit fortifications 1000 times to get the field engineer onyx medal, but every time you reload the turret it counts.
Infinite ammo will help you if you intend to complete Gears of War 3 on insane. Or complete Gears Of War 3 horde mode on insane.
Hope this helps, any questions, feel free to ask me below in the comments section. This is not a glitch in Gears Of War 3, it's just a way to get infinite ammo and an onyx medal faster.

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Best Friendship Quotes Collection....

Friendship Quotes

We are friends for life- Judy Blume

C.S. Lewis Friendship Quotes

Quotes on friendship by author C.S. Lewis

1 "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one"

2 "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival."

3 "Eros will have naked bodies; Friendship naked personalities."

Casablanca - "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

Ralph Waldo Emerson Friendship Quotes

Quotes on friendship by philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson

1 "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."

2 "The only way to have a friend is to be one."

3 "A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud."

4 "A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends."

5 "A Friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature.

6 "I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with the roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass threads or frost-work, but the solidest thing we know."

"Friendship" by Steven Huneck

Mark Twain Friendship Quotes

Quotes on friendship by author Mark Twain

1 "The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are in the right."

2 "The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole life - time, if not asked to lend money"

3 "Words in haste do friendships waste."

4 "Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with."

5 "We content ourselves that that friendship is a Reality, and not a Fancy--that it is builded upon a rock, and not upon the sands that dissolve away with the ebbing tides and carry their monuments with them."

Good friends "A true friend is one soul in two bodies."

Aristotle Friendship Quotes

Quotes on friendship by the Greek Philosopher, Aristotle

1 "A true friend is one soul in two bodies."

2 "Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit."

3 "Friendship is essentially a partnership."

4 "Friends are an aid to the young, to guard them from error; to the elderly, to attend to their wants and to supplement their failing power of action; to those in the prime of life, to assist them to noble deeds."

Friendship Quote - Art Nouveau Wood Sign

Bible Friendship Quotes

Famous quotes on friendship from the Bible