I'm sure there isn't a guy out there who hasn't picked up a men's magazine. Be it FHM, GQ, or Maxim, you know you've picked one up and thumbed through their pictures of fashionably dressed guys and barely dressed girls, including celebrities you never realized were really so good looking like Christian Aguilera, who we had all forgotten was hot until February's Maxim was kind enough to remind us about. Men's magazines are a great way to keep up with the not-exactly-newsworthy things going on in the world. They're loaded with all the gossip people are talking about as well as plenty of interesting but in the grand scheme of things irrelevant stories. Another fun feature is their hilarious top-whatever lists, such as this months feature in list Maxim of the top 12 fake foreigners which ranged from Prince Akim, to Borat, to Apu from The Simpsons. They're also a great way to learn about the new shows that you might be missing otherwise, all the new movies coming out, and whatever music happens to be popular at the moment.
In addition to the fun stuff, you can also get some really valuable advice from men's magazines. They have all kinds of tips for how to hit it off with the ladies and how to impress your boss. On the down low, you can get some great fashion advice from these magazines. They give you all kinds of tips about how to look your best without having to act like a girl about it. In addition to just helping you turn heads when you go out, being able to be fashionable can also be a major advantage in the corporate world. This months GQ has a really fantastic article on how to buy a suite, which are particularly important because they're such an investment and such a staple of your work wardrobe. You can also probably cut out a picture of a haircut that will look fantastic on you to take with you to the hair cuttery next time.
Men's magazines really do make for some great entertainment. If you've been living under a rock for the past 20 years, I suggest that you crawl out and pick one up next time you swing by the newsstand.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Is Debt Consolidation the Right Choice?
Debt seems to be a problem for many americans. I am a proponent of only buying what you have the money to pay for but sometimes when it comes to education, housing, or medical expenses, the need makes it neccessary to borrow money for these large expenses. Borrowing money is not a good way to relieve your self from economic trouble but for these type of expenses are necesities that need to be addressed.
Whether you are overwhelmed in debt, or just have too many bills to pay, a debt consolidation company can help relieve some of the burden. What they promise is to consolidate all of your seperate loans and debts into one easy payment. From an accounting stand point the benefit is immediate. Then the question becomes if they are saving you any money. Many times what they are doing is adding on fees and charge a much higher interest rate than you are paying. Then they simply stretch out the payments over a longer period to make the cost seem lower.
As is the case with all money matters; research is key. Make sure when you use one of these services that they are actually saving money. Before resorting to these steps there are other options of relieving your debt that may prove usefull. If you still think you need to consolidate your debt the best place to start at is the National Foundation of Credit Counselors. This is a non-profit organiztion that actually works with the credit card companies. Most important of all is to simply live within your means and credit problems will never become a problem.
Whether you are overwhelmed in debt, or just have too many bills to pay, a debt consolidation company can help relieve some of the burden. What they promise is to consolidate all of your seperate loans and debts into one easy payment. From an accounting stand point the benefit is immediate. Then the question becomes if they are saving you any money. Many times what they are doing is adding on fees and charge a much higher interest rate than you are paying. Then they simply stretch out the payments over a longer period to make the cost seem lower.
As is the case with all money matters; research is key. Make sure when you use one of these services that they are actually saving money. Before resorting to these steps there are other options of relieving your debt that may prove usefull. If you still think you need to consolidate your debt the best place to start at is the National Foundation of Credit Counselors. This is a non-profit organiztion that actually works with the credit card companies. Most important of all is to simply live within your means and credit problems will never become a problem.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Spot The Block
Have you guys seen those ridiculous commercials on Cartoon Network, where they have cartoon characters from various shows singing about "Spot The Block?" Well they're absolutely ridiculous and I've been exposed to them far more than any sane person would ever want to be, due to my 4 year old's over the top love of cartoons. However, what they're plugging is actually something valuable and worthwhile. "The Block" is actually referring to the food nutrition labels which are required to be displayed on all products intended for consumption in the U.S. This helpful tool was created by the FDA to help consumers better understand the nutritional content of the foods they eat. If your trying to watch your weight, they allow you to check on the fat and calorie content of anything your thinking about eating, and might even provide you with encouragement to go ahead and put the Twinkies down before you start.
Food nutrition labels allow you to keep an eye on your intake of potentially harmful elements. Cholesterol is also something worth watching, as too much of it can lead to heart attacks, much as too much sodium intake can lead to high blood pressure. Even if your not watching your weight, it's still a great idea to keep an eye on the amount of nutrients your food contains in order to be sure your getting everything you need. Even without taking a vitamin supplement, you can greatly increase your overall health by being sure to consume enough Vitamins A and C. Getting enough Calcium is also very important, especially for the ladies out there, as that's the best way to prevent Osteoporosis.
I use these labels all the time, both to keep an eye on my own health, and so I can be careful about what my son is consuming. I suggest if your not familiar with them, that you do a little background check and spend some time learning about how these can labels be valuable to you too.
Food nutrition labels allow you to keep an eye on your intake of potentially harmful elements. Cholesterol is also something worth watching, as too much of it can lead to heart attacks, much as too much sodium intake can lead to high blood pressure. Even if your not watching your weight, it's still a great idea to keep an eye on the amount of nutrients your food contains in order to be sure your getting everything you need. Even without taking a vitamin supplement, you can greatly increase your overall health by being sure to consume enough Vitamins A and C. Getting enough Calcium is also very important, especially for the ladies out there, as that's the best way to prevent Osteoporosis.
I use these labels all the time, both to keep an eye on my own health, and so I can be careful about what my son is consuming. I suggest if your not familiar with them, that you do a little background check and spend some time learning about how these can labels be valuable to you too.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Heard Any Good Conspiracy Theories?
Seems any time you will listen someone has another conspiracy theory. Are these the crazy ramblings of schizophrenics and gun toting militants or are there forces at work behinf the scenes secretly controlling everything. There is just about one for everything form the mundane to the most serious matters of national security.
One of the silliest conspiracy theories has to do with Korea. Apparently there are some Koreans who believe that the Japanese changed the romaniztion of Corea to Korea during their occupation so that Japan would always come first in alphabetical listings. The Japanese are very prideful people and always want to come first, even to the point of changing history in text books, but they had no control over the international standards of rominazation that were established during that period in history.
Some conspiracy theorists worry that everything is going to harm them in some way. Have you heard the chemtrail conspiracy theory? Since the 90's people have been claiming all sorts of things to the trails that follow airplanes. Some think that we are being sprayed with poison. Others think that it is a form of weather control or cure for global warming.
Most famous of cospiracy theories are the ones involving government cover up. Some will tell you that we never landed on the moon or that 9/11 was done by our own government. The fact that our government has been caught red handed in cover ups such as Watergate only helps to fuel these claims.
So what do you think about these theories? Are their forces conspiring against us or are these people just nut jobs. If you have heard any good theories feel free to share them.
One of the silliest conspiracy theories has to do with Korea. Apparently there are some Koreans who believe that the Japanese changed the romaniztion of Corea to Korea during their occupation so that Japan would always come first in alphabetical listings. The Japanese are very prideful people and always want to come first, even to the point of changing history in text books, but they had no control over the international standards of rominazation that were established during that period in history.
Some conspiracy theorists worry that everything is going to harm them in some way. Have you heard the chemtrail conspiracy theory? Since the 90's people have been claiming all sorts of things to the trails that follow airplanes. Some think that we are being sprayed with poison. Others think that it is a form of weather control or cure for global warming.
Most famous of cospiracy theories are the ones involving government cover up. Some will tell you that we never landed on the moon or that 9/11 was done by our own government. The fact that our government has been caught red handed in cover ups such as Watergate only helps to fuel these claims.
So what do you think about these theories? Are their forces conspiring against us or are these people just nut jobs. If you have heard any good theories feel free to share them.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Those Crazy Cats!
Don't you love those funny internet videos that you find on websites? Sometimes after I have a long day there's nothing I want to do more than kick back and have a good laugh. Free internet videos are a great way to do that without having to surf through hunderds of cable channels or to pay for video rentals. The best ones, i would say are of animals, and of course we all know that the best animals around are cats.
I didn't know how delightful watching cats playing could be until I had my own, but there have been so many times that I wished I had a camera to catch the ridiculous things that they do. When I moved, my cats had to go live with a family member, where they will be staying until we get an apartment that allows pets. But sometimes looking at other peoples cats can be a wonderful pick me up. Mercifully, free funny cat videos and pictures are available on all kinds of fantastic websites. Whether you want to find adorable kittens, cats in sinks, or videos of cats doing ridiculous things, if you want it, it's out there for you. Enjoy it.
I didn't know how delightful watching cats playing could be until I had my own, but there have been so many times that I wished I had a camera to catch the ridiculous things that they do. When I moved, my cats had to go live with a family member, where they will be staying until we get an apartment that allows pets. But sometimes looking at other peoples cats can be a wonderful pick me up. Mercifully, free funny cat videos and pictures are available on all kinds of fantastic websites. Whether you want to find adorable kittens, cats in sinks, or videos of cats doing ridiculous things, if you want it, it's out there for you. Enjoy it.
Late Night Goosebumps
Do you believe in ghosts? I'm not sure whether I do or not, but I must say that some of those American Haunting shows on TV really give me goose bumps. I've never encountered a ghost or been in a haunted house, but as I listen to people recount their experiences on "A Haunting in (wherever)," on TLC I'm almost always certain that they must have experienced something real. Watching those kind of real true ghost stories late at night is always a great way for me to ensure myself of restless sleep and nightmares.
Shared hallucinations are a real phenomena documented by psychologists around the world, but hallucinations don't produce eerie images in the backgrounds of your photos, make objects fly off shelves, or scare off the priests. It also adds credibility to haunted house stories that the houses often upon later investigation turn out to be built on places that seem like they would be very likely to be haunted. For example, the house which was the sight of the true Amityville horror was later discovered to have been built on an Indian grave yard, and a haunted house in Maryland haunted by the ghost of a soldier turned out to have been built on the site of a civil war hospital. Finally, parapsychologists have spent the last 50 years tyring to discover scientific methods to investigate the paranormal and have really come up with some exciting ways to measure it, such as by looking at changes in the electromagnetic fields of a room, and by recording temperature changes in places thought to be paranormally active. Though the study of the paranormal is not acknowledged by most main stream scientists, consistent findings like those discovered using these methods add a great deal of legitimacy to the study of ghosts and the investigation of ghost stories.
I'm not really certain that I believe in ghosts because I've never encountered one myself, but given the spine tingling experiences of so many real people, I'd much rather just keep it that way and enjoy hearing the fascinating stories that others have to tell.
Shared hallucinations are a real phenomena documented by psychologists around the world, but hallucinations don't produce eerie images in the backgrounds of your photos, make objects fly off shelves, or scare off the priests. It also adds credibility to haunted house stories that the houses often upon later investigation turn out to be built on places that seem like they would be very likely to be haunted. For example, the house which was the sight of the true Amityville horror was later discovered to have been built on an Indian grave yard, and a haunted house in Maryland haunted by the ghost of a soldier turned out to have been built on the site of a civil war hospital. Finally, parapsychologists have spent the last 50 years tyring to discover scientific methods to investigate the paranormal and have really come up with some exciting ways to measure it, such as by looking at changes in the electromagnetic fields of a room, and by recording temperature changes in places thought to be paranormally active. Though the study of the paranormal is not acknowledged by most main stream scientists, consistent findings like those discovered using these methods add a great deal of legitimacy to the study of ghosts and the investigation of ghost stories.
I'm not really certain that I believe in ghosts because I've never encountered one myself, but given the spine tingling experiences of so many real people, I'd much rather just keep it that way and enjoy hearing the fascinating stories that others have to tell.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Why are people still using dial up instead of broadband?
It continues to amaze me that in this day and age some people continue to use dial up. Are these the same people who show up in the statistics as the ones who still use black and white tv's and don't have indoor plumbing? Honestly, you might as well just go live under a rock. I understand not everyone uses the Internet as much as those of us in the blogging community, but how do people live that way? It's kind of barabaric.
Dial up is unbearably slow. Wether you use cable, dsl, satellite, or whatever your experience is so much better with a form of broadband. Who has time to wait hours for a 10 minute video to load? Or even to wait for pages to load? I prefer instant access when surfing the web. The cost is just too cheap not to make the upgrade. Whether here in the United States or in India, these days anyone can afford broadband. Black and white televisions are ancient technology and so is dial up. Get with the times and upgrade already.
Dial up is unbearably slow. Wether you use cable, dsl, satellite, or whatever your experience is so much better with a form of broadband. Who has time to wait hours for a 10 minute video to load? Or even to wait for pages to load? I prefer instant access when surfing the web. The cost is just too cheap not to make the upgrade. Whether here in the United States or in India, these days anyone can afford broadband. Black and white televisions are ancient technology and so is dial up. Get with the times and upgrade already.
Psst...I've Got a Secret
Everyone has a secret that they want to let out and share with others but are too afraid to share it with others. Maybe it is embarrassing or you don't know what your friends will think. Many times if you can share that secret with others it can relieve a burden and let you better deal with it.
Secret chest lets you post a secret completely anonymously. Then others will post advice regarding your secret. In a unique twist social bookamrking, the most sincere and compelling secrets get voted to the top.
Even if you don't have a secret to share it is still interesting to read what others have to share. Some people have a very shady side that I'm sure that they normally would not expose to others. Others are going through very hard times that most of us can relate too. Possibly your words of encouragement can help them out. I know that I will be returning to this site and I hope you do too.
Secret chest lets you post a secret completely anonymously. Then others will post advice regarding your secret. In a unique twist social bookamrking, the most sincere and compelling secrets get voted to the top.
Even if you don't have a secret to share it is still interesting to read what others have to share. Some people have a very shady side that I'm sure that they normally would not expose to others. Others are going through very hard times that most of us can relate too. Possibly your words of encouragement can help them out. I know that I will be returning to this site and I hope you do too.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
0% APR Credit cards
We all see the offers for Zero APR credit cards. There are some things you have to be careful of when choosing these cards. Due to ever increasing deregulations the credit card industry has become more shady than ever before. What seems like a great offer now might turn up to be a horrible deal done the line.
What begins as a great introductory rate may soon change to as high as a 30+% rate in a s little as a few months. You are probably smart enough to realize this and plan to switch to the next offer that comes along. This tactic actually is bad for your credit score because constantly opening and closing lines of credit reduces your score. It is better to find a card that will maintain a good rate and stick with that.
Of course the permanent rate of the card is easy enough to tell and you probably already realize that the rate won't stay at 0%. If you read the fine print they have several options to raise your rate. Have you ever had mail lost in the system? I have and one late payment will give them the right to up your rate sky high. Even if all of your payments are made on time if your credit rate is to change, or employment status, or you go through a divorce, really for any reason they can change your rate. That's right, even if you make all of your payments your rate can be changed.
Basically, 0% credit cards can be nice to have. Just don't use them as a way of controlling your debt. If you already have a high credit card debt you will be much better off paying them off then simply transferring your debt from card to card because eventually it will catch up to you.
What begins as a great introductory rate may soon change to as high as a 30+% rate in a s little as a few months. You are probably smart enough to realize this and plan to switch to the next offer that comes along. This tactic actually is bad for your credit score because constantly opening and closing lines of credit reduces your score. It is better to find a card that will maintain a good rate and stick with that.
Of course the permanent rate of the card is easy enough to tell and you probably already realize that the rate won't stay at 0%. If you read the fine print they have several options to raise your rate. Have you ever had mail lost in the system? I have and one late payment will give them the right to up your rate sky high. Even if all of your payments are made on time if your credit rate is to change, or employment status, or you go through a divorce, really for any reason they can change your rate. That's right, even if you make all of your payments your rate can be changed.
Basically, 0% credit cards can be nice to have. Just don't use them as a way of controlling your debt. If you already have a high credit card debt you will be much better off paying them off then simply transferring your debt from card to card because eventually it will catch up to you.
Living Touch
Living Touch is a very infromative blog about ways to live a healthier life. The thing I like most about the advice they give is that most of their recomendations are on natural ways of being healthy. Todays society is too focused on the quick fixto their problems. Nature is not about the qwuick fix and neither is being healthy.
Natural remedies are the best because medical sciemce just foucuses on covering up the symptoms. In reality the problem is ussually something that your system is lacking. Ancient civilizations were able to understood this but somehow we have lost sight of this fact. Asian culture probably understands this better than the west and that is why you can find great advice in the Asian Culture category of his blog.
Of course some people could care less about being healthy and just want a quick fix in order to loose weight. Living Touch also covers on weight loss strategies. I can save you the time of reading that. Eat less calories than you burn. You can either starve yourself or eat sensibly and exercise but that is all there is to it. I hope you find someone from this blog to help you live a healthier more natural life.
Natural remedies are the best because medical sciemce just foucuses on covering up the symptoms. In reality the problem is ussually something that your system is lacking. Ancient civilizations were able to understood this but somehow we have lost sight of this fact. Asian culture probably understands this better than the west and that is why you can find great advice in the Asian Culture category of his blog.
Of course some people could care less about being healthy and just want a quick fix in order to loose weight. Living Touch also covers on weight loss strategies. I can save you the time of reading that. Eat less calories than you burn. You can either starve yourself or eat sensibly and exercise but that is all there is to it. I hope you find someone from this blog to help you live a healthier more natural life.
Save Money and Feel Better About Yourself
One thing that so sad about today's society is that nobody is willing to do things for themselves. Many times people will pay others to do a simple task when they could have easily done it for themselves. What I think people should do is do a little research so that they can be self sufficient.
One area that you can learn to do for your self is basic automotive maintenance. It is so simple that even a monkey can do it. Why do you think they call them grease monkeys. By learning how to take care of your car you can save your self a lot of money and be aware of what is going on your car to avoid problems that may be brewing.
Another way to save a lot of money is learning how to do home improvement yourself. By taking on projects around the house you can make a huge difference in the value of your house and save thousands in labor. Things like remodeling your kitchen or bathrooms can be done at very little material cost and create many times more in additional equity.
After learning to do things for yourself you will not only save money but you can take pride in the work you have done. Nobody will ever put the same effort into a project as you will for ones for yourself. More often than not the work you get from others is of low quality. That is why i recommend that everyone becomes a do it yourselfer.
One area that you can learn to do for your self is basic automotive maintenance. It is so simple that even a monkey can do it. Why do you think they call them grease monkeys. By learning how to take care of your car you can save your self a lot of money and be aware of what is going on your car to avoid problems that may be brewing.
Another way to save a lot of money is learning how to do home improvement yourself. By taking on projects around the house you can make a huge difference in the value of your house and save thousands in labor. Things like remodeling your kitchen or bathrooms can be done at very little material cost and create many times more in additional equity.
After learning to do things for yourself you will not only save money but you can take pride in the work you have done. Nobody will ever put the same effort into a project as you will for ones for yourself. More often than not the work you get from others is of low quality. That is why i recommend that everyone becomes a do it yourselfer.
Happy Valentines Day
I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy valentines day. I hope you have someone special t oshare it with. I also would like to send a very special happy valentines to my someone special.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Gaspirtz Cartoons
Do you like this cartoon? This, and many more cartoons, can be found at Gaspirtz cartoons. Oliver Gaspirtz was born in Germany and resides in New York. His work has appeared in many major publications such as the National Enquirer and Sun and has been featured in over 20 exhibits around the world. His humor tends to be a little dark but is hilarious nonetheless.
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