Relationship

Learn Japanese – Give and receive in Japanese with Kureru

Learn Japanese now! Now that you know the basic differences between the three Japanese verbs for giving and receiving, it’s time to focus on each of them independently. This guarantees that you will master its use. This Low Intermediate Japanese article is about the verb kureru. We use it when the receiver is the speaker or someone very close to him or her. For example, you could say, “George lent me the book” in Japanese using kureru. There are numerous examples in this Japanese article to ensure that you are a pro at using this versatile Japanese verb.

Vocabulary: In this article, you will learn the following words and phrases:

deru – “go out, answer” (the phone, the doorbell)
nikibi – “grain, stain”
dekiru – “appear, occur”
agaru – “enter, enter”
Kurai – “approximately, about”
I or – “business, something to do”

Grammar: In this article, you will learn the following words and phrases:

In the previous article, we learned about give and take verbs like kureru, agedand moral. In the next three articles, we will see these verbs acting as auxiliary verbs respectively. This article focuses on kureru.

Kureru means “to give” and we use it when the receiver is the speaker or someone in the speaker’s group. when we use kureru after the –you form of another verb, acts as an auxiliary, which implies that the doer performed that action for the sake of the speaker. We mark the author of the action with any of the particles Wow gold Georgiawhile marking the receptor with any of the particles neither, either, gold to depending on the verb you use. Note that the recipient is either the speaker or someone in the speaker’s group, so we usually omit the recipient in an award.

Today’s Example 1 shows that Koji (speaking) asks Keisuke to eat chocolate for him because he doesn’t want to. Today’s Example 2 emphasizes the fact that Natsuko made the chocolate for him (speaker), probably because she loves him.

  1. Example 1 from today:
  2. Chotto tabete kureru? “Could you eat some for me?”

  3. Today’s example 2:
  4. Kanojo wa Kyonen mo choko tsukutte kureta n da yo ne. He also made me chocolate last year.

Training:

[(Doer) wa (ga)] [(receiver) ni (o, to)] Verb-you + kureru

Examples:

  1. Otoo-san, (watashi ni) atarashii geemu katte kureru?
  2. Dad, can you buy a new video game (for me)?

  3. Jooji ga (watashi ni) sono hon o kashite kureta.
  4. George lent the book (to me).

  5. Ashita (watashi no tame ni) paatii ni kite kuremasu ka?
  6. Could you come to the party (as a favor to me) tomorrow?

Health Fitness

Can you lose weight by going around in a circle? These are some real secrets to lose weight

Exercising is the best way to lose weight fast and here are some exercises to help you avoid crash dieting.

Walking is something that many people enjoy and helps with weight loss. However, you can improve your efficiency by walking on an incline. Using a treadmill is the best option as it allows you the luxury of walking whenever you want and not having a reason not to walk or walking on an incline. Raising the treadmill to a fifteen degree incline is something that will make a world of difference when walking for at least twenty minutes.

Use a hula hoop for ten minutes a day. Hula hoops that are between 36 and 42 inches in diameter that are weighted are the way to go. You don’t even need to do all ten minutes at a time, break it up into smaller intervals of hula hoop training time. You will see results in your buttocks and hips very quickly.

By using the HIIT technique (high intensity interval training) whenever you do cardiovascular exercises you will see results in a very short time. For example, if you’re jogging, running, using an elliptical trainer, or whatever your favorite cardio machine is, vary the intensity with intervals. Start with a relaxed interval and then follow it up with a shorter but more intense interval and repeat.

An example would be using a cardio machine at a slow pace for about twenty seconds and then following it up with a shorter interval at high intensity for ten seconds. By changing intensity for those six minutes, you’ll see better results than if you jogged steadily for twenty minutes.

If you spend time going around in circles like kids, you’ll see even better results with your weight loss. These are just a few techniques you can employ without going on extreme, harsh diets.

Legal Law

How to stop worrying and start living by Dale Carnegie

INTRODUCTION

In his early days, Dale Carnegie (November 24, 1888 – November 1, 1955) made a living teaching classes for adults at night schools in New York. He realized that one of the biggest problems for these adults was worry. He wrote the book of him reading what philosophers throughout the ages have said about worry. He also read hundreds of biographies, from Confucius to Churchill. According to him, we will not find anything new in his book, but we will find a lot that is not generally applied in our daily lives.

THE CONTENT

Carnegie wrote his book in eight parts. Let’s go through them all, and for the purpose of this article, I’ll share a story taken from each Part.

PART I: Fundamental Facts You Should Know About Worry

For this story, he was given the subtitle “Living in an Airtight Compartment for the Day”. Just live each day until bedtime.

It was about a homemaker in Michigan who had lost her husband to illness. She was very depressed and almost without money. She then wrote to her former employer and got her job back selling World Books to rural and urban school boards. She thought getting back on the road would help ease her depression; but driving alone and eating alone was almost more than she could bear. She found that the schools were bad and the roads were bad. It seemed that success was impossible.

Then one day, she read an article that lifted her spirits and gave her the courage to keep on living. There was an inspirational quote that said: “Every day is a new life for a wise man.” She typed it up and posted it on the windshield of his car where she could see it every minute as he drove. Since then, she told herself: “Today is a new life.”

He had managed to overcome his fear of loneliness and his fear of loving. She was happy and quite successful then and she had a lot of enthusiasm and love for life. She then she knew that she could live one day at a time.

PART II: Basic techniques for analyzing worry

It was an insurance man. When he started selling insurance, he was filled with boundless enthusiasm and love for his work. Then something happened. He got so discouraged that he despised his work and thought about quitting. Then one Saturday morning he sat down and tried to get to the root of his concerns. He began to ask himself the following questions:

What was the problem?

He wasn’t making a high enough profit for the staggering number of phone calls he made.

What was the cause of the problem?

He did pretty well selling a lead, until it was time to close a sale. Then the customer would say, “Well, I’ll think about it, sir. Come see me again.” The time wasted on these follow-up calls that were causing her depression.

What were all the possible solutions?

He checked his logbook for the last twelve months and studied the figures carefully. She Made an Amazing Discovery! He discovered that 70% of his sales had been closed in the first interview! Another 23% of their sales had been closed by the second interview. And another 7% had closed in those third, fourth, fifth, etc. interviews. He came to the conclusion that he was wasting half his workday on a part of his business that was responsible for only seven percent of his sales!

What was the best solution?

He quickly made the decision to immediately cut all visits beyond the second interview and spend the extra time developing new leads.

PART III: How to break the worry habit before it breaks you

This part of the book asked us to use the Law of Averages to prohibit our worries.

One summer a couple went camping in the Touquin Valley of the Canadian Rockies, about 7,000 feet above sea level. One night, a storm threatened to destroy his store. The outer tent shook and trembled and screamed and shrieked in the wind. The wife was terrified and she expected every minute to see her tent ripped up and thrown into the sky.

However, her husband kept saying, “Look dear, we are traveling with the Brewsters guides. They know what they are doing. They have been pitching tents in these mountains for sixty years. This tent has been here for many seasons. It is still it hasn’t collapsed and, by the law of averages, it won’t fade tonight, and even if it does, we can take shelter in another tent. So relax…” The wife did; and she slept soundly the rest of the night.

We should ask ourselves, “What are the chances, according to the law of averages, that a particular event we are concerned about will ever happen?”

PART IV: Ways to cultivate an attitude of mind that will bring you peace and happiness

We need to understand this important Rule: Instead of worrying about ingratitude, let’s expect it.

A businessman in Texas was bitter because his thirty-four employees didn’t say “Thank you” after receiving a bonus of about $300 each for Christmas.

According to Carnegie, instead of wallowing in resentment and self-pity, that man might have wondered why he didn’t get any appreciation. He maybe he underpaid and exaggerated his employees. Perhaps they considered that the bonus was not a gift, but something they had earned. Perhaps he was so judgmental and unapproachable that no one dared or wanted to thank him. Maybe they felt he gave the bonus because most of the profits went to taxes anyway.

On the other hand, maybe the employees were selfish, mean and rude. It can be this or it can be that. According to Carnegie, this man made the human and heartbreaking mistake of expecting gratitude. He just didn’t know human nature.

PART V: The Perfect Way to Conquer Worry

Carnegie wrote in his book that one day when his father returned from Maryville, where the banker had threatened to foreclose, he stopped his horses at a bridge over a river, got out of the wagon, and stood looking down for a long time. . the water, debating with himself if he should jump in and be done with it.

Years later, Carnegie Sr. told her that the only reason she didn’t jump was because of her mother’s deep, abiding, and joyous belief that if we loved God and kept His commandments, everything would be all right. Mother was right. Everything went well in the end. My father lived another happy forty-two years and died in 1941 at the age of eighty-nine.

PART VI: How not to worry about criticism

A national sensation was created in educational circles by an event that occurred in 1929. Learned men and women from all over the Americas rushed to Chicago to witness the affair. A few years earlier, a young man named Robert Hutchins had worked his way up at Yale, serving as a waiter, lumberjack, tutor, and clothesline salesman. Now, just eight years later, he was taking over as president of America’s fourth-richest university, the University of Chicago. He was only thirty years old. Incredible! Criticism roared down on this “wonder boy” like a rockslide. Even the newspapers joined the attack.

On the day he took office, a friend told Robert Maynard Hutchins’s father: “I was shocked this morning to read that newspaper editorial denouncing your son.”

“Yes,” replied old Hutchins, “it was severe, but we must remember that no one kicks a dead dog.”

Yes, and the more important a dog is, the more satisfaction people get from kicking it.

Carnegie added that when you get kicked or criticized, remember that it’s often done because it gives the kicker a feeling of importance. It often means that you are accomplishing something and deserve attention. Many people derive a sense of savage satisfaction from denouncing those who are better educated or more successful than they are.

PART VII: 6 Ways to Prevent Fatigue and Worry and Keep Your Energy and Mood Up

Dale Carnegie listed the following six ways in his book:

Rest before you get tired; Learn to relax in your work; Learn to relax at home; Apply good work habits (clear your desk of all paper except those related to the immediate problem at hand; do things in order of importance; when faced with a problem, solve it right then and there if you have the facts to make a decision ). decision; and learn to organize, delegate and supervise); To avoid worries and fatigue, put enthusiasm in your work; and Remember that no one ever died from lack of sleep. It is the worry about insomnia that does the damage, not the insomnia itself. If you can’t sleep, get up and work or read until you feel sleepy.

PART VIII: “How I Overcame Worry”

In this last part of the book, Carnegie wrote down 31 true stories. In this review, she would choose a story, titled “I lived in the garden of Allah.” He was an English gentleman from a wealthy family in Great Britain. After leaving the British Army in the early 20th century, he went to North West Africa and lived with the Arabs in the Sahara, the Garden of Allah.

He lived there for seven years, learning to speak the language of the nomads, wearing their clothes, eating their food, and adopting their way of life, which has changed very little in recent centuries. He also made a detailed study of the religion, Islam, and in fact later wrote a book on the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, entitled “The Messenger”.

He observed that nomads take life so calmly and never rush or sulk when things go wrong. They know that what is ordered is ordered; and no one except Allah can alter anything. However, that does not mean that in the face of disaster, they sit back and do nothing. This is illustrated below.

One day there was a fierce and burning sirocco wind storm in the Sahara. He howled and screamed for three days and three nights. It was so strong, so ferocious, that it carried sand from the Sahara hundreds of kilometers across the Mediterranean and sprayed it over the Rhone Valley in France. But the Arabs did not complain. They shrugged and said: “Mektoub!” which means “it was written”.

But immediately after the storm ended, they sprang into action, slaughtering all the lambs because they knew they would die anyway. After slaughtering the lambs, the herds were driven south to drink. All this was done calmly, without worries or complaints or regrets about their losses. The tribal chief said, “It wasn’t that bad. We could have lost everything. But praise Allah, we have forty percent of our sheep left to start over.”

Several years after leaving the Sahara, he still maintains that happy resignation to the inevitable that he had learned from the Arabs. That philosophy has done more to calm your nerves than a thousand sedatives ever could.

CONCLUSION

In our day to day, in the fight against worry, I believe in the principle of “Worry less about what others think, say and do”.

Lifestyle Fashion

Lies battered women tell themselves

There are apparently two types of battered women; those who grow up in an abusive climate and those who grow up in functional families enjoy healthy relationships but then become vulnerable either through bereavement or another major life crisis.

Of the many, many women who have spoken to or written to me over the years, I can only think of two who fall into the second category.

As different as their past relationship experiences may have been, however, in the course of their abusive relationship, the beliefs of these two groups of women become, tragically, indistinguishable.

This happens because abused women try very hard to learn from their relationships. They are desperate to learn what they are doing wrong so they can change it.

There are essentially two ways that they learn. The first is because of what your partner says. The second is from your interpretation of his behavior.

An abusive partner quickly becomes the most influential person in your life.
He has the power to take them to dizzying heights of happiness (although the statistical odds of this happening drop markedly as the relationship limps along).

He has the power to plunge them into the depths of despair, and he usually does. When he does, his partner needs to explain what has happened to him. She has been constantly programmed to believe that he is a precious diamond (albeit a diamond in the rough). Therefore, the problems in the relationship cannot really be yours. That being the case, they must be hers, right?

Theoretically, there’s good news here: if the responsibility for what’s going wrong in the relationship lies with her, then she just has to figure out what she’s doing wrong in order to change it. Then he will shed the harshness that he sometimes exhibits and forever they will live a life of incomparable joy and delight…

(Yes of course.)

Last night I watched the wonderful Derren Brown illustrate just how susceptible human beings are to suspicion. He created a situation that encouraged 5 people, of proven intelligence, to believe that their random and mindless acts could produce the result they wanted.

Best of all, these 5 resourceful individuals became so obsessed with futile behavior and searching for futile meanings that they missed the solution that he had displayed, quite prominently, hidden in plain sight; if they had only had the attention to look. they didn’t

My guess is that you have probably done that in your relationship. I know I did.

These are some of the lies that blind abused women to the reality of their relationship that is hidden from view.

“Everything is my fault”. Is your partner, perhaps, a newborn baby who can evade responsibility for his own behavior? When he yells obscenities, he foams at the mouth, punches through the wall, or worse, has absolutely no control? Are you really that powerful? (If so, how come you usually feel so helpless in the situation?)

“I’m being stupid.” Yes, you are, but not for the reasons you think. If you can completely dismiss your deep feelings of unhappiness, I have to admit it’s kind of emotionally stupid. If you don’t feel happy with him, the message you need to hear is that being around him makes you miserable. You can be very happy without it; once you get over the belief that you need it to make you happy.

“He doesn’t mean it/He doesn’t want to hurt me.” Maybe, just maybe, if he only said the hurtful things once, that might be true. But when they become a regular part of your repertoire, you better believe that:

a) He doesn’t care what he says to exercise control over you
b) refers to them

“He’s had a bad time.” Ok, so that may be true. The thing is, you too. And you’re putting all your energy into trying to make his life sweeter. This means that you have made the decision to create something meaningful precisely because of your past unhappiness. Sure, it will be even better when you start concentrating on doing it yourself instead of another wounded soldier. But if you’re capable of making that choice, how come he’s not?

“I only know that we can be happy together.” So it’s funny, isn’t it, that you’re saying this at a time when you’re feeling as low as ever in your life, and he has a lot to do with it. Given the chance, I know, you’ll tell me how happy you were at first. (If I had a penny for every time I heard that story, I’d be writing this from my palazzo in Venice, watching the gondolas glide up and down the Grand Canal.) But here’s the thing: your happiness spiel is the redacted version. Behind it is a less attractive story about the things that worried you about him since the word ‘go’. That is, before he went to work hypnotizing you with his silver-tongued lies about knowing you were so wonderful that you could make his life perfect. (Now there’s a difficult task. If he’s not prepared to do it himself, it’s just not going to happen. That’s an unspoken law of the universe.)

“It has a lot of potential.” Maybe it has and maybe it hasn’t. You are not their teacher, their boss or their agent. Even less are you his father or his psychotherapist. Unless you are under 16, and I sincerely hope you are not, it is your responsibility to realize your potential. Also, I really don’t think you’re talking about his potential to make it in the world. What worries him is his potential to become a great life partner. He clearly does not share that concern.

“I’m ruining/I ruined the best relationship I could ever hope for.” There are two glaring inaccuracies in this short sentence. First, the best relationship? Yes, you may have had other terrible relationships, but you wouldn’t be in a state of emotional breakdown right now if this was a good relationship. You would be happy, relaxed, confident. Everything about you screams “bad relationship,” and you know it. As for what’s the best you can hope for, that’s what he told you, right? So it must be correct. Because abusive men are never wrong. Ever. Are they? About everything. Sure, some present themselves very believably to the outside world, but you know as well as I do that within the confines of their home they have a pretty skewed view of most things.

“It’s not him, it’s me.” Well, at least you two agree on something; your hopelessness It can be the basis of a relationship, as you may have already discovered. It is certainly not the basis for a happy and functional one.

These aren’t the only lies battered women tell themselves, but they are some of the most destructive. If it’s lies you’ve been telling yourself, it’s time to seriously think about dating now. Your relationship is the ear of a sow, it will never be a silk bag. More specifically, your partner may be a frog, but he will never be a prince.

You, on the other hand, have so many generous and loving qualities. They are the ones who got you into this relationship in the first place. They are still with you. It’s time for you to seriously think about going out and washing yourself off some of your love. You will be surprised how rich the rewards will be.

(C) 2008 Annie Kaszina

Pets

Exploring California’s Wild Islands: Channel Islands National Park

The Channel Islands have the makings of a great national park: jaw-dropping scenery, abundant wildlife and wildflowers, fascinating historical sites, and a sea voyage to boot. Thanks to that incredible landscape and flora and fauna, this national park is also a National Marine Sanctuary. And because you have to take a boat or plane trip to visit these islands, enjoying the park’s attributes is much more of an adventure than a typical national park visit.

One advantage of that limited access is that there is no overcrowding here. Visits in 2012 were only about 250,000 people. That same year, Yosemite had 4 million visitors, about 16 times more. In addition to being a National Park and National Marine Sanctuary, it is also part of the International Man and Biosphere Program. The Channel Islands National Park consists of five islands, four islands that form a chain: San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and Anacapa; and one separate from the others, Santa Barbara. The mainland of California and the four Channel Islands form the Santa Barbara Channel. Oddly enough, the island called “Santa Barbara” is not part of the Channel that bears that name.

Your starting point should be the park’s visitor center, which is located on the mainland in the city of Ventura. You’ll find exhibits, an indoor tidal pool, maps, books, and a simulated caliche (kah lee chee) ghost forest (more on that later). The telescope at the top of the building allows you to get a closer look at the islands, on a clear day.

Island Packers Company, the park’s concessionaire, adjoins the park’s headquarters in Ventura Harbor. As the name implies, Island Packers is a cargo travel provider, but its beasts of burden are ships. Island Packers guides are wildlife experts. If they see a blue whale or a pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins or a group of seagulls circling and swarming as they cross the Channel, the skipper will head towards them for a closer look. Around the islands, you are likely to see harbor seals, California sea lions, and brown pelicans.

At fourteen miles from Ventura, Anacapa is the closest to the mainland. Anacapa is the smallest of the islands and is made up of three islets, East, Middle, and West Anacapa, the largest of the three. Western Anacapa, protected as a Research Natural Area, is the world’s primary breeding area for the previously endangered brown pelican. Today, the pelican has recovered so well that it was removed from the endangered species list in 2009. Anacapa is also the largest breeding area for the western gull.

The team takes you over Arch Rock, Anacapa’s iconic landmark, to see a popular hauling area for harbor seals. They then circle back to the landing cove at the eastern end of East Anacapa. Guides take passengers to the landing area six by six in boats, where they disembark directly onto a ladder on the pier. A stairway built into the side of a cliff leads 157 steps up to the island’s plateau. A large crane carries supplies for the rangers who live here.

Once in Anacapa, you can hike a 1-mile loop trail to circle the island. Western gulls and common seals are the most frequently seen animals. During the breeding season, seagulls could be seen nesting up the trail. The trail winds through stands of giant coreopsis, or tree sunflower. This 4-foot-tall tree-trunked sunflower grows on all islands and blooms in the spring. The aptly named Inspiration Point, at the western end of the islet, offers breathtaking views of the West Anacapa Peaks and Santa Cruz Island.

The Bureau of Lighthouses, which later became the Coast Guard, has operated a lighthouse in east Anacapa since 1932. It was the last lighthouse permanently built on the west coast. The remains of a series of shipwrecks, mostly before the construction of the lighthouse, but also after, lie scattered around Anacapa and the other Channel Islands. The wreck of the sunken Winfield Scott and other wrecks can be explored by SCUBA divers.

You can camp on Anacapa Island, but in addition to your camping gear, you’ll also need to bring all the water you’ll need. The first residents of the lighthouse had a concrete water catchment basin to channel rain into a cistern to supplement their water supply, but the gulls seemed to like landing here so much that people rarely used the captured water. You can see this basin in the southeastern part of the island, not far from the camp.

The return journey to the mainland is often against the prevailing wind and current, making the journey more rough. For those prone to motion sickness, take Dramamine or Ginger, which may be more effective according to some medical research.

Not including Santa Barbara Island, which is located about 54 miles southeast of Ventura, the Channel Islands can be thought of as the Santa Monica Mountain Range with a coastline. The geologic forces that created the Santa Monica Mountain Range were also at work here. In the geological past, these islands were united into one large island, called Santarosae. With the general warming of the Earth after the Ice Age, rising sea levels drove them apart. Rocky shorelines provide a firm base for algae which in turn form a base for invertebrates, fish, birds and marine mammals.

The islands are a special place to see rare species or relatively common species in greater abundance than usual. The island fox inhabits the largest islands: Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel. It is a domestic cat-sized carnivore related to the mainland gray fox and lives on deer mice. San Miguel is known for having the largest variety of seals and sea lions (pinnipeds, meaning “feather-footed”) that breed on its shores. The California sea lion, Steller sea lion, northern elephant seal, northern fur seal, and harbor seal breed on the island. The Guadalupe fur seal does not breed here, it only visits. Many species of land and sea birds nest on all the islands. In fact, Santa Rosa has a freshwater marsh where blackbirds and other mainland birds nest.

The islands have a rich history. The Chumash, “island people”, inhabited the islands for about 6,000 years. Its signs are found in 3,000 archaeological sites. Artifacts such as shack rubble, piled seashells called middens, and stone tools are evidence of their past. In 1542, when the first European explorer visited this site, there were between 2,000 and 3,000 Chumash. In 1959, Phil Orr discovered a human femur in Arlington Springs on Santa Rosa Island. Using more advanced techniques to age ancient material in 1999, scientists dated the bone at 13,000 years old, making it the oldest known human find in the Americas. This find supports the idea that the first inhabitants of North and South America arrived by boat. The first European to set foot in what is now California, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo wintered here but died from a fall. Although his grave has never been found, monuments honor him on San Miguel Island and in San Diego.

After the Chumash were transferred to the mainland missions around 1814, the land was owned by a variety of people. At one time, the islands produced cattle, garden crops, and wine, labeled Isla Santa Cruz. Since World War II, the US Navy has used San Miguel Island as a firing range. Today, it is used for missile testing at the Pt. Mugu Air-Naval Missile Test Center.

Although Anacapa is the most common destination, the dealership offers regular trips to the other islands. They also offer sailing excursions aboard a schooner. In 1978, The Nature Conservancy acquired an interest in Santa Cruz Island from the Santa Cruz Island Company. With Island Packers, TNC offers trips to the island from May through November. Trips to San Miguel are planned for the fall. Because this trip is infrequent, you’ll need to make reservations well in advance. There are one and two day trips available. On both trips, you sleep aboard the ship en route, only to wake up in Cuyler Harbor the next morning. Diving these islands is an unforgettable experience, with kelp forests and shipwrecks to explore.

A trip to Channel Islands National Park is much more adventurous than visiting many other national parks. Abundant wildlife, steep cliffs, the journey across the Pacific Ocean from the mainland, unique plant life, and historical artifacts make the experience like visiting another world. The densely populated cities of Southern California are less than a 2 hour drive from Ventura. You have to go there to believe it’s real.

Channel Island National Park

Mailing Address: 1901 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura, CA 93001, Telephone Number: (805)658-5730

Website: http://www.nps.gov/chis

island packers

Mailing Address: 1691 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura, CA 93001, Telephone Number: (805)642-1393

Website: http://www.islandpackers.com

Channel Islands Aviation

mailing address: 305 Durley Avenue, Camarillo, CA 93010, telephone number: (805)987-1301

Real Estate

Is the Schwinn Airdyne Evolution Comp exercise bike better?

The Schwinn Airdyne Evolution Comp Exercise Bike is an update to the classic dual-action exercise bike. Everything can be improved, and the standard Airdyne model is no exception. To show they have common sense, the Schwinn folks didn’t try to replace the original Airdyne. They just introduced this model as an additional model. Good move. This is how the Evo Comp does it best…

It’s the breeze… and the noise… See, Airdyne models use the resistance of turning on a fan to create the load you work against. Rotating fans produce wind and noise. In this case, a lot of wind and a lot of noise.

What the Evo has is a different fan and a different drive system. That fan is smaller and the drive is a belt, not a chain. Plus, that makes it a physically smaller machine, easier to move and store.

What you get is a quieter bike with less wind noise and less ride noise too. It’s a good deal. In addition, you also get less breeze. Now, a breeze isn’t all bad, but the good old Airdyne can make gale force winds. That’s not good.

So with the new Schwinn Airdyne Evolution Comp Exercise Bike, you get the same kind of rugged design as the previous model. But you get the same performance with less noise and less wind. It’s worth checking out if you’re looking for a sturdy exercise bike that’s likely to work for as long as you want to pedal on an exercise bike.

Shopping Product Reviews

The MacBook Air: why it’s probably the best laptop on the market

Here we’ll take a look at the exciting new MacBook Air, one of the latest iterations of Apple and the MacBook family. One of the thinnest and lightest MacBooks Apple has ever produced. We immediately see that it has a very interesting port and connectivity configuration. Starting on the right side of the MacBook, it offers a single USB port, a standard audio output, a mini DVI port for monitor output. On the left side of the drive, you have a magnetic latch for the power supply for the drive itself.

Overall, the MacBook Air is very clean and stylish; the surfaces are smooth and well defined. The very refreshing and unique design allows us not to worry about all the different ports and settings that tend to confuse us or create information overload. If you are a business traveler and need a multi-port array to use, you can always just add a multi-device adapter that meets this need.

The MacBook runs the latest version of Mac OS, which is Leopard, and comes pre-installed with a variety of useful gadgets, from iTunes, to iLife, to your Safari web browser, as well as Garage Band. Startup time is very fast for most of the pre-installed apps relative to other laptops on the market today. I found that the benchmarks were faster than I expected. We’ve been really impressed with the performance and agility the MacBook Air has shown so far.

Weighing around 2 pounds and having a paper-thin profile, the MacBook Air stands up to commercials showing it slipping into a manila folder, it can. The other very interesting element included in the MacBook Air is the multi-touch panel which is very large and easy to use. When comparing this laptop to other closely related laptops, they don’t even come close in design or versatility.

The MacBook Air along with flash memory storage replaces the traditional hard drive, allowing this drive to work faster and more efficiently. Pictures, videos, movies and music have been made easy with flash technology. This also provides a faster application startup and a more stable drive. This was also another reason why the MacBook Air is so thin.

The MacBook Air also provides a built-in Face Time camera. This camera is mounted on the very thin bezel just above the screen. With the Face Time app, you can make video calls to other Mac currencies such as iPhone, iPod touch (with Wi-Fi connections), and of course video calls. Processing power is provided by Intel Core 2 Duo. This allows optimal performance when multitasking or running more than 6 applications at the same time. With Duo Core technology, it allows processors to alternate jobs, improving overall performance. The combination of the 1.8 GHz processor with the 1066 MHz front side bus allows this unit to outperform any other in its class.

With NVIDIA GeForce graphics card with 320MB of RAM, you’ll see hours of flawless Full HD video. You’ll enjoy faster frame refresh rates while playing your favorite video games. With iMovie, your editing has been made much easier. Movie and photo management has been sped up due to the versatility offered by the graphics card.

The MacBook Air’s overall performance and sleek looks are probably why it’s the best laptop on the market, and the reasons are pretty clear. This is a laptop that doesn’t need to be sold because it sells itself. If you’re looking for a solution to a laptop problem, MacBook Air is the ticket. Get yours today.

Sports

Understand casino odds and become a better player

Gambling is quite popular in various cities and states around the world. The processes and procedures, although different for each type of game situation, have the same principle. The principle is that the player wins or loses depending on some set rules while placing any experience skills in the background or in inconsequential positions. You are gambling when you bet that your favorite baseball team will win tonight’s game. You are also betting whether you put money to win or lose for this weekend’s basketball results. We use this example because it is wrong to believe that gambling only takes place in casinos. Although casinos are still the main gambling venues.

Casino odds are unique in that they are usually designed to favor the house and only give you, the player, a slim chance of winning. Casino odds can be explained as the amount that will roll over for any player if they win on a particular bet or game session. For example, in a casino sports book, odds are the amount that will be awarded against any bet or bet placed. This simply means that if you are betting on your favorite basketball team and the odds were 50 to 1, you are supposed to win at least $50 on a one dollar bet.

Although the odds are of three types depending on the country your casino is located in, it is the main determinant of the type of odds that would apply.

British odds or fractional odds are mainly used in casinos located in the UK and other European countries. This type of odds gives you the opportunity to receive your original bet as well as the payout when you win. If, for example, the odds read 5/1, expect to get $5 for every dollar wagered or vice versa.

The odds used mainly in Australia and some other European countries are the decimal odds. Decimal odds, when displayed, allow you to see what you would get as a payout, as well as the bet you placed. The decimal odds would show up as 1:20 if you saw 1/5, assuming you had odds of five to one. In this case you would see 6 because you are going to get 5 plus the 1 you bet.

The most widely used odds in the United States of America are American odds or money line odds. This screen is quite simple and usually factors in how much you need to bet to win a certain amount. A plus sign in front of any screen means you are winning, for example +$50 on a $100 bet means you would receive $150 while a minus sign in front of the screen means the sum is losing.

Betting and gambling are two complicated undertakings, especially for any beginner. Don’t make the mistake of rushing into betting until you understand the basic terms like one to five and five to one and others. You can practice betting solo before betting your money on the real bet.

Tours Travel

Parent-Teacher Organizations: A Staple in Every School

As school expenses are reduced each year, Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) are becoming even more important within the community of each school. PTOs are a lifeline when it comes to ensuring that students have the enrichment materials and programs that make the learning experience more complete. To do this, fundraising is essential and PTOs have found themselves working extra hard to balance such an important budget.

But PTOs do much more than just raise funds to help pay for school supplies and equipment. They raise funds for things that do not fall within the scope of a typical classroom experience. Funds raised are returned to teachers as teacher appreciation gifts and luncheons; given back to students as field trips, enrichment programs, and graduation gifts to help them experience things outside of the classroom curriculum; and help build a sense of community among school families through fun family events, ice cream socials, and school performances.

PTOs have become a staple within every school system. Their fundraising efforts help alleviate additional costs for parents and provide educational supplies and programs to students for little, and in most cases no cost. However, the question for many PTOs is how do they raise the necessary funds to support the school community and what are some of the ways to pay these funds back.

This question should actually be answered in reverse. Every business must develop a budget and a PTO is no exception. Before the start of the school year, the PTO should make a list of the supplies and programs they would like to provide to students, teachers, and the school as a whole. Does the library need new books? What school supplies do teachers need? How many excursion buses will have to be subsidized? What enrichment programs will be provided? The list must be detailed and must include costs.

Diversify what you plan to subsidize. By doing this, everyone will feel satisfied in some way. Let’s say the PTO offers some enrichment programs in science and art, buys some new sports equipment, and contributes to the cost of buses for field trips, but doesn’t help with the purchase of some much-needed school supplies. Teachers may feel that they have been overlooked and their participation in the PTO may decrease. Similarly, you don’t want parents to feel like most of the PTO budget goes to school supplies or is not evenly distributed among students in all grades.

Remember, every member of the school community is important. They may not be PTO members this year, but you are still hoping to recruit them next year. Analyze the needs of the school as a whole and then branch out. The principal or principal of the school is a great resource who is usually involved in all events at the school and can assist the PTO in ensuring that everyone’s needs are met.

Once the PTO understands why they are fundraising and the anticipated expenses, they can find a productive solution to raise the funds. However, this part of the equation is much more complicated. You need to determine what types of fundraisers will help you achieve your fundraising goal and ensure they are implemented successfully. Do this by creating a list consisting of trusted fundraisers that have done well in the past. Perhaps these include bake sales, book fairs, bake sales, etc. Find out how you can improve on these old resources by visiting online sites like PTO Ideas, where you can find out what other schools are doing and get some new ideas.

Also include on your list one or two new fundraisers to try. Perhaps your goal this year is to create a 24/7/365 school website that potentially makes money through affiliate marketing and advertising. Again, do some research to determine what is a good fit for your organization. For example, a corral plaza dance might be a big event in the country, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a barn in a downtown metropolitan area.

Live auctions are another example. An auction can be a huge undertaking for someone who has never planned one before. PTO Ideas explains exactly how to implement an auction and what it takes to make the event a success. The site provides details on how to get sponsorships, publicity, what type of room to reserve, how to develop and decorate around a theme, where to find an auctioneer, how much to charge for tickets, what printed material will be needed, what food and drinks to serve , how to display auction items, how to incorporate a silent auction, raffle, and gift baskets, 50+ auction item ideas you can solicit from parents, teachers, students, and businesses, and more!

Other things to consider when choosing fundraising events are the needs and spending habits within your own community, where you will hold the event, who will attend the event, and whether you need money up front to host the event. Larger events, such as auctions and golf tournaments, will require some cash on hand during the planning stages to pay for supplies, advertising, catering, and other items that are not sponsored donations.

Also, when will the event take place? Post a calendar of events and fundraisers. Evenly spread fundraisers throughout the school year and make sure there are no conflicting events at the same time. Try not to overwhelm parents with fundraising requests. Pick a limited number of quality events and make them work for you. And remember, at larger events you can always offer merchandise for sale that complements your fundraiser. For example, advertise and sell tickets to a screening event, but then at the event offer drinks, lunch items, and raffle tickets for sale. Parents will be less overwhelmed with fundraising requests this way than if they sent out a separate flyer to purchase raffle tickets.

Finally, understand how you will implement the event. The answer to this is actually derived from the PTO’s own organizational chart. A PTO typically consists of board members (presidents, vice president, secretary, treasurer). Each of these board members is responsible for overseeing the committees. A committee is formed for each fundraising event and consists of a board member, designated committee chair, and several volunteer PTO members. The number of volunteers on each committee is based on the workload of planning the fundraising event. For example, the Auction Committee may have twenty volunteers, while the Garage Sale Committee may only require five.

Each committee chair must provide the implementation procedures to their volunteers. Print the instructions from the PTO Ideas website or draw your own; but tell them exactly what you would like them to do and how to do it. Then remember to thank them for helping!

Parent-teacher organizations have become very important to America’s schools. Research various types of fundraising programs in depth to choose the ones that are best suited to your school and best meet the needs of those you will be marketing to. It is critical that fundraising organizations understand the needs and spending habits within their own community and offer affordable programs. In turn, the community will feel that it can happily help and support the school.

Technology

Cloud storage: the sanctuary of your files

Have you heard of Google Drive? Dropbox? iCloud? These are some of the most used cloud storage today.

Think of it like a USB flash drive, as most of us call it. We can store anything on it: Word documents, PowerPoint slides, photos, videos, and more. A cloud storage works the same. The difference is that cloud storage can store a large amount of data without having any hardware devices, because everything is done online.

Anything can happen with offline documents

Most of us keep our important files (Word documents, photos, etc.) on our PCs, or transfer them to a USB flash drive or other external devices. But there are unwanted circumstances where our PCs get a virus and shut down unexpectedly, or our flash drives get damaged. We tend to get nervous (especially when there are urgent business for meetings!) and we can’t do anything. Isn’t it frustrating?

Benefits of cloud storage applications

It’s free. Many cloud storages are free. That is, users only need to register for an account and that’s it! You have your own cloud storage in front of you. Two of the most used are Google Drive and Dropbox.

(Note: Once you sign up, there is a default storage size assigned to your account.)

It can be accessed from anywhere. The files can be accessed through other PCs, a mobile phone and a tablet. It brings convenience to users especially when they are on the go and need to prepare some presentation or report. You just need to login to your account.

(Note: For mobile phones and tablets, you need to download the app from Google Play or App Store before signing in.)

It is upgradable. Once an account is successfully created, there is a default storage size. For Google Drive, it offers 15 GB free storage while Dropbox offers 2 GB storage. The good thing is that users can upgrade the storage to have space for more files and pay an affordable monthly fee.

It’s easy to use. Most of these storage apps allow you to simply drag and drop files from your PC, create folders, and organize them. Files can also be downloaded quickly!

Get your own storage app now

Get started with Google Drive and Dropbox. With just a few clicks, you will have your own cloud storage and can save files immediately. You don’t have to worry about your files because this cloud storage will take care of them. Isn’t it amazing?