The Man Who Saved the World

Until now few people knew about the man who saved the world (literally). But last week retired colonel Stanislav Petrov, the russian who averted nuclear war received the World Citizen Award at the U.N. in N.Y.

Get a Standing Ovation

How to Get a Standing Ovation has some great tips that’ll help you become a terrific public speaker. If you’re speaking in public any time soon - or just want to tame those butterflies - I highly suggest you read this.

A Flyer's Manual

Click here to read four insightful articles from Fodor's Travel Wire. They include:

How to Save on Your Next Flight
11 Tips for Smarter Packing
Smoother Sailing through Airport Security
Make Your Flight More Comfortable

We travel a lot and yet I found plenty of tips I wish I'd known about before.

18 Tricks to Teach Your Body

Click here to learn about 18 neat ways to "hack" your body in order to soothe a burn, cure a toothache, clear a stuffed nose or, my favorite, get rid of a stitch in your side:

If you're like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right foot hits the ground. This puts downward pressure on your liver (which lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm and creates a side stitch, according to The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men. The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.

An Insult or a Compliment

Annette and I just got an email from someone telling us they'd seen our photo online at an - ehem - unexpected website. I immediately clicked on over to the site to find out how our image was being used to promote Healthy Andropause: The Safe, Effective Alternative to Looking Old, Impotent and Pale (click here to see it - UPDATE: upon my request, they have taken down our image, but just imagine our photo being where that burly man with the moustache now is.)

Annette laughed a lot. But I'm not sure if I should take it as a compliment - "andropausal" men hope to look viral like the guy in the photo with the beautiful girl - or should I be insulted that they used the photo without asking permission and somehow "tanned" my lilly-white skin to make me look less - i dunno - testosterone deficent.

How To Avoid Being Robbed/Phished

"Phishing" is a form of online confidence scam. It can be very difficult to distinguish between legitimate emails from banks and other online commerce services and phishing scams.

According to data from e-mail security firm MailFrontier, only 4 percent of users can spot a phished e-mail 100 percent of the time. That’s a very sobering thought as the holiday season is upon us and Americans flock online for their shopping needs.

But don't fear, help is here=> Test your phishing IQ by clicking HERE and taking the quiz. At the end of the quiz the website gives tells you how to avoid having online thieves phish your information.
(note: I only answered 7 out of 10 correctly)

Confessions of a Car Salesman

Read the following article before walking into a car dealership: Confessions of a Car Salesman. This undercover reporter brings to light the intriguing and testosterone-filled world of car sales.

Calvin and Hobbes Snow Art Gallery

Would you like to be moved to smile or maybe even chuckle? If so - and this is 100% gauranteed or your money back - click the following link and enjoy the Calvin and Hobbes Snow Art Gallery. After you see the gallery, if you'd like to add my name to your will just have your lawyer get in touch with my lawyer.

So, What About Halloween?

Click here to read on of the best articles we've ever read on the Halloween dilemma that many parents struggle with. Margi McCombs, educator, mother, and friend of ours, provides a not-so-standard response to the issue. Here's a blurb:

Halloween, for many of us, holds fond memories of childhood fun—costumes, twinkling candles, crisp fall twilight, holding Daddy’s hand as we stroll the neighborhood, and mountains of candy by the end of the evening. So what’s the problem? [But] for others, Halloween represents all that we fear and hate the most....a relentless focus on death, dismemberment, evil spirits, satanic themes and fear itself.

Tough Learning

A meaty but very helpful presentation on Tough Learning. How to be be effective at learning and developing oneself over the long-haul. My favorite is the author's 3rd point (about 4/5 of the way down the page)... it's a great technique for transformational teaching/learning.

They ARE Smart, We Just Bore Them

Faculty nationwide are bewildered and frustrated with the students they see in their classrooms today (see this article, to feel their angst). Many believe there has been a fundamental change in the way contemporary students view knowledge and derive meaning... and it is vastly different from that of their instructors.

Annette and I think kids are as sharp as ever and probably more creative. It's not their problem that they are growing up in a world full of dynamic colors, sounds, video, and interactivity but when they go to school they are told to sit down, shut up, and listen. Sure, if you tell most kids to write a 500 word essay on a book and you'll probably be disapointed. But give a 5th-grader a camcorder or an iPod and they'll read parts of the book out loud and tell you why they like it, they'll make a short video to show you what they got out of the book, or they'll do interviews. Then you'll see the lights go on.

They're not dumb... they're bored.

See Jane sit and listen.
See Dick take notes in a book.
See Spot poop.

Um, let's try again... can Jane surf, take classes online and help save the coral reefs at the same time? Can Dick travel the world, maintaining a blog about the different cultures and the wild variety of ways they've adapted to media-based urbanization? Can Spot sit by Jane's beach towel and guard her laptop while she surfs?

All this was inspired by the following article at the Washington Post: The New Teacher's Pet.

Corruption Index 2005

.............(click map for more detail)

Like children anxiously waiting for Christmas morning, or like a cat waiting for that fat mouse to come out of it's hole... that's how Annette and I are waiting every year for Transparency International to publish the latest Corruption Perceptions Index.

Not Going to Hell in a Handbasket

So there!...for all of you who think the world is going to hell in a handbasket, read this article: BBC News: Wars Less Frequent, Less Deadly. Here's an excerpt:

[The study] found the number of armed conflicts had fallen by more than 40% in the past 13 years, while the number of very deadly wars had fallen by 80%.

Firefox: using it smart-like

Click this link=>The power user's guide to Firefox to learn some great tips for how to take advantage of FIREFOX (every savvy geek's favorite Internet browser).

Bono: Grace Over Karma

Great Q & A with Bono over at Christianity Today. Here's a taste:

There's nothing hippie about my picture of Christ. The Gospels paint a picture of a very demanding, sometimes divisive love, but love it is. I accept the Old Testament as more of an action movie: blood, car chases, evacuations, a lot of special effects, seas dividing, mass murder, adultery. The children of God are running amok, wayward. Maybe that's why they're so relatable. But the way we would see it, those of us who are trying to figure out our Christian conundrum, is that the God of the Old Testament is like the journey from stern father to friend. When you're a child, you need clear directions and some strict rules. But with Christ, we have access in a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship. The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at a Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combination is what makes the Cross.

Totally Absurd Inventions

The title says it all, this page has illustrations and fun comments about actual U.S. patented inventions like the cheese filtered cigarette or the gerbil shirt. Click on over to Totally Absurd Inventions & Patents and enjoy a few mind-boggling laughs.

Guide to Sleeping in Airports

If you travel a lot, chances are you’ve had a long layover or red-eye that has caused you to have to try and catch some shut eye while at the airport. Or maybe you just really want to save money on lodging? The Budget Traveller’s Guide to Sleeping in Airports aims to make that a bit easier.

Airports all over the world are ranked based on how “comfortable” they are for sleepers and their are tons of stories, tips and tricks on getting the best possible airport sleep in. Many of these are fairly entertaining as well.
(CLICK PHOTO: Annette, 3 am, Frankfurt airport en route to Ethiopia)

Create a New Habit or Break an Old One

click for full cartoon
Learning expert Dr. Stephanie Burns shares strategies on how to break a bad habit and train ourselves to create new habits. She defines a habit as an activity that you do without thought (like brushing your teeth, combing you hair, locking the door); and Burns says that habituating productive activities makes them less energy-consuming because you don’t have to spend time motivating yourself to do them. Read her tips here=> Make or Break a Habit.

10 Ways To Get An Upgrade

I like getting upgraded from cattle car class. However I think it has only happened once to Annette and me and, thus, my interest in this article: 10 ways to get an upgrade - Business Travel - MSNBC.com.

Coffee Hacks

At 43 Folders you'll find tons of great tips on how to improve, enjoy, extend or just drink you coffee better. Here's an example:

If coffee fresh from the coffee maker is too hot for you, but you don't want to dilute it with cold water or cream, freeze some coffee in an ice cube tray and add a coffee cube to your cup.

Click the following link to read more or even add you own: Coffee hacks at 43Folders

Leaving the toilet seat up?

If you're bored and reruns of the Love Boat or Friends just won't do it for you, I promise the following public debate about the "Toilet seat up or down" issue will have you rolling on the floor at least a few times: Leaving the toilet seat up? | Ask MetaFilter Saturday Night Live could get a full season of skits out of the witty repartee found here.

10 Digital Photography Tips

New York Times' David Pogue offers 10 of the best tips I've come across for better digital photography in his article: Less Cursing, Better Pictures: 10 Suggestions. Here's a taste:

* Extend the camera’s battery life by turning off the screen display and use the old-fashioned viewfinder.
* Pre-focus action shots by “half-pressing” the shutter to bring the camera into focus before your kid jumps in the pool.
* Turn off digital zoom. It only gets you grainy photos. You’re better off using optical zoom on a high-quality picture setting and cropping the photo in an image editor on the computer after the fact.

Verbal Conflict Resolution Tips

photo - PhotoSearch.com
Do you ever need help with conflict resolution or just want to understand more about how you communicate with people around you? If so, then take a look at Joshua Sebzda's website - Quick Verbal Tactics. It’s a information rich website all about how to keep your cool and help resolve differences. It’s done in a very straightforward manner, with lots of examples, an interactive temperment test and just enough humor. While I can’t vouch for how well the techniques work, not having tried them, I can say it’s an interesting read and is full of lots of information on conflict resolution.

Save Money, Know When You'll Die

The Web is learning new tricks every day. These surprising sites and services will help you be a better parent, travel for less, save you time (or waste it)--and one even counts down the days till your ultimate demise. Click the following link to read about the 30 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do on the Internet.

Everything You Thought You Knew About Grilling Is Wrong

For those of you in the Northern hemisphere, summer - and it's accompanying cookouts - is just just around the corner. Want to grill that steak or hamburger to perfection?...Click on the following link for 5 helpful tips: Everything You Thought You Knew About Grilling Is Wrong