Quote of the Day Jan 3rd 2016

Family isn't always blood

Family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs, the ones who accept you for who you are. 

The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what. So be thankful for what you have. 

Don't wait until its too late to tell someone how much you love them and how much you care about them, because when they're gone, no matter how loud you shout and cry, they wont hear you anymore.

Golden Milk and Golden paste

Golden paste is a turmeric-based paste that taken orally provides health benefits to humans as well as animals 

Taking it daily in this paste is designed to improve absorption an easy way to tap into its incredible healing benefits.

How to make Golden Paste:

1. ½ cup turmeric powder
2. 1 cup spring water 
3. 1.5 tsp ground black pepper
4. 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil

Directions:

Mix water (1 cup) with turmeric powder in a pan and slowly heat it up and stir for 6-10 minutes until you get a thick paste (add the additional ½ cup water if it is too thick).

Add black pepper and oil and continue stirring until all the ingredients are fully mixed in together.

Allow the paste to cool. Store in the refrigerator in a jar for up to 1-2 weeks.

How to Use Golden Paste: A lot of people incorporate the golden paste into their diet or daily routine, instead of taking it once in a while like a “medication.” The paste can be taken as is in small amount (1/4 tsp) 2 to 3 times a day, or mixed with honey for a better taste.

Golden Milk is  a way to consume turmeric for its many health benefits is in golden milk form.

How to Make Golden Milk:

1. 1 teaspoon of coconut oil
2. 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric paste
3.  Honey for taste
4. 2 Cinnamon sticks

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together over medium heat except the honey. Do not allow it to boil. Add a bit of honey for taste and drink as soon as it’s cool enough.

Happy Holidays

Snake Love

There once was a woman who had a pet snake that she loved very much. 

The snake was about 7 feet long and one day it just stopped eating. 

After several weeks of trying everything she could to get the snake to eat, the woman took it to the vet. 

The woman explained the situation to the vet and he asked her,

 "Has your snake been sleeping with you at night or snuggling really close and stretching himself out?

" The woman replied, "Yes he's been doing it everyday and it makes me so sad that I can't help him feel better."

The vet says "Ma'am your snake is not sick, he has been preparing to eat you. 

He's been sizing you up everyday so he knows how big he has to be, and not eating so he has enough room to digest you.

Moral of the story: 

You've gotta recognize the snakes out there in your life.

Just because they seem close to you  it doesn't mean their intentions are good.

 Even Judas gave the first kiss.

Happy Factors

If I have missed out something please remind me in comments ..

Thorn

Meat and Cancer

Bacon, burgers and sausages are as big a cancer threat as cigarettes, global health chiefs warned today.A new World Health Organisation report has classified processed meat as carcinogenic alongside arsenic and asbestos.

Officials said just 50g of processed meat a day – less than one sausage – increases the risk of bowel cancer by almost a fifth.

The report also classified red meat as ‘probably carcinogenic’ – one rank below – but added that it had some nutritional benefits.

Experts are now urging the public to avoid processed meat where possible and to have a bean salad for lunch rather than a BLT.

Red Moon

The blood red moon over Glastonbury, West England

Sep 28th 2015

What Happens to Your Body One Hour After Eating a Big Mac?

The graphic, from website Fast Food Menu Price, breaks down exactly what the Big Mac does to your body within an hour of eating it.

It’s not pretty: Among other things, the iconic burger raises your blood sugar, dehydrates you, and makes you feel hungry again just 40 minutes after eating it.

In the first 10 minutes: The Big Mac (and its 540 calories) raises your blood sugar to abnormal levels.

After 20 minutes: The Big Mac’s bun has high levels of high-fructose corn syrup and sodium — both of which are addictive and make your body crave more.

After 30 minutes: The burger’s 970 milligrams of sodium can cause dehydration.  This can cause high blood pressure and can ultimately lead to heart disease and stroke.

After 40 minutes: You start to feel hungry again. When you eat a high calorie meal, your body’s insulin response can bring down your glucose levels, causing you to want to eat more. The bun’s high-fructose corn syrup is quickly absorbed by your GI tract, creating insulin spikes and even bigger hunger pangs.

After 60 minutes: Your body typically takes 24 to 72 hours to digest food, but burgers can take more time because they are greasier. The Big Mac can take more than three days to fully digest.

Source https://fastfoodmenuprice.com/big-mac-revealed/ 

Snot

snɒt/

noun

informal

1. 1.

   nasal mucus.
2. 2.

   a contemptible or worthless person.

Retired actors of yesterday

100 (Free) Ways To Learn to Speak Another Language

1. BBC Greek  This option from the BBC is the full package, with videos, games, exercises, and audio to make it all Greek to you.
2. Espacios publicos  Very quickly into the 20 hours of introductory Spanish course material, you’ll discover this means “public spaces.”
3. Beginners’ Chinese  Mandarin Chinese is presented here in more than six hours of material for people with absolutely no prior experience with the language.
4. French 101  Fifteen introductory French video lessons from Carnegie Mellon University are at your disposal, and you can save your work if you create an account.
5. Introduction to Portuguese  Start studying now and you’ll be ready for Carnival in February 2013.
6. BBC German  With tabs for beginners, school German, vocab, and video tutorials, the BBC has you covered.
7. Learn How to Speak Japanese  More than 40 instructional videos are bolstered by instruction in grammar, Japanese history, and the country’s culture.
8. American Sign Language  With videos and a lengthy glossary complete with pictures and descriptions, Lifeprint.com gets a thumbs up for learning sign language.
9. Getting Started on Classical Latin  In 10 hours you’ll learn how engrained Latin is in English and get a good grip on sentence structure and pronunciation.
10. The Big Welsh Challenge  Can you learn Welsh? The BBC brings you all the tools you need with this free course.
11. Elementary Russian  Learn Russian by watching the BBC series Goodbye Summer and working through the 70+ exercises.
12. Farsi 1  This brief intro to Farsi, or Persian, comes courtesy of Wikiversity and a $0 price tag.
13. Learn English Online  For non-native speakers, this is a great intro to the basics of an often-confusing language.
14. BBC Italian  Converse with your local pizza shop owner after studying up on this beginner’s course.
15. Learn How to Speak Russian  The ELanguageSchool delivers this set of grammar, vocab, and 18 video lessons for learning Russian.
16. Kenyan Sign Language  This unique form of communication can be easily picked up, thanks to this free course by the Peace Corps.
17. Chinese I  MIT’s much-copied OpenCourseWare is the home of this free course on introductory Chinese, which comes with online texts and multimedia content.
18. Lernu  This is a great site for learning the universal language of Esperanto for free.
19. Intermediate German  This free courseware from the Open University helps you practice your German by studying its culture and families.
20. Conversa Brasileira  Intermediate-level students can watch 35 unscripted conversations between native Portuguese speakers here, with subtitles and pop-up audio commentary.
21. Old Norse for Beginners  Learn how to talk like a Viking with this course, plus play rune puzzles and do exercises.

Video Channels

Just watch and learn.

22. Cantocourse  Learn Cantonese through skits involving live cattle, public security officers, and “dating tips for plonkers.”
23. OMGmeiyu  In these short videos, English idioms and slang are translated into Mandarin by a perky American host.
24. Swahili Lessons  Get a short intro to this African language with this collection of videos.
25. Let’s Speak Korean  And how shall we speak it? By watching these 60 video tutorials, of course.
26. Latinum  The guy behind the informative podcast has made the switch to YouTube. Different channel but same great Latin help.
27. Maori  The indigenous people of New Zealand speak Maori, and you can too with the help of this 13-part video series.
28. Yabla French  This is an exceptional video-teaching website for French instruction, with captions in multiple languages, integrated dictionaries, and more, in both free and paid iterations.

Podcasts

If you’re an auditory learner, we have good news for you.

29. English as a Second Language  This site makes ESL learning even easier by including learning guides with transcripts with every podcast.
30. Arabic in Jordan  These lessons from the Peace Corps will teach you Arabic as it’s spoken in Jordan.
31. Chinese Lessons  Instructor Serge Melnyk offers 30 audio lessons for beginner Mandarin for free, with the option to pay for more if you choose.
32. GermanPod101  Create a free account and edge them toward 200 million free German lessons delivered.
33. Learn Romanian Magazine  The archived podcasts on this site are a good resource for conquering the Romanian language.
34. Beginners’ Chinese  The Open University brings you 46 audio lessons for building a knowledge of Mandarin Chinese.
35. Learn French by Podcast  This highly rated series will have you “Oui oui”-ing in no time.
36. Radio Verda  Immerse yourself in the language of Esperanto with international news and talk on this podcast.
37. Learn Italian  Get your word of the day, audio lessons, and video tutorials through this helpful podcast.
38. Special Finnish  Translate the home page then jump right into the Finnish-speaking podcasts.
39. DutchPod101  There are 28 videos to get you well into learning Dutch, and you can head to their website for more instruction after that.
40. Learn Hindi  Start from the beginning with the Hindi alphabet via this podcast.
41. Cody’s Cuentos  Nursery rhymes worked for teaching you English, now use them to learn basic Spanish with these audio files.
42. Ta Falado  From the University of Texas comes this series of podcasts in Portuguese pronunciation and grammar.
43. Hebrew Podcasts  Conversational Hebrew is taught with transcripts, translations, exercises, and more with this podcast.
44. One Minute Catalan  Check out this podcast for free Catalan instruction. You can spare a minute, can’t you?
45. Le Journal en Francais Facile  French news is presented in an accessible way for learners of a wide range of skill.
46. ArabicPod  The best Arabic-learning podcast is a member of the “Pod” family and brings you 30 lessons free on iTunes.
47. Russian Literature  Improve your Russian listening comprehension by downloading UCLA’s free podcasts of Russian writings.
48. Bambara in Mali  The lingua franca in Mali, Bambara is yours to absorb with these podcasts from the Peace Corps.
49. Japancast  Tokyo transplant Hitomi teaches you Japanese through anime and everyday conversation examples.

Textbooks

Finally, free textbooks. Take that, campus bookstore!

50. Portuguese  There’s content for beginners and intermediate speakers, as well as the Portuguese spoken in both Brazil and Portugal.
51. Scottish Gaelic  This Wikibook has Gaelic phrases, sentence structure, pronunciation help, and even a chapter on the sustainability of the language.
52. Albanian  Learn “Shqip” with the help of this Albanian textbook.
53. Polish  Lessons range from basic grammar to more advanced topics like declension and tenses.
54. An Abbreviated Dictionary of Ch’orti’ Maya  Headed to Camotán, Chiquimula? Check out this book on the language of the area Mayans.
55. Russian  Russian names and cursive are some of the cool bonuses for this language’s Wikibook.
56. Irish  This books gets it done in three lessons, starting with history and ending with vocab.
57. Textkit  You should be able to find what you need regarding Greek or Latin education with this site’s 180+ textbooks.
58. Yiddish  There are two Wikibooks on Yiddish of varying states of completion, one on Yeshivah Bachurim and one on conversational Yiddish.
59. French  The French Wikibook comes with add-ons like news stories, famous excerpts, and national anthems.
60. German  This book is under development but can still serve as a handy guide to your German instruction.
61. Abaza Grammar  Fewer than 50,000 people in the world speak this language of the Caucasus Mountain region, so you’ll be in an exclusive club if you learn it with the help of this book.
62. Afrikaans  Work your way through the South African language with this free textbook.
63. Belorusian  Join the 9 million or so people who speak Belorusian by reading up on the language with this textbook.
64. Albanian Basic Course Vol. I  The scan could be better quality, but this is the first of 10 volumes for sinking your teeth into the language of Albania.
65. Arabic  If you’re interested in this geopolitically important language, learn the pronouns, definite articles, descriptors, and more, here.

Translation

Use them as a supplement to your studies or just type a word in and memorize what comes out.

66. Free-Translator  The text box has room for your Twitter character limit and then some for easy translation into scores of languages.
67. Xanadu  This site’s made for traveling, with a currency converter and text translation accompanying the glossaries and reference materials for six different languages.
68. Google Translate  It’s quick, clean, and efficient for translating dozens of languages to and from English.
69. Freelang  Choose from 265 bilingual dictionaries and get your human translation here.
70. Bing Translator  Formerly Babbel Fish, this is Microsoft’s text and web translator for the Google haters.

Communities

Harness the power in numbers by connecting with other language learners.

71. Livemocha  Through this language site’s community you can have exercises reviewed by other users, practice your conversation, and more.
72. italki  Have your questions answered, your writing corrected, and above all, communicate on this global language network.
73. Lingopass  Jump into group discussions or start up a one-on-one in a chat room through this site.
74. UniLang  “Uniting language lovers,” UniLang’s forums are a great place to practice that new tongue you’ve been learning.
75. My Language Exchange  Join the community of more than 1 million users from more than 130 countries and practice a foreign language with a native speaker.
76. Palabea  The Facebook of language networking, Palabea lets you upload video and audio, record, translate, and of course, dialogue.
77. Skype Community Language Learning  The popular video-calling software has a section for users to ask and answer questions and make connections for conversations.
78. The Mixxer  Similar to My Language Exchange, Mixxer is Dickinson College’s platform for language learners to be both teachers and students.
79. My Happy Planet  Members can create their own lessons for others or just communicate with them directly on this learning community site.

Tools

These high-tech resources will streamline your language learning experience.

80. Babbel  Take the old flash card method digital for learning 11 languages through Babbel, including Swedish and Turkish.
81. Rikai  The entire web becomes a Japanese learning tool with this site’s URL filter.
82. Byki  Available as a free download or paid upgrade, Byki is a solid bit of language-learning, flash card-based software.
83. Lingro  Lingro is a slick tool that works like Rikai except it works with 12 languages, making any word on a web page clickable to see its definition.
84. ProVoc  ProVoc ups the ante on flash card learning with features like variable difficulty and the ability to create your own cards.
85. One World Dictionary  This program by Ascendo works on Macs to bring you 100,000 translations into Spanish, French, Italian, and German.

Apps

Follow these links for the best language learning on the go.

86. Learn Turkish with Babbel  This is the Turkish version of Babbel’s excellent learning software for smartphones, but all the languages the site offers are also available for mobile.
87. Learn German with busuu  The popular language site created this free app for vocab words, learning units, and exams on Android phones.
88. Ho-Chunk  Get acquainted with this unique Native American language through this iPad app.
89. 50 Languages  Yep, you guessed it: the makers of this app want to help you learn 50 languages with this free app.
90. Mindsnacks Learn French  Also available for several other languages, this app helps you learn Francais through fun gameplay.
91. Hello-Hello Spanish  This highly-rated iPad app helps you practice Spanish pronunciation and vocab based on conversational lessons.
92. TrainBrain  Practice words in German, Czech, and more languages to follow with this handy app.
93. Cuebrain!  Quiz yourself on nearly two dozen languages with this gameplay-based Android app.
94. myLanguage Free Translator  Nearly 60 languages are available for helping you navigate your way through a foreign land.
95. Conjugate Spanish Verbs  Take the pain out of verb conjugation, with 17 coverage for 17 tenses.
96. Vocre  Using speech recognition technology powered by Nuance, Vocre becomes your take-anywhere translator for enabling conversation.
97. eTeacher Hebrew Lessons  Instructor Shira Cohen Regev guides you through the Hebrew alphabet and into basics like days of the week, counting, and beginning vocab.
98. Hiragana Lite  This free version features basic Japanese Hiragana characters in simple flash card format.
99. Learn English- PhotoFlashcards  This amazing app by language leaning company Voxy lets English learners photograph any item and receive an English definition for that item.
100. Pronunciation Checker  Check your pronunciation against 6,000 words in five languages.

This is a cross post from OnlineCollege.org

Rainy and windy but Autumn in UK is beautiful.

What five tips can make one's life more simple?

A) Stop living your damn life online. Stop using social networks. I'm talking about Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Stop using your phone at the dinner table (actually, any table for that matter). Stop playing angry birds on the bus. Talk to the people next to you, or at the very least, enjoy the view. Stop messaging friends. Call them for gods sake. I have been away from my facebook for almost 2 years now and now I know out of my 2000 friends/ relatives how many even tried or bothered to check me / call me to see how I am doing. So what I did is .. point B :)

B) Prune relationships that aren't bring any positivity to your life.People who are negative are only making your life that much harder. Embrace positivity. Stop talking about other people. Gossip is the worst way to get in the shit. A strong and positive support group makes life so much easier.

C) Let go of what wasn't meant to be. Things don't usually go the way they're planned. I often say to myself, "Will this matter in one week? one month? one year?". If the answer is no, forget about it. Move on. Life is about rolling with the punches. Bumps in the road often lead to something much more fulfilling. Look for new opportunities. All the time.

D) Say no more often. Don't be a yes man (or woman). Stop promising things you can't, or don't want to commit to.


E) Stop wishing your life away. "I wish I had more money", "I wish I was more successful", "I wish I was better at writing" etc. Stop wishing. Start making changes in your life. We're only given 80 years to be on this planet. Make use of what little time you have.

Bonus: 

F)  Smile everyday. I see so many miserable people when I go into the city. I'll smile at them and they look at me like I'm the weird one. ME! This really pisses me off. Be happy for everything you have. You have so many things to be grateful for. Your health. Your family. Your children. Your friends. Your education.If you think you have nothing to be grateful for, message me and I'll tell you 20.

Best of luck!
Ann

Courtesy :Quora

Bodnant Garden

Once is a life time experience in Wales .. panoramic view of Bodnant Garden

Hadrian’s Wall

Most popular tourist attraction in Northern England, a UNESCO world heritage site built in AD 122, more info here 

Your future starts now .. (not when you retire)

As I’ve mentioned before, if I could share only one idea, it would be this: we get more of what we focus on.

Another version of this rule, taught on business courses (my MBA) the world over, is: ‘What gets measured gets done.’

So, I want you to take a little time to measure your progress as your new destiny begins to unfold. Keep a 28-day journal. Each day, write down at least three new things you’ve noticed about yourself or your life.

This may be a new behaviour that came naturally to you, or a different way of being in an old, familiar situation. Perhaps you found yourself being more confident at a party or social gathering, or you stood up for yourself at work.

Maybe you found a ‘lucky’ penny in the street, or just realised that without any extra effort on your part, things have been going your way.

You can use an inexpensive notebook or a fancy journal if you prefer. What’s important is you take the time to write down whatever you’ve noticed that is new, different, fun or surprising.

The very act of recording these changes will help to reset the way you perceive the world and amplify the positive effects of everything we’ve done together.

Here are a few important things to remember before we part:

1. It isn’t what you’re born with or what happens to you in life that determines your destiny — it’s the choices that you make along the way.
2. No matter what’s happened to you in the past, you’ll always have choices about how you move forward.
3. Absolutely everyone can be happy.
4. When we live fully in the present, we have more power available to us to do whatever it is we want to do.
5. The best way to predict the future is to create it.

Live your life without regrets

How does all this apply to living a life with no regrets? Well, if we were to state common regrets in terms of their ‘positive’ opposites, here’s what we might wind up with:

1. I want to live a life that makes me happy (not necessarily one that others expect of me).
2. I want to work smart, creatively and effectively (rather than just hard).
3. I want to build wonderful and lasting friendships.
4. I want to be even happier.

The scientific research shows the more clear and precise you are about what you want, then you are significantly more likely to achieve it.

However, a happy life isn’t just about achieving goals. To live a life that’s more fulfilling, it’s important to make sure you’re living according to your values — whether they’re to do with love, achievement, family, health, joy or helping others — every single day.

So, even if you don’t achieve all your goals on an exact schedule, you will be living a life of value, and will be significantly more likely to be heading in the direction that you want. Overall, this will ensure you’re living on your own terms and building your days around what matters to you most.

Scientific studies show that usually 80 per cent of your success will come from 20 per cent of your efforts.

Always Leave Office On Time