In 1992, Bill Clinton was running for President of the United States against George H.W. Bush. Mr. Clinton had a tendency to go off topic when answering questions in debates and interviews. He battled a reputation as a policy wonk, and (like many Democratic candidates of recent vintage) this reputation allowed Republicans to paint him as the second coming of one-term President Jimmy Carter. As the United States had recently been in a recession under the leadership of Mr. Bush, Clinton’s strategist James Carville used the phrase as a gentle reminder that if Clinton was to win he…
Selected by manishathakor
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Most Topular Stories
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It’s The Spending, Stupid!
Don't Quit Your Day Job...8 Feb 2012 | 1:30 am -
The RESP Book Kindle E-book – Half Priced Sale
Money Smarts Blog7 Feb 2012 | 2:00 amI finally got around to getting an e-book version of The RESP Book created and it is now available from the Kindle store on Amazon.com. Note that you can read a Kindle book on your computer – you don’t need an e-book reader. I’ve decided to have a special sale for my readers only and [...] -
Where I’ve been for the last two weeks
I Will Teach You To Be Rich7 Feb 2012 | 8:11 amAfter a month of hyper consumption of caffeine, sleeping 4 hours/night, and a team around the world that outperformed any team I’ve ever worked with, the Dream Job launch is complete. Here’s a PDF with 50+ pages of uncensored feedback from new Dream Job students talking about why they joined my new course on finding your Dream Job: “Why I joined Dream Job” (PDF, no opt-in required). The course was an instant IWT bestseller, and it’s closed to new students now. Soon, I’ll share some of the marketing lessons behind the launch. I’m doing my traditional… -
Devil’s Advocate: 5 Reasons Why You Should Love Credit Cards
Girls Just Wanna Have Funds || Personal Finance Advice Blog For Women7 Feb 2012 | 7:24 amClick here to check your FREE credit scores and avoid surprises later! While credit cards are fairly ubiquitous, they are from time to time criticized for being conduits to debt and blamed for tough economic times. It’s true, you shouldn’t use a credit card if it will lead you to spend beyond your means, and a pervasive lack of transparency from credit card companies did complicate things during the recession. However, much has improved since the CARD Act – a law that improved consumer rights and transparency in the industry – took effect in February 2010, and credit cards… -
Safeguarding Your Money for Gay Travel in 2012
Queercents8 Feb 2012 | 3:44 amLike a lot of others, the sound of the last chime of the midnight bell as one year slowly draws into the next has barely faded from my ears before I’m thinking about my holiday plans for the year. I admit that I’m one of those who likes to spend a long time planning every [...]
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Don't Quit Your Day Job...
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It’s The Spending, Stupid!
8 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amIn 1992, Bill Clinton was running for President of the United States against George H.W. Bush. Mr. Clinton had a tendency to go off topic when answering questions in debates and interviews. He battled a reputation as a policy wonk, and (like many Democratic candidates of recent vintage) this reputation allowed Republicans to paint him as the second coming of one-term President Jimmy Carter. As the United States had recently been in a recession under the leadership of Mr. Bush, Clinton’s strategist James Carville used the phrase as a gentle reminder that if Clinton was to win he… -
Sports Gambling and Live Markets
6 Feb 2012 | 4:00 amIs sports gambling beatable? Casinos, over the years, have traditionally thought of sportsbooks as an amenity to offer to their customers as opposed to a real way to make money. They cap the bets made on traditional over/unders and to people who consistently win in sports gambling (known as ‘sharps’). The casinos believe that sports gambling is beatable by a select few and just hope that the losses of the masses can wash out the gains of the few. But, the obvious question is: if it is beatable, how does one stay ahead of the market/line-setters? What if sports gambling was as easy… -
The DQYDJ Weekender (Week of 1/30/12)
4 Feb 2012 | 10:37 amWhat sort of cognitive dissonance does it cause when you read a new post in February and the title contains a data in January? Whatamess! Feel like helping push DQYDJ closer to the top of the world (loosely defined)? We’re 2 followers away from 200 on Twitter and 2 likes away from 65 on Facebook. Carnivals and Featured Links Thanks to those who linked to us! The Carnival of Personal Finance The Frugal Toad Net Worth Protect Everything Finance Blog Links of the Week! “Quit Your Job and Die Alone” – it’s a catchy title, but far from being about how tough it is… -
The European Debt Crisis and You
1 Feb 2012 | 7:43 amA lot of recent financial news has focused around the spreading European sovereign debt crisis. The big question many Americans now try to answer is what this means for them on a day-to-day basis. At the same time as this is occupying financial headlines, the Fed has declared that they will endorse a policy of more transparency, opening up their forecasts to scrutiny and understanding from market observers. Due to continued slow job growth and stagnant real estate market, the Fed claimed that they will keep the federal funds rate (the rate at which banks lend to each other overnight) low… -
Predicting the S&P 500 – January 2012 Edition
30 Jan 2012 | 8:21 amDon’t Quit Your Day Job is a site which varies between many types of articles – Personal Finance, Politics, Investing, Economics, Random… One of those categories, Investing, has been given short shrift in order to make way for more articles in the other categories. Today we plant a stake; ‘Investing’ will now have a featured article monthly, where we’ll use options to try to determine the outlook for the S&P 500 in the near future. Since this is the first such article, let’s discuss the method we will use to predict movement. Options? …
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Money Smarts Blog
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The RESP Book Kindle E-book – Half Priced Sale
7 Feb 2012 | 2:00 amI finally got around to getting an e-book version of The RESP Book created and it is now available from the Kindle store on Amazon.com. Note that you can read a Kindle book on your computer – you don’t need an e-book reader. I’ve decided to have a special sale for my readers only and [...] -
My Online Opinion On Online Opinions
16 Jan 2012 | 4:00 amI’m on holiday this week, so I thought it would be oh so much fun to republish an ancient post (Sept 2008), which most readers haven’t seen before. Enjoy! Online opinions and reviews are everywhere. If you are doing some online shopping, it’s almost impossible to go to a site offering merchandise that doesn’t allow [...] -
RESP Canada Learning Bond (CLB) – Why Aren’t More People Claiming it?
11 Jan 2012 | 2:00 amPart of the Canadian RESP program is a grant, inappropriately named the Canada Learning Bond (CLB). The “Canada Learning” makes sense, but I have no idea why the word “bond” was used. In actual fact the CLB is a grant and the big difference between this grant and the regular RESP grants is that no [...] -
LinkStuff – Bowling With Kids Edition
6 Jan 2012 | 2:00 amOver the holidays, my wife and I went bowling with the kids (age 3 & 5). I haven’t bowled in 25 years and all I remember is being in the gutter most of the time. They gave us a lane with rails on it which prevent the ball from going into the gutter. What a [...] -
2011 Portfolio Investment Performance – Not Too Bad
4 Jan 2012 | 4:38 amI like to calculate my investment return each year, so I can see how I am doing. My investment return for 2011 was -1.8%. While this kind of performance won’t secure my retirement any time soon, I was lucky that the numbers weren’t any worse. There were two reasons, I did reasonably well. Low Canadian [...]
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I Will Teach You To Be Rich
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Where I’ve been for the last two weeks
7 Feb 2012 | 8:11 amAfter a month of hyper consumption of caffeine, sleeping 4 hours/night, and a team around the world that outperformed any team I’ve ever worked with, the Dream Job launch is complete. Here’s a PDF with 50+ pages of uncensored feedback from new Dream Job students talking about why they joined my new course on finding your Dream Job: “Why I joined Dream Job” (PDF, no opt-in required). The course was an instant IWT bestseller, and it’s closed to new students now. Soon, I’ll share some of the marketing lessons behind the launch. I’m doing my traditional… -
What I think of information addicts
22 Jan 2012 | 7:04 pmI’ve spent a lot of time thinking about giving away free material vs. charging for it. Here’s a recent 1-hour interview where I talk about free vs. paid material, including how I went from charging $4.95 for my first ebook to $12,000 for my most recent course. I also did another interview on the psychology of monetization, too, where I cover more academic psychological and marketing theory. This is for the true psychology/marketing nerds, so I reveal some gems that only they would appreciate. Based on the kinds of emails I get, I assume about 80% of you are huge huge nerds. So, let’s… -
What The Pros Know About Networking That You Don’t
20 Jan 2012 | 9:57 amWhen I was on the Today Show a couple years ago, I sat down to prep a few minutes before air time. About 45 seconds before we went live, Meredith Viera came onto set. She took one look at the topic sheet, then reached out to shake all of our hands. In the next 30 seconds, she asked a couple questions to get to know us, and then we started the segment. What was fascinating was that, within those 30 seconds, she was so personable that we instantly felt a connection to her (“Wow, she’s so friendly!”). And I realized that the masters — like the world’s top TV anchors, politicians,… -
How to use Natural Networking to connect with anyone — including the exact email scripts
18 Jan 2012 | 8:36 amHow many of us have heard career experts telling us to “go out there and network”? What does that actually mean? They never seem to specify. So we end up going to 1 or 2 pointless networking events, which actually turn out to be a bunch of unemployed people looking for jobs, until we realize the pointlessness of random networking. We stop going. But we keep hearing about the importance of our network, and we hear about how most jobs are found through personal contacts. Pretty soon, it becomes clear to us that it’s WHO you know, not WHAT you know. But we have no idea how to actually turn… -
How to write a resume that wins
17 Jan 2012 | 10:31 amLast night, 3,000+ IWT readers from all over the world tuned in, live, to learn the inside techniques to craft a winning resume. These are the same techniques I used to get jobs at Google, Intuit, and many other companies. Attention jackasses: These are not my curtains. I’m not 78 years old. I was at a hotel. I had nothing to sell. I just wanted to show people that — instead of blaming the economy, or believing that “I don’t have enough experience” is a valid excuse — they could take their Dream Job search into their own hands. Here’s what attendees had to say:…
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Girls Just Wanna Have Funds || Personal Finance Advice Blog For Women
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Devil’s Advocate: 5 Reasons Why You Should Love Credit Cards
7 Feb 2012 | 7:24 amClick here to check your FREE credit scores and avoid surprises later! While credit cards are fairly ubiquitous, they are from time to time criticized for being conduits to debt and blamed for tough economic times. It’s true, you shouldn’t use a credit card if it will lead you to spend beyond your means, and a pervasive lack of transparency from credit card companies did complicate things during the recession. However, much has improved since the CARD Act – a law that improved consumer rights and transparency in the industry – took effect in February 2010, and credit cards… -
6 Reasons Why Your Home Is A Crappy Investment
6 Feb 2012 | 6:20 amIs your home an investment or just another place to live? Many homeowners say that it’s an investment because it helps them sleep at night after sipping the Kool-Aid during the housing boom. Well, I’m here to get in your face just a bit and tell you that your home is a crappy investment. Furthermore, it’s an investment that you’ll never truly own as long as not paying property taxes means that your home can be yanked from you and sold on the court house steps. This further makes the concept of home ownership ie the American Dream, flawed at best. Buying A Home… -
21 Days to Rock Your Finances: Day 14 – Single Women Money Tips
5 Feb 2012 | 8:19 pmThese tips really apply to anyone but since we’re focused on women’s money issues we’ll go with “single woman money tips” today. Believe it or not your personal finance goals are very different when single. If you’re planning on getting married in the future, now is the time to lay the foundation. It’s OK to make mistakes now because you’ll learn the lesson and hopefully not make the same ones once you get married. Focus on managing your money and making it work for you like a well oiled machine. Save at least 20% of your income Stash your… -
4 Insurance Policies You Must Have If You…
5 Feb 2012 | 8:01 pmI have a love hate relationship with insurance. It’s one of those things that you hate to have but love when you actually need it. Still you hope that you never have to use it which creates this love – hate relationship which leaves you feeling like you’re just throwing away money hoping that something doesn’t happen that requires you to use it. These are the types of insurances policies that you absolutely need if you… Own A Car: Auto Insurance Drive to <insert destination here>? Then you need auto insurance and there’s no way to get around it… -
5 Tips That Teach You How Forex Professionals Learn To Trade
1 Feb 2012 | 8:01 pmHave you ever wanted to dip into the vast ocean of investing, but you didn’t know where to start? With the stock market, commodities, CFDs, indices and more, there are plenty of options to grow your savings. If you’re wondering what age is good to start investing, the answer is birth. You’re never too young or too old to start investing. So, get behind your savings, and find out how to go, “From N00B to Broker” in five easy steps! This infographic will teach you how to, 1. Educate Yourself 2. Get Licensed 3. Register as a Forex Broker 4. Start Trading 5. Keep Learning Are…
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Queercents
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Safeguarding Your Money for Gay Travel in 2012
8 Feb 2012 | 3:44 amLike a lot of others, the sound of the last chime of the midnight bell as one year slowly draws into the next has barely faded from my ears before I’m thinking about my holiday plans for the year. I admit that I’m one of those who likes to spend a long time planning every [...] -
Suze Orman’s Prepaid Card
28 Jan 2012 | 9:13 pmSuze Orman is best known for her no nonsense approach to personal finance. Suze has published ten books, including The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom and The Money Class. She hosts The Suze Orman show on CNBC and writes a column for O magazine. Because she is so concerned about how people spend and save [...] -
Download the Pilot of ‘Smash’ Before it airs Feb. 6
17 Jan 2012 | 1:59 pmIf you are tired of waiting for the pilot of the new musical ‘Smash’. Wait no longer. The Smash premiere is just around the corner to air on Monday, Feb. 6 at 10/9c! But Queercents readers don’t have to wait – download the full pilot from iTunes for free now. And in the below video, [...] -
New Years’ Consolidation
3 Jan 2012 | 6:44 pmHappy New Years’ 2012! Let’s make this year a prosperous one! First, you may consider transferring those high interest rate credit cards to a card that can give you 12 months of no interest and no balance transfer fee. -
Finding the Best Close-out Bargains
31 Dec 2011 | 7:51 pmWe all enjoy a good bargain. There’s no getting around the fact that if we find something for considerably less than we would normally find it we’ll often part with our cash for something we didn’t even intend to buy. But although plenty of people will be out in the January sales looking for some [...]
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Escape From Cubicle Nation
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Tracking your right life: Interview with Martha Beck
6 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pmThose of you who have been following my work for awhile know that I have been heavily influenced by my coach mentor Dr. Martha Beck. Her book Finding Your Own North Star changed the course of my life when I read it nearly a decade ago, and eventually led to my Escape from Cubicle Nation work. Martha is a Harvard-trained sociologist and bestselling author. She is Oprah’s life coach in residence, and writes a monthly column for O Magazine. In this interview, I talk with Martha about her brand new book Finding Your Way in a Wild New World. Building on the research she started at Harvard… -
Are you massively wrong about the size of your market?
2 Feb 2012 | 4:05 pmI walked in my son’s Cub Scout meeting late last night, and ran into the wife of our den leader. She is a wonderful person; an engaged mother, passionate volunteer and airline pilot. “I am so sorry for being late,” I said. “I was teaching a class.” “No problem at all, where were you teaching?” she said. “On the phone,” I said. She looked puzzled. “You were teaching on the phone? How does that work?” “I teach marketing to coaches who are in the Martha Beck coaching program. They dial in from all over the world, and I… -
A concrete example of how to get yourself to “do the work”
1 Feb 2012 | 8:51 amGolden Gloves contender Amanda Wang and Pamela Slim. Photo by proud cousin Abe Cajudo. They say the best way to learn something and reinforce positive behavior is to teach it. So here, 5 minutes after gaining insight while on a walk to Starbucks, is my advice to help you “do the work” (said channeling Steven Pressfield). To watch directly on YouTube, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zVWDH2QflA What I neglected to say in the video is that exercising even a little bit makes everything feel better! <Enjoy getting back to your regularly scheduled programming. I have a… -
How to build a powerful and profitable mailing list
17 Jan 2012 | 12:27 pmIf you have studied small business marketing, you may have heard the frequent cheer “The money is in The List!” And indeed, creating a strong email marketing list is a powerful foundation for any business, online or offline. In this video, I give you a few things to think about as you are establishing your mailing list, as well as a cardinal sin to avoid. To view this directly on YouTube, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xEkc0qEbg More marketing tips coming! At the end of this month, I am going to be opening a new section of Power Boost Marketing for enrollment. Power… -
Bigger goals mean more resistance – don’t back down!
12 Jan 2012 | 12:19 pmHappy 2012! If you followed my planning videos in December, you may have defined some nice juicy goals for yourself this year. And as you have started to execute those plans, you may have already faced some challenges and resistance from your market. My best advice? Don’t back down. Here’s why: (Direct link to YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY-BbkxIkGQ) Bigger Fish! Pescadotes!
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Fast Company
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3 Ways To Deal With A No-Win Situation
8 Feb 2012 | 12:41 pmIf you're a Star Trek aficionado, then not only have you heard of the "Kobayashi Maru Scenario" but you can recount it easily to others. For those of you who may not be familiar with it, the Kobayashi Maru Scenario is a no-win situation cadets encounter at the series' Starfleet Academy. In it, the cadet is in command of the Federation ship, responsible for rescuing another Federation vessel (the Kobayashi Maru) from attacking Klingon Warbirds. If the cadet chooses not to save the ship in distress, it will be destroyed with all hands. However, if he goes to the ship's aid, he will precipitate… -
Amazon Inks Deal With Viacom, Sprint Announces iPhone-led Q4 Highs And Lows, Japan Targets 30% Cut In Rare Earth Use
8 Feb 2012 | 12:41 pmBreaking news from your editors at Fast Company, with updates all day.Amazon Inks Deal With Viacom For Video Streaming. Amazon has plumped up its Prime Instant video streaming catalog with a pile new TV shows, courtesy of its new agreement with entertainment hub Viacom. The deal brings up its video count to over 15,000, putting it in a stronger position to compete against the recently formed Redbox/Verizon double act and traditional TV destroyer Netflix. --NS --Updated 9:50 a.m. ESTSprint's Q4 Sees iPhone Led Highs And Lows. Sprint is announcing results coming off its first… -
How To Find Your Next $140 Million
8 Feb 2012 | 11:26 amI recently spent the day with author Andrea Kates, who was challenged to connect the relevance of the working philosophy found in her best-selling book, Find Your Next, with real solutions that can help move businesses forward. Working with the executive team of a national restaurant chain on this particular day, Kates asked herself, "Which single metric could they focus on to yield the most growth for the company?" Her conclusion was that of all the metrics and contributing factors, it all boiled down to a dogged pursuit of increasing guest frequency. She learned that an increase of one… -
New Details On Redbox-Verizon Streaming Service, Netflix Competitor
8 Feb 2012 | 8:33 amYesterday Coinstar, the parent company of Redbox, the 35,400-kiosk-strong movie-rental service, announced a joint venture with Verizon to provide a subscription-based streaming video service, thus positioning the companies in direct competition with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Coinstar also announced that it would acquire NCR's entertainment business, which includes its former rival Blockbuster Express, adding more than 9,000 kiosks to Redbox's roster around the country. Now new details about the combined companies' plans have emerged. First, it's clear the companies are adamant about bringing… -
Why Facebook's Daily Active Users Is Not The Number That Matters
8 Feb 2012 | 7:25 amA fracas emerges over the fact that not all daily Facebook users visit the company's website. Advertisers tell us why that's missing the point. More Facebook Coverage Be sure to read about the Facebook investors poised to make billions from the social network's impending IPO. And take a deep dive into our earlier profile of Mark Zuckerberg: Hacker. Dropout. CEO. Then compare the Zuck of yesterday with the Zuck who just penned a letter to investors. Plus, dig into all of the revenues and user numbers. Check back here for more to come in the days ahead. In the new world, however, brand…
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zenhabits
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The Thousand Cuts Fitness Program
6 Feb 2012 | 9:43 amPost written by Leo Babauta. I’ve trained for marathons, triathlons, 10Ks, a 13.5-hour challenge, Ubanathlons, and more. But my favorite fitness program isn’t one where you train for a major event. It’s where you get fit by a thousand little actions. When the actions are tiny, they are easy. You have no excuse. You can do them anywhere, all day long. I fold fitness into my life, like blueberries into batter, and it becomes a part of the recipe, not just a topping. If you haven’t found a way to get fit, try the Thousand Cuts Fitness Program. There is nothing better for… -
The Two-Headed Beast of Successful Habit Change
2 Feb 2012 | 8:20 amEditor’s Note: This is a guest post from Tyler Tervooren of Advanced Riskology. I used to have a lot of bad habits. I still do, but I used to have a lot more. Here’s just a small sampling: I woke up late and went to bed early. I procrastinated on my most important work. I neglected my relationships. I drank too much. I bit my fingernails. I slouched a lot. I picked my nose (no joke). I bought worthless things I didn’t need. I chewed with my mouth open. I dressed like a slob. I ate tons of junk food. I could go on, but none of that’s incredibly important. What’s… -
Create the Habit of Meditation, & the Zen Habits Premium Membership
31 Jan 2012 | 2:03 pmPost written by Leo Babauta. It’s something I should have created a long time ago: the Zen Habits Premium Membership, and a mini-course that’s included with it called Create the Habit of Meditation. The membership is a monthly subscription of $19.99, but really it’s a commitment to changing your life, and the tools needed to do that. If you’ve been looking to simplify, get healthy & fit, become more effective, do work you’re passionate about, eliminate debt, find contentment, declutter, create new habits … this new program is meant to show you how to… -
Creating Silence from Chaos
27 Jan 2012 | 2:20 pmPost written by Leo Babauta. We are often afraid of silence, because its emptiness feels idle, boring, unproductive, and scary. And so we fill our lives with chaos, noise, clutter. But silence can be lovely, and therapeutic, and powerful. It can be the remedy for our stress and the habits that crush us. If we want quiet in our lives, how do we create it? I’ve been exploring this myself. As a father of six kids, I have to admit that I don’t always have silence in my life. That’s not a complaint — I love the messy noise that my family brings — but silence can be a… -
The Habits That Crush Us
23 Jan 2012 | 10:26 am‘Don’t panic.’ ~Douglas Adams Post written by Leo Babauta. Why is it that we cannot break the bad habits that stand in our way, crushing our desires to live a healthy life, be fit, simplify, be happier? How is it that our best intentions are nearly always beaten? We want to be focused and productive, exercise and eat healthy foods, stop smoking and learn to get rid of debt and clutter, but we just can’t. The answer lies in something extremely simple, but something most people aren’t aware of: We don’t know how to cope with stress and boredom in a healthy…
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The Happiness Project
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Quiz: How Fun Is Your Workplace? Your Home?
8 Feb 2012 | 11:31 amIn The Levity Effect: Why it Pays to Lighten Up, Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher make an interesting argument that “levity” is an extremely effective tool for helping people to work better. An atmosphere of light-heartedness, it turns out, helps people pay attention, eases tensions, and enhances a feeling of connection. When I read this, I thought, “Well, levity would be tough for me, I’m not particularly funny, and I’m not particularly outgoing.” But what the authors mean by “levity” is really a sense of lightness. It's less about being funny and more about being able to… -
Do You Have The "Quality Of Keeping People Together"?
6 Feb 2012 | 8:11 amAssay: Recently, when I was rereading Gertrude Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, I was very struck by this observation about the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire: The death of Guillaume Apollinaire at this time made a very serious difference to all his friends apart from their sorrow at his death. It was the moment just after the war when many things had changed and people naturally fell apart. Guillaume would have been a bond of union, he always had a quality of keeping people together, and now that he was gone everybody ceased to be friends. The "quality of keeping people… -
"Quiet Minds Cannot Be Perplexed Or Frightened."
5 Feb 2012 | 6:40 am“Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.” --Robert Louis Stevenson I love the simile of a "clock in a thunderstorm." It makes me feel calmer, just to imagine that image. * Check out the Happiness Project Toolbox: eight free tools to help you track your own happiness project. -
A Secret To More Happiness And Energy? Give Yourself A Bedtime.
3 Feb 2012 | 11:28 amAs a result of my happiness project, I've become a sleep zealot. It's just so obvious to me—from reading the research and from personal experience—that getting enough sleep is a key to a happier life. I've noticed something, however. I noticed this in myself, before I became such a sleep nut, and I see it in the people around me: most adults don't give themselves a bedtime. Children have a fixed bedtime; we know they need their allotment of sleep, and we pack them off to bed when it's time. But many adults just go to bed whenever they feel like it. The problem with this approach is that… -
"There's Nothing Like The Comfort Of My Bed To Restore Me To My Happiness."
2 Feb 2012 | 7:06 pmHappiness interview: Agapi Stassinopoulos. Through a mutual friend, I e-met Agapi Stassinopoulos. She has a new book that's just hitting the bookstores, Unbinding the Heart. She grapples with the question of how we can "unbind our hearts" better to experience playfulness, connection, self-expression, and joy. Clearly happiness is at the heart of this challenge. Gretchen: What’s a simple activity that consistently makes you happier? Agapi: Getting together with the people I care for and having an intimate time, where we lovingly share and listen to each other in a safe haven, recharges me…
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Simply Stated Blogs » Family Life
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When feeling sick do you report to work?
7 Feb 2012 | 11:39 amAs I write this, I’m on the third week of battling a nasty head cold that just decided to return for an encore performance in my sinus cavities. And, if reports from clients, friends [...] -
Pierced ears – Yea or Nay?
2 Feb 2012 | 6:14 amLast night our 6 year old daughter came to me with a request – she wants to have her ears pierced. She begged. She pleaded. She told me about all the friends who had [...] -
Can Your Pets Have Too Much Fun?
27 Jan 2012 | 6:30 amChances are, at some point, you’ve experienced pangs of guilt when it comes to your pets. Either you’re gone for too much of the day or you don’t play enough games with your pets [...] -
Why Birds Make Good Pets
17 Jan 2012 | 10:04 amCats and dogs steal the spotlight most of the time, but Petfinder.com is branching out in January with Adopt-a-Rescued-Bird Month, a campaign originally conceived with the ASPCA. Appropriately, my interview with Petfinder.com co-founder Betsy [...] -
The Top Names for Pets in 2011
7 Jan 2012 | 1:04 pmAs my friend would say, the cats have the headline this time. According to Veterinary Pet Insurance Co (VPI) and Petfinder.com, a roundup of the most popular pet names in 2011 marked a real cat fight versus [...]
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CoffeeGeek.com
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Starbucks Coffee Makers - All, J M
7 Feb 2012 | 10:57 pmBottom Line: Dont use it on a counter that stains, and definitley be prepared for the cup to leap out of your cars cupholder into your lap.Read review... -
Francis! Francis! X1, Josh Alwitt
6 Feb 2012 | 12:41 pmBottom Line: Great coffee and easy to use, but unreliable machine makes it not worth the troubleRead review... -
Aerobie Aeropress, Sam Decock
4 Feb 2012 | 4:29 pmBottom Line: While not the prettiest brewing apparatus, the Aeropress is a flexible brewing device that has the potential to create world class coffee.Read review... -
Ascaso iMini Grinder, Kunal D'souza
4 Feb 2012 | 10:12 amBottom Line: A great value and impressive grind quality bundled in a small attractive package.Read review... -
Hottop Coffee Roaster, Sam Decock
4 Feb 2012 | 10:03 amBottom Line: The Hottop is a high end consumer roaster that excels in user control, consistency, and repeatability.Read review...
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NYT > Opinion Sun. 1pm
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Letters: The Debate Over the Birth Control Rule
8 Feb 2012 | 6:12 pmReaders respond to a front-page article and a column by David Brooks. -
Letters: Gay Marriage, in U.S. Courts and Statehouses
8 Feb 2012 | 6:11 pmTwo letter writers express support for gay marriage. -
Letters: Keeping Low-Income Mainers Warm in Winter
8 Feb 2012 | 6:11 pmResponses from readers, including the governor’s office, to a front-page article. -
Op-Docs: ‘The Island President Deposed’
8 Feb 2012 | 6:05 pmThe filmmaker Jon Shenk presents a portrait of Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically-elected president of the Maldives and an environmental activist, who was deposed on Feb. 7. -
Op-Ed Contributor: In the Maldives’ Strangled Democracy
8 Feb 2012 | 5:50 pmAfter driving strongmen from office, nascent democracies still have to deal with the corrupt webs of influence left behind.
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L.A. Times - Opinion Blog
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Alabama's immigration law: Denying children food stamps
8 Feb 2012 | 2:44 pmAlabama's immigration law was the focus of a recent episode of "This American Life." For the segment, Jack Hitt traveled to Alabama shortly after HB 56 went into effect to see how the draconian law, which has been compared to the Fugitive Slave Act, had quickly created a culture of fear and shame. Every Latino person, legal or illegal, whom I spoke to noted at some point that there's just something hateful in the air now. Before the law, they felt accepted. They had American friends. They didn't feel out of place. Now when they go to a store, every single one of… -
To ease overcrowding in L.A. jails, send inmates to 'Guantanamoon' [Ted Rall cartoon]
8 Feb 2012 | 6:43 amWhat are we to do about overcrowding in our jails? State Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Moorpark) has an idea. He recently drafted SB 983, which would allow counties to export prisoners to other states. Strickland's heart may be in the right place, but cartoonist Ted Rall couldn't help but poke fun at the proposal. (Newt Gingrich is totally going to be jealous that he didn't come up with the concept of 'Guantanamoon' first.) ALSO: Photo gallery: More Ted Rall cartoons Impounding unlicensed drivers' cars: A matter of life and death Roseanne for pres: A chicken in… -
Afghanistan's future? Same as it ever was: Bloody
8 Feb 2012 | 6:30 amOK, show of hands: Who thinks Afghanistan is headed for a peaceful future? Yeah, me neither. In an Op-Ed article Wednesday, Peter Thomsen, who served as U.S. special envoy and ambassador to Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992, argues that any solution to the country's civil war must be brokered by the Afghans themselves. He quotes a Jan. 24 statement by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul: "Only Afghans can decide the future of Afghanistan." But in a news story, also on Wednesday, Times reporter Laura King writes from Kabul that U.S. officials increasingly see Afghan President Hamid… -
ICE names a public advocate: Is it PR or real reform?
8 Feb 2012 | 5:53 amFederal immigration officials are taking another step toward fulfilling a pledge to overhaul the nation's troubled detention system. On Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that Andrew Lorenzen-Strait will serve as the agency's first public advocate. Lorenzen-Strait said in a blog posted on the Department of Homeland Security's site that his job will be to serve as "a point of contact for individuals, including those in immigration proceedings, NGOs, and other community and advocacy groups, who have concerns, questions, recommendations or important… -
The consequences of Santorumania
7 Feb 2012 | 8:10 pmGet ready for Santorumania.Rick Santorum was expected to do well in Missouri on Tuesday, but Minnesota and Colorado were question marks; after all, Mitt Romney won both of those states in 2008.As of about 8 p.m. Pacific time, though, it looked as if the evening could turn into an unexpected Santorum sweep.The former Pennsylvania senator was on track to win in both Missouri and Minnesota, and Colorado -- purportedly a Romney bastion -- looked close.Three consequences:Romney's standing as the presumptive nominee has taken a blow.Newt Gingrich's standing as the conservative alternative…
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Washington Post Editorials: Latest Editorial and Editorial Archive
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Editorial Board: Metro will look into Jim Graham’s actions, at last
7 Feb 2012 | 4:25 pmTHE CHAIR OF the Metro board of directors announced Tuesday the launch of an independent review into the handling of an unsuccessful development venture on Florida Avenue NW, about which we have written several recent editorials. It is a welcome move but late. We point that out not to be churlish but because the failure to investigate sooner raises questions about District and Metro processes. Read full article >> -
Editorial Board: The U.S. must do more for Guatemala over STD study
7 Feb 2012 | 4:24 pmIN THE FALL of 2010, the Obama administration acknowledged a shocking truth: From 1946 through 1948, officials working in Guatemala for the U.S. Public Health Service conducted tests on some 5,100 unwitting individuals and deliberately infected at least 1,300 with sexually transmitted diseases. None of the victims — who included prisoners, soldiers, the mentally ill and commercial sex workers — consented to this barbaric treatment. At least 83 people died, and many suffered permanent damage. Read full article >> -
Editorial Board: U.S. must bring pressure to bear on Bahrain
6 Feb 2012 | 4:45 pmTHE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION and other Western governments have rightly lambasted Russia and China for blocking action by the U.N. Security Council on Syria. The government of Vladimir Putin is particularly culpable for propping up the regime of Bashar al-Assad: In addition to vetoing a Security Council resolution, it has been supplying Damascus with weapons. In contrast, though it suffered a diplomatic defeat, the United States will ultimately reap the benefit of siding with the Syrian people. As President Obama said in a searing statement Saturday, by rejecting the regime and its criminal… -
Editorial Board: A grim report card on D.C. schools
6 Feb 2012 | 4:43 pmANEW STUDY of the District’s public schools has the teachers union bristling about jobs, defenders of traditional schools fearing further gains for charter schools and some neighborhoods worrying their schools will close. Getting short shrift are the 14,236 children in the 46 schools where learning is judged so abysmal that projections show little or no improvement over the next five years. At the current rate of improvement, it will be 2045 before 75 percent of D.C. students are at grade level in math and 2075 before they are at grade level in reading. That’s unacceptable, and it is why… -
Editorial Board: A line of would-be immigrants? There isn’t one.
5 Feb 2012 | 3:19 pmIN THE VENOMOUS debate over illegal immigration, there is a point of agreement between President Obama and some of his would-be Republican rivals, including former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. They’d like to see undocumented immigrants “get to the back of the line” for citizenship. Unfortunately, that convergence of views distorts rather than illuminates the debate. Read full article >>
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USATODAY.com Feed
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Editorial: Romney's budget numbers won't balance
8 Feb 2012 | 5:38 pmMassive and immediate tax cuts plus smaller spending cuts would increase the deficit over the next decade, not cut it. -
Mitt Romney: We don't need higher taxes
8 Feb 2012 | 5:34 pmIf we can restore our government to its pre-Obama size, existing tax revenues are roughly capable of funding it. -
Editorial: California same-sex marriage ruling tied in knots
8 Feb 2012 | 5:21 pmSo how might this problem be justly untangled without infringing anyone's constitutional rights? -
Other views: Ruling poses threat to marriage
8 Feb 2012 | 5:18 pmA roundup of opinion online about same-sex marriage in California. -
Letters: Support for charity tainted by partisan politics
8 Feb 2012 | 4:53 pmThat's too bad because both Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Planned Parenthood have done a lot of good for women's health.
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WSJ.com: Opinion
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Henninger: Transformers
8 Feb 2012 | 5:29 pmThe Catholic church learns the true meaning of Obama's 'transformative' presidency. -
Where's the Rest of Them?
8 Feb 2012 | 4:17 pmSantorum's rise, Romney's weakness, and the GOP coalition. -
No Budget, No Problem
8 Feb 2012 | 4:16 pmNow the White House tells Senate Democrats to flout the law. -
Obama's Palestine Test
8 Feb 2012 | 4:15 pmWill the U.S. send money to a government that includes Hamas? -
John Cochrane: The Real Trouble With the Birth-Control Mandate
8 Feb 2012 | 4:13 pmCritics are missing the main point. There are good reasons that your car-insurance company doesn't add $100 to your premium and then cover oil changes.
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Financial Times - Comment
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The world of finance needs a shame culture
8 Feb 2012 | 11:52 amThose who hope to be summoned to the Palace may think a little bit harder before holding out for a giant bonus, writes Jonathan Ford -
Don’t put venture capital at risk
8 Feb 2012 | 10:53 amFinanciers’ dotcom mistake of the 1990s could recur unless they are restrained in the face of the Silicon Valley gold rush, writes John Gapper -
Where Wukan has led, Beijing won’t follow
8 Feb 2012 | 10:49 amVillage leaders were savvy enough to frame their actions as a protest against local corruption, not against the Chinese system, writes David Pilling -
Ireland can show Greece a way out of the crisis
8 Feb 2012 | 10:35 amGreece produces no machines, no electronics and no chemicals. It does not have what it takes to be as rich as it is, writes Ricardo Hausmann -
Time to alter wishful thinking on Islamism
8 Feb 2012 | 10:20 amIslamist parties will sweet-talk their electorate and the west and then govern like the Iranian regime or Hamas, writes Ayaan Hirsi Ali
