The #4

Hi All,

Four - a nice, even number. A multiple of 2, a divisor of 8 and 16...it has lots of significance - with respect to sports, mathematics, computers and in many other subjects. I'll talk about these various meanings in this blog entry...

Four...
'four balls' and you get a walk - you get a free pass to first base...

4 Line in New York City's subway system - click on this link to the MTA

4shared - free online storage, upload, access, share your music, video and photos

4Kids.org - latest tech knowledge for kids on the web - links to games, videos; has a Kid Quest and links to Cool Spots. Has back issues.

4Teachers.org - teacher tools

Apple - iPhone 4 - specifications and more

BBC Radio 4 - listen to radio 4 programmes from the BBC in the UK

Foursquare - helps users meet up with friends nearby, keep up with friends around the world, and share experiences through photos and comments - great for figuring out what and where friends are...

NBC 4 - television station in the New York City metro area (Long Island, New York City, parts of New Jersey and Connecticut)

Wikipedia entry for the number 4 - the entry has the meaning for the number four in science (astronomy, biology, chemistry and physics), logic/philosophy, technology, transportation, music and has external links.

Who would have thought there is so much symbolism and meaning to the number four? Go figure!

Regards,
Stu

How to Wrap a Holiday Gift or Present?

Hi All,

Holidays are right around the corner and I just thought of a great topic: how to wrap gifts and presents.

First some facts: how much wrapping paper is used each year during the holidays? Click here for a link to Ask.com for the answer. Click on this link that help you figure out how much wrapping paper you need for all your holiday presents!

Click on this very intuitive and interesting link that will help you estimate how much wrapping paper to use for a single present - cool site!

Okay, now that you've figure out how much wrapping paper you need, click on this link that is basically a 'tutorial' on what you need to know about wrapping paper.

Did you know that you can recycle wrapping paper? Yep - you can! Click on this link that will help you start recycling your leftover wrapping paper after the holiday season!

Now you get to the fun part - how to wrap the present!

Here are x links to videos from various sources that show you how to wrap a gift!
1. Wikihow video - how to wrap a gift
2. eHow.com - not a video - just written instructions on how to wrap a gift.
3. RealSimple.com - how to wrap a gift
4. YouTube.com - how to wrap a gift professionally

You can also do a search on Youtube for the phrase 'wrapping gifts' and you'll find many, many other videos on how to wrap gifts.

Hope this makes your holidays a bit easier! Happy wrapping!
Stu

Fruits with the Letter E...

Hi All,

Wow, if you thought finding the name of a fruit that began with the letter D was difficult (think 'dates'), than you are in for quite a surprise with the letter D...

Here are some fruits that begin with the letter E: egg fruit, eggplant, elderberry, elephant apple, emblic, emu apple, entawak, and etrog...quite the limited list, eh?

Being that many of these fruits are relatively obscure, I'm going to talk about eggplant in today's blog entry. Just for kicks, click on this link for the source where I got this list of fruit that begin with the letter E.

So - what are the health effects of eggplant? Click here for a link from Self.com - the charts and tables regarding eggplant are very helpful! And guess what - eggplant is really, really healthy and nutritious.

Click on this link for the Wikipedia article on eggplant. The entry includes a history of eggplant, cooking information about it, health properties, varieties, synonyms for eggplant and a gallery of them! Wow - that's a comprehensive entry!

Regular readers probably already realize that I am a big fan of About.com. Well, it seems that they have a really good page for quick information about eggplant.

Now for the fun part - click here for a link to Allrecipes.com - this link goes to - obviously - eggplant recipes. This link goes to the just plain and simple eggplant recipes. Examples of recipes from this page include: Spicy Eggplant, Eggplant Rollatini, Eggplants with Pesto, Eggplant Pizzas and Eggplant Bake.

Click on this link from Tablespoon.com - it has delectable recipes for eggplant related meals including Eggplant Parmesan, Eggplant and Basil Sandwiches, Steamed Chinese Vegetables with Brown Rice, Rataouille Appetizer Pizza and Spicy Split Peas with Vegetables...yum yum!

So there you have it - a bunch of recipes sites that discuss eggplant meals; and other sites that give the reader some background about eggplants!

Enjoy - and I hope your eggplant recipes come out great!
Stu

Sleeping - What a Pleasure!!!

Hi All,

Did you know that the Mayo Clinic recommends 7 to 9 hours of sleep for healthy adults? Did you know that school age children should be getting 10 to 11 hours of sleep and that toddlers should be getting 12 to 14 hours of sleep? And the little ones - infants - should be getting 14-15 hours of sleep per day?

Here is some information about sleep deprivation. Included are statistics and various facts that come from the CDC (Centers For Disease Control and Prevention).

This link goes to a page entitled 'Insufficient Sleep is a Public Health Epidemic'. The article links to an excellent website by the name of 'National Sleep Foundation'. Click here to visit the NSF site. Like many other sites, the NSF has sections on Sleep Facts and Information, Finding a Sleep Professional, Linking to an Online Community, and much, much more.

Did you also know that millions of American adults are sleep deprived? Click on this link from the American Psychological Association that explains why sleep is important and what happens when you don't get enough sleep (think irritability, sluggishness, susceptibility to colds in addition to falling asleep at work).


Click on this link from the National Institute of Health - the site is from a Teacher's Guide regarding 'Information About Sleep'. Issues such as NREM, REM sleep and more are discussed in the article. Charts and diagrams are also included.

American Sleep Association - this is an excellent link that has tabs on sleep related topics like 'Sleep Information', 'Forums', 'Newsletter', 'Chat Rooms', 'Sleep Lab Directory' and a whole area (toward the bottom of the homepage) on popular sleep related topics like: Sleep Apnea, Restless Leg Syndrome, Narcolepsy, Insomnia Information and Ask the Sleep Doctor.

Click on this link about Sleep Apnea (SA) - the information comes from the American Association of Sleep Apnea. There are links to Learning About SA, Diagnosing and Treating SA, Support of SA Patients and a link to SA Resources

So there you have it - a whole host of sleep related websites and resources! Hopefully the links and information will help you get some good sleep and good shut eye!

Regards,
Stu

Marriage Quotes

Hi All,

Trying to come up with an idea for a blog entry today was somewhat difficult this morning. My thought process went something like this...

Checked online version of Newsday for some local news or tidbit to write about. Nothing of interest really appeared. I did see the Obits byline at the top of the page though. I thought about an entry talking about obituaries - that's too easy. Just go to the Social Security Death Index page from Rootsweb.

Besides a blog entry about obituaries is too depressing for this time of the year. I wanted something more upbeat and a bit less depressing. So...I looked for sites that had birth announcements...no such luck and what I did find were sites that actually sold the birth announcment itself. Not what I was looking for.

What about marriages? Hmmmm...I felt like I was getting a bit closer to a good idea for a blog post. What about marriage announcements? Okay - click on this link from the New York Times to see some fancy marriage announcements in and around New York City.

More to the point, I was looking for a whole bunch of quotes about what marriage does to a man and a woman; and to the relationship. Lots of the quotes talk about change and what happens after the honeymoon is over. There is a bit of truth in each and everyone of these quotes related to marriage. You'll see. And some of them are very, very clever - all of them are, in one way or another true.


This next set of married related quotes comes from QuoteGarden - an interesting quote related website. Note that if you want to find a particular word on the page, just click on the Edit option at the top left side of the page. When the drop down menu appears, click on the Find option and a dialog box will appear where you can type in the word you are looking for. Upon hitting the enter key the first appearance of the word will be shown. Hitting enter again will show the next appearance of the word you are looking for.

Finally, click on this link from Poemslovers.com for yet more quotes on the worlds oldest institution: marriage.

Enjoy the links and the quotes!
Stu