12 mental exercises -- zany but productive

Dorothea Brande was an American writer and editor, well known for her books Wake Up and Live and Becoming a Writer (a useful resource for writers, by the way). In Wake Up and Live, she suggests twelve mental exercises to make your mind keener and more flexible.
12 mental exercises -- zany but productive

'Port' and 'sherry' out as Canberra signs wine deal with EU

FIRST it was champagne. Now Australia has agreed to European demands to drop the terms "port" and "sherry" to describe locally made fortified wines.
'Port' and 'sherry' out as Canberra signs wine deal with EU

100+ More Ways to Organize Your Life

From basic to do lists to event planning, fitness, educational organizers, and more, here are 100 new applications to get you even more organized.
100+ More Ways to Organize Your Life

Australia experiences record population growth: ABS

Australia recorded its fastest population growth since 1989, according to figures released today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. As at 30 June 2008, Australia's population had grown to 21,374,000, an increase of 1.7% or 359,000 people. Net overseas migration contributed 213,500 people (or 59% of growth) to Australia's population and natural increase (the excess of births over deaths) contributed 145,500 (41%).
Australia experiences record population growth: ABS

Manage Your Online Reputation

Are you happy with the results people get back when they Google your name? If not, there are easy ways to monitor and guide what information is published about you online. Two years ago we covered how to have a say in what Google says about you, and more recently, and how to track down anyone online. But a rash of social media sites have arisen that give you more tools to help you manage your online reputation and become more findable.
Manage Your Online Reputation

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2008

With politics and the economy foremost on the minds of many, it is no wonder that bailout—a word ubiquitously featured in discussions of the presidency and fiscal policy—took home honors as Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2008.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2008

NORAD TRACKS SANTA 2008

All the preparations for this year are in place! Return on Christmas Eve to track St. Nick on his magical flight around the world! Until then, come back each day to receive updates from the North Pole and to discover new surprises in the Kids' Countdown.
NORAD TRACKS SANTA 2008

Year in Review 2008 from Yahoo! Buzz

Olympian highs and politics as unusual, to celebrity hopefuls and market meltdowns: Through millions of searches and thousands of stories each day, people sought to make sense of the world around them. Take a look back at what captivated our imagination and fueled our passions in 2008, a very historic year indeed.
Year in Review 2008 from Yahoo! Buzz

Ask Top 2008 Searches

The lowdown on 2008 from Ask.
Ask Top 2008 Searches

Smiley sky above Oz

Jupiter and Venus line up to create a smiley face with the crescent-shaped moon.
Smiley sky above Oz

Woman has perfect "episodic memory"

"People say to me: Oh, how fascinating, it must be a treat to have a perfect memory," she says. Her lips twist into a thin smile. "But it's also agonizing."
Woman has perfect "episodic memory"

The 100 Best Movies of 2008

Times and Sunday Times critics pick their favourite films of the year.
The 100 Best Movies of 2008

How to Choose a Haircut That Flatters Your Facial Shape

Your hair is your crown, so it should be treated like a crown and make you feel like royalty. A good hair day needs a good haircut and good haircuts are made with more than just scissors and gel. The two most noticeable things about you would definitely be your face and your personality (unless of course you have 3 arms or something) so you should definitely take these things in account when choosing your hairstyle.
How to Choose a Haircut That Flatters Your Facial Shape

Diamond Ring Buying Tips

It pays to learn as much as you can before purchasing a diamond ring. Knowing all about the four Cs, having a budget and thoroughly vetting your jeweler are tips that will help you buy the diamond ring of your dreams.
Diamond Ring Buying Tips

HD or Standard Def? One in Five HDTV Owners Don't Know the Difference

If it's flat and has a big-screen, it's high-def, right? Apparently, a lot of HDTV buyers think so.
HD or Standard Def? One in Five HDTV Owners Don't Know the Difference

Laptop Buying Guide

Laptops are diversifying. Depending on your needs, you can find a model with a 7-, 9-, 13-, 14-, 15-, 17, or even 20-inch display. Battery life is getting longer, smaller systems are getting lighter (though at the expense of speed). Larger models are still hefty, but they're getting faster, rivaling desktop models.
Laptop Buying Guide

Five Best CD and DVD Burning Tools

The internet has made it easier than ever to share media and data with friends, family, and co-workers, but that doesn't mean burning your own CDs and DVDs is a thing of the past. Blank optical discs are dirt cheap, they work virtually everywhere, and if you bought your computer sometime in the last 5 years, chances are you've got the necessary hardware to quickly burn anything you want to a disc in just a few minutes. Now all you need is the right authoring tools.
Five Best CD and DVD Burning Tools

The Best Online Sources To Play & Learn Chess

Sites to play and learn chess.
The Best Online Sources To Play & Learn Chess

Blackstump Australia Issue 44 - November 30, 2008

This weeks latest sites ftom The Black Stump...
Blackstump Australia Issue 44 - November 30, 2008

Why You Shouldn't Care What Others Think About You

Who’s in control of your life? Who’s pulling your strings? For the majority of us, it’s other people – society, colleagues, friends, family or our religious community. We learned this way of operating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed.
Why You Shouldn't Care What Others Think About You

35 Things Every PC User Should Know

Want to speed up your broadband connection? Diagnose mysterious crashes? Move massive files across the Internet? Sooner or later, you will--and you'll find step-by-step instructions for these and other common PC tasks right here.
35 Things Every PC User Should Know

How to Use the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

EFT is a drug-free, easy-to-learn technique that may reduce stress or painful emotions associated with thoughts, past experiences, etc. There are several points on your body where you will tap, gently, with your fingers, while holding in mind the troublesome thought.
How to Use the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

Warren Buffett's 10 Ways To Get Rich

With an estimated fortune of $62 billion, Warren Buffett is the richest man in the entire world. In 1962, when he began buying stock in Berkshire Hathaway, a share cost $7.50. Today, Buffett, 78, is Berkshire's chairman and CEO, and one share of the company's class A stock worth close to $119,000. He credits his astonishing success to several key strategies, which he has shared with writer Alice Schroeder. She spend hundreds of hours interviewing the Sage of Omaha for the new authorized biography The Snowball. Here are some of Buffett's money-making secrets -- and how they could work for you.
Warren Buffett's 10 Ways To Get Rich

Copy iPhone to Computer

iTunes users could not directly copy music files from iPhone to pc desktop or laptop because iTunes blocks iPhone-to-computer song/video transfer. But we can utilize other programs to achieve that. Here is step-by-step guide on how to transfer songs and videos from iPhone to computer.
Copy iPhone to Computer

India: 80 Reported Dead in Bombay Terror Attacks, 7 Locations Attacked

Terrorists struck at India's financial capital late Wednesday night as at least seven near-simultaneous firings and explosions rocked areas in the vicinity of posh hotels in South Mumbai, leaving ten persons dead and several injured.
India: 80 Reported Dead in Bombay Terror Attacks, 7 Locations Attacked

How to Master the Art of Forgiveness

Many people find it hard to forgive. As we go through life, it’s inevitable that we’ll come across people who wrong us in one way or another. From the one who cuts you off in traffic to the one who puts you on hold and forgets about you, there’s no shortage of people out there who aren’t treating us exactly the way we’d like. Unfortunately, we’re rather limited in our ability to influence their behavior. But the good news is that we have a lot of control over how we react to them.
How to Master the Art of Forgiveness

Get Windows 7's Best Features Right Now

If you're tired of hearing about Windows 7's upcoming features while you sit and stare at your aging XP or Vista desktop, take solace in a few free apps and themes that can give you a taste right now. While it's true that Windows 7 isn't much different from Windows Vista (inside and out), a few neat features are worth trying out, and you can do it without installing the Windows 7 Preview. Here are a few free apps and alternatives that simulate Windows 7's built-in features.
Get Windows 7's Best Features Right Now

Why It Pays to Ignore Financial News

Financial news can be dangerous to the health of your investment portfolio.
Why It Pays to Ignore Financial News

Bargains For The Holidays May Be Just Clicks Away

With the economy in a tailspin, consumers may be looking for every edge they can get this holiday season when they shop for bargains.
Bargains For The Holidays May Be Just Clicks Away

How did turtles get their shells?

Ever wonder how a turtle got its shell? You're not the only one. Evolutionary biologists and paleontologists have long been stumped by the question. But a recently unearthed turtle fossil, the oldest on record, may hold the answer.
How did turtles get their shells?

Turn Your Point-and-Shoot into a Super-Camera

If you're using a consumer grade point-and-shoot Canon digital camera, you've got hardware in hand that can support advanced features way beyond what shipped in the box. With the help of a free, open source project called CHDK, you can get features like RAW shooting mode, live RGB histograms, motion-detection, time-lapse, and even games on your existing camera. Let's transform your point-and-shoot into a super camera just by adding a little special sauce to its firmware.
Turn Your Point-and-Shoot into a Super-Camera

Google Maps Gets Its Own Version of Clippy (And Some Useful Street View Updates)

Google Maps has just launched a number of updates that make Street View much more prominent. Now, whenever you’re viewing a map where there is Street View imagery available, you’ll be able to drag “Pegman” from the view slider to the street where you’d like to see a picture.
Google Maps Gets Its Own Version of Clippy (And Some Useful Street View Updates)

Fitness and the Brain: Can a Walk a Day Keep Alzheimer's Away?

Worldwide, more than 100 million people may have Alzheimer’s by the year 2050. As clinicians, we have learned to recognize that jokes about “old-timer’s disease” and “Teflon brain” are often calls for help from seniors worried about their memory lapses. Living longer is obviously no fun if you cannot remember your home address or drive a car.
Fitness and the Brain: Can a Walk a Day Keep Alzheimer's Away?

Australians are living longer

Life expectancy in Australia continues to increase, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The life expectancy of a boy born today is 79.0 years, while for a girl it is 83.7 years. Since 1987, life expectancy at birth has increased by around six years for men and four years for women.
Australians are living longer: ABS

Ninja, Pirate or Zombie: What's Your Attitude to Work?

Are you a ninja, a pirate, or a zombie? Or a bit of all three?
Ninja, Pirate or Zombie: What's Your Attitude to Work?

How to Deal With Difficult Relatives

s one thing dealing with difficult people with whom you have a professional or casual relationship, such as your boss, a co-worker, or anyone you deal with on a regular basis. But if the problem person is a relative and your relationship is personal and permanent, that’s a whole different beast. You must clearly define the boundaries you’re comfortable with, let the other person know what those boundaries are, and then enforce them.
How to Deal With Difficult Relatives

Abandon Your Self-Control.

Studies indicate that we have a limited amount of self-control, and it can be depleted. If you use a lot of self-control at work to resist the urge to yell at a co-worker, it might be harder to push yourself to go for a run when you get home.
Abandon Your Self-Control.

Grocery Saving Tips for Carnivores

Looking to make the most of your money saving opportunities while cooking for the meat and potato lovers in your family? Find the cost of your favorite cuts is putting a rather large dent in your child's college fund? Read on. Help has arrived.
Grocery Saving Tips for Carnivores

Five Recession-Proof Ways to Get Hired

Let’s face it—job hunting is a challenge in a good economy and we are now well into a full blown recession. If you dust off that old econ textbook in your mental library, you’ll remember a model called Supply and Demand.
Five Recession-Proof Ways to Get Hired

Tips for Traveling With Kids

The thing that causes the most stress isn’t holiday gifts or basting the turkey, it’s the prospect of a long plane flight or car ride with kids in tow.
Tips for Traveling With Kids

How to Figure Out What You Want in Life

What do you want to be when you grow up? For some it may be a disturbing notion to consider that even in our late twenties, thirties and beyond we may still find ourselves asking this question of ourselves.
How to Figure Out What You Want in Life

How to Maintain Eyeglasses

Eyeglasses can be a pain to care for, what with smears, smudges, fingerprints, fogging...Ever wondered how to look after your glasses, keep them in good repair so they'll last until your next eye exam? Want to be able to see through them without the smudges? Read on.
How to Maintain Eyeglasses

Protect your laptop and data on your USB keys

Here are two free Windows utilities worth trying. The first can help protect your laptop from theft, and the other will hide data (up to 1 GB) on your USB keys from prying eyes.
Useful Tools for Windows - Protect your laptop and data on your USB keys

Live Piracy Map

This map shows all the piracy and armed robbery incidents reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre during 2008. If exact coordinates are not provided, estimated positions are shown based on information provided. Zoom-in and click on the pointers to view more information of an individual attack. Pointers may be superimposed on each other.
Live Piracy Map

World's Tallest Bridge Goes Up in China with the Help of Some Rockets

They erected huge towers on either side of the valley to anchor the bridge, first off. Next, they attached 3,200-foot cables to rockets, accurately firing them across the valley to the other side. While other large bridges took care of this process using helicopters or kites, that was just too practical for these guys.
World's Tallest Bridge Goes Up in China with the Help of Some Rockets

Google SearchWiki 101: An Illustrated Guide

Google SearchWiki — a new feature that allows you to move and comment on search results — has been out for less than a day, and it’s amazing to see how much confusion (as well as commentary) there is already developing. So below, some clarification on how it works, opportunities search marketers should consider, some privacy issues and ideas for improving it.
Google SearchWiki 101: An Illustrated Guide

Blackstump Australia Issue 43 - November 22, 2008

This weeks latest sites ftom The Black Stump...
Blackstump Australia Issue 43 - November 22, 2008

Holiday toy shopping hints

If you’ve got kids to buy for this holiday season, you’re probably already thinking about what to get them. “Wow” gifts don’t have to be the season’s “hottest” toy. The classics can often hold their interest just as long.
Holiday toy shopping hints

Negotiation: Prices Are Just Suggestions

In the book, Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and The Gender Gap, authors Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever shed light on what should be some startling statistics. For example, men initiate negotiation four times more often than women, and women are 2.5 times more likely to feel apprehension when negotiating.
Negotiation: Prices Are Just Suggestions

The Best Way to Get Clean, Streak-Free Mirrors

Try as I may I cannot get my mirrors as clean as I would like them—and my vanity is not OK with that! Perhaps this solution from TipKing will do the trick.
The Best Way to Get Clean, Streak-Free Mirrors