moutonoir

Have you read Thomas Freidman's "The World is Flat?" He agrees that China and India will become the next major superpowers, because they are making such rapid advances and working so hard to grow. He compares their education to ours here in the US, and it seems as if they are far more motivated at succeeding than we are. I guess it makes sense; we are probably thinking that we have it made for us, and they realize that you need to work to earn success, so they are working for it. It will be interesting to see how things turn out.

I've heard that chocolate is "healthy" in moderation, as long as you stick to the dark stuff. Milk chocolate is mostly sugar and fat, and white chocolate doesn't contain any of the cocoa which gives chocolate its nutrition boost. The author of SuperFoods Rx recommends no less than 70% cacoa dark chocolate, just 100 calories a day. I like to have it as a nice treat after dinner, and I find that it is more satisfying and delicious than a bowl or ice cream or a piece of cake. Chocolate is amazing!

I also love fried bananas, though the frying partially negates the health effects! If you heat up a little syrup of melted butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over the stove and lightly fry banana slices until they are golden brown, the results are quite delicious :lol:Sometimes I slice bananas lengthwise and put the halves on a Foreman grill until the surface of them is lightly carmalized. Then I sprinkle cinnamon on them. This is a slightly healthier way to eat them and is equally tasty. Unless you decide to put them on ice cream...

People just want the cheapest, fastest, and easiest solution. Right now that's gasoline, so it's what we use. Not because we're trying to be evil, but because at the moment, it seems like the most efficient way to achieve our transportation goals. While research is being done to find other fuel sources, it is often difficult to get the funding required to take full advantage of this research, and it is very, very costly and difficult to implement new solutions should they be found. Imagine trying to replace all of the nation or world's cars with newer, more fuel-efficient models. Even once we're sure of what fuel source we want to replace gasoline, this process will take a very, very long time. Meanwhile, we're going to have to suffer from the consequences of the negative aspects of current fuel sources.

I agree that true understanding of material is very important. Unfortunately, most students simply memorize facts from a textbook but are not able to apply the concepts or grasp how they really work. I have found that, in my education, it is much easier and more valuable to create a mental "system" of the material I am trying to learn, that is, to get an idea of the inner workings of the concepts. This way, if I am taking a test and read a problem that is tricky or unfamiliar, I can use the system to come up with some way of properly manipulating the information. Of course, this works more with math/science topics than with softer ones, but I'm sure a similar process could be used there too as well.

The paste might make a nice rub for chicken too...you could make a meal out of chicken with these cucumbers

Basically you're asking whether cardio activity or strength training is better. It's like saying which is better, fat or carbs. Neither one is better; they're both different, and you need both. Cardio will give you the endurance you described, keeping your heart in shape and burning excess calories which will keep you nice and lean. Strength training, on the other hand, will build muscle and raise your metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories while at rest and making you stronger. If you do both, you'll get the benefits of both. So that would be the ultimate way to triumph over your friend

I don't remember it off the top of my head, but there is a special diet which is supposed to help reduce jet lag. It had something to do with eating high-carb vs. high-protein meals, and you alternate them in a certain way. i'm sure if you google jet lag diet, something equivalent will pop up. I've never tried it, but supposedly it helps.

Good point; it can be misleading the way we refer to kilocalories as just calories in terms of nutrition. I've found that water does help you lose weight, but not because of its temperature...rather, the "fullness factor" can help keep you from eating too much food and allows you to be satisfied with less.

I upload all my files to the server and test them. That way, since they're exactly where they'll be when I'm ready for production, I can see exactly how they'll render. The space I use at my school, unfortunately, has disabled php error messages, so every time something goes wrong, all I get is a large blank page. In a way, this is good since I've stopped coding entire projects without running a single test; now I test every little chunk of code as I write it in order to avoid sloshing through a thousand lines, trying to find a missed semicolon or open ".

Each person has two genes for their blood type; one from their mother and one from their father. The A and B genes are each dominant, and the O gene is recessive. Therefore, in order to have blood type O, you need two O genes, whereas for A or B you only need one (if you have one A and one B, this is how you get AB blood). Say your mother has a gene for O and one for A, and your father has a gene for O and one for B. Your mother has type A blood because A is dominant, and your father has type B blood because that too is dominant over the O. If you get the O gene from your mother and the O gene from your father, then you have two O genes, making your blood type O, even though they have A and B. Hope this helps

The best way to learn about getting and succeeding in a job is through experience. As you practice, you'll learn through trial and error what is most effective. The characteristics that bring someone else success may work for you, or they may not. Only experience will tell. That said, it also looks great on your resume to have clear, quality work experience and good references. This way, others will be more likely to hire you.

I think anime is quite interesting in that it's so different from the type of shows we have here in the US. Even though the stories are often far-fetched and fantasy-like, it kind of gives some insight into the Japanese way of life and the culture's mindset. This is something I find fascinating. I love noting the character's values and motivations, and imagining what types of things the creator of the show was thinking when they wrote it.

There's isn't much learning to do in terms of HTML...once you understand how it works, you can just look up the specific commands you need online. It's pointless to sit and memorize everything. I learned it almost ten years ago, using the site http://www.htmlgoodies.com/. I think the site is still around, but now I'd probably turn to w3schools.com or the like. In any case, you should learn it online rather than a book since it's free that way and you can copy/paste code snippets more easily.

Lime and coconut make such a wonderful pair! I'll be sure to try these, especially with the cardamom.

I like to replace most of the sugar in my baked goods with honey. It gives them a nice flavor, and helps keep them moist.

I agree that writing about what you're passionate about is awesome...I used to love writing about writing, ironically. Currently I'm reading Julia Cameron's "The Right to Write," where she writes essays about the writing life. Each one has a writing prompt at the end, and I've found them quite helpful when I can find the time to sit down and do them.I used to dream of being published, but right now I'd just like to make a habit of writing again. I don't care so much about seeing my name in print as the joy I used to get from it. In high school I wrote my first novel, and while it was tough at times to figure out where it was going, there were some sessions where the words just flowed, and it was amazing! Now when I read parts of it I laugh...my style has changed so much since then. But it's fun to look back.Do you write mostly fiction or nonfiction? I used to love novels, but lately I've come to prefer nonfiction. I love a well-written, entertaining piece that also teaches me something.

Every time I find what I think has got to be the ugliest/worst designed/most pointless website, there's always another one worse than it that I stumble upon later. It's actually been kind of a good thing...following the philosophy of http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/, much of what I learned about good web design stemmed from learning what not to do by looking at bad sites.

I used to write all the time, but have slowed over the years as coursework became more prominent in my life. Are you an author? I'd love to hear your experience...I'm currently enrolled in a science writing course and have rekindled my interest in the craft, but it's hard to get motivated. I like to hear what others are up to

Very few 14 year old guys are going to be interested in a serious relationship. Even those that are...it's tough at that age to know yourself well enough to be able to determine and then communicate exactly what you want and need out of the relationship. Plus, your age is a time of HUGE change. So while he entered the relationship with one mindset, a completely new one could develop as it progresses. And that has nothing to do with you, that's just him growing. Your personality is probably growing and changing as well, so this might increase the differences between you two over time. That's just how it goes.Focus on yourself right now; pursue your interests, begin to find out what you REALLY like, who you want to be, what you want to do, etc. This way, when the right guy does come along, you'll be able to identify better that he IS right for you, which will increase your chances of a successful relationship. And you may not have a truly satisfying one for a long time. That's fine. Just go out there with an open mind, be cautious but not too much, and have fun.

Have you considered doing contract work? You could work for yourself in the sense that you won't be attached to any company, but you might be able to find specific jobs that require only coding knowledge. Perhaps peruse the local listings and see what you find?

You don't necessarily need a degree in design to prove that you can do it; you just need a portfolio so that when you send in resumes for jobs, you can give them some site URLs which you designed, and they can look at them and see if they like what you have to offer. Given this, you can more easily pursue a design education in a more self-studied type of way. This would enable you to skip over the stuff you already know and just focus on what YOU want to learn, rather than following someone else's syllabus. Pick up some books about color theory and design, and just start reading. It may seem like it'll never sink in at first, but eventually you'll get a sense of what works and what doesn't. Talk to other designers, see what they use and what tips they have to offer. Above all, practice. As I mentioned before, you'll want a portfolio of work you've done. These can be your own personal projects, just as long as you have something to show for what you can do.Most importantly, don't discourage! You may even find that you can get a job that doesn't require design. But in the case that you don't, if you pursue this self-study, you'll be better prepared and have a wider variety of opportunities.Good luck!

If you think of a dream as your brain's way of processing information that it may have received, and the sights and sounds of your dream and its interpretations of this activity going on, then I would say it's very plausible that pets dream. Even though their minds don't function on the same level as ours do, they still take in information about the world and need to process it. This would result in dreams, though probably not in the same amount of detail or way that we are used to them.I'm sure someone out there has done a study monitoring animals' brain waves while they sleep. I'm not familiar with any such work, but it would be interesting to investigate to see if their waves are similar to ours. This might indicate whether or not they dream.

Have you heard of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett? He is British so you'd get a good sense of the flavor of British English that way. There are many, many books in the series and can be read in any order, but the first one he wrote is called the Color of Magic. The books are fantasy, so if you liked Harry Potter you may like them too. What I really liked about these books though is that they're written with a sense of humor, so they keep you laughing while you're frantically turning the pages to what happens next.If you like these, I also recommend Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens. It's a humorous take on the apocalypse, and I really enjoyed it.

Too much of anything isn't good for you. However, it's often harder to consume too much protein than it is to consume too much sugar or fat, for instance, so you don't always hear this. The amount of protein you need depends on your age and activity level. If you're growing, whether it be because you're still young or because you're trying to increase your muscle mass, then you will need higher levels of protein than someone who is trying to maintain their weight.When they say Americans tend to get too much protein, keep in mind that this is because Americans tend to eat too many calories. Calories come from fat, carbs, and protein. I'd say though that the protein we eat is not as excessive as the fat and refined starch/sugar (bad carbs), so I'd be more worried about overall calorie intake than just protein-specific intake. As long as you're eating a reasonable diet, you probably won't be eating protein to the point where it begins to have significant harm.