Tuesday, January 7, 2014

WHO IS READY FOR A CHALLENGE? 40 DAYS CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

Who Is Ready For A Challenge? 40 Days Can Change Your Life.
So here we are in a new year.
You probably made a few goals, have a few dreams and desires but are you REALLY going to make them happen this year or will it just be the “Same-Old Same Old” again this year?
I have a challenge I’ve been doing now that has changed my life for the better. This challenge is a financial challenge. It’s a challenge to help you get on the right path with your income and let you hit those goals.40-Day-Challenge-Logo
Some of you want just some extra income each month. Some of you want to replace your day job and others just want to get out of the Rat Race. Whatever your dream is why not actually do something right now about it?
The biggest response when I ask that question is…
“But I don’t know what works and I don’t know what to do.”
Ok… let me just get right to it and give you a simple answer and tell you about the 40 Day Challenge.
What works is the Internet. It’s called Internet Marketing and it is THE BEST way to make extra income or replace your income. I don’t have to prove it to anyone…you can just see the stories online of real people working from home on the Internet. All they need is an Internet connection and a desire and some direction to get started. There are so many things you can do on the Internet as well.
So let’s talk about the HOW you do it. That’s the big question everyone has.
Well…instead of trying to tell you in this email, I’d like you to experience it for yourself…specifically I want you to see our 40 Day Challenge.
The 40 Day Challenge is a step-by-step, day-by-day… PROVEN method that works to help a band new person start a successful online business. It includes daily coaching and very specific step-by-step instructions.
Steps that if followed will bring you success.
You will need to have 60 to 90 minutes a day to do the challenge if you are wonder about how much time it will take.
So if you are ready to check it out and start your 40 Day Challenge here is what you do:
1: Watch the videos and create your NO-COST Account Here:
2: Once you have watched all the videos and have gone through the six steps you will learn about the 40 Day Challenge. It’s actually step #6
Hey listen. It’s ok to be skeptical. I know I was a first but it was such a relief to have a clear cut path on how to make all this online stuff work. That’s what I love about the 40 Day Challenge.
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Monday, April 29, 2013

Summary of London and Barcelona


I've taken almost 3000 photos, I have fine dined at some of the most stunning restaurants including Restaurant Gordon Ramsayand Le Cinq and I have discovered some local favourites. In between all of that, I have caught up with a few friends including, fellow food blogger, Helen, who runs World Foodie Guide. We had some superb dumplings and noodle soups at Ba Shan which seemed outrageously priced in comparison to that available in Sydney's Chinatown, but once you stop converting everything back to Aussie dollars, you realise that the food was indeed delicious and executed with fine detail. I will be doing a blog post on Ba Shan later on.
This week, I've started craving home cooking and have found it almost impossible to find a quality Chinese or Vietnamese restaurant around France. Paris Hanoi was pretty good but missed the little things such as sate sauce or hoisin sauce for the Pho soupe de boeuf (beef noodle soup) or variety of mints for my Tom Bun Nem, vermicelles de riz, crudites avec crevettes sautees et nems (vermicelli with sauteed prawns and spring rolls).
Back to the beginning, one of the first restaurants I dined at was 1 Michelin starred, The Ledbury. The chef is Brett Graham, an Aussie who has been trained by the very best at The Square. With so many deletable flavours in the a la carte menu, Zen and I opted for the tasting menu so we can devour a bit of everything. It was 9 courses for £70 and £108 with wine. We started with abeetroot meringue with foie gras and gingerbread crumb -a combination which melts in your mouth. It was strangely similar to something I've had at Centennial Parklands Dining which was offered at the Taste Of Sydney launch party. Who copied who, I wonder.
We were then offered a choice of the bacon and onion broichewhich was flavoursome and fluffy or white sourdough, a favourite stable. Below was the first course, a softly poached pheasant egg with jerusalem artichoke veloute. Standout dish was theceleriac which was baked in ash with hazelnuts and wood sorrel for 45 minutes and served with a kromeski of wild boar -tender and fragrant with aniseed and crisply fried with breadcrumbs on the outside. The gorgeous aromas of the celeraic were exposed when the waitor sliced open the crust before taking it back to the kitchen for its final touches.
Other courses included a generous serve of roast foie gras with glazed endive, blood orange and toasted grains, flame grilled mackerel with cured mackerel, avocado and shiso, shoulder of Pyrenean milk fed lamb cooked for twenty four hours with truffle creamed potato and buttered celery, roast monkfish with peas, morels and marjoram, warm minature churros, creme brulee, pressed gariguette strawberries with hisbiscus and petit fours of macaroons, chocolates and marshmallow.
When asked if we needed a cab after dinner, I didn't hesitate to say yes. Afterall, we had eaten for over 4 hours and I was so full, I had to waddle my way out. But one does not expect the restaurant to order a chauffeur with a glitzy Mercedes Benz S320 -although now having seen more of Notting Hill, a fashionable suburb where every second car is a Porsche, I can understand why. It was definitely a luxurious and memorable ride back to the serviced apartment. The chauffeur told tales of his two wives as I fell in and out of a snooze. No celebrities spotted in Notting Hill unfortunately.
I also checked out the food halls at Harrods and Selfridges. As I wandered from department display to another display, I remember telling Zen that I was in Heaven time after time. Of course, I had said the same thing when shoe shopping or patisserie hunting. Europe has so far proven to be a girl's playground... the more money you have, the more fun it is!
New fruits and vegetables which I have discovered include beef tomatoes and physalis.

The next fine dining experience was at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay -a place where I had made a reservation 2 months in advance for 9:30pm. Howver, still adjusting to jet lag, we slept in, called to apologise for our delay and arrived at 10:30pm. If only Gordon Ramsay was there himself, I am sure he would have turned us away furiously!
But our 3 course for £90 meal was marvelous. I loved the inbetween surprises, such as the sherbet and pop rocks in themango soup with coconut cream which was served before dessert and tasted like a Weis bar, only better.
Below is my scrumptious starter, ravioli of lobster, langoustine, and salmon poached in a light bisque with lemongrass and chervil veloute.
I am puzzled as to why Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, formerly 13th, has crashed out of the Top 50 Restaurants list this year, as the service was perfect and the food, divine -it has sure impressed me.
I couldn't leave London without having done high tea -afternoon tea as they call it. Thank goodness for my obsession with planning because Claridge's turned out to be extremely busy and we probably wouldn't have gotten a table without a booking.
Zen almost fell off his chair when he saw that it was £33 for a selection of sandwiches including Scottish Oak smoked salmon on rye sourdough, Dorrington Gammon ham on milk bread, organic egg mayonnaise on brown bread and organic cucumber and rocket on onion bread, freshly baked raison and apple scones with Devonshire clotted cream and Marco Polo jelly, a selection of French pastries and tea.
Afternoon tea at Claridge's was such an enjoyable experience. There was live music performed by a pianist and violinist, massive glistening chandeliers and comfy royal armchairs in a room which was dressed as one of those posh ballrooms. There was even a butler in the ladies' room which was gorgeous enough to be a bedroom. But before you get the wrong impression, it was not at all pretentious.
One thing I haven't yet mentioned is the discretionary 12.5% service charge which restaurants add to the final bill. This has slightly hiked up my budget so be warned!
On another night, I had dinner with some ex-colleagues. What is more exciting than seeing familiar faces on the other side of the world? I chose Le Cafe Anglais at the recommendation of Helen. I started with amazing oyster fritters which were served with a herb vinaigrette and their renouned parmesan custard and anchovy toast. Below is my sublime fish soup served with shredded Gruyere cheese and spicy aioli which prepared me for the wonderful world of France, to which i travelled to a week later.
Because we didn't have time to eat at any gastropubs, I had to squeeze in this local favourite. My deep-fried cod with chipswas the best there is. Our accompanying Greek Salad was scrumptious too, but what I really loved was the clean, crisp batter and the beautiful flaky fish.

Then stepping out as tourists, we went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. If you don't mind getting your feet trampled on, then this is for you.

I had 3 days in Barcelona and all I really did was eat. Barceloneta was great for that: fantastic seafood and well priced desserts. I ate my fair share of razor clams which are meatier and tastier than the typical clam, drank up on sangria and fresh juices fromBoqueria Markets, and ate plentiful paellaspintxos(toothpicked tapas on bread) and tapas -pan tomaca con Jamón (tomato bread with Serrano ham), Patatas a la Brava (fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce and aioli) and Croquetas de Bacalao (cod fish croquettes) are some to name.

HANDS ON WITH FACEBOOK HOME


When Mr Zuckerberg first gave us a glimpse of Facebook Home at the start of the month I thought it was a flawed concept. Then when they released this video last week I thought it was a really flawed concept. Having used Facebook Home for the past week, was I too quick to judge?
When I finally saw it pop up in the Google Play store this week I decided to put my preconceived notions about Home aside and give it a whirl. Immediately after installing my whole phone changed. It was as if I had just switched operating system, I was no longer on Android I was on Facebook OS.
Facebook Home is effectively a launcher and replaces your home screen with a full-screen sliding news feed. The user interface now consists of a tiny bubble of my face which can be dragged left to launch Messenger, up to access the app launcher, or right to open my most recently used app. These are the only options available to you and everything else is hidden away behind fiddly drag and swipe options.
All of this sounds lovely in Facebook land where guys dressed in hoodies and flip flops laugh at videos of screaming goats all day, but for those of us who want to use our phone for tasks outside of Facebook it is a real hindrance. My apps aren’t just there anymore, I have to go through a series of steps open them. And my widgets have completely disappeared, which for any Android user is like losing a limb. Important features that I had customised to be accessible with one touch such as Google Now, Twitter, Phone, Messages, and Email now take several actions to access. I counted that it took me 5 different actions to open Gmail as opposed to one before. I can’t even see basic information such as the time, notifications, battery indicator, or the weather.
Home also takes over your lock screen and only allows you to unlock your phone after you choose a specific app to open, it then takes you to your old lock screen where you still have to swipe and enter your pin. So effectively it adds two or three extra steps to unlock your phone. This is a real inconvenience, although it can be disabled in the options.
The news feed itself doesn’t exactly lend itself to the full screen experience. Images don’t fit on the screen properly and look dark and pixelated, even high-res images. The posts displayed on Facebook Home appear to be completely random, sometimes it would show me something posted 5 minutes ago and other times it would show a post from 3 days ago. With such a push for content to be instant Home seems to be overwhelmingly slow and irrelevant. Home is also very slow, after pressing the home button on my device when inside another app it sometimes took 5 seconds to load the Facebook Home screen. Another issue I found was that after scrolling through a number of posts there was no way (that I could find, anyway) of returning to the most recent post.
Engagement is one thing about Home that is easy and intuitive. Simple ‘Like’ and ‘Comment’ buttons in the bottom left hand corner work nicely, although I did find it easy to accidently hit the ‘Like’ button (always awkward).
One of the most talked about features on the launch of Home was Chat Heads. Despite the name, Chat Heads is a feature that makes a lot of sense. One thing that has always bugged me about the phones I’ve owned (both Android and iOS) is that messaging takes you out of whatever you are doing. Chat Heads tackles this by allowing you to view and reply to a message on-the-fly without it interrupting what you are doing. This feature works quite nicely and is something I would like to see implemented into Android.
So after using Facebook Home I’ve decided I’m probably not the target market, but even looking through the eyes of an avid Facebook user I can’t see the benefits of it over the standard Facebook app. It’s clunky, disruptive, slow, and actually makes the whole Facebook experience rather tedious. The main reason I, and most people I know, own an Android device is for the customisability, Facebook Home takes all of that away. It cuts off access to your widgets and home screens and makes it difficult to access other apps. It’s early days, and it may well improve with future updates, but I fear that once Zuckerberg and co. roll out ads on the platform it will be even more unusable.
I’m not alone in my feelings toward Home, the app has an unimpressive 2.2 star rating in the Play store. Here are a few comments from other users:
“Not an intuitive app. Made my phone so frustratingly complicated to use that I uninstalled after just four or five hours.” – Victoria Wiley
“It limits my phone. If I wanted a single company to take over my homescreen appearance, I could use an iPhone.” – Lee Milstein
“Not intuitive and it makes my phone butt ugly.” – Ric Brown
Although, it seems to have won a few fans:
“It does exactly what it’s suppossed to do. It has a beautiful interface and is quite handy for people that use fb often.” – Keanu James
“Simple and easy to use. I love it.” – Gregory Ro…
Have you used Facebook Home yet? What do you think of it?



Educational Blogging

Wikipedia defines a blog as, "A weblog (usually shortened to blog, but occasionally spelled web log or weblog) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles, most often in reverse chronological order."

Blogging is the posting of journal-like pages to a website. While these pages can contain photos or media, they are primarily focused on the easy ability to post written thoughts to a website. The postings are organized chronologically. Typically, a blog "post" can be "commented" on by others, allowing for a dialogue on a the topic of the post. Teachers and educators have used blogs to allow for what is commonly called "peer review," meaning that students can post writings or assignments to the web, and other students can respond or encourage through the comment feature.

In a broader and more educational system, blogs are about communicating. You observe your experience, reflect on it, and then write about it. Other people read your reflections, respond from their perspectives by commenting or writing their own blog article. You read their perspectives, often learn something through their eyes, and write some more.

  1. Blogging is about reading and writing.
  2. Literacy is about reading and writing.
  3. Blogging is about literacy. 

Educational Blogging


Educational Blogging is blogging by students, teachers, administrators, industry experts, and other involved entities that focus primarily on the educational process and educational interests.

This Website


In the context of this website, we will focus primarily on the use of blogging as an educational tool that teachers introduce to their students, then use as a means of promoting learning. One of the great educational benefits of the read/write web, and blogging particularly, is the opportunity for the student to become a "teacher" by presenting material to an audience. When we teach, we learn.

Uses for Blogging in Education


Teacher Communication

Teachers will often start a blog for providing communication to students, parents, or other teachers. Sometimes this is just the posting of homework or other assignments in one easy-to-find location. Other times this can be a richer description of the things taking place in the classroom, specifically drawing the parents into what their children are working on, or for students who have been absent. This type of blog can also take advantage of the comment feature for students and parents to ask questions or for clarification, where the answer would be of interest to all the readers.

Dialogue Generation

A teacher blog that posts questions about current subject matter can be a great way to introduce students to responding in writing and contributing collaboratively. For instance, a teacher might ask specific thought-provoking questions about a book the class is reading, and ask for students to respond through the comments feature with their ideas. This is often done as a voluntary exercise to help demonstrate the uses of blogs in easy steps.

Student Blogs

The providing of each student with an individual blog seems to generate the most significant enthusiasm for blogging among students. Whether done through special programs that allow strict teacher control and filtering on the blog posts and comments, or through public services with parent and teacher oversight, students with individual blogs have an opportunity to discover the work and joy of communicating their ideas in written form, and then getting feedback from others. Sometimes the blogs are not made public, and the feedback is just from classmates or specifically-allowed individuals; other times, and more often with older students, the feedback can come from the wider audience of the World Wide Web. Most often public student blogs are done under a nickname and without any personal details, so that the incredible excitement that can come from communicating with a global audience does not place the student in harm's way. Student blogging has to be overseen with coaching and training to make sure that both that personal data is not communicated and that blog posts are appropriate.

Teacher Blogs

Teachers can blog for each other about their experiences teaching, their philosophies, and their methodologies.

What blogging does for students


Helps them find a voice

Another benefit to educational blogging (and wiki-writing) is the opportunity for the student to find a personal "voice" and to develop individual interests. Much like journal-writing, blogging gives wings to ideas that otherwise may can stay trapped in the mind. Many individuals find that blog-writing changes their lives in a significant way by allowing them to express their ideas in a medium that appears to have life and longevity--and that might find a kindred audience.

Creates enthusiasm for writing and communications

It is not expected that all students will take to blogging (just as not all students enjoy writing), but it is believed that blogging has a unique ability to create enthusiasm for writing and the communication of ideas.

Engages students in conversation and learning

Educational Blogging is more than just being about writing, just like writing is more than just writing business correspondence or a lab report for Chemistry class.Unlike traditional forms of publication that are one-way, when the work is done at the end of the publication process, students can be engaged in ongoing conversations about their ideas and thoughts. This can be threatening for some administrators afraid of endangering children, yet, it brings a reality to the classroom that was not previously possible.

Provides an opportunity to teach about responsible journalism

Because students who are posting blogs reach an audience with their posts, whereas a personal diary can be kept private, students have the opportunity in blogging to learn about the power of the published word. Whereas they might be tempted to criticise or make fun of someone in private conversation or in a diary, they can be taught about responsible journalism, and that the consequences of these kinds of remarks in the new world of the read/write web can be serious and long-lasting.

Empowers students

Student blogging is incredibly empowering in the following ways:

1) Instead of writing as a mechanized approach to empowerment where we learn to write well enough for school and work, we learn to write for life-long learning purposes.

2) Writing and blogging and life are intertwined as difficult issues are exposed and dealt with in a transparent community of voices. Although this type of writing entails risk and trust, growth and teamwork naturally result.

3) Writing and blogging encourage students' initiative to write, to be engaged at more than just the head level. It involves writing from head and heart. Children often have not learned to do more than live from the heart, while adults have concentrated their efforts on more cerebral approaches. This means adults and children can bridge the gap that exists by writing together, creating a community of writers in their classrooms where there is no pseudo-community, only community where humans write.

Blogs vs Social Networking


What is the difference?


Most people (OK, most adults) don't know the difference between "blogs" and "social networking" sites. MySpace.com is an example of a social networking site.

What is social networking?

Social networking sites, while they include the ability to post written material to the web like blogs do, revolve much more around the ability of an individual to build a web "presence" and to create visible links with others in the network. What writing there is on a social networking site is often in computer slang, intended to be "different." These sites often allow the ability to place music, photo, and video content on the site, allowing the individual to showcase their likes and dislikes. A form of text messaging is often included as well, with a history of the messages appearing on the site. Again, all of the features of social networking sites are intended to create social interactions with others.

Why are social networking sites so appealing?

Many parents understand the appeal of social networking sites, as they are used to the lengths that youth will go to receive attention--whether positive or negative. Our individual needs to be acknowleged, to be valued, and to be part of a group are heightened during teenage years. Social networking sites provide a fast and effective way to give and receive attention, though not all of it appropriate.

Why do kids often behave inappropriately online?

Because technology often provides 1) a perceived buffer from regular consequences and 2) a real buffer from traditional social cues, people will say and do things through technology that they would not do face-to-face. (The scientific term for this is "disinhibition.") If this is apparent with email, instant messaging, and text messaging on cell phones, it seems even more glaring on social networking sites. Youth who do not have any real understanding of the dangers or consequences of certain behavior will often talk openly about sexual issues or post provocative pictures online. While this may sometimes reflect their actual behavior, it is believed that many youth are being provocative in order to gain attention--not realizing how dangerous this actually is.

Education is vital

This is why it is vital to educate children of these things in a formal way. To deny the effective, academic use of these tools in the classroom will prevent discussion and education of children on these topics.

Educational Blogging


Educational blogging takes advantage of the desire to express oneself and to receive feedback, but within the confines of the technology and the educational environment it is implemented in. And when done as part of a teacher- or parent-initiated program, educational blogging starts with the assumption that the teacher or parent will be actively watching the content and the dialogue. The ability to contribute, through posting content and comments to the web, in an academic discipline accomplishes something of significance: it gives youth a vision of their ability to add to the accumulated knowledge and understanding of the world.

Risks

Both social networking and blogging carry a risk of an "online predator" seeking to gain information about individuals through their online content. Blogging sites are relatively easier for parents or teachers to protect (and can often limit their ability to viewed to only to certain other individuals), but it does require thoughtful oversite and discussion to make sure that personal details are not divulged that would create risk (e.g., "today I went to my regular yoga class that I go to every Tuesday at 6:00 on Douglas Road..."). Blogging sites devoted to educational topics are less likely to carry this type of "journaling" content as well.

Are there Educational Uses of Social Networking Software


The inherent risk

Social networking sites are accurately described as typically revealing personal details that would put a youth at risk of a predator. By their very nature, social networking sites are intended to create social connections. While there are many youth using social networking sites in responsible ways, such sites are just inherently revealing. Many parents are either unaware that their children have social networking "presences," or that these sites even exist.

Opportunity to educate

There are thoughtful voices in the educational world that argue that not paying attention to, or guiding the use of, emerging technologies like social networking actually contributes to the abuses that take place on sites like MySpace. By not helping them to use the new technologies in safe and productive ways, we yield the space to kids, who do what kids do: some push the envelope, disregard safety, and disrespect others--but some also make brilliant uses of the space. As we begin to move beyond the Internet as merely a library where you go to look up information, to a space where all users can contribute knowledge and insights, we need to recognize that the potentials for teaching and learning in these environments are exciting and enormous.

There are social networking tools such as wikis that are being used by teachers as part of their academic curriculum in meaningful ways. These voices in the educational world view the use of wikis and other emerging tools as a great opportunity to harness the power of the social network to promote education.

Parent Supervision is Paramount


Clearly, the best remedy for making sure that parents are comfortable with the online behavior of their children is awareness and oversight. And while there may be differences of opinions on how much of the new Internet technologies to use, it would be a shame for the very real risks of social networking to discourage parents and teachers from active involvement in its safer technological cousin, educational blogging.