Books by John Wheatcroft: The Portrait of a Lover

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Aya Katz

There are many books by John Wheatcroft. If you are a long term fan, then you may have already read most, if not all. But there is a new novel about to come out this December: The Portrait of a … Continue reading →

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Is it vain to wear contact lenses?

Posted on October 20, 2011 by admin

Is it vain to wear contact lenses? Are people who wear them trying to improve their appearance or their vision? This is a question that comes up quite often when a teenager first thinks about switching from glasses to contact lenses.

In one sense, this is a very stupid question. Nobody was born with glasses. Glasses are an unnatural means of correcting a problem with vision. Though it is better to wear glasses than not to be able to see well, there are many disadvantages. Glasses are heavy. They leave marks on the side of your nose, tiny little injuries to your skin that are bearable, but by no means healthy. Glasses fog up. They fall off during athletic events and are hard to keep on when upside down. They get dirty and require constant cleaning. They allow only a limited field of vision and offer no correction for peripheral vision. And the list goes on.

Despite all this, when someone is considering switching from glasses to contact lenses, one of the first things acquaintances will mention are the change to the appearance, image and identity of the user. In fact, people often question their own motives for wanting contact lenses, wondering: “Is it vain to wear contacts?” The Daria episode entitled “Through a Glass Darkly” explores this issue in detail.

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Because wearing glasses is sometimes associated with being intelligent, studious or square, the social significance of wearing glasses has become more prominent in most people’s minds than the functional significance.

“Is it vain to wear contact lenses?” No. Not if it helps your vision and makes your life easier. On the other hand, if wearing contacts is difficult for you because of allergies or other irritants, then wearing them only for cosmetic reasons would not be a good idea.

In order to decide what is right for you, you should weigh the costs and the benefits. Contact lenses, when fitted properly, can improve your vision while making you more mobile and less weighed down. Contact lenses can be more expensive than glasses, but you can also purchase them online at a reduced price. If you have allergies or unusual sensitivity, then contact lenses may not be right for you.

It is always a good idea to consult with your opthamologist before making the final decision. But whatever you decide should be based on the impact on your life, and not on the the preconceived notions that other people may have about the symbolic meaning of glasses.

 

 

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Chimp Feet Shoes for Halloween

Posted on October 17, 2011 by admin

Bow tries on an old pair of SAS shoes Image Credit: (c) 2010 Aya KatzEvery chimpanzee that I have ever encountered has been interested in shoes. They like to look at your shoes, and they also like to try them on. I’m not certain why, but it might have something to do with the difference in shape between their feet and ours.

I think the curiosity about shoes and feet goes in both directions. Many humans are very curious about chimpanzee feet. Have you ever wanted to have a pair of chimpanzee feet? Well, now you can, in the form of an unusual pair of shoes.

Of course, these shoes will not help you to pick up objects or hang upside down from a tree branch. Their effect is merely cosmetic. But if you are embarrassed by the degenerate appearance of your human feet, which are pretty much useless for fine motor skills, you can pretend that you have chimpanzee feet. For those who like orangutans better, there are even a pair of orangutan feet shoes available.

As Halloween approaches, one costume many boys and young men might enjoy is a chimpanzee outfit. Get the chimp feet shoes to go with the costume, and you will be a smash hit!

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How To Braid Hair

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Peppergum01

Braiding hair is very simple but for the people who have never had the chance to learn how or for the younger teens, here are some easy steps on how to braid your hair. When starting out I suggest to do a side braid and use all your hair for it so you can see what you’re doing and not make too many mistakes. Later when you’re better at braiding hair you can use small pieces or bangs of your hair.

Step 1. Separate your hair into 3 sections and hold them in place with your fingers.

Step 2. Take the piece of hair on the outside and switch it with the one in the middle.

Step 3. Switch the middle hair piece with the inside piece.

Step 4. Keep doing the process over and over again until all the hair you want is braided.

Step 5. Take a rubber band and tie it in place.

Now you’re done, you can watch this video to learn how to do different braided hairstyles, and I don’t own this video:

 

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How To Put Long Thick Hair Up In A Good Bun

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Peppergum01

If you have long thick hair then these steps will be a perfect way to teach you how to put your hair up in a tight beautiful bun without using a claw or special products. All you will need is an elastic hair tie or anything you naturally would use to put your hair up into a ponytail or bun. You should brush your hair a little before this so that it will be easier to put up and you won’t have to keep trying again and again. Here are two ways:

1st way:

1.) Wrap your hair around itself into a shape of a donut.

2.) Hold it together with your fingers and keep it up and adjust it to how high or low you want it.

3.) Take the elastic band and wrap it around into a nice tight bun.

4.) Take some clips to clip it in to make sure it will stay in all day (Optional)

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2nd way:

1.) Take your hair as if you were going to do a ponytail and pull the elastic band almost all the way through but not quite.

2.) You should have a small tail at the end and adjust it to the angle you’d like it.

3.) Once it’s just the way you like wrap the elastic band around and make it tight to where it’ll stay all day.

4.) You should now have a bun with a small tail, I call this the tail bun.

Hope these steps help you if you have thick long hair and if you want 3 simple steps just watch this video which I don’t own:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v-jhCCt4nc

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Cheerleading

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Peppergum01

Many people think cheerleading is just a bunch of girls waving pom poms in the air but it’s actually more than just that. Everyday they go through pain and sacrifices to do their routines trying not to make mistakes. When they get thrown in the air if they hesitate even a little bit it could result in serious injuries or even death. Cheerleading is known as the most dangerous sport for women today. There is a little bit of gymnastics in cheerleading too such as cartwheels and handstands. But in some schools they stick to the more simple things, like chanting and cheering. When they do this, they are trying to support the team and help them do their best.

Cheerleading is not just for women though, men can do it too. However the women have to be very flexible and the men must be very strong in real cheerleading. Some people do cheerleading for fun and others do it to support their school’s team. Also in most cheerleading teams there are specific uniforms to wear that goes with the team colors for what they’re cheering for.

For more information about cheerleading watch this video:

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Making a Place in Your Heart for Someone Who is not Going to Stay

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Aya Katz

At Inverted-A Press, we are gearing up, slowly but surely, for the publication of John Wheatcroft’s The Portrait of a Lover. The current projected release date is in December of this year. The interior typesetting is done, but we are still tinkering with the cover.

Immersed as I have been with reading and re-reading The Portrait of a Lover, I have been unusually receptive to messages that touch on the subject matter of the book. So the other day, when I spotted this motto on Facebook, it gave me reason to pause: “Before you make a place in your heart for someone, make sure he is going to stay.” I can’t swear that those are the exact words, because these Facebook platitudes drift by so fast and are soon replaced by something else. One moment it is self-empowerment, and the next it is something about puppy mills. But it was something like this.

The implication is that unless you are pretty sure your love is going to be reciprocated, you shouldn’t bother to love. And perhaps not just momentary reciprocation is required. Perhaps it’s an actual commitment.

This is the social view of love: that it isn’t love, unless there is a relationship. It is the conventional view sanctioned by society: that love is a two-sided contract, which, until it is signed and sealed, can be rescinded.

But for some of us, love is not social. It is not a contract. And it cannot be taken back. Love is an emotion, which once it has us in its grip, never releases. Or if it does release us, it can be after decades of unremitting pleasure and pain. Love is torture. Love is elation. And we suffer through it all alone.

The limerent state, for this kind of love is nothing less than limerence, is not a universal condition. Not everyone falls prey to it. Not everyone can understand that the place in our heart is usurped against our will, and without our consent, and that the transaction is not negotiable.

The Portrait of a Lover by John Wheatcroft is the story of one such love. Never consummated, and hardly acknowledged by its object, it is a love that lasts a lifetime.

Look for The Portrait of a Lover on Amazon this December.

© 2o11 Aya Katz

Other Books by John Wheatcroft

                

Posted in Books and Authors, Opinion Pieces and Editorials, Relationships | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Online College or Traditional College?

Posted on October 2, 2011 by habee

Online college might be the perfect fit for you!

Have you ever considered enrolling in an online college? Let’s say you’ve gotten to the point in your life where you’ve decided to further your education. You have an overwhelming number and variety of choices. Some of these choices include one-year certification programs, short courses, vocational-technical schools, traditional college and online college. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, so you need to choose carefully. Your decision should be based on the career for which you want to prepare, the amount of time and money you have to invest, your personal schedule, and your motivation and level of self-discipline. Also, all these options might not be available in your area.

Let’s go one step further and say you definitely want a college degree. Now you have to choose between attending a traditional college and online college. If you’re leaning toward traditional college, you’ll first need to find a college that offers the degree program you want. If there’s not one in your area, are you willing to move to another city or state? With online college, you can stay at home and attend classes via your computer.

Now, let’s say there’s a college in or near your town that offers the degree program you want. When do the classes meet? If you work a regular 9-5 job five days a week, you’ll need to find out if the classes required are offered at night or on weekends. If they’re not, online college might be the solution.

Are you self-motivated and able to do class work independently? If you can honestly answer “yes” to both of these, you have a great chance of being successful with online classes. If, on the other hand, you answered “no,” online college might not be your best choice. To complete online courses successfully, you have to able to schedule your time carefully, being sure to devote enough time to your class work. Online college and procrastination do not a good pair make.

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Buy Independent Books, Movies and Music from Alibris

Posted on September 29, 2011 by admin

Alibris: Books, Music, & Movies

Do you know about Alibris? It is another way of buying books, music and movies online. We all know about Amazon, the leading online retailer. Most people also know about Barnes & Noble. They are the major brick and mortar bookseller that hasn’t gone bankrupt yet. (As opposed to Border’s, which has.) Barnes & Nobles are staying afloat by having their own online sales presence, in addition to their traditional bookstores.

But if you can’t find what you want at either Barnes & Nobles or Amazon, then you might consider searching through Alibris. They sell used and new and even rare books, movies and music. The way it works is like this: independent booksellers list their inventories with Alibris. When you order a book from Alibris, chances are you are going to have it shipped to you directly from the bookseller that stocks it. If you order the book online, and it is a rare or used book, you might just beat out an in-store customer that wanted it, too. Alibris also allows their customers to list and to sell their own books, music and movies on their site. They charge a base fee and a commission to sellers.

Just to give you an example of how Alibris compares to Barnes and Noble and Amazon, let’s pick a topic and see how many books we can find on that topic at each of the sellers. Let’s say we are looking for books about Hannibal of Carthage. How many books can we find on Amazon?

That’s not bad, right? Now let’s take a look at Barnes & Noble. They have a whole page full of Hannibal books.

Many of the same books are listed on Amazon as well as on Barnes & Noble. Examples of Books available on Barnes & Noble that are not available on Amazon are:
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Now let’s take a look at the selection of books about Hannibal of Carthage available on Alibris. Many are the same books we already encountered on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. But some are quite different:

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They even have listed some books that are long, long out of print. Two of my favorites are Hannibal of Carthage by Mary Dolan and Hannibal by Ernle Bradford.You can order them through Alibris, and the independent bookstore that actually stocks them will ship the books to you.

It’s good to have an account with Amazon and be able to buy online — without paying local sales tax — any book that is currently available in most other stores. It’s also good to sometimes walk into a Barnes & Noble store, handle the merchandise, and later decide to order it online. (They don’t lose when we do this, because we buy fruit smoothies and cheesecake at exorbitant prices while we are there.)

But it is also good to know that if the big stores don’t have it, we might be able to find something rare and wonderful and have it shipped to us directly from the little shop that has it on its shelves or the individual reader who is willing to part with it. That’s where Alibris comes in.

© 2o11 Aya Katz

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The Toshiba Satellite L755 Laptop: Available Online

Posted on September 29, 2011 by admin

iconAt less than five hundred dollars, the Toshiba Satellite L755 model laptop is a very good deal. It gives you in a laptop everything you might otherwise desire in a desktop. And it is very light to carry around.

Here are some of its features:

  • HDMI port
  • USB with sleep and charge
  • Full-sized keyboard with 10 key
  • 802.11N wireless
  • Quad-core and Radeon Graphics
  • Windows 7
  • DVD/CD RW

What does it look like? Watch this video:

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You might be wondering what some of the features I mentioned above actually mean. Here is a brief explanation:

  • An HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) port is, according to the Wikipedia,  “a compact audio/video interface for transmitting digital data.” What this means in practice is that you can hook your cable or other video input onto your Toshiba  laptop and watch TV on the screen.
  • USB with sleep charge.  USB is universal serial bus. You are already familiar with that, in all probability. Thumb drives and almost any other plug in device nowadays connect to your computer through a USB port. The sleep charge portion of this feature means that you can charge a portable device, such as an ipod, while your computer is turned off. (There are four USB ports.)
  • The full sized keyboard is the same as on a desktop. So if you are used to touch key typing on a desktop, you will not have to adapt to this new keyboard.
  • 802.11 N wireless. The 802.11 is a convention for how to set up local area wireless maintained by IEEE Lanman. The N part is a new amendment to the protocol that was adopted in October 2009. It’s the latest standard.
  • Quadcore — Quadcore means that a microprocessor has four cores. This is important for graphics and gaming, because the four cores allow different data to be processed simultaneously. When there is more than one core, different program instructions can be processed at the same time, instead of one after another. Not so important for word processing or other essentially serial tasks, the ability to process simultaneously in real time is important to anything that tries to simulate the world in real time.
  • Radeon Graphics — is a brand of graphic processing units, and it probably comes in the computer’s graphic card. It’s supposed to be good for gamers and other real time visual processing.
  • DVD/CD RW means that there is a built in DVD player that will also burn CDs and DVDs.
  • Windows 7 is an operating system created by Microsoft. Many consider it the best new operating system since XP.

One of the features of the Toshiba Satellite L755 laptop that I find most useful is that you can shoot video clips directly from the operating system through your built in camera.  You don’t need to have a separate camera and then try to convert the files from the camera to something you can use in Windows Movie maker. Also, there is no built-in limit as to how long a clip can run.  The web camera application allows you to start filming anytime you like and stop when you choose. The videos can be found in your video folder, and they are ready to  be edited in Windows Movie Maker before you upload them to YouTube.

The Toshiba Satellite L755 is light enough to carry with you everywhere and rugged enough to allow a chimpanzee to use, under close supervision. For a video of Bow using a Toshiba Satellite L755, read this blog entry from Notes from the Pens.

iconIf you buy your Toshiba Laptop through PubWages, you will be making a contribution to Project Bow.

© 2o11 Aya Katz
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Posted in Electronics and Computers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments