A nine year-old girl in India named M. Lavinashree has passed the Microsoft Certified Professional Exam, becoming the youngest person to ever pull it off (smashing the record previously held by a 10 year-old Pakistani girl). The youngster has a long history of making records in her short life — including reciting all 1,300 couplets of a 2,000 year-old Tamil epic at the age of three — and now she’s now cramming for the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer Exam. We’ll be honest, this really takes the zing out of our biggest accomplishment at the age of nine: figuring out where in the world Carmen Sandiego was.

Ideas to Help You Quit Smoking

Want to Quit?

You promised yourself that you would finally quit smoking.

It isn’t easy giving up something that is so much a part of what you do every day.

But you are not alone. Over 1 million people each year decide to quit and are successful.
Tried Quitting Before?

Maybe once, maybe more…

You started out feeling the time was right, but for whatever reason, you’re smoking again. Now, you’re asking whether it’s worth it to try quitting again. You bet it is!

Quitting is hard, but don’t give up!

Some smokers try a number of times before they quit for good. Studies show that each time you try to quit, the more likely you will be to eventually succeed. With each try, you are better able to know what helps and what hurts. Any attempt to quit is a step in a healthier direction.

Pregnant?

There’s no better time to quit.

And for two very good reasons:

*      You.
*      Your baby.

Even if someone you know smoked during pregnancy and had a problem-free delivery, smoking puts your baby’s health at risk. Quitting at any time during pregnancy is still the best chance for you and your baby to get a fresh start.

It is also important to remember that infants and children exposed to second-hand smoke are more likely to develop health problems such as chronic ear infections and asthma. Helping to eliminate these health risks is another good reason to quit.
How Do I Start?

Make a Plan

You may want to:

*      Consult a health care professional to choose a quit smoking plan that is best for you.
*      Set a quit date and stick to it.
*      Get the support and understanding of your family, friends, and co-workers.
*      Get rid of all tobacco products and ashtrays.
*      Get Support and Encouragement

U.S. Public Health Service (PHS)-funded research shows the more support you have, the greater your chance for success.

Join a quit smoking program or start your own quit smoking group. Check with your health care professional, local hospitals, the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, or American Heart Association for schedules for existing groups.

Learn How to Handle the Urge to Smoke

Be aware of the things that may cause you to smoke, such as:

*      Other smokers.
*      Stress.
*      Depression.
*      Alcohol.
*      What Works?
*      Current treatments

There are no magic solutions for quitting smoking. But, if you are ready to quit, effective treatments are available that can help reduce the urge to smoke.

Studies show that almost everyone can benefit from these nicotine and non-nicotine replacement therapies.

*      Nicotine Replacement Therapy
*      Nicotine patch.
*      Nicotine gum.
*      Nicotine nasal spray.*
*      Nicotine inhaler.*
*      Non-Nicotine Therapy
*      Bupropion SR.*

Many people shy away from telling jokes because they once told one that fell flat or they are afraid of appearing silly or of offending someone. Jokes are canned humorous stories which are subtly different from personal anecdotes. With personal anecdotes you have the authority to tell them because they happened to you. Jokes are independent and in a sense artificial so you take a little risk when you launch into one. However, when told well, a joke can cause great amusement and lift the mood of the gathering. A speaker who puts some relevant and well-told jokes into his or her speech will be appreciated by the audience who are often bored with bland presentations and are crying out for a little entertainment.

Here are some tips on how to tell a good joke:

1. Select. Choose three or four jokes that really tickled you from the internet or a joke book. If you are giving a talk or presentation look for ones that have some relevance (however slight) so that you can work them into the pitch. Have one or two generic or topical ones that you can use on any occasion.

2. Practise. Practise them aloud - in front of a mirror if possible. Deliver them with style, confidence and panache. Focus on the punch line and ensure that you can deliver it word perfect.

3. Choose your moment. If there is a convenient hook in the conversation for one of your jokes you can introduce it then. Otherwise wait for a pause. Sometimes the most amusing jokes occur when people least expect the teller to tell a joke. So, if appropriate, be serious as you introduce the story and then catch your audience out with the punch line.

4. Deliver slowly and with confidence. Many people ruin jokes by rushing them, mumbling incoherently or just getting the words wrong. Your practice should have overcome this but there is still a temptation to hurry. Slow down a little. Try to pause for effect before you deliver the punch line. That can add enormously to the impact.

5. Match the joke to the audience. A joke which is hilarious with the guys on the 7th tee might well be a disaster at the Church Bazaar. Jokes often challenge taboos so it is OK to risk a tiny amount of offence to one or two people. But if your joke seriously offends people then you were guilty of misjudgment. In mixed company during the day you should stay with safe material. In the evening you can be a little more risqué and with the men in the bar you can be outrageous. Choose wisely.

6. Reciprocate. Never finish anyone else’s joke. Always laugh or smile even if you have heard it before. Be a good joke teller and receiver.

7. Develop. As you build experience and confidence try more and different jokes. But don’t overdo it. Don’t hog the conversation with one joke after another. A few really good jokes that you can tell with perfect confidence is the aim.

Finally have some one-liners to throw in from time to time. Here are a couple to get you going:

• Velcro - what a rip-off!
• ‘Shut up!’ my father explained.

Funny jokes make the world a more interesting place. Enjoy your joke telling!

(via lifehack.org)

The 6th China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition will open at China Import and Export Fair Pazhou Complex from Nov 19th – 25th 2008 (Nov 18th is the Press Day).

“Hi-tech Promise Future” as the theme with continuing “High Quality, International and Comprehensive” orientation, we pay more attention to improve the quality of exhibition, to present an excellent pageant of auto industry for domestic and oversea visitors.

Auto Guangzhou 2008 is covering a total area of 125,000㎡. It is 25% bigger than previous one. For the first time that all thirteen exhibition halls will be used at area A in Pazhou complex.

Among these, the size of Passenger Cars Zone is 85,000㎡. More brands and famous companies will participate with their most up to date vehicles, technologies and concepts. Some new exhibitors, such as Lotus, Daihatsus, Fiat, Foton Motor etc., will have their first attend.

The size of the professional auto exhibition has a further expandation by the joining of Japanese Auto Parts Purchasing Zone and the domestic exhibition delegation group in Auto Parts and Accessories Zone. Over 400 manufacturing companies, about 40,000 trade buyers will stimulate the Auto Guangzhou professional exhibition zone to become the largest international purchasing platform in South China.

Here are some of the changes since Beta 2 (over 160 changes in total):

* Numerous style improvements and refinements.
* All admin notices now go under the page title.
* PHP Notice fixes.
* Dashboard widget options now properly save.
* Menu fixes.
* New design for Quick Edit.
* Canonical feed URL fixes.
* Walker fixes.
* An update for Hello Dolly.
* Plugin installer updates.
* Numerous font updates.
* Updated login logo.
* Switch position of “Save Draft” and “Preview” buttons in publish module.
* File upload support for MS Office 2007+ file formats.
* Media upload buttons won’t show if the user doesn’t have the upload capability.
* Canonical redirects only do yes-www or no-www redirection for domains.
* Shift-click checkbox range selection improvement.
* Add New User page now separate.
* Tag suggest only suggests tags (not other taxonomy terms).
* QuickPress shows “Submit for Review” if user cannot publish.
* Private posts/pages, and password-protected posts/pages are rolled into new “Visibility” section of publish module.

If you have already installed Beta 1 or Beta 2, you can update to Beta 3 via the Tools -> Update menu. If you have problems, or if this is your first time in the 2.7 beta ring, you can download and upgrade the old fashioned way.

Download Wordpress 2.7 Beta 3

I want to go on vacation really bad. Sadly, I don’t have the funds right now. Hopefully by next summer I will. So then I can go to Cuba or to Punta Cana again.

Of course I’ll need to get some new stuff like a Swiss Army luggage and some new swimsuits. My luggage is ok, but one was not enough to carry everything in. Maybe I can have two??

I don’t know what the regulations are with the airlines, but I’d have to check that first before I buy another luggage. It would be nice to have two huge luggages. Might have to pay extra for it. I don’t know, but I would since two luggages is better than stuffing everything in one.

Ever felt that you are just another blogger in the blogosphere? Have you ever thought of branding yourself for a particular thing you do and become known for it? Keep reading the blog post and you will find 3 different ways by which you can brand yourself. There are more than three ways but I guess you shouldn’t confuse yourself when reading the article. After all, the main aim of this article is to teach you some ways using which you can become known in the blogosphere.

In this article what I’m not going to teach is step by step method for becoming an authority. It is a vast topic and it will take more than 10,000 words to explain it. It can be explained only by writing a book on it if I need to teach you every step.

You will see three types of blogging in this blog post and using one of them you can become famous for it and brand yourself for that way of blogging. First let me just list the three ways so that if you are in a hurry you can read it and bookmark it for later reading.
1. Problem Solver
2. Advice Blogger
3. News Reporter

1. Problem Solver
Problem solver is the one who writes solutions for problems that people are facing. Problem solvers have the advantage of getting more subscribers easily to their blog. If you give a solution for a problem I am facing, I’m going to visit your blog many times and also subscribe to it. Being a problem solver is tough unless you have good knowledge or experience in your niche. You cannot write on “How to setup a website” unless you know how to do it. Problem solvers write more of how-to posts. To get questions for answering in the blog, visit forums. It’s the best place to find problems.

2. Advice Blogger
Advice bloggers are those who give advice on becoming better on anything you know already. Your blog will become more social media friendly if you are giving advices to people. Would you not stumble an article that advices you on how to become better at blogging? Or would you not digg a post that lists many ways to manage your time efficiently? Giving advice is something you can do only by reading more. The more you read, the better you will get. The better you get, the more advice you will be able to give.

3. News Reporter
News reporters are those who write the latest happenings in their respective niche. The blogs that post the latest news get more search engine traffic. If your primary monetization method is adsense, this type should be your choice. Search engine people tend to respond well to the ads. But being a news reporter isn’t easy. You should be the first to write about something. If first is not possible, try to be in the first five. If more people start to write about the same thing, no one will be interesting in reading your blog post. There are so many bloggers who are writing the same news that you are writing. You have to be unique in delivering the news.

Which type of blogger are you? Are you able to find yourself in one of the above types? If yes, I suggest you to work on it and try to become better. One more thing I would like to remind you is that you can write about the latest happenings even though you are primarily a problem solver. The ultimate aim is to find people who are interested in your writing and make them your precious subscribers.

What other types of bloggers do you know? Please share it in the comments. (via bloggingtips)

• Olivia Munn Spices up Halloween (Popoholic)
• Jessica Gomes Topless in GQ Italy (Egotastic)
• Thriller vs. Monsterball Party Recap (Spyderman)
• Vans Era 45 (KicksOnFire)
• GX-1 Bluetooth Ski Gloves (GearCrave)

StreamDrag is a Music search engine which let you find your musics and allows you to make playlist and listen on it. Sorry, There is no download link!

• A bar that glows! (Complex Magazine)
• Rock is Dead and Paper Killed It (Threadless)
• Santa makes a comeback. (Hypebeast)
• Love live polaroids. (Uncrate)
• The entire planet in the palm of your hands. (Marketing Pilgrim)